2017 Reading Stats in Review

I read a few books in 2017. Here’s a breakdown of stats, followed by some lists of my favorite books this year:

• 72 total books/graphic novels/audiobooks.
• 64 different authors.
• 30 books in 22 different series, 13 which were the first book in the series, 5 were the second, 2 were the third, and 8 were the fourth or later.
• The longest book, and the only one over 800 pages was The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. It weighed in at 999 pages. Most books (29) were between 300 and 500 pages long. That’s an average 341.8 pages a book.
• The shortest (and dumbest–I didn’t finish it) was The City of Shifting Waters by Christin Pierre.
• Speaking of genres: 22 could be classified as science fiction, 12 were histories, 8 as fantasy, 7 novels, 4 on current events, 3 each in the categories of memoir and classics, as well as sundry others.
• 43 were audiobooks, 18 paperbacks, 6 hardbacks, and only 5 ebooks. Sorry. I like the smell and feel of paper, as well as the convenience of cranking a book in the car or while working in the yard.
• I reread only 2 books, though I’m in the middle of rereading 2 more right now.
• On average, I read 68 pages a day or about 2,051.1 pages a month.
• I abandoned 8 books without finishing them. I suspect there were at least 3 or 5 more I should have dropped, as well.
• March was my most productive month with 11 books or 4,178 pages.
• First reviewed book of 2017 was One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in January, and the last was Time Travel: A History by James Gleick (intriguing, by the way) in October.
• A book I bought in England: The Golden Store: An Illustrated Selection of Poetry by William Wordsworth

A few good recommendations:

• Manly Book Club was the source of a few good reads:
  • Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
  • The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
  • Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
  • The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters by Tom Nichols
  • Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time  by Mark Haddon
  • Among others
• Some good science fiction and fantasy:
  • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
  • A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
  • Cibola Burn and Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
  • Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
  • Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
• Some history and biographies:
  • Brigham Young by John G. Turner, who approaches Utah’s founding father with something of an intriguingly academic stance.
  • Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen. The story of an architect and builder crossed over with the serial killer of the World’s Fair. Larsen nails it.
  • The River of Doubt  by Candice Millard, telling the story of Theodore Roosevelt’s journey through the Amazon, which he barely survived, though sickness contacted on the journey eventually killed him.
  • Destiny of the Republic, also by Millard, is about the shooting of President Garfield by an insane man and the effort to save his life. Gripping.
  • Hero of the Empire…also by Millard is the story of Winston Churchill’s escape from a prison camp during the Boer War. Really great writing about a really great escape by the young Winston.
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I don’t know why I took so long to read this, but I learned more about biology and the business of biology here, but the story of Lacks and her family is an emotional journey, as well.
  • The Gatekeepers by Chris Whipple is by far the most likely to get recommended on this list to my friends in the political world. It was full of anecdotes and stories about the men who serve as chief of staff to the president in the modern White House.
  • A Self-Made Man by Sydney Blumenthal was better than I expected, looking closely at the political life of Abraham Lincoln prior to his election to the presidency.
  • Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann was disturbing. Could humans really be that cold and greedy and heartless? True story of the serial murders of the Osage Indians.
• Last, some really great novels:
  • One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is as beautiful today as it was when it was published over half a century ago.
  • All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott. I wish I had found this book some 20 years ago. It was beautiful, fun, delightful, pleasant, and all-round joy to read. Thanks for recommending I read this, Saysha.
  • H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald was difficult to read, but worth the effort.
  • All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr was also difficult, but it was beautiful. I’m a sucker for the World War II period, and Doerr makes full use of the pathos and pain of the war, even to non-combatants. Especially to non-combatants.
  • A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles is by far the most carefully and technically beautiful written book I read in 2017. It was simply a delight to read, beautiful, full of passages I read and reread and wanted to hear again.
  • Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes was powerful, violent, and disturbing. Written over the course of thirty years, it follows the members of a US military unit in Vietnam over the course of several weeks. Highly recommended…a bit disturbing.