The 2018 reading year in review
Jan. 1st, 2019 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaHere are some statistics about my reading, for my own navel-gazing pleasure. In 2018 my goal was that half my reading should be non-fiction. Previous goals: reread more books (2017), read fewer American books (2016). Next year's goal: whittle down the pile of unread books I own.
Total number of books read (including novel-length fic): 95
Down from 114 last year, probably because of reading non-fiction bricks. Also I think I read a fair amount of graphic novels last year.
Books by new-to-me authors: 43
Book authors by gender (judged by name, so I guess people could've been misgendered)
Female authors: 49
Male authors: 42
I'm omitting books with lots of authors and ones where I had no idea about gender. Usually I read more female authors than that, but reading more non-fiction definitely upped my proportion of male authors.
By language read in:
English: 71
Swedish: 24
By original language:
English: 64
Swedish: 24
Russian: 1
Italian: 1
Spanish: 1
Finnish: 1
Danish: 1
By author's country of origin:
USA: 49.5
Sweden: 24.5
UK: 8
Finland: 2
Italy: 2
Canada: 1.5
Belarus: 1
Australia: 1
Denmark: 1
Ireland: 0.5
Czechoslovakia: 0.5
Reading non-fiction seems to skew me heavily towards American books. But there's a fair amount of Swedish ones, too.
Genre (roughly; some were hard to categorize):
non-fiction: 49
SF: 17
fantasy: 14
historical: 6
YA: 5
romance: 1.5
None of the books were graphic novels.
35 out of the 46 fiction books passed the Bechdel test.
5 out of the 95 books were rereads.
Favorite new-to-me non-fiction books in 2018, in no particular order. Links go to my book posts.
The Collapse of Complex Societies (1998) by Joseph Tainter (Fascinating theory about the declining marginal benefits of complexity in society.)
The CNT in the Spanish Revolution (2011) by José Peirats (What it says on the tin. Simultaneously dry and moving, and full of interesting practical detail.)
Carbon Democracy (2011) by Timothy Mitchell (About the interplay between politics and fossil fuels.)
Fossil Capital (2016) by Andreas Malm (Same subject as the previous one, but from a different, complementary angle.)
All of Lilian Ryd's historical books about life in northernmost Sweden, with many practical details of life as it was lived (Kvinnor i väglöst land (1995), Renskötarkvinnor (2013), Tusen år i lappmarkens historia (2012)).
The Ecology of Agroecosystems (2011) by John Vandermeer (Brilliant application of the science of ecology to agricultural ecosystems.)
Debt (2011) by David Graeber (Compulsively readable history of debt from an anthropological perspective, and of economy in a wider sense.)
The Great Eating Disorder (2016) by Gunnar Rundgren (About what's wrong with the global food and agricultural system.)
Brainstorm: the flaws in the science of sex differences (2010) by Rebecca Jordan-Young (Impressive study focusing on the flaws both in individual experiments and in how they fit together.)
Messages From Islands (2016) by Ilkka Hanski (Good popular account of the science of biodiversity and nature conservation, woven together with personal memories of research.)
My European Family (2015) by Karin Bojs (About the last 50 000 years of European history, from a genealogical perspective based on DNA testing.)
The Art of Selling War (2016) by Pierre Gilly (About how pro-war propaganda works and how many lies are usually involved.)
Favorite new-to-me fiction books in 2018, in no particular order.
Kindred (1979) by Octavia Butler (An exploration of how slavery distorts intimate relationships.)
The Outlaws of Sherwood (1988) by Robin McKinley (Robin Hood retelling with a lot of heart and community feels.)
The Course of Honour by![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Avoliot (Delightful arranged marriage in space, with lots of pining.)
A Skinful of Shadows (2017) by Frances Hardinge (Girl fights to get to choose which ghosts will live in her head, set in 1600's England.)
A Monstrous Regiment (2017) byAMarguerite (Elizabeth Bennett, dragon captain.)
Raya (2018) by Henrik Johansson (Set in an industrial bakery in the lead-up to a strike.)
Spinning Silver (2018) by Naomi Novik (..everyone already knows about this one.)
The Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells (Also about this one.)
The Comfortable Courtesan (2017) by A. L. Hall (Have only read volume 1 so far, but this is a delightful and very readable regency series that passes Bechdel test in spades.)
Moll by Elizabeth Rynell (Extrapolation of the depopulation of the Swedish countryside.)
