This quarter, I’ve read 25 books, the fewest per quarter this year. In Q2, I read 32 books, and in Q1, 27. Of the 25 books, 19 were new, and 6 were re-reads.

This works out to a Q3 average of 8.3 books per month, 6.3 of them new. That’s down from Q2’s 10.7 books per month, 9 new, and a change from 9 per month but only 6 new in Q1.

That brings the current yearly total to 84 books, 64 new and 20
re-reads. Some of the re-reads were re-read more than once, and some of
the "new" books this year have already made it to the re-read list.

I think I’ve been reading less for 3 reasons: 1) Jill has been here the whole quarter. 2) I’m not traveling as much. 3) During part of this quarter, I was still in my first trimester and sleeping all the time.

This quarter, I’ve been reading mostly books by women. Only 20% of the books I read this quarter were by men, although I read several series or books by the same female authors. Male authors were 30% of the total number of authors.

Only 1 of the 25 books was by a person of color. I’m still not entirely comfortable with that, but it is a fact.

The genre breakdown is (with some overlap between categories):

Young Adult: 12
Literature (including Fantasy): 8
History & Essays: 4
Biography & Memoir: 1

"Lucky Me for Having Read Them" Books of the Quarter:

Florence King, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady - This is one of my all-time favorites, and even though I first read it in 1994, I have to recommend it again.

Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - It reminds me of Neal Stephenson’s work. High praise indeed.

Tamora Pierce, the whole Protector of the Small series - I found a new (to me) and wonderful Young Adult author.

"No, No, Don’t Make Me Read That, I’ll Confess, I’ll Do Anything" Book of the Quarter

Ellen Degeneres, The Funny Thing Is - What’s funny is how someone so lively and funny as a performer can be so painful as a writer. I think we’ve established that I will read almost anything. I even forced my way through The Kin, and I just couldn’t force my way through this book.