.jpg)
This is pretty much the end of my blogging year, as I am off to China in a few days. I have never been there (although my sister has lived in Beijing for ten years), so that should be an exciting and different (and freezing) Christmas holiday.
I will likely read a bit on the journey, so I expect that I'll end the year with somewhere around 110 books finished. This is a big drop in numbers from 2011 (171 books), but in 2012 I had an almost bookless month travelling in the UK and France, and also a conference paper to prepare, with lots of not-counted-and-not-much-fun books being read early in the year.
Fiction came in at 93 books; non-fiction a paltry 11. E-books (71) whipped tree-books (33). Re-reads accounted for 9 titles. If I break down fiction, I have 26 books of the literary sort, and 56 all somewhat lighter (crime, mystery, action, espionage, historical fiction, etc.). 11 were really meant for children or young adults. Only 5 books were translated from other languages (very poor).
And my top reads? I have ruthlessly omitted re-reads (sorry, Georgette Heyer) and books I haven't yet reviewed (in this category, I loved Mary Norton's The Complete Borrowers and Cassandra Parkin's outrageously funny Lighter Shades of Grey: a (very) critical reader's guide to Fifty Shades of Grey) [and, no, I haven't read the original].
So… in the end, I have 11 FAVOURITE READS OF 2012 (yes, 11), in no particular order:
Lightning Rods - Helen DeWitt {REVIEW}
Wishing you all
a Merry Christmas and
a very Happy New Year!
I hope you have a lovely time in China - and that you'll be telling us about your travels when you get home again. I also hope 2013 brings lots of wonderful books!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa May - I wish I'd had time to squeeze in some China-themed reading, but I'm hoping it will inspire me to find some when I return. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
DeleteHope you have a lovely time in China too. I must check out some of your reviews. I absolutely love May Sarton's poetry have been meaning to try her fiction for a while. I'm also impressed by the amount of e-books you've read.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah - I thought I'd be a bit resistant to e-reading, but I LOVE it. I hate reading on back-lit devices, but the paper-look kindle is great. Among other things, I think it is the ability to highlight that makes it such a joy. Have a wonderful Christmas!
DeleteAh yes, that Vita book I have to hunt out. :) Have a great trip and a great start to 2013!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alex. I nearly had 2 Vita books on there, but I haven't reviewed All Passion Spent yet. It is wonderful. Merry Christmas!
DeleteSome fantastic books there! Indeed, the four I've read - the Vita Sackville-West, Grossmith, Stevenson, and Spark - are all books I really like. And so glad to see Spark there, after your wonderful contributions during MS Reading Week. I wonder if she'll appear on my list for this year... I read so many, and they were good, but then I've read so many other good books this year... I always wait til the last day before making my list.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Simon - I look forward to catching up with everyone's Best Of when I return - have a wonderful Christmas.
Delete