Ever since I started reading books on my Kindle app in 2014, my reading has skyrocketed. There were only so many hours of my day where I could pull out my physical Kindle and read, let alone read a hard-copy book. 

Most of my reading in the past six years has been fantasy heavy, with some sci-fi, non-fiction, and writing books thrown in the mix. Looking back on my books read this year, my fantasy reads are way down and writing books are way way up. 

This makes sense, given that 2018 was my most productive writing year ever, in terms of actual writing and learning indie publishing. Also maybe I cheated a little, because writing books are faster reads than most fantasy titles. 

What’s also striking is that I started only one new fantasy series this year, book 1 of Nicholas Eames‘ very excellent The Band. Sure, Robin Hobb’s Rain Wild Chronicles was technically a new series, but I am slotting that as part of the larger Realm of the Elderlings body of work.

Next year is going to be different. There’s some great new series I’ve been meaning to check out (Josiah Bancroft’s Books of Babel being one) and I want to mix in some more sci-fi and non-writing non-fiction.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting best-of lists culled from the fantasy, writing, and non-fiction books I read. There won’t be a separate sci-fi list because as of this writing, I’ve only read one – Artemis, by Andy Weir – and I found it supremely disappointing compared to The Martian, and lackluster when considered in isolation. I plan on finishing the first book in Jason Anspach and Nick Cole’s Galaxy’s Edge series by the end of the month, and if it keeps progressing as it’s gone so far, it will earn my best sci-fi read of the year tag.