What I read in 2016
Yes, I’m a month late doing the year-end wrap-up things, but I was way too busy in early January so didn’t have time to do them then. And I like doing the annual summaries, so even though they’re late, I’m going to post them anyway.
I didn’t do a lot of reading last year (well, actually I did, but it was mostly in the form of academic journal articles, not books), and most of my “reading” was actually listening to audiobooks while walking to and from work. So it’s the shortest list since I first starting recording my reading.
Total = 92 books
January (9)
- The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett
- Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris (library audio book)
- Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty (e-book)
- A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd (library audio book)
- Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson (e-book)
- The Cat Sanctuary by Patrick Gale
- Divergent by Veronica Roth (library audio book)
- Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
- Insurgent by Veronica Roth (library audio book)
February (9)
- Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern (library audio book)
- Trick or Treat by Kerry Greenwood
- Canterbury Quake by Desna Wallace
- A is for Angelica by Iain Broome (library audio book)
- Planes, Trains and Elephants by Brian Thacker
- Bread and Chocolate by Philippa Gregory
- A Primate’s Memoir by Robert M Sapolsky (library audio book)
- Bad Cat by Jim Edgar (photographs)
- Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders by Julianna Baggott (library audio book)
March (14)
- Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze? edited by Mick O’Hare
- I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn (library audio book)
- Can Jane Eyre Be Happy? by John Sutherland
- What I Lived For by Joyce Carol Oates (library audio book)
- Born With Teeth by Kate Mulgrew (library audio book)
- The Speckled People by Hugo Hamilton
- Design on a Crime by Ginny Aiken
- Euphoria by Lily King (library audio book)
- Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss
- Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (library audio book)
- One Hundred Ways for a Cat to Find Its Inner Kitten by Celia Haddon
- Cat Quips by Helen Exley
- Heartburn by Nora Ephron (library audio book)
- Mystery of Cats by David Westwood
April (8)
- The Karma Sutra for Cats by Burton Silver
- The House Girl by Tara Conklin (library audio book)
- Small Bones by Vicki Grant (library audio book)
- An Audacious Alphabet by Amy J Francisconi
- Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop Song by Carl Nixon
- Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova (library audio book)
- Kitty Kitty by Michele Jaffe
- Still Alice by Lisa Genova
May (8)
- How to Train Your Cat by ‘Phee Line’
- Possession by AS Byatt
- We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (e-book)
- Redshirts by John Scalzi (e-book)
- When I’m Gone by Emily Bleeker (e-book)
- The Bookman’s Tale by Charlie Lovett (library audio book)
- How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
- The Enthusiast by Josh Fruhlinger (e-book)
June (7)
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (e-book)
- The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa De Carlo (library audio book)
- Make Something Up by Chuck Palahniuk
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (library audio book)
- Himalaya by Michael Palin (library audio book)
- Four Walls by Vangelis Hatziyannidis (translated by Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife)
- Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs (library audio book)
July (8)
- The Martian Child by David Gerrold (library audio book)
- Responsibility by Nigel Cox
- The Qualities of Wood by Mary Vensel (e-book)
- Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson (e-book)
- The Medici by Paul Strathern (library audio book)
- Mrs Bradshaw’s Handbook by The Discworld Emporium
- The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen (e-book)
- Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult (e-book)
August (6)
- The Residence by Kate Andersen Brower (library audio book)
- Daisy’s War by Shayne Parkinson (e-book)
- Rosemary by Kate Clifford Larson (library audio book)
- The Sad Truth About Happiness by Anne Giardini
- The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (e-book)
- Toms River by Dan Fagin (library audio book)
September (7)
- Feed by MT Anderson (e-book)
- The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty (e-book)
- The Well at the World’s End by AJ Mackinnon (library audio book)
- Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (library audio book)
- Dare Me by Megan Abbott (library audio book)
- The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
- The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
October (7)
- Into the River by Ted Dawe
- The Cat Who Covered the World by Christopher S Wren
- Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson (library audio book)
- Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah
- Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende (library audio book)
- Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society by Adeline Yen Mah
- Murder Freshly Baked by Vannetta Chapman (library audio book)
November (6)
- The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (library audio book)
- The Eyrie by Stevie Davies
- State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (library audio book)
- Murder Imperfect by Lesley Cookman
- Acquired Tastes by Peter Mayle (library audio book)
- Tales from a Greek Island by Roger Jinkinson
December (5)
- Carousel Court by Joe McGinniss Jr (library audio book)
- The Utopia of Rules by David Graeber
- The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter (library audio book)
- What If? by Randall Munroe
- The Future for Curious People by Gregory Sherl (library audio book)
What I read in 2015 (112 books)
What I read in 2014 (93 books)
What I read in 2013 (129 books)
What I read in 2012 (128 books)
What I read in 2011 (133 books)
What I read in 2010 (137 books)
What I read in 2009 (150 books)
What I read in 2008 (154 books)
What I read in 2007 (123 books)
What I read in 2006 (140 books)
What I read in 2005 (168 books)
What counts as a book?
How did you like ‘Divergent’?
I’ve been curious about that one.
From memory (it’s a while since I read it!) it was quite good – there’s some interesting ideas explored (though, like most YA dystopic science fiction, there were a few bits that made me go “nah, humans don’t work like that”), and it was definitely better than most of the Hunger Games clones that have popped up in the last few years. There’s a lot of violence, though, which I found a bit uncomfortable sometimes (possibly more so because I was listening to it on audiobook – it might not have been as disturbing if I’d been reading it).