January in sum: 17 books read, 4,453+ pages (two books—1 audio, 1 e-ARC—don’t have that information available), with an average of 3.8 rating (4 5-star reads!!). I’d have preferred a few more books in general and the ratio between print and audio favors audiobooks more than I’d like, but work’s been so heavy I haven’t been able to read as much (and I can listen while I work most of the time), that trend may continue for the next couple of months. Not going to complain (too much)…probably.
As per usual, I didn’t write quite as many posts as I wanted to, particularly the review-ish kind. But adding a section about non-review-ish posts to this wrap-up makes me feel a lot more productive because I don’t normally think of those posts when I look back at the month. So that’s a cool thing (although most months won’t be as filled with them, I realize).
Anyway, here’s what happened here in the first month of 2020:
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| Average = | 3.8 |
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“Traditionally” Published: 12
Self-/Independent Published: 5
| Genre | This Month | Year to Date |
|---|---|---|
| Children’s | 1 (5%) | 11 (5%) |
| Fantasy | 3 (16%) | 3 (16%) |
| General Fiction/ Literature | 3 (16%) | 3 (16%) |
| Horror | 1 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Humor | 1 (5%) | 1 (5%) |
| Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller | 6 (32%) | 6 (32%) |
| Non-Fiction | 1 (5%) | 1 (5%) |
| Science Fiction | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Steampunk | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Theology/ Christian Living | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Urban Fantasy | 4 (21%) | 4 (21%) |
| Western | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
- Find Your Weigh by Shellie Bowdoin: A No-Nonsense, but not overly-demanding, approach to Eating right/Weight loss
- Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer: A delightful guide to style, grammar, spelling and other things English Language-related that you didn’t realize you wanted to know.
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK I., Chapter i.-iv.
- Not Dressed by Matthew Hanover: If this book doesn’t bring a smile to your face, something’s broken
- Clearing the Deck: Tweet-length thoughts about books I can’t find time to write about
- Reread Project: The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs: A very different model of what reading can be all about.
- Junkyard Cats by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam: Hunter tries SF with Predictably Entertaining Results
- Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire: Jack and Jill’s Final (?) Showdown in the Moors
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK I., Chapter v.-ix.
- Wizard Ring by Clare Blanchard: A Subtle Take on Contemporary Fantasy
- Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb: High Stakes Danger for Lori Anderson in the Windy City
- Operation Large Scotch: O.L.S. by Bill Flockhart: Terrorists Attempt the Unthinkable
- Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg: A Dynamite Beginning to a New Series from One of the Most Reliable Scribes Around
- Stone Cold Magic by Jayne Faith, Amy Landon (Narrator): Meet The City of Trees’ Resident Demon Hunter
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding: BOOK I., ix.-Book II., iii.
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (5th, 11th, and 18th), I also posted:
- Looking back at 2019 for Books and the Blog
- 2020 Reading Challenges and Other Plans
- Four posts about my favorites 2019 in Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living, Crime/Mystery/Detective/Thriller Fiction, and Non-Crime Fiction (I need to come up with a catchier name for that if I’m going to persist in breaking those down)
- I asked a Few Questions of Matthew Hanover (again) and Shellie Bowdoin
- Do I Have That? Booktag
- Fridays with The Foundling: An Introduction to kick off this year-long series
- Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf
- In Medias Res: A Beginning At The End by Mike Chen
- Opening Lines: The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker
- and WWW Wednesday for January 15, 2020 and January 29, 2020
How was your month?
Bookstooge
Four 5star books is a great way to start the year out! Hope that trend continues for you.
HCNewton
No kidding, but I can do without the 1-star and 2-star trend ending
Bookstooge
For whatever reason, I have found that a 1 or 2 star book just sucks the joy I may have accumulated from any 5 star book. It doesn’t seem fair, to be honest.