A big major life shift this year, with moving across the country and changing jobs all in one fell swoop. Of course that stands out, and so my year feels like it is divided in half: first half in Houston, wrapping up at AST; second half in Rochester, settling into a new job and trying to establish routines and connections. I guess F1 was my throughline this year.

( 2024 in Review )

The best reading tracker app (Reading List, alas iOS only) I discovered this year simply tracks your read and to read books, with no social aspect. You can self-categorize and rate if you want, but it's simple and straightforward and I love it. Some basic stats too, though I may still use a spreadsheet tracker someone built for more in-depth stats. We'll see how lazy I am at filling everything in, tbh.

Total books read this year: 154
Books read posts: Just review this tag - pastime // reading

Series I read this year:

• Detective Kindaichi mysteries by Seishi Yokomizo - read #3/4, need to go back to 1 and 2
  
• Lady Hardcastle mysteries by T.E. Kinsey - read 1-3/9 but then lost interest
  
• Athreya mysteries by R.V. Raman - read 1/2 available, set in contemporary India, but poor prose means I probably won't continue
  
• Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers - 1-2/2 available<
  
• With or Without by J.L. Langley - 1-2/4 of m/m werewolves boning, but this is probably enough
  
• The Cemeteries of Amalo by Katherine Addison - 1-2/2 available
  
• The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes - 1-3/3 complete
  
• The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi - read 1/3 but probably won't finish the series, maybe Wikipedia can spoil the plot for me
  
• Daisy Dalrymple mysteries by Carola Dunn - 1-3/23 and plan to continue, it's a surprising delight
  
• The Pingkang Li mysteries by Jeannie Lin - 1-4/4 available
  
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - 2&3/3 available
  
• The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo - #3/3 available
  
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman - #3/3 complete
  
• Puckboys series by Eden Finley and Saxon James - 1-3/4 which I will now abandon, because I keep forgetting I hate the characters in this series
  
• The Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews - #6/6 available

Cnovels I read this year:

• Your Memes are Better Looking Than You by Mao Qiuqiu, a prequel to Your Scandals are Way Cuter Than You. Also fun!


• You Boys Play Games Very Well by Yi Xiu Luo, a delightful reread


• I Can Do It by Jian Zi Bei, which is e-gaming story that taught me too much about LoL and has probably the best translation I've read in a cnovel to date

( My 2022 in reading. )

I've decided I'm going to start tracking my books read (and books TBR/wishlist) on a spreadsheet for 2022. I have found a handy template made by someone better than me at Excel, and tweaked it to better fit my needs. Maybe next year I will have some interesting stats!

For 2021, though, here's the reading wrap-up:

Total books read this year: 144
Nonfiction: 30
Books read posts: Jan-Feb | Mar-Apr | May-Jun | Jul-Aug | Sep-Oct | Nov-Dec

Series I finished this year:*
Nursery Crime Divisions by Jasper Fforde - read 1-2/2
Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden - read 2-3/3
The Divine Cities Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett - read 3/3
Princess Academy Trilogy Shannon Hale - read 1-3/3
Mysterious Benedict Society series by Tristain Lee Stewart - read 3-4/4
Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara - read 1-5/5
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells - read 6/6
Regency Faerie Tales by Olivia Atwater - read 1-3/3
Professor Turbotnytska mysteries by Maryla Szymiczkowa - read 1-2/2 (that are translated, anyway)
CU Hockey series by Eden Finley & Saxon James - read 3-5/5

*duologies don't count, I've decided, but two books available of an ongoing series do

Cnovels I read this year:
FOG - Man Man He Qi Duo
A Certain Someone - Mu Su Li
Your Scandals Are Way Cuter Than You - Mao Qiu Qiu

Webtoons I read this year:
Make Me Bark - SAGOLD
Inner Beauty - Fairytale
Here U Are - DJun

Under the cut is the books year in review meme, plus highlight the year's reading challenge.

( Reflecting on 2021 reading. )

Total books read this year: 124
Nonfiction: 14
Books read posts: Jan-Feb | Mar-Apr | May-Jun | Jul-Aug | Sep-Oct | Nov-Dec

Series I started this year:
-The Center by M.C. Lee (1-5) - finished
-The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (1-5) - ongoing!
-Given (1-6) by Natsuki Kizu - ongoing!
-The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (1 & 2 out of 4)

Cnovels I read this year:
-You Boys Play Games Very Well
-Everyone Thinks That I Like Him
-Don't You Like Me
-Very Happy
-Glory (WIP)
-My Underachieving Seatmate Doesn't Need Any Comforting
-PUBG Online Romance of the Century

Webtoons I read this year:
-All About Lust
-Talk to Me
-Can't Take My Eyes Off You
-BJ Alex
-Ordinary Men

Following a few more WIPs for both cnovels and webtoons!

