In the past four years I've read 95 books and will finish 2013 at 96 (Galapagos, by Kurt Vonnegut) or possibly 97 (TBD!) if I get some time to curl up over winter break. Didn't hit my 30-book target for 2013 but that's okay, I waded through a couple of very dense, very satisfying reads in Godel, Escher, Bach, Through the Eye of a Needle and Discipline and Punish.
That's not a ton but it's not too bad, a few points above the 80th percentile according to Pew, if you take my average (~24). In 2012 I was probably well into the 90s (28). Lower than I'd like and lower than I expected. Boo. GOTTA STEP UP MY GAME. I wanna see Pew's dataset -- how many books gets me into the 99th percentile? Also, I got into the habit earlier this year of jotting down some quick thoughts after finishing each book. I need to start again. It's a good habit.
Here's the list. I've highlighted some of the ones that stuck with me. Looks like 2011 and 2012 were fat years, relatively speaking, and 2010 and 2013 comparatively lean.
2010
1. The Mismeasure of Man (and essays), by Stephen Jay Gould
2. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman
3. A House for Mr. Biswas, by V.S. Naipaul
4. A Stillness at Appomattox, by Bruce Catton (second or third time)
5. The Lost Books of the Odyssey, by Zachary Mason
6. Speak, Memory, by Vladimir Nabokov
7. Applied Nutrition for Mixed Sports, by Lyle McDonald
8. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, by Haruki Murakami
9. The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright
10. Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Stories, Volume 2, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
11. Silk Parachute, by John McPhee
12. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
13. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
14. The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson
15. Encounters with the Archdruid, by John McPhee
16. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson
17. Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen
18. Stretch to Win, by Ann and Chris Frederick
19. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (and Six More), by Roald Dahl (again)
20. Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
21. The Lost City of Z, by David Grann
22. An Anthropologist on Mars, by Oliver Sacks
23. Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami
24. Bloodlands, by Timothy Snyder
2011
1. Aeschylus, Agamemnon
2. Virgil, The Aeneid
3. David Simon, The Wire (TV show but I'm counting it, shut up)
4. Patti Smith, Just Kids
5. Plato, The Apology of Socrates and Crito
6. Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
7. Michael Chabon, Maps and Legends
8. Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns
9. Anton Chekhov, The Duel
10. Ian Fleming, Casino Royale (shut up, it's a classic, plus I needed a break from Devils)
11. Arthur Rimbaud, Illuminations
12. Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
13. John McPhee, The Curve of Binding Energy
14. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
15. Robert Alter (translation and commentary), Genesis
16. John O'Hara, Appointment in Samarra
17. Steven Mitchell (translation and commentary), Job (twice in a row)
18. William Strunk and E.B. White, The Elements of Style
19. Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly
20. Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country
2012
1. Annals of the Former World, by John McPhee
2. Strength in What Remains, by Tracy Kidder
3. How to Live, Or, A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, by Sarah Bakewell
4. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote*
5. The Control of Nature, by John McPhee*
6. Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, by Lawrence Weschler
7. Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor*
8. A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor*
9. The Violent Bear It Away, by Flannery O'Connor*
10. Pakistan, A Hard Country, by Anatol Lieven
11. Awakenings, by Oliver Sacks*
12. Freakonomics, by Stevens Levitt and Dubner#
13. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John LeCarre*
14. The Russia House, by John LeCarre#
15. Hail to the Victors, ed. by Brian Cook
16. The Cave, by Jose Saramago#
17. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald*
18. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by Jonathan Berendt
19. Skinny Dip, by Carl Hiaasen
20. The Quiet American, by Graham Greene*
21. Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov*
22. Irons in the Fire, by John McPhee (again)
23. Tombstone, by Yang Jisheng
24. The Book of Job, trans. by Stephen Mitchell (again)*
25. The White Hotel, by D.M. Thomas
26. The Monster of Florence, by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi
27. The 50 Funniest American Writers, by Andy Borowitz
28. The Leopard, by Jo Nesbo
2013
1. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
2. The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
3. The Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes
4. Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel
5. Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter
6. Some Hope: A Trilogy, by Edwin St. Aubyn
7. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Spider's House, by Paul Bowles
9. Cuba Libre, by Elmore Leonard
10. The Human Factor, by Graham Greene
11. Liar's Poker, by Michael Lewis
12. The Places in Between, by Rory Stewart
13. Going Clear, by Lawrence Wright
14. The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkein (maybe third or fourth time but first in years)
15. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carre
16. Becoming a Supple Leopard, by Kelly Starrett
17. Smiley's People, by John LeCarre
18. The Sound of Things Falling, by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
19. Through the Eye of a Needle, by Peter Brown
20. Discipline and Punish, by Michel Foucault
21. The Honourable Schoolboy, by John Le Carre
22. Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood
23. Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin
