The Yearly List of “What I’ve Been Reading”

I noticed it’d been a bit over a year since I did a post about what I’ve been reading, and that one was about a year after the last one, so, what the hell.  I’ll make it a tradition.

So, the list (links are to Goodreads, because it’s what I’ve got open to make sure I don’t forget anything.  From there you should be able to find a place to buy them if you want them.):

1. Red:  A History of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss-Harvey
2. All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (25th Anniversary Edition) by Robert Fulghum
3. Argentine Tango Chronicles by Robert Fulghum (link goes to site you can LEGALLY download it from as it’s not published in the US for reasons explained there)
4. In the Shadow of the Dam:  The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874 by Elizabeth M. Sharpe
5. The Queen Mother:  The Official Biography by William Shawcross (I didn’t finish this one because it got too boring.)
6. Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher
7. Last Child in the Woods:  Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv (I didn’t finish this one because it got too repetitive.)
8. Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon
9. Valor’s Choice by Tanya Huff
10. Nurk:  The Strange, Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew by Ursula Vernon
11. The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
12. The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher
13. Azure Bonds by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb
14. Flight from the Dark by Joe Dever
15. Fire on the Water by Joe Dever
16. Caverns of Kalte by Joe Dever (link goes to site where you can play through these gamebooks for free, LEGALLY)
17. Kirsten’s Story Collection by Janet Beeler Shaw
18. The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
19. The War-Torn Kingdom by Dave Morris (link goes to site where you can LEGALLY download a thing to play through the gamebook)
20. Meet Samantha:  An American Girl by Susan S. Adler
21. Samantha Learns a Lesson:  A School Story by Susan S. Adler
22. The Widowmaker by Mike Resnick
23. The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan
24. Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery
25. Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery

Of the books I was reading when I made last year’s list, the three that aren’t on this list were ebooks I was reading when something corrupted (or something like that), and I needed to restore my iPod Touch and none of them were ones I was enjoying enough to bother with trying to find my place again.

I’m presently reading:

1. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

That’s it.  Just one book!  I know, I’m as surprised as you are, I assure you!  But it’s what I’ve been doing lately, and it’s resulting in this weird thing where I finish books without having to renew them from the library the maximum number of times!  Freaky, huh?  (Okay, so sometimes I read one or more of the shorter books in a single day in the middle of reading something longer, but still . . .)

So, interesting things that I notice reading over that list:  First, wow, that’s a lot of YA, some possibly actually Middle Grades; I have a theory on why that might be, but that’s it’s own blogpost.  Second, there are only two sci-fi books on there, so much for that “keeping up with what’s going on in your genre” thing some authors say is so important.  Third, I think it’s pretty obvious that I’ve discovered an author or two I love recently.  (T. Kingfisher and Ursula Vernon are the same person; Kingfisher is her pen name for non-children’s books.)

And how did I discover these books?  Let’s break it down by method instead of by book, because I like seeing the statistics for this sort of thing:

1. Kept seeing it at the library and thought it sounded intriguing:  2
2. Read it before:  9
3. Author’s website:  1
4. Wanted a book on local history because I wanted to know more about local history:  1
5. Had been recommended on a blog I trusted:  1
6. Got it for free for supporting the author on Patreon (because I like their short stories) so figured I might as well read it:  1
7. Was reading samples of stuff in that subgenre until I found something I liked enough to read all the way through:  1
8. Wanted more by an author:  3
9. Saw a conversation about it that made it look intriguing:  1
10. Wanted to finish a series I was enjoying:  3
11. Recommended to me because I mentioned liking another similar book:  1
12. Is early Forgotten Realms, so it’s not like I need another reason:  1

Breaking down the largest category, “Read it before”:

1. Parents left it lying around so I read it:  1
2. Found wandering around bookstore aimlessly after finding nothing in the Young Adult section I wanted when I was about 12:  1
3. Sequel to something I’d liked:  5
4. I don’t remember how I first encountered this book:  2

Looking over those lists, I think I finally understand why marketing is so hard for me to do.  I have no bloody idea how to sell a book!  Unless I already know the series or the author, I seem to discover every single book in a different way!