My Halfway Through The Year Reading Report

The Sunday Salon, What I'm Reading

Technically, it’s halfway through the year at the end of this week, but since it’s close enough, I thought I’d report on my reading this year. So far, I have finished 13 books:

  1. The Library Book by Susan Orlean (January)
  2. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Tarton (January)
  3. Shale Play: Poems and Photographs from the Fracking Fields by Julia Kasdorf and Steven Rubin (January)
  4. Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (January)
  5. All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot (February)
  6. Calypso by David Sedaris (February)
  7. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters (February)
  8. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan (March)
  9. The Uninvited by Dorothy McCardle (March)
  10. Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor (April)
  11. All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot (May)
  12. Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport (June)
  13. Ratking by Michael Dibdin (June)

My reading at the start of the year was spurred on by a few reading challenges and readathons: First Book of the Year, The Big Game’s On Read-a-thon, and 24in48, with my first seven books all being excellent. And then…the brutally long winter just depressed me so I didn’t feel like reading. And then…I hurt my knee in late March (latest update this past week) so I didn’t feel like reading. And now…here we are.

Out of the last six books, only one, All Things Wise and Wonderful, was excellent, but the other five all were good. The only slight disappointment was Digital Minimalism, because I couldn’t relate to the author’s economic status in contrast to my own. He seems to have a lot more free time than I do. Other than that, I liked the ideas he presented, although my wife and I already were (and are) discovering some of them on our own since deleting our Facebook accounts earlier in the year.

Best book? Probably Born a Crime, because I liked the mix of drama and comedy. However, both The Library Book and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle also lived up to the hype.

Next weekend, I’ll be doing my normal Pushing Forward Back post (looking back at the month and ahead to the next month) and having my birthday giveaway (from books I own) as promised, probably on Saturday and Sunday.

So how has your reading year been so far? What has been your favorite book this year? Your least favorite?

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Published by Bryan G. Robinson

Blogger formerly known as Unfinished Person. Still an unfinished person...

Published

18 thoughts on “My Halfway Through The Year Reading Report”

  4. My reading year has been good in quality, but not quantity and I am fine with that. My fave was probably Daisy Jones. Although there are a few that stand out.

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  5. You’ve read some great books this year, Bryan. I though Born a Crime was excellent and want to read The Library Book soon. Anything by David Sedaris is a hit with me, too. I’ve had a good reading year so far… will have to check the stats and write a post of my own, soon. My nonfiction reading is way up, but I’ve practically abandoned classics. That seems to be working for now. Have a good week!

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  6. I’d rather have quality over quantity any day. I’ve only read two on your list – Calypso and Born a Crime and I liked both of them. The audio of Born a Crime is really good.

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  7. Considering I didn’t renew my motivation until March, I’m pretty happy with a reading total of 91 books so far this year. My favourite was The Sparkle Pages by Meg Bignell, my least favourite was One For the Books by Joe Queenan

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  8. It’s crazy to think we’re nearly halfway through the year already!! So far I’ve only had one read “loved” book as well.

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  9. Retirement has given me much more time to read, so my numbers have soared this half-year. My favorite sorts of reads are often short, browsable books, plus children’s picture books, so that helps, too. I’ve been a little dismayed at the quality of my reads this year though. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve only had a couple of reads that have been really exemplary. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve read all the really good books; maybe only the pretty-good books are left. That’s a scary thought.

    Of course there are always rereads.

    (Update to this comment: I decided to check out the facts of my reading, at Goodreads, where I leave all my reviews. Was I ever wrong! I have forty-two 5-star reads for the year. I’d completely forgotten that I read Anna Karenina this year. And The Night Circus. Salt to the Sea. Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. Death of a Salesman. The Age of Innocence. As well as a lot of wonderful children’s books. Plus many other books that were probably really 4 1/2 stars. I’m glad I double-checked. Now I don’t feel quite so gloomy.)

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