Every year I look back on the books I’ve read and consider which ones were my favourites. In 2017 I set myself a goal of reading 24 books (or 2 books per month). I was pretty chuffed to see that I beat my goal this year. According to Goodreads I read 25 books, although in reality I actually read 27 – the two extras being manuscripts written by writer friends (One of which has since been published, so I really should’ve added it to my Goodreads tally, darn it!).
In previous years I set myself targets to ensure I was reading a wide spread of books. For 2017 I decided to just read what I felt like at the time, and it produced some interesting results!
So of the 27 books I read, this is how they are broken down:
- – 6 were by Aussie writers, 2 were British, 1 was a NZ author, and the remaining 19 authors were American. Whoa!
- – Only 9/27 writers were female.
- – Only 2/27 were by writers of colour.
- – 1/27 book was non-fiction.
- – 14 were SF, 7 were Thrillers, 4 were Fantasy/Urban Fantasy, and one was a straight Romance.
- – 13 were read as ebooks, 14 were ‘read’ on audiobook.
So, what were my favourite reads of 2017?
Fear The Sky by Stephen Moss (Science Fiction)
Split Second by David Baldacci (Mystery/Thriller/Suspense)
The Fallen Empire Series by Lindsay Buroker (Science Fiction). I’m about to finish book 3 in the series.
The Late Show by Michael Connelly (Mystery/Thriller/Suspense)
Helix by Nathan M. Farrugia (Science Fiction Thriller).
Which makes total sense given all these books fall into my two favourite genres.
So looking at 2018, what will my targets be? I’m sticking with my 2017 target. Working full time and running my own business (writing books) I just don’t have time for any more, so I’m sticking to the target of trying to read a minimum of 24 books (or 2 books per month).
I will, however, try an make an effort to read more female writers and more writers of colour, but sticking with my ‘no rules/goals/boundaries’ this year, I won’t set myself specific targets. I’m just going to try and be more mindful about this when selecting the books I read.
Free and easy is my motto this year! I will go wherever the year takes me and that includes my reading too!
