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Let's do this.
How many books read in 2020?
I read 105 books cover-to-cover. (NB: My definition of “cover-to-cover” includes all forewords, afterwords, glossaries, and other such bits. For instance, The Return of the King doesn't go on the list until I finish reading all the appendices that follow the story itself.) In addition to the books, I also finished five Great Courses and one Mango Languages course.
Favorite first-time read?
Fiction: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Nonfiction: The Great Course The Celtic World by Dr. Jennifer Paxton, of which, more to come in a later post. (Runner up: Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein.)
Least favorite first-time read?
Fiction: The Ten-Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow (runner up: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.)
Nonfiction: I Am Not Your Slave by Tupa Tjipombo & Chris Lockhart (runner up: The Druids by Anne Ross.)
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
79:32
Author gender breakdown?
Women: 63 (+ 1 Great Course)
Men: 33 (+ 4 Great Courses)
Multiple authors or anthology: 9 (+ 1 Mango Languages Course)
Most books read by one author this year?
Two each by Melissa Albert, Chon Kye-young, Susan Cooper, F. Marian McNeil, Neil Gaiman, Sylvia Izzo Hunter, Jon Klassen, and Emily Tesh, plus six volumes of Rat Queens, which have the same author but different artists and letterers.
Any in translation?
Beowulf, translated by Maria Dahvana Headley, The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu, translated by James Green, and Zen Antics, translated by Thomas Cleary.
In languages other than English?
I read three books in Japanese, two books in Korean, and one in Indonesian. This is really poor compared to other years, but 2020 itself was really poor compared to other years, so...
Oldest?
A Handbook of the Cornish Language by Henry Jenner, which I believe was published in 1904. (I’m counting by date of publication, not source material; otherwise, this would have been The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu.)
Newest?
I believe it was The Reign of Wolf 21 by Rick McIntyre, but don't quote me on that.
Longest Title?
The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu by James Greene
Shortest Title?
Ka by John Crowley
Longest book?
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Shortest book?
I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.
Format of books read?
Paper: 72
Ebook: 33
Great Course: 5
Mango Languages Course: 1
Re-reads?
More than once in 2020: None
In 2020 and an earlier year: 14
First book acquired:
Brian Catling’s The Vorrh, which has the distinction of being the only book I've DNFed in several years.
Last book acquired:
Philip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth.
First book finished:
The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies by Martin Millar.
Last book finished:
The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien.
Book that most changed my perspective:
My Name is Bridget by Alison O’Reilly.
Favorite character:
I don’t have a favorite per se, but my favorite new-to-me character was probably Joscelin from Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey, because boy do I love the wringer she put him through.
Favorite scene:
The climax of Ghost Wall was phenomenal.
Favorite Quote:
Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown has a really moving passage about love, which I’m not able to quote here since I gave my copy to a Little Free Library this April. Lindy West had some trenchant observations in The Witches Are Coming. I was also partial to the quote from Ghost Wall linked here, although, really, you could say the entire book is my favorite quote from Ghost Wall. The same goes for the short story "Starlight is Long-Ago Light" in Kawakami Hiromi's short story collection Kamisama. And, of course, that sentence from Susana Clarke’s fabulous Piranesi.
What do you want to read in 2020?
Erm. What I want to read is apt to change by the hour. My top five shelf-sitters are currently:
これで以上です。
How many books read in 2020?
I read 105 books cover-to-cover. (NB: My definition of “cover-to-cover” includes all forewords, afterwords, glossaries, and other such bits. For instance, The Return of the King doesn't go on the list until I finish reading all the appendices that follow the story itself.) In addition to the books, I also finished five Great Courses and one Mango Languages course.
Favorite first-time read?
Fiction: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Nonfiction: The Great Course The Celtic World by Dr. Jennifer Paxton, of which, more to come in a later post. (Runner up: Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein.)
Least favorite first-time read?
Fiction: The Ten-Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow (runner up: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.)
Nonfiction: I Am Not Your Slave by Tupa Tjipombo & Chris Lockhart (runner up: The Druids by Anne Ross.)
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
79:32
Author gender breakdown?
Women: 63 (+ 1 Great Course)
Men: 33 (+ 4 Great Courses)
Multiple authors or anthology: 9 (+ 1 Mango Languages Course)
Most books read by one author this year?
Two each by Melissa Albert, Chon Kye-young, Susan Cooper, F. Marian McNeil, Neil Gaiman, Sylvia Izzo Hunter, Jon Klassen, and Emily Tesh, plus six volumes of Rat Queens, which have the same author but different artists and letterers.
Any in translation?
Beowulf, translated by Maria Dahvana Headley, The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu, translated by James Green, and Zen Antics, translated by Thomas Cleary.
In languages other than English?
I read three books in Japanese, two books in Korean, and one in Indonesian. This is really poor compared to other years, but 2020 itself was really poor compared to other years, so...
Oldest?
A Handbook of the Cornish Language by Henry Jenner, which I believe was published in 1904. (I’m counting by date of publication, not source material; otherwise, this would have been The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu.)
Newest?
I believe it was The Reign of Wolf 21 by Rick McIntyre, but don't quote me on that.
Longest Title?
The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu by James Greene
Shortest Title?
Ka by John Crowley
Longest book?
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Shortest book?
I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.
Format of books read?
Paper: 72
Ebook: 33
Great Course: 5
Mango Languages Course: 1
Re-reads?
More than once in 2020: None
In 2020 and an earlier year: 14
First book acquired:
Brian Catling’s The Vorrh, which has the distinction of being the only book I've DNFed in several years.
Last book acquired:
Philip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth.
First book finished:
The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies by Martin Millar.
Last book finished:
The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien.
Book that most changed my perspective:
My Name is Bridget by Alison O’Reilly.
Favorite character:
I don’t have a favorite per se, but my favorite new-to-me character was probably Joscelin from Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey, because boy do I love the wringer she put him through.
Favorite scene:
The climax of Ghost Wall was phenomenal.
Favorite Quote:
Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown has a really moving passage about love, which I’m not able to quote here since I gave my copy to a Little Free Library this April. Lindy West had some trenchant observations in The Witches Are Coming. I was also partial to the quote from Ghost Wall linked here, although, really, you could say the entire book is my favorite quote from Ghost Wall. The same goes for the short story "Starlight is Long-Ago Light" in Kawakami Hiromi's short story collection Kamisama. And, of course, that sentence from Susana Clarke’s fabulous Piranesi.
What do you want to read in 2020?
Erm. What I want to read is apt to change by the hour. My top five shelf-sitters are currently:
- The Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. (Guys, as excited as I have been about this book for the last two years, I just can't bring myself to open it. When I finish this one, the series will be over.)
- The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison
- The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
- A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
- The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
これで以上です。
From:
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(Guys, as excited as I have been about this book for the last two years, I just can't bring myself to open it. When I finish this one, the series will be over.)
I know the feeling. The final installment of a series I adore is coming out in March, and while I have it on pre-order, I'm going to be torn between reading it all in one gulp the second it drops and trying to ration it out so I can keep things from being over a little while longer.
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What's the series, by the way?
From:
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The series I was mentioning is Eden Robinson's Trickster Trilogy (Son of a Trickster, Trickster Drift, and the soon to be published Return of the Trickster).
From:
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And that series looks really cool--I have added it to my tbr list. Thanks for the rec!
From:
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I am fascinated that you disliked the Ten Thousand Doors of January that much. It seems like a very polarizing book--I just had another flist friend name it as favorite from last year--so now I think I'm going to have to read it so I can determine my own opinion.
From:
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