Blogocentric Formulations

I just barely managed to surpass my goal of reading 100 books this year after starting the year strong and on pace for a record-setting reading year, then having my reading habits decrease dramatically in the second half of the year. Apparently having kids in the house really cuts into your personal reading time!

I had a lot of favorites this year in both fiction and nonfiction... overall, it was a really good reading year in terms of finding books that I really liked. There were some standout standalone works (Daemon, Bluff, Catch and Kill), some exciting new authors that I discovered (Barry Eisler, Brene Brown), and quite a few familiar authors and series had new installments that didn't disappoint (Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, Gregg Hurwitz, Mark Greaney).

However, I think Barry J. Hutchison wins top honors on my reading list this year for being a new author I discovered and whose backlist I voraciously devoured. His Space Team serious is hysterical (and I highly recommend the audiobooks which include narrator outtakes starting about halfway through the series). Who would have known that humorous sci-fi would be such a hit? (Answer: pretty much anybody who knows me )

I cut out a lot of podcasts from last year, especially the daily news podcasts (and the actual play tabletop RPG podcasts after getting tired of them a few months into the year), and started skipping individual episodes of a lot of podcasts that I wasn't particular into. I'm a bit of a completionist so that was difficult for me, but I really tried to value my time more this year and not spend it listening to a podcast episode on a topic that didn't particularly interest me. Mostly, my favorites from last year are still my favorites this year, although a few of them are growing a little tedious. I'll probably listen to fewer podcasts next year, or at least look for some new ones to keep things interesting.

I didn't read a single comic book or graphic novel this year.

I'm not putting any favorites or highly recommended on the script section of my reading list because a lot of the writers on this list are my friends and/or colleagues and I don't want to play favorites with my friends and business associates.