Several years ago, I used to wrap up the year by listing the books I’d read during that past year. But I stopped doing it a few years back when the number decreased. However, a large part of that decrease is because I list in my calendar when I finish reading a book, but I don’t count the books I’m editing and publishing (and those, I tend to read two or three times: reading to decide whether or not to buy, then editing, then proofreading). So I’m going to see if I feel embarrassed by the size of the list this year.

Books I read in 2018:

Robert A. Heinlein: Requiem edited by Yoji Kondo. Yes, I’d never read that book before. I’d read the fiction, of course, but the essays, the speeches, and the pieces by others were all new to me. Also, having read it, now I think I really ought to seek out the movie Destination Moon.

The Joy of Cookies: Cookie Monster’s Guide to Life by Cookie Monster. Kind of cute.

Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography. I hadn’t realized when I started it that it was mostly presented as campaign material for his hoped-for return to politics. Nevertheless, there was a lot in the book that was interesting. And visiting the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace soon after reading the book was a neat combination.

Isaac Newton, the Asshole Who Reinvented the Universe by Florian Freistetter. Kind of fluffy. The introduction was amusing, calling Newton an asshole, but that trope got old very quickly, long before the book was finished.

Timeshift: Tales of Time edited by Eric S. Fomley. I have a story in this one, so I read the rest of it. Some very good stories to share a book with.

Unidentified Funny Objects 7 edited by Alex Shvartsman. Some funny stories in this one. A few didn’t really do it for me, but that’s the concept of an anthology: something for everyone.

So that’s six books I count as having read this past year. But then I have to add in those I read and then published:

The Red Carnival by Susan Casper
The Bend at the End of the Road by Barry N. Malzberg
White Wing by Shariann Lewitt and Susan Shwartz
Fantasy for the Throne edited by Judith K. Dial and Tom Easton
The Favored by Morgan J. Bolt
Release the Virgins edited by Michael A. Ventrella
Father of the Bride of Frankenstein by Daniel M. Kimmel

Plus another half dozen that I worked on as a freelance editor. And that’s not counting books I read with an eye to publishing, but then decided not to. So yes, I feel a little better about the number of books I read this year.