Books Read in 2017: A Recap of My Reading Challenge

Yesterday, I posted the visual report from Goodreads of what I read in 2017. Here’s how the results match up with my goals.

By the Numbers

As I’d done for the past several years, I set last year’s goal by simply adding one to the previous year’s total. That put me at a goal of 65 titles to be read in 2017 (an average of 5.4 titles per month). How did I do?

Up through the beginning of December, I was barely on track to meet the goal of 65 . . . until I realized how many letters (see next section) I still needed to complete for the second part of my goal. So I dug in and spent a lot more time reading in December to meet both parts of the challenge.

You can see the full list of everything I read in 2017 in my Goodreads list.

By the Letter(s)
In addition to a total number of books, I took my 2015 goal of reading one author for each letter of the alphabet (with X being optional) and expanded it to two authors for each letter of the alphabet (X being optional again). Here’s how I did alphabetically:

A

1. Ackroyd, Peter; 2. Alcott, Louisa May; 3. Atwood, Margaret; 4. Austen, Jane; 5. Ashley, Jennifer; 6. Aslan, Reza

B

1. Balogh, Mary; 2. Burrowes, Grace; 3. Butler-Bowdon, Tom (Ed.); 4. Beau, Elle

C

1. Cates, Kimberly; 2. Crystal, David; 3. Cahill, Thomas

D

1. Doescher, Ian; 2. Dare, Tessa

E

1. Ellison, J. T.; 2. Erickson, Carolly

F

1. Featherstone, Charlotte; 2. Fisher, Carrie; 3. Freed, Alexander; 4. Forsyth, Mark

G

1. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins; 2. Gaskell, Elizabeth; 3. Grecian, Alex

H

1. Harper, Julia (Elizabeth Hoyt); 2. Hampton, Richard

I

1. Isaac, Kara; 2. Irving, Washington

J

1. James, Henry; 2. Jones, Darynda

K

1. Knightley, Erin; 2. Kelly, Carla

L

1. Lenhardt, Melissa; 2. Lin, Amber; 3. Lincoln, Abraham and Stephen Douglas; 4. Lee, Georgie

M

1. Marlowe, Mia; 2. Massie, Robert K.; 3. McCullough, David; 4. Meyer, G. J.; 5. Milan, Courtney; 6. Milan, Courtney; 7. Miller, John Jackson; 8. Moulton, Gary E.

N

1. Norton, K. C.; 2. Noble, Kate

O

1. O’Keefe, Megan E.; 2. O’Neal, Eilis

P

1. Paine, Thomas; 2. Pool, Daniel; 3. Putney, Mary Jo; 4. Prose, Francine

Q

1. Quick, Amanda; 2. Quick, Kathryn

R

1. Ridley, Erica; 2. Raybourn, Deanna

S

1. Shea, Ammon; 2. St. James, Simone

T

1. Thomas, Sherry; 2. Thoreau, Henry David

U

1. Unsworth, Tania; 2. Ursu, Anne

V

1. Van Dyken, Rachel; 2. Verge, Lisa Ann

W

1. Wendig, Chuck; 2. Wilson, A. N.

Y

1. Young, Felicity; 2. Yansky, Brian

Z

1. Zahn, Timothy; 2. Zahler, Diane

The Genres
Back in 2014, I did a reading challenge that included a bunch of genres that I don’t usually read—fantasy (non-romance), historical fiction (non-romance), science fiction, mystery, nonfiction, horror/paranormal, etc. I did this to try to break myself out of my reading comfort zone and expand my reading (and writing) horizons. But just like when I was in school with assigned reading lists, I had a hard time wanting to force myself to read those genres I’m not familiar/comfortable with.

How was your reading by the numbers in 2017?