It takes me around 2.5-3 weeks to read a 200-page book. With that in mind, I’ve calculated that over the years my annual read of The Lord of the Rings occupies a good 3-month period. This year I’ve managed to whittle that down to 2.5 months – which is impressive for me. Although I know the source material and seem to breeze through each page, I never somehow manage to complete the book in that 1 or 2-week reading period that some fans claims to be able to do.
Having said all this, I’m not in any way implying a sort of self-challenge or competition in number of books read. Rather, I’m so keen on reading as many books as I can in a year, that I find myself feeling a bit thoughtful at not having a longer list to present you with.
All my reading sessions (especially with never-before-read books) somehow involve me reading a small paragraph once, twice or three times, or the same sentence over and over, just because I occasionally don’t process what’s going on (usually because my mind is some place else, thinking about what I’ll be reading next).
Anyway, with that semi-mathematical rant over, I hereby present to you the books I read this year.
I’m proud of this list, mind you. However, I’m hoping to better it in 2018.
- A Universe from Nothing – Lawrence M Krauss
- The Idylls of the King – Alfred Lord Tennyson
- The Battle of Hastings – Jim Bradbury
- Letters to a Young Contrarian – Christopher Hitchens
- The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun – J.R.R. Tolkien
- Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman
- The Powder Mage Trilogy – Brian McClellan
- The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
- A Poetry Handbook – Mary Oliver
- The Silmarillion – J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Welsh Fairy Book – W. Jenkyn Thomas
- The Lais of Marie de France
- Seven Brief Lessons on Physics – Carlo Rovelli
- Medieval Monsters – Damien Kempf & Maria L. Gilbert
- Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow – Yuval Noah Harari
- Beren and Lúthien – J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Library of Greek Mythology – Apollodorus (translated by Robin Hard)
- The Story of Kullervo – J.R.R. Tolkien
- Vita Nuova – Dante Alighieri
- The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
- Ulysses Found – Ernle bradford
- Bilbo’s Last Song – J.R.R. Tolkien
- King Harald’s Saga – S.Sturluson (tranl. Magnus Magnusson&Hermann Palsson)
- Orkeyinga Saga (tranl. Hermann Palsson & Paul Edwards)
- A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Not bad for me. And this list includes a few hefty books well over the 400-page mark. Not to mention two 1,000+ page “trilogies”.
I already have a couple of books lined up for next year which I’m looking forward to tackling.
Reading Suggestions
This is where I turn to you dear readers, and ask you whether there are any books you would suggest to me to read in 2018. I’m pretty much open to anything, though I’m sure the list above has already outlined my fascination towards history, science, fantasy and classical literature.
Still, any suggestions are greatly welcome! 🙂
May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year and best wishes for 2018! 😀
A Tolkienist's Perspective 
Brandon Sanderson is the best in epic fantasy, though his prose isn’t great. The world of the Stormlight Archive is close to being as, and in some ways, more well-developed as that of The Lord of the Rings. Highest reccomendation.
I second a recommendation for Brandon Sanderson. He’s no Tolkien, but I’ve been enjoying his works over the past few years.
I just finished Words of Radiance. That and The Way of Kings are the only books of his that I’ve read–but they are excellent.
Have you read this? I just put it in my library queue.
https://www.npr.org/2015/09/06/435543696/in-a-shadow-tongue-the-wake-tells-of-bloody-battles-and-old-gods
Great list. The only Tolkien I read this year was Beren and Luthien… actually maybe I read Tales from the Perilous Realm this year too. I can’t remember if it was this year or last year. I started graduate school this fall, so now I’m reading a ton of books, but so far they have all sucked. I was certainly born in the wrong era – postmodernism disgusts me.
The other day, I started reading Lew Wallace’s “Ben Hur.” I’m 100 pages in, and so far I really like it, so I’ll recommend that to you for your 2018 list. 🙂 Happy New Year, James!
With all the university study I have to do, it takes me so much time to read books. I learned to not feel too bad about that and instead savour every single one I read. I’ve surprisingly read A Christmas Carol for the first time a couple of days before Christmas, I like to see it on your list too. 🙂
I want to establish an annual rereading of The Lord of the Rings in 2018.
I am such a period reader. Sometimes I easily read a 200 page book in two days. But then a book of 300 pages can take me a whole month!!! Sometimes I don’t even open a book in several weeks…
I wish I was more consistent, but I managed to fill my goal of reading 20 books in 2017!! (although, one of them was a graphic novel album, but I had accounted for that). I keep track of my reading and what I want to read on Goodreads.com, do you use it?