When I started this blog back in the heady days of erm, September, it was round up posts like this that I really looked forward to. I love best of lists but now I’ve come to ranking my own I’ve found it incredibly difficult to place one above another. So I won’t, and instead will highlight the books that have stayed with me. Sound fair? Grand.

Stats

I love Book stats, so here goes: I’ve read 57 books, which is a record for me. I read 51 last year, and thought that was pretty good. The lockdowns played a part in this in the early months of the year, but there were times that my concentration was so shot that I didn’t manage more than a couple of pages a day. Talking to others, I know I’m not the only one suffered from this.

The black dog also visited me on a couple of occasions and at those times I still read but sometimes I’m just looking at ink on a page. It might take me a day to read a couple of chapters but I still keep at it; there’s something in other peoples words and worlds that gives me something to hang onto. I can’t explain it better than that. I might not be able to make a cup of tea but I can turn a page.

I also moved house, which took up a bit of time, and I started this book blog, which is an absolute black hole for spare time but an incredibly enjoyable hobby that’s kept me going at times. It’s also motivated me to read more books, so that I can review them, and brought me into contact with the very lovely and friendly book community, who are full of great reading suggestions and supportive.

Page wise it’s very similar, but I read more last year, at 17556 pages compared to 17313 this year but I did read all of Mantel’s ‘Cromwell trilogy’ and a couple of Knausgaard’s so that explains that!

Non Fiction

So Non Fiction first - Wintering by Katherine May was a godsend back in doldrum days of March 2020. It helped to shine light on a dark place. Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh was a mixture of memoir and nature writing, a powerful audiobook read by Kerri, about trauma and healing. Another superb Irish memoir, which begins with the untimely death of his mother at a young age, Did ye hear mammy died by Seamus O’Reilly is both heart warming and hilarious. Thirty Two Words for Field by Manchán Magan was a fascinating book connecting Irish words with the landscape, nature and other cultures, to name just a few.

I read a few great books about politics and society here in the North of Ireland this year - Susan McKay’s Northern Protestants - On Shifting Ground was a well written and enlightening read. And although it’s out a couple of years, Patrick Radden Keefe’s ‘say Nothing’ was an incredibly researched piece of work that read like a thriller and I have been raving about that one for a while.

Audiobooks

Audiobooks have been my constant companion on walks this year. Sinead O’Connor reading ‘Rememberings’ was raw and revealing, and I enjoyed Sinead’s giggles as she talked. I‘ve just finished with ‘Windswept and interesting’ by Billy Connolly which was prefect for the dreary grey skies we found ourselves under at the years end, full of exuberance and laughter as you’d expect, but also wonderfully honest.

Fiction

Ah, Fiction. So much fiction. Everyone seemed to be reading ‘Shuggie Bain’ by Douglas Stuart at the start of the year, wonderfully gritty and immersive. Am looking forward to ‘Young Mungo’ which is on my TBR Pile and coming out in April. Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where are you? was wonderfully written and meditative, about love, friendship and the modern world. I took my time with that one to enjoy it all the more. ‘Crossroads’ by Jonathan Franzen was a great big American novel set in the 70’s, and was warm, funny and moving. ‘No one is talking about this’ by Patrica Lockwood was lyrical and startling, genuinely unlike anything else I have read this year. ‘Snowflake’ by Louise Nealon was a moving accomplished debut by a young Irish author, and ‘Rules of civility’ by Amor Towles was a superb read, not sure how I missed this one but I have a new author and a few books to explore in ‘22.

The one book that really struck a chord with me was the short but perfectly formed ‘Small things like these’ by Claire Keegan, which was beautiful and heartbreaking. I still can’t get this one out of my head a month later.

That’s it for my reading year. Feel lucky to have read so many great books and I already have a pile waiting for me for 2022.