2017 reading list

2017 was a great year for reading for me. I got back into a rhythm, and made it through more books than I think I probably ever have in one year, at least since I was a teenager. I hope to keep this trend going through 2018; I really enjoy reading more, and more often!

So, I’ll give here a rough list of what I’ve read this year, in order of finishing, starting now and going back through the year, as well as a few notes about the content of the list.

 

The Great Divorce — C.S. Lewis [reread]

The Everlasting Man — G.K. Chesterton

Aquinas — Edward Feser

All Things Considered — G.K. Chesterton

Geomancer — Ian Irvine

The Dark Tower #1-5 — Stephen King

Dancer’s Lament — Ian C. Esslemont [reread]

The Abhorsen trilogy — Garth Nix

The Wheel of Time — Robert Jordan [reread]

The Apocrypha

On Beauty and Being Just — Elaine Scarry

Zero Six Bravo — Damien Lewis

The Last Superstition — Edward Feser

Listening Through the Noise — Joanna Demers

St. Thomas Aquinas — G.K. Chesterton

Up the Line to Death — ed. Brian Gardner

The Dragonbone Chair — Tad Williams

What’s Wrong With the World — G.K. Chesterton

Beren and Lúthien — J.R.R. Tolkien (& Christopher Tolkien)

Nightbringer — James Byron Huggins

Operation Chowhound — Stephen Dando-Collins

Orthodoxy — G.K. Chesterton [reread]

The Abolition of Man — C.S. Lewis

The Thousandfold Thought — R. Scott Bakker

The Napoleon of Notting Hill — G.K. Chesterton

But Is It Art? — Cynthia Freeland

 

A few notes:

One will quickly notice the prominence of G.K. Chesterton on this list. This is easily a whole post in itself, but suffice it to say that I hold Chesterton to be one of the most insightful writers of the twentieth century, and probably of all centuries.

There are a number of other books that should be on this list. I only decided to make an official list around the beginning of March, so I had to remember back to which books I had read since January, and there are a few about which I just can’t be sure. My guess would be that together they would add a handful of entries to the list—perhaps four or five.

There are a few rereads on this list. I have long been ambivalent about the idea of rereading; opinions on the subject that I’ve come across are split, regardless of position—authors, writers, readers, and critics. I have often felt that there simply isn’t enough time to reread books, that there are just so many more good ones out there waiting to be read. But over the last few years, I’ve been rereading more and more, and really enjoying it. Revisiting books gives a different, deeper perspective on their contents and ideas, and helps solidify the memory of them. Of course, some books are more rereadable than others. Some yield more on a second reading, whether that be in details of the world, construction of prose, themes and foreshadowing, or plain nostalgia or good memories of good experiences. Some are simply such good stories that the familiarity given by the first reading does little to reduce the enjoyment or benefit of the second. Some are reread simply to refresh the memory, often before continuing on in a series. Regardless of the reason, I think I will be doing some more (more or less judiciously chosen) rereading in this year.

Finally, I may condense this into a “best of” list, but I’m not sure. There were a lot of great books I read this past year, and they’re often great for very different reasons. True comparison would be difficult. I might make a list of favourites, or perhaps of the readings which were most influential on me personally. Regardless, this is my rough reading list for 2017. Forward—to 2018, and an even longer list.