Last year, I set out to read 60 books and read 96. This year, I set a target of 100 books, and read 120. This suggests I’m reading more each year and making more accurate predictions. Of course, it’s not a competition, even against myself, but I do like figures. And, daft as it seems, I do like producing an annual report!
As last year, about half of this year’s reads (52) were debut novels, and the authors of nine of my favourites took part in an annethology Q&A. A few more I loved, but didn’t make a Q&A for various reasons, include Wolf in White Van; Everything I Never Told You; The First Bad Man; An Untamed State; The Anchoress and Hausfrau, despite the ghastly psychotherapist.
Annecdotal featured 11 other fictional psychologists and psychotherapists this year, with one more scheduled for New Year’s Eve; these helped shape the author talks I gave at various libraries in the autumn. Favourites among these, not singled out for special mention already, are The Sorrows of an American and Something to Tell You.
It seems I’ve reviewed three non-fiction books and 13 novels in translation, of which my favourite is a recent read, Wolf, Wolf by Eben Venter. Many book bloggers seem to have chosen 10 overall favourites; I’ve selected 12 for ease of identification from the top two rows of my Goodreads “favourites” shelf (the others being from previous years). (Curiouser and curiouser: three of these titles include the word wolf.) But my ratings aren’t always super consistent; on another day I might have chosen differently. While it’s always difficult to pick the best of the bunch, especially with so many good books around, A Place Called Winter wins out as my book of the year. (Another potentially interesting statistic: of only seven novels categorised – by me – as LGBTQ, three made my overall favourites list, and one is lauded as my favourite translation and the other is my overall novel of the year. I also counted – retrospectively after reading about the Diverse December campaign continuing into next year – 15 novels by Black and minority ethnic authors.)
Reviews have commandeered most of the space on Annecdotal this year but, with over 150 posts, I’ve managed to squeeze in a few other topics. Some of my favourites – and yours, judging by the comments – include The Fast First Draft; Relishing the Cuts; The Role of Chance in Fiction; On Pop, Pirates and Plagiarism and Further Instructions for a Novel on writing and publication; READING for HER reviews and The Dilemma of Lending Books on books and reading; and Compassion: Something We All Need; Writers and Therapy and Looking at Difference, Embracing Diversity on being a person.
In addition to these, I’m mighty grateful for the support I received for my posts on the run up to, and aftermath of, the publication of my debut novel, including One Huge Leap for Anne; Marketing Declarations and Am I Now a Novelist? When there wasn’t enough room on my own blog for my ramblings about my book, I embarked on a mammoth blog tour, as exuberant and exhausting as the long distance walk I undertook before starting to write Sugar and Snails. Although the official tour finished four months ago, I’m still knocking on virtual doors, with another twelve guest posts to add to the original nineteen, with the latest lively discussion in Sherri Matthews’ Summerhouse. In comparison, the nine authors I’ve hosted seems somewhat parsimonious, although I did get a whole new series established in Psychologists Write, which I hope to continue next year.
A huge thanks to everyone who’s followed or dipped into my blog this year; I hope you’ll come back again in 2016. And, whether you make it here or not, here’s wishing you a good one!
What have been the highlights of your reading, writing and blogging year?
Annecdotal featured 11 other fictional psychologists and psychotherapists this year, with one more scheduled for New Year’s Eve; these helped shape the author talks I gave at various libraries in the autumn. Favourites among these, not singled out for special mention already, are The Sorrows of an American and Something to Tell You.
It seems I’ve reviewed three non-fiction books and 13 novels in translation, of which my favourite is a recent read, Wolf, Wolf by Eben Venter. Many book bloggers seem to have chosen 10 overall favourites; I’ve selected 12 for ease of identification from the top two rows of my Goodreads “favourites” shelf (the others being from previous years). (Curiouser and curiouser: three of these titles include the word wolf.) But my ratings aren’t always super consistent; on another day I might have chosen differently. While it’s always difficult to pick the best of the bunch, especially with so many good books around, A Place Called Winter wins out as my book of the year. (Another potentially interesting statistic: of only seven novels categorised – by me – as LGBTQ, three made my overall favourites list, and one is lauded as my favourite translation and the other is my overall novel of the year. I also counted – retrospectively after reading about the Diverse December campaign continuing into next year – 15 novels by Black and minority ethnic authors.)
Reviews have commandeered most of the space on Annecdotal this year but, with over 150 posts, I’ve managed to squeeze in a few other topics. Some of my favourites – and yours, judging by the comments – include The Fast First Draft; Relishing the Cuts; The Role of Chance in Fiction; On Pop, Pirates and Plagiarism and Further Instructions for a Novel on writing and publication; READING for HER reviews and The Dilemma of Lending Books on books and reading; and Compassion: Something We All Need; Writers and Therapy and Looking at Difference, Embracing Diversity on being a person.
In addition to these, I’m mighty grateful for the support I received for my posts on the run up to, and aftermath of, the publication of my debut novel, including One Huge Leap for Anne; Marketing Declarations and Am I Now a Novelist? When there wasn’t enough room on my own blog for my ramblings about my book, I embarked on a mammoth blog tour, as exuberant and exhausting as the long distance walk I undertook before starting to write Sugar and Snails. Although the official tour finished four months ago, I’m still knocking on virtual doors, with another twelve guest posts to add to the original nineteen, with the latest lively discussion in Sherri Matthews’ Summerhouse. In comparison, the nine authors I’ve hosted seems somewhat parsimonious, although I did get a whole new series established in Psychologists Write, which I hope to continue next year.
A huge thanks to everyone who’s followed or dipped into my blog this year; I hope you’ll come back again in 2016. And, whether you make it here or not, here’s wishing you a good one!
What have been the highlights of your reading, writing and blogging year?
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