Hatgirl says "Hi"

Every year I keep track of how many new books I finished. In 2011 I read 63 books, in 2012 I read 58, in 2013 I read 56, in 2014 I read 39, and in 2015 I read... 47!

And the last one on the list is the one of which I'm most proud, as I managed to read an entire book in Irish. Cue the Rocky music! I have been telling myself for years that if there was just an Irish-English dictionary for ereaders, that then I might actually break through the "what on Earth is that word, eh, maybe I'll go eat cake instead" barrier. And unlike many other soothing excuses I tell myself, this one turned out to be true! It took me 3 weeks to read 3 chapters, then I managed a chapter in one evening, and then I whipped through the rest of it in 2 days. I am now merely very, very, bad at reading in Irish! Woohoo! As for the book itself, it is a mildly humorous story of a lost vampire who wants a nap but can't find a coffin. Two thumbs up, will purchase the sequel.

1. Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen #1) by Steven Erikson (paper book)
2. The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (ebook)
3. The Last Man by Mary Shelley (ebook)
4. The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events #5) by Lemony Snicket (paper book)
5. The Year's Best S.F. 1972 ed. Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss (paper book)
6. Best Science Fiction of the Year 1 ed. Terry Carr (paper book)
7. Transtories ed. Colin Harvey (paper book)
8. Dark Warning by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick (paper book)
9. Angel Kiss (Jacki King #1) by Laura Jane Cassidy (paper book)
10. Eighteen Kisses (Jacki King #2) by Laura Jane Cassidy (paper book)
11. Women Destroy Science Fiction! ed. Christie Yant (ebook)
12. Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion ed. Roz Clarke & Joanne Hall (ebook)
13. The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #1) by Michael Scott (paper book)
14. Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne (paper book)
15. Dreams Of Shadow And Smoke ed. Jim Rockhill & Brian J. Showers (paper book)
16. Be My Enemy (Everness #2) by Ian McDonald (paper book)
17. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (ebook)
18. Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson (paper book)
19. The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne (paper book)
20. The Bishop of Hell and Other Stories by Marjorie Bowen (paper book)
21. A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea #1) by Ursula K. Le Guin (paper book)
22. The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea #2) by Ursula K. Le Guin (paper book)
23. The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard (paper book)
24. Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed (ebook)
25. Spectrum IV ed. Kingsley Amis & Robert Conquest (paper book)
26. The Farthest Shore (Earthsea #3) by Ursula K. Le Guin (paper book)
27. Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch, #2) by Ann Leckie (paper book)
28. Sky Coyote (The Company #2) by Kage Baker (ebook)
29. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (paper book)
30. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, trans. Ken Liu (ebook)
31. Judgment Night: A Selection of Science Fiction by C.L. Moore (paper book)
32. Northwest of Earth by C.L. Moore (paper book)
33. Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore (paper book)
34. Solaris by Stanisław Lem (trans. Kilmartin–Cox) (paper book)
35. Resonance by Celine Kiernan (paper book)
36. The Ginger Star (The Book of Skaith #1) by Leigh Brackett (paper book)
37. The Perfect Planet by Evelyn E. Smith (paper book)
38. Mandrake by Susan Cooper (paper book)
39. The Door In the Lake by Nancy Butts (paper book)
40. The Kingdom and the Cave by Joan Aiken (paper book)
41. The Galactic Whirlpool (Star Trek: TOS) by David Gerrold (paper book)
42. Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart (paper book)
43. Ancillary Mercy (Imperial Radch, #3) by Ann Leckie (paper book)
44. The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth #1) by N. K. Jemisin (ebook)
45. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot (ebook)
46. The Unfortunate Fursey (Fursey #1) by Mervyn Wall (paper book)
47. Ailfí agus an Vaimpír (Ailfí agus an Vaimpír #1) by Orna Ní Choileáin (ebook)

I once again kept a list on MobileRead of all the new books I finished during the year. In 2011 I read 63 new books, in 2012 I read 58 and in 2013 I read... 56!

Not bad, considering I was able to return to work in June. Roll on 2014!

1. The Magic World by E. Nesbit (ebook)
2. Clarkesworld Magazine #69 (Jun 2012) (ebook)
3. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne (ebook)
4. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (paper book)
5. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (paper book)
6. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (paper book)
7. The Revolving Boy by Gertrude Friedberg (paper book)
8. London Falling by Paul Cornell (ebook)
9. The Kingdom and the Cave by Joan Aiken (paper book)
10. The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells (ebook)
11. Wood Beyond the World by William Morris (ebook)
12. Probability Moon by Nancy Kress (ebook)
13. Weird Detectives: Recent Investigations ed. Paula Guran (ebook)
14. Running with the Pack ed. Ekaterina Sedia ed. (ebook)
15. Living Alone by Stella Benson (ebook)
16. The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks (paper)
17. Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (paper)
18. Suited by Jo Anderson (ebook)
19. Dark Spires ed. Colin Harvey (ebook)
20. Hugo Award 2013 Novelette Nominees (ebook)
21. Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy (paper book)
22. Armored ed. John Joseph Adams (ebook)
23. Edge of Infinity ed. Jonathan Strahan (ebook)
24. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (ebook)
25. The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (ebook)
26. On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard (ebook)
27. The Stars Do Not Lie by Jay Lake (ebook)
28. Lightspeed Magazine #20 (Jan 2012) (ebook)
29. Analog Oct 2012 (ebook)
30. Beneath Ceaseless Skies #100 (ebook)
31. Strange Horizons July 2012 (ebook)
32. Apex Magazine #39
33. The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman (paper book)
34. Gold by Dan Rhodes (paper book)
35. The Complete Short Stories by Oscar Wilde (paper book)
36. World Fantasy Awards Short Story Nominees (ebook)
37. Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear (ebook)
38. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan (paper book)
39. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (paper book)
40. The Gates by John Connolly (paper book)
41. The Steel Remains by Richard K Morgan (paper book)
42. The Uninhabited House by Charlotte Riddell (ebook)
43. The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination ed. John Joseph Adams (ebook)
44. The Miserable Mill (A Series of Unfortunate Events #4) by Lemony Snicket (paper book)
45. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (paper book)
46. The Weekend Book of Science Fiction ed. Stuart Gendall (paper book)
47. Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds (paper book)
48. The Steel Remains by Richard K Morgan (paper book)
49. Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor (paper book)
50. Sorcerer's Luck by Katharine Kerr (paper book)
51. Restoree by Anne McCaffrey (paper book)
52. The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events #5) by Lemony Snicket (paper book)
53. Bitter Angels by C.L. Anderson (paper book)
54. A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix (paper book)
55. The Ceres Solution by Bob Shaw (paper book)
56. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski (paper book)

I don't do New Year's Resolutions. I demand the freedom to make a resolution in March and stick to it for as long as I damn well feel like it.^* But last January some of the MobileRead site members decided to track how many books they had read. And I realised I had no idea how many new books I read in a year.

I reread a lot. I mean, a lot. I will reread books I don't like just to complain about them more accurately. And I will reread books I do like over and over and over and over until the cover falls off and the pages fall out.^$ But how many new books do I read (and finish) in 12 months?

It turns out the answer for 2011 was "63". How interesting. I wonder how many I'll read this year?


* My "don't pirate ebooks AND don't buy DRM'd ebooks" resolution has been going very well for over 18months now.
$ Mental note: buy new copy of Lois McMaster Bujold's "A Civil Campaign".^%
% Mental note 2: stop falling asleep on top of books.


1. The Crowded Shadows (The Moorehawke Trilogy #2) by Celine Kiernan (paper book)