Wrapping Up 2006

One of the temptations of having a book journal is that you can look back over the year, find reading trends, calculate statistics (if you're that way inclined, and alas, I am), make up "Best of" lists and all sorts of silly stuff. If that kind of thing bores the hell out of Gentle Reader, by all means pass on.

I appear to have read 127 books in 2006, 33 non-fiction and 94 fiction. Of these, 25 were re-reads. Among the fiction writers, 11 authors were new to me. Twenty-two authors are represented by more than one book on my list of books read in 2006.

Among these, 25 percent were written by men, 4 percent were collections or collaborations with authors of both genders, with the balance - 71 percent - of female authorship.

In terms of nationality, 50 percent were written by American authors, 22 percent by authors from the British Isles, 18 percent by Canadian authors and a woeful 6 percent by authors from other countries. Note to self: diversify your reading.

And now, for my top 13 books (the top one-tenth), in alphabetical order by author (I have counted multiple volumes in a series by one author as one entry).

Ring of Swords, Eleanor Arnason
Sweetness in the Belly, Camilla Gibb
The Salt Roads, Nalo Hopkinson
Bold as Love, Gwyneth Jones
The Diviners, Margaret Laurence
Incredible Good Fortune, Ursula K. LeGuin
The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Carnal Acts, Nancy Mairs
To the Chapel Perilous, Naomi Mitchison
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities, by Rebecca Solnit
Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide, Andrea Smith
Dreams of the Sea/A Game of Perfection, Elisabeth Vonarburg
The King’s Name/The King’s Peace, Jo Walton