In 2012, I only read 64 books. For most people, that probably seems a lot! An average of more than 1 book a week. However, it’s actually quite a low number for me and is a contrast to my reading of 20 years ago. I can attribute this to being busy with work, academic research, commuting and other boring adult things, plus I tackled some long books such as a biography of Queen Victoria, a Dickens, a Tolstoy, a Thomas Hardy and an Arnold Bennett.
Coincidentally or not, several books I read in 2012 I have re-read for a second time this year, including Before I Go to Sleep, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, I’ll Never Be Young Again, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. There were also some that I have re-read in recent years since starting this blog, including Magic Fire, The Starlight Crystal, The Speed of the Dark, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, Chasing the Sun, The Last of the Sky Pirates and Solaris. More proof, if any were needed, that my reading tends to be in 5, 10, 15 or 20 year cycles.
Some of the other books I read in 2012: Picnic at Hanging Rock, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, The Remains of the Day, Brideshead Revisited, Making Money by Terry Pratchett, Ann Veronica by H G Wells, Love in a Cold Climate, Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons and The Stepford Wives. As you can see, the majority of my reading that year was classics and YA comfort reads.
What were you reading a decade ago? Was it any different to the kind of books you read now?
Leave a Reply