During the last year of my career in 2017, I only managed to read seven books for pleasure.
SEVEN!
But I had big plans for a turnaround in 2018, my first year of blissful retirement, free at last from competing demands on my time!
So, how many books did I read in 2018?
SEVEN!
Oh, the humiliation of it all!
But, for the record, here are the seven books I read in 2018. All of them are novels --
1. Ann Patchett, The Magician's Assistant
2. Rick Riordan, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Hammer of Thor
3. Ed McBain, The Gutter and the Grave
4. Karen Connelly, The Change Room
5. Madeline Miller, Circe
6. Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows
7. Beverley McLachlin, Full Disclosure
Do I really have to tell you what my ambitions are for this year, 2019?
I've become an avid reader again, too. For years I couldn't really get into anything. Too busy working to lose myself in a book. Some great books there that you read.
ReplyDeleteI love reading, and love actual real books, not those e-reader abominations.I generally have two, or sometimes three,books going at once.
ReplyDeleteGet to reading!
Ooooh, Ed McBain! I've read every single 87th precinct, and Matthew Hope novel! Love his work!
ReplyDeleteI"m much like you, Debra. I wanted to read all sorts of books. They were gifted to me and I still haven't touched them. You're way ahead of me. I think I read three. Here's looking to more reading this year!
ReplyDeleteElsie
It may be downmarket, but I am going to try to read the books written by people on my blogroll :-)
ReplyDeleteYep, SAME girl SAME!!! I have 2 bookshelves literally overflowing with books and yet I keep buying more. I have GOT to read more this year! I love to read and I am determined to read more this year. And now I am adding 7 more to my list to go get. LOL
ReplyDeleteWow seven books? Good for you.
ReplyDeleteI would be happy with seven books I don't know what happened in this house we all seem to have stopped reading as much sad really. But hey its 2019 I predict you will at least triple your reading good luck!
ReplyDeleteWhat did you major at the university, Debs?
ReplyDeleteDebra, I used to love reading books but once I hit my thirties it went downhill. I haven't read a book in years, a few short stories yes and I still enjoy a weekend newspaper, so you are still doing seven times better than me!
ReplyDeleteMy commitment to movies and TV shows eliminates most of my reading time. I sometimes miss the olden days with boring cable tv and nothing to do.
ReplyDeleteI listen to books. It's not the same as reading, but I feel accomplished, nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteI have a very hard time sitting. I listen.
ReplyDeleteFavorites?
I need to list the books that I read this year. I have some of them in the house and a few on my reader. It would be fun to post and maybe other bloggers should do the same.
ReplyDeleteMost of my reading these days is The New Yorker and non-fiction books, which I can skim if I want to. Work makes it kind of hard to commit to a novel.
ReplyDeleteYou can do it! I usually only read before going to bed at night so it can sometimes take me 2 months to get through a novel. I recently started reading when eating lunch which feels like a little retreat in the day.
ReplyDeleteI love it when people post their reading lists - I never have time to peruse lists, let alone read more than two books A YEAR. It's that knit-or-read conundrum and knitting always wins.
ReplyDeleteLife-long reader here. The funny thing for me is that I commuted by bus during my working years and read (or wrote in my journal) for an hour twice a day. Now that I'm retired, I have yet to establish a routine that includes regular reading hours. Sure, if I get deeply committed to a book I'll read as long as I want, but I have surprised myself by not doing so. Oh, and there's Netflix. Lol.
ReplyDeleteMy plans for reading are exactly like yours! I am marking all of these on my Goodreads "to read" list. These sound intriguing!
ReplyDeleteI did a lot of rereading in 2018, but am ashamed to say got so addicted to a lot of podcasts that my reading tapered off during the last three months of the year. I'm refocusing my efforts this year to add more non-fiction in an attempt to find more books I haven't read yet. Good luck with your reading ambitions.
ReplyDeleteI’ve read two of the books on your list as you know. I read 22 in 2018, I intend to read 24 this year, two per month in average. Check my blog for reading suggestions, I generally give a few that are quick and easy reads (McBain especially, he’s the master page turner).
ReplyDeleteI often go through a few books a month at least. I don't know what happened this past year... oh yeah eye problems! Less than 10. Just got a book as a gift and I'm about to take to bed with me: "The Dalai Lama's Cat" Have you read it?
ReplyDeleteHa. That's probably 5 or 6 more than I read all year. And I've been reading one book now for YEARS, bits at a time.
ReplyDeleteGood luck this year! How did you like the books you listed?
I am familiar with all authors except for the last three.
ReplyDeleteMy 13 gr-daughter is a voracious reader. She has shared her books (YA) with me, and it gives us topics. I recently gave her Artemis Fowl books, which are below her reading level, but lots of fun.
My eyesight keeps me from reading as much as I’d like. However, retirement is also busy and there’s not as much time to read as one would think.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE books. I read as many as possible each year. I've been doing that since I was a child. Yesterday I told my husband that I have to come back because there's no way I will finish all the books I want to read before I check out of this world!
ReplyDeleteOh lucky you, to be able to read a book! I begin to yawn when I read and can't get more than a page or two under my belt before nodding off. Comes from reading to my grandchildren when they were little and yawning so they would begin yawning and fall asleep. Well, it not only worked on them but me as well. Oh my, I am even yawning just thinking about reading a book. It's so sad.
