Books I Read in 2019

I read more non-fiction last year and was happy with what I read. Books are dated by the month I finished reading them, click hyperlinks for full posts.

February

• Mark Twain – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). A boy and a runaway slave go on an adventure down the Mississippi River. A Great American Novel known for writing dialogue in the actual dialect of the time. Not as engrossing as I hoped. 4/5

April

• Larry Gonick – The Cartoon History of the Universe III: From the Rise of Arabia to the Rennaissance (2002). Informative and funny.

May

• Larry Gonick – The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution (2006).
• Nicholas J Wade – Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors (2007). About the first migrations out of Africa and the founding of world populations. 4/5
• Yuval Noah Harari – Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind (2014). I cannot recommend this book enough. Everyone I know who read it loved it. 5/5

July

• George RR Martin, Elio M Garvia, JR and Linda Antonson – The World of Ice and Fire (2014). About the fictional history of the Game of Thrones universe. Quite imaginative but I lost interest soon after the show finished. 4/5

August

• John Mann – Attila: The Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome (2006) Less is known about this figure than we hoped but Man pads the pages with background and his trip to Mongolia. 4/5
• Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Alain de Botton and Malcolm Gladwell – Do Humankind’s Best Days Lie Ahead? (2016). A paperback transcript of the 2015 Munk Debates.  Interesting perspectives on an interesting question. Only 100 pages. 4/5.

October

• Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner (2006). A moving tale of fatherhood and friendship in Afghanistan.  5/5

 November

• Time–Life Books – The March of Islam, AD 600-800 (1988). Discusses the Arab Caliphates, Byzantium, Charlemagne, Tang China, The Khmers and Early Japan. Interesting subject matter but the prose is too flowery at times. 3/5

December

• Lucas Bridges – Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948). A meticulous and evocative account of life amongst the lost tribes of Tierra Del Fuego. Recommended for anyone with an interest in anthropology. 5/5.

See Also:

• Books I Read in 2018
• Top Films of 2019

2018 Goals Reviewed

One year ago I listed five goals for this blog in 2018. Here is my evaluation.

1. Posting once a week: I failed to post every Monday, but stuck to a fairly consistant routine. Sometimes I posted on Tuesday instead. Aside from my holiday in May and Nanowrimo in November I did post once a week. Check.

2. Diversifying: In 2017 I wrote about history and current events. In 2018 I expanded into book reviews, anthropology and culture. Check.

3. Style Guide: Unfortunately I never get round to this – maybe this year. Miss.

4. Nanowrimo: Yes! I managed to write a 50,000 word novel draft in November for the National Novel Writing Month challenge.  If I am not too busy, I will do this again in 2019. Check.

5. Diligence: One year on and this blog is still going strong. I have far more readers than I did at the beginning of 2018 and am still updating regularly. Check.

All in all I accomplished 4/5 of my blogging goals. Not bad. This year I will stick to the same routine as 2018, blogging once a week on topics which pique my interest. Hopefully by 2020 I am still going. Happy New Year everyone!

See Also:

• My 2018 Blogging Goals
• How Nanowrimo Went

Books I Read in 2018

Aside from blogging more, my goal was to watch less TV and read more books in 2018. The books are listed by the date I finished reading them.  Some I have done separate posts on, others I have not.

January

• Ernest Hemingway – For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Hemingway at his best. Gritty and insightful.  5/5

February

• Maitland Edey – Lost World of the Aegean (1976). The archaeology of the Ancient Minoans and Early Greeks. Dated but informative. 3/5

April

• Robert Bly – Iron John (1990). An allegorical interpretation of an old fairy tale suggesting what the ancient cultures can teach modern man. 3/5

May

• Aldous Huxley – Island (1962). The utopia to Brave New World’s dystopia. 4/5

June

• Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible (1998).  A family saga of four girls and their missionary father in the Congo.  5/5
• Thomas Sowell – Ethnic America (1981). Details the history and experiences of 11 American immigrant groups. Good on facts and figures, less so on future projections. 4/5

July

• Paul M Handley – The King Never Smiles (2006).  A critical analysis of the modern Thai monarchy. Banned in Thailand. 5/5

August

• Roland Tye – Weekender (2016). Five very different stories about five very different people one weekend in Edinburgh. The connection is revealed only at the very end. 5/5
• JD Salinger – Catcher in the Rye (1951). Great American Novel about a rebellious teenager in the late ’40s. 5/5

September

•  Ian Morris – The Greeks: History, Culture and Society (2010). This old textbook is a good survey of ancient Greece if a little dry. 3/5

October

• Frederick Forsythe – the Dogs of War (1974). A business magnate hires a team of mercenaries to stage a coup in a fictional African country. Good, but not as good as Day of the Jackal. 3/5

December

• Jared Diamond – Guns Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies (1997). Explains why civilization arose in some parts of the world and not others. An excellent read for history and anthropology buffs. 5/5
• Frederick Forsythe – Day of the Jackal (1971). About an assassin hired to kill the president of France and the men chasing him. 4/5

See Also:

• Books I Read in 2019

My 2018 Blogging Goals

On the 2^nd day of 2018 I sit at my desk wishing I began this blog at the start of last year, or perhaps waited to the start of this one, so on January 1^st I could look back over a year of content, and easily count how long I’ve been blogging in the future. But it’s not the case; I’ve been going only five months.

Nevertheless, the New Year is a time for reflection in all aspects of life, so today I set straight my blogging goals for 2018.

1. Posting once a week: From now on, I will publish new post every Monday. If I wish to follow up with a smaller one, such as a song review, I will do it on the Thursday.
2. Diversifying: Aside from the usual history and current events I intend to write about culture this year too and perhaps the odd personal anecdote. This is my first blog after all and by not sticking to one, specific topic, I hope to find my voice, what I enjoy writing most and what my audience likes to read.
3. Style Guide: One will be made at some point this year.
4. Nanowrimo: I started National Novel Writing Month in 2016, but followed the example of my two friends and dropped out only 18,000 words in. This November, I’ll see the 50,000 through.
5. Diligence: For reasons mentioned below, my New Year’s resolution is to stick this blog out to  the end of year at least, whether anyone reads it or not.

I have written both fact and fiction in my free time, on or off, since I was nine. Completing a finished product was always my demon. Now I think of it, that was one of the best aspects of school: accountability to teachers and deadlines. I actually finished things, whether I enjoyed the process or not!

Since then I have started a hundred projects and finished none, save for a shabby first draft I wrote as a teenager. No more.

These are my blog goals for this year! Are you a blogger? Do you have any questions or advice to offer? Let me know in the comments below!