2016 in Review
Well, that year turned out a bit differently than we all thought, didn’t it? Oh well, I guess now that we’ve rolled over to a new arbitrary calendar year EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE. Donald Trump will definitely not start a war over Twitter and all of our favourite celebrities will stop dying. I can’t wait!
The Weblog
Nearly six years I’ve been keeping this weblog now, and I’m still enjoying it. I love being able to look back on what I’ve read, and I feel like taking an hour or two to write about a book really helps me get more out of my reading. If you had told fifteen-year-old me that I would voluntarily write fifty book reports a year, I would have told you to get lost in a very 90s way, possibly by using a sarcastic phrase punctuated with a “NOT!” at the end.
I would like to put a bit of work into the design here, which I say every year, but I can really feel it this time. 2017 is the year I write an About page. I’ve also been toying with the idea of maybe doing expanded reviews in the form of podcasts or booktube videos. I can’t promise I’ll ever post one, but my plan is to at least go through the steps of recording something this year and see how it goes. I may need to undergo some sort of vocal cord surgery to make my voice acceptable for the general public first.
The Stats
Overall books read: 51
Format
Graphic novels and trade paperback collections: 9
Audio books: 25
E-Books: 1
Poetry compilations: 2
Short story or essay complications: 2
Plays: 0
Non-fiction: 10
Classics: 10
Country (of author)
America: 31
England: 8
Scotland: 4
Canada: 2
Russia: 2
Brazil: 1
Ireland: 1
South Korea: 1
South Africa: 1
Other
Most novels by same author: 2 (John Scalzi and Eddie Huang)
New authors (to me): 17
Female authors: 9
Re-reads: 2
Observations
- For two years in a row now I haven’t read a single play, so I need to make a point to change that this year.
- I doubled the amount of women writers I read this year. Still only 18% of my overall reading, but still an improvement.
- This was something I wanted to change last year and it didn’t happen, but I’d like to get that New Authors number down and start reading more novels from authors I know I love.
- This next year I’d like to read at least one graphic novel a month. It’s such a cool medium, and I often forget how much I enjoy comics.
- Over half the books I read this year were audiobooks. That’s partly because I tackled some larger physical novels, but mainly because I’ve gotten quite bad at dedicating time to sit down and read.
- I’d like to read more from countries outside of America and England this year.
The Challenges
The Classics Club: I finished this last spring! I decided to keep adding books to the list until my five year mark, next March, before wrapping it up.
Back to the Classics Challenge 2016: I read nine out of a possible twelve novels and really enjoyed participating. I even managed to win the draw at the end of the year!
Foodies Read 2016: I read four novels for this, just squeezing in to the four to eight category.
The Top Fives/Threes
These are all lists of media that were new to me this year, not necessarily released this year.
Fiction
- Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
- Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg
Non-Fiction
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- The Lost City of Z by David Grann
- Heat by Bill Buford
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Quiet by Susan Cain
Comic
- Saga: Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan
- Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff
- We Stand On Guard by Brian K. Vaughan
- Sex Criminals: Volume Three by Matt Fraction
- The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
Audiobook Narration
- Dylan Baker narrating The Grapes of Wrath
- Tim Gerard Reynolds narrating Golden Son
- Patricia Rodriguez narrating The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
- Trevor Noah narrating Born a Crime
- Dan Stevens narrating Frankenstein
Video Game
- Uncharted 4
- Tales from the Borderlands
- Firewatch
- Tom Clancy’s The Division
- Destiny
Movie
- What We Do In The Shadows (2014)
- The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
* Didn’t watch many movies this year, so this turned into a weird top 3.
Movie – Non-Fiction
- Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2016)
- What Happened, Miss Simone (2015)
- The Resurrection of Jake the Snake (2015)
Television series – Fiction
- House of Cards, seasons 1 – 4
- Stranger Things, season 1
- BoJack Horseman, season 3
Television series – Non-Fiction
- Chef’s Table: France, season 1
- Chef’s Table, season 2
- Rick Stein’s Long Weekends, season 1
6 Comments
Joseph
Thanks Rob…I never thought of this as writing book reports before. I quit!
Rob
I came to the horrible realization some time ago. How did I end up here??
(I hate to think how I would be graded. It wouldn’t be pretty…)
Knowledge Lost
I have a similar problem with American authors, I have been working hard to reduce the number of American books I read. Hopefully 2017 will continue. I don’t think I have a top games of 2016 list, I spent too much time playing EU4 and Civ5 and 6.
Rob
I think you’ve got your top three right there! Love the Civ games, should probably play them more, but haven’t tried any of the EU games.
looloolooweez
Whew, you had a super busy bookish 2016.
“If you had told fifteen-year-old me that I would voluntarily write fifty book reports a year, I would have told you to get lost in a very 90s way, possibly by using a sarcastic phrase punctuated with a “NOT!” at the end.”
Haha, same! I probably would have done the “Whatever, LOSER” with forehead-finger signs for punctuation.
Rob
Another great 90s option!