ReplyDelete7 sounds good to me! Lol!
ReplyDeleteBetter than me.
ReplyDeleteHow was All My Puny Sorrows? Was it really heavy? I loved the mix of humor and nihilism in A Complicated Kindness but I am anxious about reading this one. (Apparently Toews has a new novel out now too?)
ReplyDeleteI used to read a lot more when I was younger. I remember staying up way too late because I couldn't put a book down and going into work tired because of it. Those days are gone, gone, gone.
ReplyDelete@ Old Lurker -- I did not find "All My Puny Sorrows" too heavy to read, although it did examine two sisters intertwined lives, one who was suicidal and the other who was codependent. Frankly, each sister annoyed me in her own way, so that's why it was tough slogging at times, but not because of the theme. The most enjoyable thing about the book for me was that it was set in Winnipeg where I used to live and in the Mennonite Bible Belt south of Winnipeg, and I recognized all the landmarks and places she included. The only name she changed from real life was the name of the mental hospital, although which one she was writing about is crystal clear to a Winnipegger. In the bookstore, I looked at her new book "Women Talking: A Novel" but its premise is so very grim that I simply could not bear to buy it and read it.
ReplyDeleteI hope and believe that you can read more that seven books this year, Debra! I have read two books by Ann Patchette that I thoroughly enjoyed: Bel Canto (read twice) and State of Wonder (loved it, but it was out there!). LOL ~ My post tomorrow is about the books I read last year ~ but I was stealing you idea from previous years, so I laughed when I saw your post. All the best to you!
ReplyDeleteDebra..(I'm using my mother's voice here) 2 authors..One Canaderian one American..
ReplyDeleteLouise Penny(Canaderian)
and James Lee Burke american..
these are yafta's
As you probably know, I am a voracious readier and in 2018 I had decided to keep track of what I had read for books. All was good until I got a smart phone in May for my b'day. Prior to that purchase, I had about 40 books read, include parts of three long mystery series.
ReplyDeleteAfter buying my smart phone, I discovered the wonderful world of podcasts. This discovery, coinciding with the need to start exercising again, caused me to basically stop reading books. After buying my phone in May, for the rest of the year I read a grand total of 3 books.
Last years' reading total was far from my glory days of reading, but in my defense I was writing a book, which I feel like I read at least 20 times, so maybe I should add 20 to my actual final total :D I may add some of your list from last year to this years' To-Read pile.
ReplyDeleteI’m always fascinated to see what people sitting opposite me on the London Underground are reading. You know know Im going to have to look your list up?
ReplyDeleteJP
Oh no! Read more. So wonderful when you discover a new author that you love and find that she has written lots of books.
ReplyDeleteYou could read my book if you wanted to ... This Time Next Year. Very light and I think funny. x
And I love Black Books.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading year!
ReplyDeleteI read many books at a time and all the time … and I read books backwards too, which is a strange habit … as in "hind sight is better than foresight" … I also watch movies on mute in order to make up my own mind … gheesuskristsuperstar … ya, I know, me is a bit screwed up … just like the Alberta weather ... Wishing you a very happy and healthy w/e,friend D. Love, cat.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I read every night in bed. And on really rainy, snowy, stormy days we will call a cat day and spend the day reading, napping, eating reading, eating napping... I must admit that the computer steals a lot of time that I could more productively use reading.
ReplyDeleteMy wife got me a NOOK book last year but it is not the same as turning the pages in a real book.. We will probably be the last generations to actually read real books.
the Ol'Buzzard
Oh very interesting books darling
ReplyDeletexx
I shan't say how many books I read last year. Mostly because I said that I was going to read fewer than 113, and... well... I might've gone a tad overboard. This year, I told my Piano Man that I was going to try to limit my reading to about 100 books, and he laughed at me. I have not self-control when it comes to this addiction.
ReplyDeleteI'm about to reread The Song of Achilles. 😁
I read a lot of criminal books:) i love them:D follow:) hope U follow back:)
ReplyDeleteI read books all the time … I'm a traveller … so what ever other travellers leave behind I read … Used books and their inscriptions are the best as you can find out about whole/ partial life stories … says this cat and her cat Theo.
ReplyDeleteSoOoO---which of those books were "can't put down"...I want to add them to my list! I am not getting nearly as much done reading-wise as I had hoped either. I probably read 20 books last year but that is low for me. xo Diana
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Black Books? It's freaking fantastic. We love it. We own the collection on DVD and it's a hoot. Here's to you reading in 2019!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love to read, but it had twindled down due to being so busy. Last year I read 31 books :-) This year my goal is to read 2-3 a month and since I've been told to rest with my new diagnosis I am on my 4th.... Reading can just take us away from everything for awhile. Good luck on your goals. :-)
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Jill
Oh my goodness!
ReplyDeleteWould you believe it (but it's true!) I just realized (via Travel Penguin) you write a blog!
I immediately dropped in. I am both delighted and feel an ass.
You bet I will be stopping by regular now.
I can sit and read for hours. It's sometimes difficult to find the time to do anything else!
ReplyDelete7 books is a lot girl! Good on you!!!
ReplyDeleteI just read how many books Magaly read! Holy! Well Deb, you come a close second! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI have a goal to read 20 books this year.
ReplyDelete