2018: Year in Books

Like last year, I managed to read 75 books in 2018.

The year opened with a small obsession with the Roman empire; I read SPQR, Caesar and Augustus, but then it kind of petered out.

I finally read The Lord of the Rings this year, after it has sat on my shelf for two decades or so. I liked it, but I still like The Hobbit more (which I also re-read).

Other series I read include Area X, the Hyperion Cantos and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I liked them all. I also started a lot of other series that I didn’t continue; perhaps I will next year.

And only one The Dark Tower book this year. I’ve been trying to finish it for a couple of years now, but I always want to read all the tangentially related Stephen King novels as well, but that’s a big task. I only have one novel left in the series now, so I should probably make a plan.

Not that much Wolfe this year, however. Well, I did re-read The Book of the New Sun (and read Lexicon Urthus) while listening along to the podcast Alzabo Soup’s excellent analysis of the books. I read The Fifth Head of Cerberus as well, but next year I really have to delve into The Book of the Long Sun and beyond.

I almost didn’t make my reading challenge goal this time. As is usually the case, I didn’t read slowly. I was ahead of my goal for a good chunk of the year, but then I simply stopped reading completely for a few weeks. I did other things, such as listening to (literary) podcasts and making video games. I had to read a few short books and comics at New Year’s Eve.

I set 2018’s goal at 75 books from the start, since I read 75 books in 2017, but that goal was originally 50, since I read 50 books in 2016, but that goal was originally 30… I’m pretty bad at estimating how many books I will read in a year, and while that so far has led to my exceeding my goal, it was nearly my undoing this year. My goal for 2019 will probably drop back down to 50.