2018 in Review

This was a pretty good year. Not for the world, obviously, or the future of mankind, but for me it was. We travelled a little and generally enjoyed ourselves. My motorcycle lessons were really a highlight at the end of the year. Being on a bike is just a great feeling, and it had been a while since I really tried to properly learn a new physical skill. It was fun starting off completely useless and seeing myself get better.

Reading-wise, the first half of the year was quite good and the second half of the year fell apart, but that happens. No use dwelling on it. This year I’m going to try to take the time to just sit down with a book during the day more often. I’ve mainly been reading in bed this year, and that sometimes just doesn’t work.

The Stats

Overall books read: 46

Format
Graphic novels and comics: 11
Short story or essay compilations: 1
Non-fiction: 13

Country (of author)
America: 11 (+7 comics)
England: 8
Canada: 7
Scotland: 5
Japan: 0 (+3 comics)
France: 2
Sweden: 1
Austria: 1
Australia: 0 (+1 comic)

Genre
Science Fiction: 7 (+9 comics)
Fantasy: 5 (+1 comic)
Memoir: 5
Mystery/Crime: 3
Food-related: 3
Gothic/Horror: 2
Comedy: 1
Non-fiction-literature: 3
Non-fiction-travel/adventure: 3
Non-fiction-other: 3

Other
Most novels by same author: 2 (Agatha Christie)
Most comics by same author: 4 (Brian K. Vaughan)
New authors (to me): 26
Woman authors: 8

Reading Resolutions (which I will immediately start ignoring)

• Read more plays and poetry – I keep saying this and not doing it, but it’s been a year since I read any poetry and years since I read a play.
• Read more books by women – This dropped quite a bit this year, so I just need to re-focus there.
• Read more authors from around the world – A goal last year was to read less American and English authors, having them take up no more than 50% of my reading, and I actually hit that. I also wanted to read more Scottish and Canadian authors, and I managed that as well. I hit goals! This year I’d like to start exploring new countries a bit more, possibly setting up a map to show where I’ve read. I love those ‘read a book from every country’ challenges I’ve seen people do.
• Finish the Professor Challenger series – I only have one short story left for this, which isn’t available on audio, so I’ll either be tracking down a Professor Challenger collection or trying out one of those new-fangled e-book readers you kids are so fond of.
• Read some Carrie Fisher fiction – I loved her audiobooks and would love to read her fiction, but I never seem to come across it in the bookstores and all of the audio versions are annoyingly abridged.
• Finish Akira – I’m loving this series but didn’t quite get through it this year. I have two volumes and an art book left, so I’ll be reading those this year and finally watching the anime adaptation.
• Read more mythology – Reading Norse Mythology and playing God of War really got me excited about the Norse myths for a while there. I’ve never really been fond of mythology, so I’d like to continue on with that and learn a bit more. Celtic or Greek myths next, maybe.

The Lists

These are all lists of media that were new to me this year, not necessarily released this year.

Fiction

1. Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb
2. Brother by David Chariandy
3. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
4. Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
5. Himself by Jess Kidd
6. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
7. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
8. The Seeds of Time by John Wyndham
9. Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer
10. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Non-Fiction

1. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
2. Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship by Robert Kurson
3. The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
4. Sailing Alone around the World by Joshua Slocum
5. 32 Yolks: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line by Eric Ripert

Comics

1. Akira, Vol. 2 by Katsuhiro Otomo
2. Nimona by Nimona
3. Akira, Vol. 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo
4. Paper Girls, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
5. Saga, Vol. 9 by Brian K. Vaughan

Audiobook Narrations

1. David Rintoul narrating Whisky Galore
2. Jim Dale narrating Peter Pan
3. Neil Gaiman narrating Norse Mythology
4. Dan Stevens narrating And Then There Were None
5. Kenneth Branagh narrating Murder on the Orient Express

Video Games
I’ll be writing a separate post for this, since I haven’t written reviews for any of these games.

Movies

1. Black Panther (2018)
2. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
3. Boy (2010)
4. I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017)
5. Doctor Strange (2016)

Television

1. Chef’s Table Vol. 4 & 5 (2018)
2. Salt Fat Acid Heat: Season 1 (2018)
3. Somebody Feed Phil: Seasons 1 & 2 (2018)
4. Ugly Delicious (2018)
5. BoJack Horseman: Season 5 (2018)

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My #topnine2018 photos.

A post shared by Rob (@mcmillan) on Dec 27, 2018 at 9:31pm PST

Happy New Year! Hope you all have a great 2019!