2011 Reading Roundup

Overall a very nice year as far as reading is concerned. A total of 125 stories/novels read.

The high score should be seen in context since it has only about 12 full length novels, about 30 novellas (short novels) spanning about 80 pages and the rest of 83 are all short stories (20 to 40 page length – albeit in small print). 

I started the year with the intent of reading the entire Feluda, Sherlock Holmes and 3 Investigators series, Well … mission accomplished for Feluda at least while I have quite some ground to cover on Sherlock and 3I. Guess I will complete them by end of 2012. 

I have completed about 100 out of the targeted 125 stories of the Feluda, 3I and Sherlock Holmes stories. I also read a collection of 12 short stories titled '12 Red Herrings' by Jeffery Archer. I also read almost a dozen novels to keep some variety and bring in some change in reading genres.

New authors tried and tested which include … Catherine Jinks & Devdutt Pattanaik … which I would continue to read. Also, two much awaited sequels by Indian Authors read – sequels to Sidin's DORK and Amish's Meluha were both released this year and I managed to read both in December.

Reading Score was helped by the extensive travelling the second half of the year 2011 brought for me. I made 8 international flights (all of them on the Dubai-Mumbai sector) … almost all of them in second half of the year. Beside flight travel and airport waiting, travelling in the second half of the year also increased in terms of road travel. Several Mumbai-Pune trips as well as daily travel to clients who were located at significant distance from my hotel apartment in Dubai … all helped my reading score a lot.

Monthly Score (Total – 125)

Jan - 9              Feb – 14          Mar – 6           Decent first quarter                (29) 

Apr - 3             May – 3           Jun – 5             Sad second quarter                 (11)

Jul – 18            Aug – 7            Sep – 15         Very Good third quarter           (40)

Oct – 5             Nov - 13           Dec -25          Fantastic last quarter              (43)

Reading trend looks interesting and shows how the second half of the year has been so much more favorable and productive for reading. Also reading score has not been consistent, going up and down several times.

 

I read the following books besides the short stories collections …

1. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (senti-mental)

2. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (took several months to complete ... Boring)

3. God's Debris by Scott Adams (Head spinner)

4. The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella (nice)

5. Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks (interesting)

6. Genius Squad by Catherine Jinks (interesting)

7. Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks (interesting)

8. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (senti-mental)

9. Witch & Wizard by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet (interesting)

10. 7 Secrets of Shiva by Devdutt Pattanaik (eye opener)

11. The Secret of the Nagas by Amish Tripathi (fantastic sequel to Immortals of Meluha)

12. God save the DORK by Sidin Vadukut (hilarious sequel to DORK)

And Twelve Red Herrings by Jeffery Archer (nice short story collection)