A back dated post from my old website (RIP hacked/dead alexmanderson.com url).
I only read 10 books in 2018. I know 10 is nothing to scoff at, but since I first started trying to read 52 books a year back in 2014 ( a goal I rarely hit), 2018 is the year I read the least.
For the Record:
2014 – 48 Books
2015 – 106 Books
2016 – 100 Books
2017 – 37 Books
2018 – 10 Books
2019 – 32 Books
2020 – 75 Books
2021 – 52 Books
2022 – 41 Books
Unfortunately I don’t have any memories of why I didn’t read much. Probably just got out of the habit.
The other reason I might not have read more is that almost none of the books, aside from maybe my #1 or #2 really stuck with me.
I will admit to enjoying the “oversimplification and generalization of a foreign word and basing your personality on it” genre of books.
Usually they boil down to “Hey, if the US cared about its citizens health at all, guns weren’t a personality, the government prioritized children/parents wellbeing, you focused more on yourself, the earth, and community, you might feel a bit better about life and not spend time worry about going into debt for an ambulance ride.” Still, give me all that “Hygge“, “Lagom”, “Lykke”, etc. bullshit. I will read all 120 pages of every single one.
Ranked below in descending order are 7 of the 10 titles I read and enjoyed the most in 2018.
Favorite Books Read In 2018
7
Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives by Sarah Williams Goldhagen
Pages: 384
Release Date: April 11, 2017
5-6
Lagom: Not Too Little, Not Too Much, Just Right: The Swedish Guide to Creating Balance in Your Life by Niki Brantmark
Pages: 288
Release Date: September 21, 2017
5-6
The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World’s Happiest People by Meik Wiking
Pages: 288
Release Date: September 7, 2017
4
The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us and What We Can Do about Them by Lucy Jones
Pages: 242
Release Date: April 17, 2018
3
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
Pages: 563
Release Date: August 9, 2005
2
Home: A Short History of an Idea by Witold Rybczynski
Pages: 272
Release Date: June 8, 1905
1
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Pages: 359
Release Date: April 18, 2017