Well, here we are, the last day of the year, which means it’s time to tinker with my super-cool and in no way nerdy Excel spreadsheet and reveal my Year In Reading.
This year I managed to read 141 books, which is one fewer than last year, but I don’t think it’s a bad effort, all things considered. As you can see, March was a real let down, but that was a bummer of a month in my non-bookish personal life, and as much as I tried, I couldn’t quite make up the numbers in December.
This year I wanted to read more books by women, and I certainly did that, more than doubling last year’s tally, but even so, there’s a disappointing disparity in my ratio of books by men and women. Still, I’ll keep aiming to improve. It really should’t be that hard, and frankly, I’m doing myself a disservice, because based on my Top 5 Books of 2017, women are by are producing novels that resonate far more strongly with me. Next year I truly hope there’s more of a 50/50 split.
Once again, this year my reading was dominated by American authors, although I am pleased I read more by Australian authors than previously. I would like to see this skewed a little more evenly — I need to read more translated fiction — but at least I can say I’ve made progress over the past 12 months.
Regular visitors to my blog won’t be surprised to learn I read more crime fiction than any other genre in 2017. For the record, I use the category ‘fiction’ to encapsulate literary fiction and contemporary fiction; basically anything that isn’t genre specific. I read fewer comics and graphic novels this year, but more non-fiction and children’s books and YA. I feel like I’m gradually becoming a more rounded reader; certainly one with a penchant for thrillers, but I’m reading more widely nonetheless. Long may that continue.
I listened to fewer audio books than last year, which is a tad surprising, but I think I just listened to longer books over the last 12 months, because I always have my earphones plugged in and someone telling me a story.
As for the books I read this year, well:
| Title | Author |
| A Drop of the Hard Stuff | Lawrence Block |
| A Legacy of Spies | John Le Carre |
| A Promise to Kill | Erik Storey |
| All New Wolverine Vol. 1: The Four Sisters | Tom Taylor |
| All New Wolverine Vol. 2: Civil War II | Tom Taylor |
| All New Wolverine Vol. 3: Enemy of the State II | Tom Taylor |
| All the Dirty Parts | Daniel Handler |
| Almost Love | Louise O’Neill |
| And Fire Came Down | Emma Viskic |
| Anything is Possible | Elizabeth Strout |
| Artemis | Andy Weir |
| Australia Day | Melanie Cheng |
| Batman, Volume 1: I Am Gotham | Tom King |
| Batman, Volume 2: I Am Suicide | Tom King |
| Batman, Volume 3: I Am Bane | Tom King |
| Batman, Volume 4: War of Jokes and Riddles | Tom King |
| Batman/The Flash: The Button Deluxe Edition | Tom King |
| Batman: The Dark Night: Master Race | Frank Miller |
| Bluebird Bluebird | Atticka Lock |
| Broadcast | Liam Brown |
| Call For The Dead | John Le Carre |
| Camino Island | John Grisham |
| Conversations With Friends | Sally Rooney |
| Depends What You Mean By Extremist | John Safran |
| Diary of a Bookseller | Shaun Bythell |
| Don’t Let Go | Harlan Coben |
| Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine | Gail Honeyman |
| Enemy of the State | Vince Flynn |
| Euphoria | Heinz Helle |
| Exit West | Moshin Hamid |
| Fierce Kingdom | Gin Phillips |
| Fifty Fifty | Candice Fox |
| Force of Nature | Jane Harper |
| Golden Prey | John Sandford |
| Goodbye, Vitamin | Rachel Khong |
| Graffiti Moon | Cath Crowley |
| Green Valley | Max Landis |
| Gwendy’s Button Box | Stephen King |
| Hangman | Jack Heath |
| Hard Boiled | Frank Miller |
| Heather the Totality | Matthew Weiner |
| Here and Gone | Haylen Beck |
| House of Spies | Daniel Silva |
