2021 in books

[Mary]

How was 2021 for reading?

[Mary]

The memory that pops to mind is that more books failed to be released on their release date than in any other year. I may be mistaken, not having figures.

But there were good things. Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 7 and Vol. 8 were both released, and so was Joyeuse Guard and Piranesi. I discovered The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Aria: The Masterpiece among others

[Sheryl]

I made my reading goal for once. But I did it by blasting through a bunch of fiction. I'm still too prone to reading a few pertinent chapters of a non-fiction book and then not picking it up again. And, ironically, too likely to read an entire book even after it's obvious that the author said everything he has to say in the first few chapters -- or, worse, in the article that inspired me to pick up the book in the first place!

I read Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh, which I (and most of her contemporaries) consider far superior to her Sonnets of the Portuguese, and which probably ought to be read by every female writer sometime in their lives. It's a real shame how EBB has been reduced to a footnote in Robert Browning's life, and quite ironic in terms of how their contemporaries viewed them (she was candidate for Poet Laureate in 1850 while he was considered quite secondary).

On a more plebian note, I read the first in the V.I. Warshawski Mystery series and quite enjoyed it, although I suppose I should finish out Sue Grafton's Alphabet series before getting serious about reading through that one.

Whenever I write out my long term goals I realize I am not going to live long enough to read all of the books on my list. It's depressing.

I read very little that's current, so have no comments on publishing trends or the like.

[Clyde]

Sheryl wrote: "I made my reading goal for once. But I did it by blasting through a bunch of fiction. I'm still too prone to reading a few pertinent chapters of a non-fiction book and then not picking it up again...."

Nice post, Sheryl.

I didn't quite make my 2021 goal -- missed it by one book. Meh -- read too many doorstoppers I suppose.

We appear to be in somewhat similar circumstances. I don't read many recently published books. Meanwhile, my TBR stack grows while time decreases. (Now that I have made it to "old" by any way of counting and not being able to read anywhere near as fast as Mary apparently does, I have to face the fact that I am unlikely to read them all. 😐)

As a bard once said, Keep on chooglin'.

[Sheryl]

Clyde said: "read too many doorstoppers I suppose."

I suppose that's part of my problem as well -- I have a lot of large books I'm half-way through, which is why I switched to novels to get the goal done. My daughter used to read through the entire Three Investigators series every summer to get her reading prize from the library.

And maybe one reason I so often fall short on my GoodReads goals is that I set my standards too high nowadays. I read a lot of old "City Mysteries" and other precursors to Dime Novels last year and didn't count them, because they're barely novellas to my mind. One year in my twenties I read 365 books, but many of them were either short or juveniles.

Clyde said: "I didn't quite make my 2021 goal -- missed it by one book."

I don't set my standards *that* high, though! I would have tossed in something short if I were that close, either a book I'd read but not dated or I'd just buzz through something short and easy New Year's Eve afternoon.

I need to get more disciplined about what I read this year.

[Mary]

Set a goal of pages, not books. 0:)

[Clyde]

Speaking of books in 2021, I just noticed that Sarah came out with another book last year (Other Rhodes). A novella I suppose as it is apparently 108 pages (whatever page count means in an ebook).
Anyway, just bought it.
(I suppose most of you already knew about it, but just in case.)

Also, Edward Willett interviewed Sarah just yesterday over at his Worldshapers podcast. Give it a listen if you are so inclined.
https://theworldshapers.com/2022/01/1...