2018: Year in Review

Last year, I seemed to avoid keeping track of what I was reading, giving the sparse use of the blog until the very end of December.

Also, I seemed to avoid reading altogether, considering how long it took me to get through some of these entries.

According to the sidebar, there were 26 entries for the entire year. Of those, three were not about specific books. On the other hand, there were a lot of graphic novels, particularly in the summer, and manga, particularly near the school library. So my book total was closer to 35. This comes with a little bit of a caveat: I counted the ROM comics as 4 graphic novels because I believe that's how they were available, even as I read 14 issues. Likewise, Clean Room, which had its review deleted by accident, and will get restored at some point, counted as 1 book, even though it was the first six comics in the series. Most of the graphic novels were similar to this.

Additionally, there was at least one One Piece book in there, but I was going to wait until I'd read a bunch more of those ... which I then didn't do. At the very least, I'll wait until the end of the present story line. But I have other things to get to.

It was an odd year for me. I see that there were only two science fiction books: 1634, which is alternative history, without a lot of sci-fi once you've accepted the premise, and Space Team, which I don't need to rehash.

There was a bit of nonfiction, including biography and essays, as well as some poetry and one old self-help book.

And again, two more Sue Grafton mysteries. I should just read through and close out the series.

One book does appear to be missing. I read a book about The Beatles, a behind-the-scenes book that I picked up in the school library, either in late 2017 or early 2018. I thought it was around the time I read the Maya Angelou book. (Interesting pairing, right? They were in the same pile on the same desk.) For whatever reason, I didn't log it.

Lots of books, real and electronic, on deck to be read. Once again, I'm commuting by car (and I could actually walk), so most of my reading is at bedtime, and sometimes at meals. When I'm not all over social media, that is.

Goals for 2019?

More than 2018, for sure.
Read or discard a lot of books in the basement.
Alternate more between paper and ebook.
Read older stuff before downloading new (sometimes "old") stuff.
Expand a bit -- find other topics and genres to visit.
Do a mini-run on a series or two: I've started Sue Grafton, Jim Butcher, Laurel K. Hamilton, and some things I didn't care for. And there's an entire world of Eric Flint's 1632. (See the sidebar -- I'm not hotlinking everything.)