Last year, I reflected on my year in reading, and I felt it appropriate to do so this year as well. If I were feeling really ambitious, I would reflect on the decade, but I’m frankly not feeling that ambitious—well, other than to say my favorite reads of the decade are J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

This year I read or listened to 29 books (six more than last year), the first of which was The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, my favorite new author discovery of the year. I read the following books (my reviews are linked if I wrote one; if not, the link will take you to the Amazon page for the book):

• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
• Coming Up for Air by George Orwell
• The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl
• Company of Liars by Karen Maitland
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
• Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
• Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
• Shakespeare and Modern Culture by Marjorie Garber
• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde
• Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• Grendel by John Gardner
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Not that plowing through books in order to increase your book count is the most important thing about reading, but I have discovered three new ways to pack more reading in: 1) audio books in the car (I may be the last person on earth to figure this out); 2) reading two or three books at at time, which is weird, but does help me read more than I would if I did one at a time (must be the way my reading habits work); and 3) books on the iPhone (Stanza, Classics, Kindle, or the like). When the lights have to go out at night or when I’m stuck somewhere, I have my phone with me (my iPhone has an alarm clock on it, and I set it to wake me up—works even if the power goes off, so yes, I guess I’m paranoid), so I can get some reading done. The iPhone book reader apps are backlit, which means I can read even in the dark without disturbing my husband.

Some thoughts:

• Jim Dale is an excellent reader of J.K. Rowling’s books. I haven’t listened to too many audio books. As I said, they’re a new discovery, but he is excellent.
• Possibly my favorite book in this bunch (that I read for the first time) is The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.
• Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire was an exceptionally good biography and the best nonfiction I read this year.
• I read five classics this year (and one book that is becoming a classic—Grendel). Not too bad as getting through some of the classics is a goal of mine.
• Six Jasper Fforde books and seven J.K. Rowling audio books make series fantasy the dominant genre this year.
• Best villain: Count Fosco in The Woman in White. Much more likable and well-developed than Voldemort, not as heinous and over-the-top as Black Jack Randall.
• Best protagonist: Thursday Next in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde.
• I didn’t finish any book challenges this year. Let’s hope I do better next year. 😉

photo credit: quinn.anya