In conclusion, this was definitely the year of non-fiction for me. I mean, I read equal amounts of fiction and non-fiction, and yet there were a lot more candidates for the "favorite" category among the non-fiction books.
Total number of books read (including novel-length fic): 95
Down from 114 last year, probably because of reading non-fiction bricks. Also I think I read a fair amount of graphic novels last year.
Books by new-to-me authors: 43
Book authors by gender (judged by name, so I guess people could've been misgendered)
Female authors: 49
Male authors: 42
I'm omitting books with lots of authors and ones where I had no idea about gender. Usually I read more female authors than that, but reading more non-fiction definitely upped my proportion of male authors.
By language read in:
English: 71
Swedish: 24
By original language:
English: 64
Swedish: 24
Russian: 1
Italian: 1
Spanish: 1
Finnish: 1
Danish: 1
By author's country of origin:
USA: 49.5
Sweden: 24.5
UK: 8
Finland: 2
Italy: 2
Canada: 1.5
Belarus: 1
Australia: 1
Denmark: 1
Ireland: 0.5
Czechoslovakia: 0.5
Reading non-fiction seems to skew me heavily towards American books. But there's a fair amount of Swedish ones, too.
Genre (roughly; some were hard to categorize):
non-fiction: 49
SF: 17
fantasy: 14
historical: 6
YA: 5
romance: 1.5
None of the books were graphic novels.
35 out of the 46 fiction books passed the Bechdel test.
5 out of the 95 books were rereads.
Favorite new-to-me non-fiction books in 2018, in no particular order. Links go to my book posts.
The Collapse of Complex Societies (1998) by Joseph Tainter (Fascinating theory about the declining marginal benefits of complexity in society.)
The CNT in the Spanish Revolution (2011) by José Peirats (What it says on the tin. Simultaneously dry and moving, and full of interesting practical detail.)
Carbon Democracy (2011) by Timothy Mitchell (About the interplay between politics and fossil fuels.)
Fossil Capital (2016) by Andreas Malm (Same subject as the previous one, but from a different, complementary angle.)
All of Lilian Ryd's historical books about life in northernmost Sweden, with many practical details of life as it was lived (Kvinnor i väglöst land (1995), Renskötarkvinnor (2013), Tusen år i lappmarkens historia (2012)).
The Ecology of Agroecosystems (2011) by John Vandermeer (Brilliant application of the science of ecology to agricultural ecosystems.)
Debt (2011) by David Graeber (Compulsively readable history of debt from an anthropological perspective, and of economy in a wider sense.)
The Great Eating Disorder (2016) by Gunnar Rundgren (About what's wrong with the global food and agricultural system.)
Brainstorm: the flaws in the science of sex differences (2010) by Rebecca Jordan-Young (Impressive study focusing on the flaws both in individual experiments and in how they fit together.)
Messages From Islands (2016) by Ilkka Hanski (Good popular account of the science of biodiversity and nature conservation, woven together with personal memories of research.)
My European Family (2015) by Karin Bojs (About the last 50 000 years of European history, from a genealogical perspective based on DNA testing.)
The Art of Selling War (2016) by Pierre Gilly (About how pro-war propaganda works and how many lies are usually involved.)
Favorite new-to-me fiction books in 2018, in no particular order.
Kindred (1979) by Octavia Butler (An exploration of how slavery distorts intimate relationships.)
The Outlaws of Sherwood (1988) by Robin McKinley (Robin Hood retelling with a lot of heart and community feels.)
The Course of Honour by
A Skinful of Shadows (2017) by Frances Hardinge (Girl fights to get to choose which ghosts will live in her head, set in 1600's England.)
A Monstrous Regiment (2017) by
Raya (2018) by Henrik Johansson (Set in an industrial bakery in the lead-up to a strike.)
Spinning Silver (2018) by Naomi Novik (..everyone already knows about this one.)
The Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells (Also about this one.)
The Comfortable Courtesan (2017) by A. L. Hall (Have only read volume 1 so far, but this is a delightful and very readable regency series that passes Bechdel test in spades.)
Moll by Elizabeth Rynell (Extrapolation of the depopulation of the Swedish countryside.)
In conclusion, this was definitely the year of non-fiction for me. I mean, I read equal amounts of fiction and non-fiction, and yet there were a lot more candidates for the "favorite" category among the non-fiction books.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-01-03 04:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-01-03 09:13 am (UTC)