Ever since I’ve been writing seriously, I’ve made a list of the novels I’ve read across the year, highlighting those that particularly impressed me. Halfway through 2013, I was seduced by the lovely book-cover icons on Goodreads into doing it electronically. At the beginning of this year, they invited members (?) to register for a reading challenge. Although I don’t need a challenge to motivate me to read, I signed up on the basis that their software could calculate my reading total more rapidly than I could. I set my target at 60 books, this being a rough average of the numbers read in recent years.
| So I was somewhat surprised when, only two-thirds through the year, I passed it. Now, as I approach the year-end, it seems I’ll have read – gulp! – 96 books at around 29,000 pages. Even knowing that monitoring behaviour can bring about a change in the desired direction, an increase of over 50% seems rather a lot. I’m wondering if, in the process of becoming a book blogger, I’ve turned into an addict. | |
I never intended to write regular reviews on my blog. Of course, writing about writing encompasses writing about my reading but I thought I had that covered via my debut novelist Q&A’s and my series on fictional therapists. Now and then, I’d write about a book I thought would be of particular interest to other writers and/or attempt to analyse what I’d learnt from a particular novel. But I made the leap into more standard-style reviews when I discovered that it wasn’t only professional reviewers who could obtain advance copies from publishers. I’ll admit it: if you love books, isn’t there a childish thrill in getting to read them before they’re officially published? Now, even though I get the majority of my books post-publication, I’m hooked.
Almost half of the novels I’ve read over the year (43) were debuts, twelve of which I enjoyed so much I wanted to quiz the author about how they went about it. Across the year, I’ve published eight Q&A’s with the authors of debut novels featuring dementia; attachment to home; the surrendered wife; lifelong friendship; World War II from the German perspective; death of a child within a Mormon family; a makeover prompting memories of Greenham; and fortitude in the face of loneliness – with three more lined up for early next year.
Novels I especially enjoyed which aren’t featured in my Q&A’s featured a Zen retreat at a concentration camp; a tiger and dementia; a post-apocalyptic travelling theatre group; the complexity of desire; survivors of the death railway; paedophilia within the Catholic Church; the rehabilitation of post-war Germany; and family life as a psychological experiment.
Although not a conscious choice, and not something I monitor particularly carefully, I seem to favour female authors and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s a predominance of both British and North American writers. I’ve also read seven novels in translation, of which I’ve reviewed only three, with the reviews of my two favourites coming soon.
Although not a conscious choice, and not something I monitor particularly carefully, I seem to favour female authors and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s a predominance of both British and North American writers. I’ve also read seven novels in translation, of which I’ve reviewed only three, with the reviews of my two favourites coming soon.
Although it might have been fun to have achieved a full century of novels (to match my 100th post of the year), I don’t want to pressurise myself by setting such an ambitious goal for the year to come. As it stands, I’ve still another ten novels read but with reviews outstanding, three of which are debuts awaiting responses to the author Q&A’s and a couple more awaiting publication day.
I'd hoped to include more in this post on my general approach to reviews, especially as Norah asked on this blog a few months back if I read differently for reviews. I didn’t give her a very good answer at the time and I don’t think I can do much better now. And neither is much of an advancement on what I said on a post over a year ago. I think I read with a mixture of mindsets: for my personal pleasure; for something new (hopefully) to write on the blog; for my learning about what, in fiction, works and doesn’t work.
I'd hoped to include more in this post on my general approach to reviews, especially as Norah asked on this blog a few months back if I read differently for reviews. I didn’t give her a very good answer at the time and I don’t think I can do much better now. And neither is much of an advancement on what I said on a post over a year ago. I think I read with a mixture of mindsets: for my personal pleasure; for something new (hopefully) to write on the blog; for my learning about what, in fiction, works and doesn’t work.
Thanks for indulging my reading addiction. In case you’ve missed any, here’s a reminder of the novels I’ve reviewed this past month. You can find a list of all the books I’ve reviewed (not just for this year) on my reading and reviews page. Do let me know what have been the highlights of your reading year.
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