2011 Books

[emma_in_dream]

I read 279 books last year, 140 for the first time, the rest rereads. As usual they were mostly novels and non fiction with a smattering of poetry and art books and art and parenting magazines.

4 from 1810s, 1 from 1840s, 5 from 1850s, 1 from 1860s, 1 from 1880s, 3 from 1890s, 2 from 1900s, 1 from 1910s, 10 from 1920s, 14 from 1930s, 7 from 1940s, 4 from 1950s, 3 from 1960s, 2 from 1970s, 11 from 1980s, 109 from 2000s, and 61 from 2010s, plus an outlier from 380.

This is the same pattern as usual - a few from the nineteenth century, quite a lot from the 1920s and 30s, then a big dip with very little from the next few decades, and then a big rise starting in the 1990s, with most from the 2000s and 2010s.

I am fascinated that I read so little from the mid-century. I get that there was little publishing in the 1940s because of the war but I wonder why I like so little from the 1950s, 60s and 70s? Can think of very few authors who I really like who were active in that period - only Rosemary Sutcliff really.

Comments

[cafeshree]

I don't read much from the 1950s/60s either and I think partly it seems like it's all white men writing about "important" stuff according to them and so it's boring and not my cup of tea. I'll have to see how my books of last year spread out over the decades.

[emma_in_dream]

That entire school of terse prose by Great Male Writers bores my socks off.