This year I read 86 books. 52 were fiction, 16 were re-reads, 16 were YA books, and I read 2 non-fiction books. This was up from last year’s total of 59 books, I think mostly because YA books are quick reads. I read 174 manga volumes and 32 graphic novels. This was also up from last year, being unemployed for a few months certainly gave me more time to read.
One of my favorite books this year was one I just finished - Charles McCarry’s Old Boys. It was a spy thriller about a group of retired intelligence men getting together for one last job after one of them mysteriously vanishes. It features the delightful first line, “On the night Paul Christopher vanished, he and I dined together at his house on O Street: cold watercress soup, very rare cold roast beef, undercooked asparagus, pears and cheese, a respectable bottle of Oregonian pinot noir.” Other reading highlights included the Temeraire series, the Pink Carnation books, Stephenie Meyer’s fun YA vampire books, and the new Kate Atkinson novel One Good Turn.
My favorite new manga series is Fuyumi Soryo’s ES (Eternal Sabbath). I started reading a couple shojo series that have been out for some time - Hana Kimi and Boys Over Flowers.