Under the cut I'll do a year in review meme, plus highlight the year's reading challenge.

( Reading reflections, or, a lot of words. )

General thoughts: I think I read more nonfiction this year than I have in literally decades? I usually consume a lot of news but not nonfiction books. Memoirs and essays made for the easiest reads, but narrative nonfiction helps when I'm engaging in specific past events/eras/topics. After a lifetime of reading fiction, I know what I like so it's easier to comb through recs and figure out what to try that's likely to be to my tastes. It is much harder for me to narrow down nonfiction that I think will be both interesting and engaging enough to carry me through.

Reading is still meant to be fun so for 2021 I still want to read my faves: regency romances, cozy mysteries, tropey m/m stories, and a good fantasy. But I also want to push myself a little bit too, so I'd like to continue reading interesting nonfiction (I will have a realistic goal of, like, 15), and maybe a genre or two I normally don't prefer. I tried horror this year, and scifi, plus a "psychological" thriller. The scifi worked to my tastes, the horror was okay, the thriller was distinctly not for me.

Though not intentional, the bulk of my reading was books by women, and I'd prefer to keep that trend. Could definitely stand for the authors to be more diverse on other fronts (race, class, LGBT, disability, worldview), and I'll look for opportunities, but realistically it won't be the main driver for picking most of what I read.

ETA: For my own records, AO3 says I read roughly 1,660 fics NOT counting those I backbuttoned out of or those I reread over and over. Fandoms: for new stuff, I briefly dipped into Gallaghercest (Oasis), Crooked Media RPF as a carryover from 2019. Also spent some time with The Witcher mostly for the porn, went on a 1D tour that was only Harry/Niall, got into ATLA after watching the show, checked out Promare after the movie, revisited FMA after the show, explored Demon Slayer after the show, and poked my head into Bond/Q without having seen any of the movies. When restless I revisited old standbys like HP, Star Trek AOS, GenKill, DCU. (Always pining for Pimms; there is very rarely new content.) Also revisited YOI (only JJ/Yuri), Dresden Files, and BNHA -- always a mixed bag. The main thread throughout the year was lots of hockey, but I checked out new teams/pairings like the Islanders and Canucks! Got very into Tkachuk/Draisatl this year, as did the fandom. Gimme more.

Wrapped up my books read in the last three months, so now to reflect on 2019 as a whole:

Book series I've read in their entirety this year:
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (1 & 2)
Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend (1 & 2 but it's ongoing...)
Him & Us by Sarina Bowne and Elle Kennedy
Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue (1-31)

Series I finished this year:
To All the Boys I Loved trilogy by Jenny Han (2 & 3)
Fake Boyfriend series by Eden Finley (3-5)
Bridge of Birds trilogy by Barry Hughart (2 & 3)

Favorite books I read this year:
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid is the runaway winner for hitting me right in the id and being essentially fictionalized RPF (Red, White & Royal Blue and Public Relations were also in this camp). Eden Finley's series was fun the whole way through, and I liked Him and Us a lot too. Favorite YA was probably Descendant of the Crane by Joan He mostly because it evoked Nirvana in Fire so much, though Folk of the Air and To All the Boys I Loved Before were good series too, in different ways. I still don't love short stories or most of the modern Regency romances. Read a bunch of mysteries but nothing blew me away. New Ilona Andrews series were fun and I look forward to more! For a change of pace from my usual genres, City of Thieves by David Benioff, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, and Less by Andrew Sean Greer stood out and moved me. Shrill by Lindy West was my favorite memoir and non-fiction read, though The Down Goes Brown History of the NHL was also entertaining. Slam Dunk is still phenomenal. Probably no singular favorite.

Total books read so far this year: Counting my manga volumes separately, 103. (Thanks, Slam Dunk.) And, you know what, I'm just gonna leave that.

And according to my AO3 history, I've read 1738 fics (not counting repeats because god knows I've visited some fics multiple times). I had a lot of JJ/Yuri feelings to start off the year, then revisited some DCU, then visited BakuDeku and My Hero Academia out of boredom, before falling head over heels into Kent Parson feelings in May. Got back into hockey with the Canes being interesting, followed the draft and some of the new USNTDP kids (okay, Jack Hughes), and I guess that's where I've mostly lived. Oh, I briefly looked into Crooked Media RPF and Gallaghercest, lol. What a trip.