We're more than a month into 2018 and I've already got 8 books under my belt, and I realized I never uploaded my 2017 reading roundup. So without further ado, here is my reading summary for 2017.
2017 was a much better reading year than 2016. I read (or listened to) 70 books in 2017.
I was evenly divided between reading and listening in 2017, with 34 ebooks or paper books and 36 audiobooks.
This year I read 13 non fiction books which is a new record for me. I find it difficult to read non fiction even when it's something I want to read and do much better listening to non fiction on audio. Before I tell you which books I loved and which disappointed me, I'd like to mention where I find the books I read. I follow various book blogs which keep me up to date on what's coming out and allow me to read synopses and reviews. My literary friends (you know who you are) recommend books, I listen to TED talks and read books by TED speakers, and sometimes, interesting articles or posts pop up in my Facebook feed and lead me to a new book. I'm also the librarian in my town so I'll get recommendations from readers and also read young adult books which are popular with the youth.
Some of my favorite books in 2017, in no particular order were: Manhattan Beach, Close Enough to Touch, The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds (fascinating!), Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, The Last Ballad, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Other Four-Letter Words, The Trick, The Reminders, The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes, The Hate you Give, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Celine, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (a must read for all women), The Serpent King, Holding Up the Universe (much less heartbreaking than All the Bright Places), and The Sun is also a Star.
As usual, Lee Child and Daniel Silva did not disappoint and I enjoyed both their new books, The Midnight Line and House of Spies. Also, John Green's new young adult book, Turtles All the Way Down was a great read and definitely one of his best.
The book that had the biggest impact on me was A Little Life. At 832 pages it was also the longest book I read and it absolutely destroyed me. It chewed me up and spit me out in little pieces. My feelings for it can best be summed up as follows:
Some of my least favorite or most disappointing reads were books that just didn't live up to their hype/reputation or their author's previous works. JK Rowling as Robert Galbraith does not do it for me. I found Silkworm long and convoluted. I'll Take You There was less interesting and engaging than Wally Lamb's previous books. Ditto for Nickolas Butler's The Hearts of Men. Chemistry was annoying - none of the characters had names and Please Look after Mom didn't live up to the hype I had read. I read The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) because the kids in the library love it and I was very disappointed. It felt like an inferior Harry Potter knock off. I'm not going to continue with the series.
There are authors whose books I always look forward to and wait for (Lee Child, Daniel Silva, Faye Kellerman) and one of these authors is Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Millhone alphabet series. I was excited to read Y is for Yesterday and a little heartbroken to read the sad news that Sue Grafton lost her battle with cancer on December 28, 2017. Her daughter, Jamie's post on Sue Grafton's facebook page summed up how Sue's many fans feel: "the alphabet now ends at Y."
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| https://www.cafepress.com/kinseysalphabet.213652080
In 2017 I read 13,564 pages and listened to 343 hours and 46 minutes of audio. The longest book I read was A Little Life at 832 pages and the shortest was מה יקרה אם אמות מחר בבוקר at 207 pages. The longest book I listened to was Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations with 19 hours and 54 minutes and the shortest was Chemistry with only 4 hours and 53 minutes.
One of the things I like about doing my year end reading recap, is that I get to revisit the books I read over the year. I see that 2017 was a good reading year, both in numbers and in the many books that were enjoyable.
Looking forward to exploring new worlds and experiences in 2018 through the wonderful world of reading.
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