So this isn't as much a blog post proper as a list of everything I've read last year - and considering how busy I've been with baby, work, graduation and everything else that's happened, it's more than I'd expected.
Also in the past 12 months I've returned to reading novels again. I'm a bit of a lazy reader (see the above distractions!) so I'd got into the habit of reading mainly short stories and graphic novels, without concentrating on any one thing to get through a whole chunk of a novel. But this year I've read a few more. It feels like it's the first time I've read novels for years, but considering I've recently finished a 3 year English Literature course, perhaps it's more appropriate so say it's the first time I've completed a novel of my own choosing in quite a while.
Another theme I've seen in my reading is science-fiction: being a big comic book fan, a lot of people assume that an interest in sci-fi comes as a given, but really - beyond the capes and time machines - I'd never really experienced much sci-fi until this year.
Anyway, here's the list...
The Island of Dr Moreau, H G Wells (1896)
The 39 Steps, John Buchan (1915)
The Seeds of Time, John Wyndham (1959)
The Divine Invasion, Philip K Dick (1982)
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keys (1966)
Carnacki, The Ghost Finder, William Hope Hodgson (1913)
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman (1974)
20th Century Ghosts, Joe Hill (2008)
The Vesuvius Club, Mark Gatiss (2005)
Beginners, or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Raymond Carver (2010/1981)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley (2009)
I, Zombie, Al Ewing (2008)
Love and Mr Lewisham, H G Wells (1900)
Couples, John Updike (1968)
And that's just the novels, I haven't included any graphic novels, single issue comic books or short stories (although 20th Century Ghosts, Beginners and The Seeds of Time are all short story collections). I've done my best to read across a range of genres, times and authors and I think I've done a good job - lots of classic sci-fi, but also a few contemporary authors, some crime novels and even some capital L literature crept in there too. Plus I'd bet that this is the only list this year where a turn of the century novel by HG Wells will be placed next to I, Zombie.
Interestingly, on an Amazon search for I, Zombie, the next item on the list is a novel called I Kissed A Zombie And I Liked It. Don't believe me? See for yourself here. That one didn't make my list.
Maybe next year.