| Hunger | Roxane Gay |
| I Am, I Am, I Am | Maggie O’Farrell |
| In the Midst of Death | Lawrence Block |
| J.D. Salinger: The Last Interview & Other Conversations | David Streitfeld |
| James Bond: Black Box | Benjamin Pery |
| James Bond: Eidolon | Warren Ellis |
| James Bond: Hammerhead | Andy Diggle |
| Jessica Jones, Vol. 1: Uncaged | Brian Michael Bendis |
| JLA: Vol. 1 | Grant Morrison |
| JLA: Vol. 2 | Grant Morrison |
| Kingdom Come | Mark Waid |
| Letters to a Young Writer | Colum McCann |
| Live By Night | Dennis Lehane |
| London Rules | Mick Herron |
| Manhattan Beach | Jennifer Egan |
| Men Without Women | Haruki Murakami |
| Moonlight Mile | Dennis Lehane |
| Moonrise | Sarah Crossan |
| Munich | Robert Harris |
| Need to Know | Karen Cleveland |
| Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow | Jessica Townsend |
| New Boy | Tracy Chevalier |
| Origin | Dan Brown |
| Our Chemial Hearts | Krystal Sutherland |
| Peach | Emma Glass |
| Persuader | Lee Child |
| Play It As It Lays | Joan Didion |
| Postcards From the Edge | Carrie Fisher |
| Prussian Blue | Philip Kerr |
| Redemption Point | Candice Fox |
| Release | Patrick Ness |
| Robbie Williams: Reveal | Chris Heath |
| Roughneck | Jeff Lemire |
| Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign | Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes |
| Since We Fell | Dennis Lehane |
| Sisters | Lily Tuck |
| Sleeping in the Ground | Peter Robinson |
| Smile | Roddy Doyle |
| Snowbound | Blake Crouch |
| Spook Street | Mick Herron |
| Star Wars Omnibus – Vol 1 | Jason Aaron |
| Strange Weather | Joe Hill |
| Superman, Vol. 1: Son of Superman | Peter J Tomasi |
| The Animators | Kayla Rae Whitaker |
| The Black Book | James Patterson |
| The Black Ice | Michael Connelly |
| The Black Ice Score | Richard Stark |
| The Black Monday Murders, Vol. 1: All Hail, God Mammon | Jonathan Hickman |
| The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage | Philip Pullman |
| The Bookshop | Penelope Fitzgerald |
| The Catcher in the Rye | J.D. Salinger |
| The Chalk Man | C.J. Tudor |
| The Choke | Sofie Laguna |
| The Crossing | Michael Connelly |
| The Defectors | Joseph Kanon |
| The Explorers | Katherine Rundell |
| The Fall | Tristan Bancks |
| The Falls | Ian Rankin |
| The Gray Man | Mark Greaney |
| The Hunter | Richard Stark |
| The Last Policeman | Ben H Winters |
| The Late Show | Michael Connelly |
| The List | Michael Brissenden |
| The Lost Order | Steve Berry |
| The Man With the Golden Gun | Ian Fleming |
| The Marsh King’s Daughter | Karen Dionne |
| The Midnight Line | Lee Child |
| The Narrows | Michael Connelly |
| The Nothing | Hanif Kureishi |
| The Nowhere Man | Gregg Hurwitz |
| The Prometheus Man | Scott Reardon |
| The Raqqa Diaries | Samer |
| The Secrets She Keeps | Michael Robotham |
| The Sins of the Father | Lawrence Block |
| The Thirst | Jo Nesbo |
| The Upside of Unrequited | Becky Albertalli |
| The Wanderers | Meg Howrey |
| The Washington Club | Peter Corris |
| The White City | Karolina Ramqvist |
| The Witch Boy | Molly Knox Ostertag |
| The Word is Murder | Anthony Horowitz |
| This Is What Happened | Mick Herron |
| Three Martini Lunch | Suzanne Rindell |
| Time to Murder and Create | Lawrence Block |
| Tin Man | Sarah Winman |
| To Kill the President | Sam Bourne |
| Tom Clancy Point of Contact | Mike Maden |
| Twins | Dirk Kurbjuweit |
| Two Kings of Truth | Michael Connelly |
| Under the Cold Bright Lights | Garry Disher |
| UNSUB | Meg Gardiner |
| Vicious Circle | C.J. Box |
| Wake in Fright | Kenneth Cook |
| What Happened | Hillary Clinton |
| Wilder Country | Mark Smith |
| Wimmera | Mark Brandi |
| Win, Lose or Draw | Peter Corris |
| Winter | Ali Smith |
Simon McDonald 
This data on your reading habits is amazing!