Read in 2016

Reading. Yeah, I did some reading in 2016. Not nearly enough to meet my goal of 1,000 pages a month. But I did to a lot of it.

What am I most excited about reading? My own book, natch. Doleful Creatures is still not ready to be published, but beta reading it myself after setting it aside for several months has convinced me it’s still got legs.

The best book I read this year?

Probably L. Patrick Gray’s In Nixon’s Web. I love reading Nixon books, as you know. But I also love reading Nixon books that turn things on their heads and show me new facets to characters in the drama that I’d not seen before. Gray’s book deflowered Jack Anderson, Mark “Deep Throat” Felt, and Woodstein, among others. Now I’ll probably read a book later on that deflowers Gray – but that’s the beauty of the topic. Nobody comes out smelling all that good.

So here’s what I read this year, in alphabetical order:

Al Capone Does my Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko. 241 pages.

As You Wish; Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride, by Cary Elwes. 257 pages.

Aunt Pearl's Familly Reunion Book, Personal Pointers on How to 'Farley Up' Your Family Reunion, by James Arrington. 130 pages.

Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon, by Ted White. 374 pages.

Capone, by John Kobler. 416 pages.

Charlie Brown Christmas, A; The Making of A Tradition, by Lee Mendelson. 192 pages.

Curiosities of Medicine, by Berton Roueche. 254 pages.

Death of A President, The; November 23, 1963, by William Manchester. 710 pages.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Cabin Fever, by Jeff Kinney. 217 pages.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid, the Long Haul, by Jeff Kinney. 217 pages.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, by Jeff Kinney. 217 pages.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, by Jeff Kinney. 217 pages.

Doleful Creatures, by Brian Davidson. 380 pages (Beta read).

Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett. 182 pages.

Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett. 377 pages.

Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance. 264 pages.
How I Got This Way, by Patrick F. McManus. 240 pages.

In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate, by L. Patrick Gray III. 320 pages.

Interesting Times, by Terry Pratchett; 295 pages.

Investigation, The; by Stainislaw Lem. 186 pages.

Le Ciel Lui Tombe sur la Tete, by Albert Uderzo. 47 pages.

Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett. 351 pages.

Myth-ing Persons, by Robert Asprin. 172 pages.

Never Sniff A Gift Fish, by Patrick F. McManus. 217 pages.

Overspent American, The; by Juliet Schor. 253 pages.

Snuff, by Terry Pratchett. 398 pages.

So, Anyway, by John Cleese; 392 pages.

Soul Music, by Terry Pratchett. 383 pages.

SpongeBob SquarePants Experience, The; A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom, by jerry Beck. 160 pages.

Titus Groan, by Mervyn Peake. 396 pages.

Unseen Academicals, by Terry Pratchett. 400 pages.

What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness, by Stanley Bing. 148 pages.

Ze page total: 9,004 pages.

Not yet added (because we haven’t finished it yet): The Old Testament, King James version. We’ve gone from Genesis through most of Jeremiah, leaving about one hundred-odd pages to read, but we’ve been interrupted. So that’ll count for next year.