I read sixty-four books this year. That number surprised me. It is a reduction from earlier years, though I do not attribute it to more demanding reading. I now abandon books more quickly. If a novel fails to hold my attention within the first twenty pages, I do not continue. The difference is not in the difficulty of the material but in my willingness to continue when the work offers little in return.
Some of this is the effect of distraction. I have spent more time this year with short-form content, often online, which interrupts sustained reading. That shift has also brought contact with readers and writers I would not have met otherwise. I continue to look for a way to maintain that contact while limiting the attention it requires.
Three writers structured much of this year’s reading: Michel Houellebecq, Anne Carson, and Jenny Diski. Houellebecq’s work has limitations, but his portrayal of contemporary life remains singular. Carson’s writing continues to provide a form of intellectual and aesthetic expansion. Diski’s inward clarity and refusal to perform sociability often feels necessary.
Beyond those three, five books stood out. Grace Dane Mazur’s Hinges, Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation, Atiq Rahimi’s A Curse on Dostoevsky, Jonathan Gibbs’ Randall, and Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams. Each of these has remained with me, not only in memory but in conversation. I have recommended them to others without hesitation.
Half the books I read this year were written by women. This was not a deliberate intention, but it was welcome. A majority of the books were nonfiction. Many were written in English, but a third of the fiction was in translation. These patterns have remained relatively stable year to year.
I read more books by writers unfamiliar to me than in previous years. Catherine Lacey and Alice Furse both published promising first novels. I also began reading Carole Maso and Elena Ferrante and intend to continue. Their work will shape some part of the coming year’s reading.
One new thread was the work of writers involved in a collective response to political, ecological, and cultural instability. Their perspective is serious and often bleak, but it offers a kind of alignment I rarely find elsewhere. Through that reading I found Nick Hunt’s book about walking the route taken by Patrick Leigh Fermor. It is measured and well-written, worth reading for anyone who has returned to Fermor’s work.
I have not written regularly here. Many of the books mentioned above remain unrecorded. Still, this space continues to support how I read, and I remain grateful that others return to it. It is not a wide conversation, but it is one that matters.
Wow. Sixty-four! How do you manage to read so much Anthony?
64 is a little disappointing for me, but it’s all relative. I don’t watch television and spend two hours most days commuting, so usually manage to spend at least 3-4 hours a day reading.
Ha – it’s precisely because I spend 2+ hours a day commuting that I get so much reading done. But I take the train.
That used to be the case, but the train company decided to lay on free wi-fi, yet another opportunity to waste time on Twitter. No more! I shall ignore the wi-fi and use my commuting for reading again.
I love this statement: “the books that impressed me this year, in the sense of becoming deeply fixed in my mind are the same books I’ve bought for friends, urging them zealously to read immediately” – that is what happens to me as well, the truly great reads I will buy as presents for friends. This year until now, I have given away several copies of Divided Lives by Lyndall Gordon, The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt, The Visitor by Katherine Stansfield, A Sportful Malice by Michiel Heyns, Travels with Epicurus by Daniel Klein, and Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut. This list does not include books I’ve bought or will yet buy for Christmas 🙂
Thanks, Karina, for reading, your comment and for a list of books to look up, not that I need any new books for at least 5 years (but keep buying).
Same here, but I go by the motto: ‘There is no such thing as too many books.’ Happy holiday reading!
True enough. Happy holiday reading to you too!
I’m glad to hear you rate Catherine Lacey’s novel as I have a copy to read. I’ve also enjoyed exploring Elena Ferrante’s work in 2014, she’s had quite a year.
Lacey’s book is so beautifully written that it makes up for other weaknesses. I can’t wait to see what she writes next (assuming there is a next).
Anthony – I’m eager to look into these writers as there are many with whom I’m not at all familiar. I followed Nick Hunt’s travels over on the Patrick Leigh Fermor blog, so that one’s already on my list, as is Ferrante’s Naples trilogy. But who are these others? I’ve never even heard of six of the first eight you mention, so off to library to find out more. It sounds like a high quality year, quantity (impressive nonetheless!) be damned.
Certainly a high quality year, as I’ve been ruthless this year in abandoning anything that even felt average. I can say with certainty that nothing on my list was mediocre, at least by my standards. I’m delighted you’ve not heard of the others and hope you have as much pleasure in your discoveries as I did.
I regret the loss of commuting time sometimes, although it also feels like having got my life back. I find it very hard to find real space for reading (three kids and one young adult) and have sunk below 50 for the last couple of years. A few recent train journeys have shown me how much more I would do were they a more regular occurence. The eternally renewing attraction of the internet is also a major distraction that I need to learn to control.
My best reading period ever was when I was travelling to Melbourne/Sydney and Washington DC twice a year, very much enjoyed the airtime without the distraction of phones and Internet.
My book count is 59 so far this year. It’s also a declining trend for me. Work load is particularly heavier this year. From your list, Houellebecq and Carson are the only ones familiar to me. I really should go back to my half-read Houellebecq.
No TV, no Twitter, but lots of other online surfing distraction. There should also be a statistical count of blog posts read since the online reading materials take time away from books.
I try and treat online reading the same way as books and make notes in place of annotation. At least that way, what is of value is more likely to stick.
I haven’t read many of the books on your list and I don’t have much to suggest (my favorite book I read this year was Blinding by Mircea Cartarescu which actually came out last year, but it’s like an explosion of paint, viscera, and emotions; I recommend hell out of it)…. I just wanted to say that for whatever reason I really enjoy this blog and find myself here often.
All the best,
-Joey
Thank you for the suggestion, which I’ll look into, and for the approval, which means everything.
Maybe not as many books completed as you would have liked, but still, a very good year in reading! Thanks for the info about Dark Mountain Project. I have never heard of them before and their site looks fantastic!
My pleasure, Stefanie, I highly recommend the Dark Mountain books.
I think it’s worthwhile to be an honest blogger (or perhaps better to say it’s pointless if you’re not), honest in terms of responses, thoughts and so on, but consistency seems to me overrated and unnecessary.
For me I suspect it’s more like 30 to 50 books, pressures of work absorb much of my time and while I have a commute I’m generally too tired in the evening to read on the way home.
I have a copy of the Furse, but don’t know the Lacey. Did you write about it?
I’m not worried about consistency in terms of ‘dick-measuring’ – look how many books I’ve read etc. – more a question of the finitude of time available to read all the books I wish to read.
I wrote about Lacey’s Nobody is Ever Missing here: http://timesflowstemmed.com/2014/08/09/catherine-laceys-nobody-is-ever-missing/
I didn’t think you were in that sense. The finitude of time issue is of course the problem of mortality, I tend to work on the assumption that I just won’t get to it all or even close, which oddly takes a lot of pressure off.
Thanks for the Lacey link, I’d missed that one.