Writing About What I Was Reading When I Wasn't Writing

Because it's that time of year and everyone else is doing it here's what I read in 2016.

*= reread

Novels
The Talented Mr Ripley -- Patricia Highsmith
The Humans -- Matt Haig
The Intruders -- Michael Marshall
Walking Shadow -- Robert B Parker
A Time of Torment -- John Connolly
The Shining Girls -- Lauren Beukes
Broken Monsters -- Lauren Beukes
The Drowning Pool -- Ross Macdonald*
Dark Places -- Gillian Flynn
Only Forward -- Michael Marshall Smith*
Thin Air -- Robert B Parker
Joy in the Morning -- PG Wodehouse
The Drop -- Dennis Lehane
Dark Matter -- Michelle Paver
All Our Yesterdays -- Robert B Parker
The Warhound and the World's Pain -- Michael Morrcock
The Servants -- MM Smith
The Devil -- Ken Bruen
Persuader -- Lee Child
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams*
Three Men in a Boat -- Jerome K Jerome
Mystic River -- Dennis Lehane*
Prayers for Rain -- Dennis Lehane
Moonlight Mile -- Dennis Lehane

Collections
Nocturnes -- John Connolly*

Nonfiction
Reasons to Stay Alive -- Matt Haig
Conflict Communication -- Rory Miller
Why God Won't Go Away -- Alister McGrath
Letter to a Christian Nation -- Sam Harris
Doctor Who (BFI TV Classics)-- Kim Newman
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BFI TV Classics) -- Anne Billson
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) -- Felicia Day
Belief -- Joan Bakewell (Editor)

Plays
For You: The Libretto for Michael Berkley's Opera -- Ian McEwan

Poetry
Greybeards at Play and Oher Comic verse -- GK Chesterton

Audiobooks
Biggles: Pioneer Air Fighter -- Captain WE Johns (Read by Michael York)
Talking Heads -- Alan Bennett (Various readers)
Nocturnes -- John Connolly (Read by Jeff Harding)
The Straw Men (Abridged) -- Michael Marshall (Read by Kerry Shale)
The Confidential Agent -- Graham Greene (Full BBC cast adaptation)
The Willows -- Algernon Blackwood (Didn't get the reader's name)
Someone Like You -- Roald Dahl (Various readers)
The Black Cat -- Edgar Allan Poe (Read by Richard Griffiths)
Of Mice and Men -- John Steinbeck (Read by Clarke Peters)
The Code of the Woosters -- PG Wodehouse (Full BBC cast adaptation)
The Blue Geranium and Other Stories -- Agatha Christie (Read by Joan Hickson)

Short Stories

I didn't really keep track of the short stories I read last year. I know there were a few collections and anthologies that I put a dent in but never actually finished. Plus a bunch of random stories read here and there. Authors included John Connolly, Dennis Lehane, PG Wodehouse, Lauren Beukes, Clive Barker, Stephen King, John Cheever, Kate Mosse, Michael Marshall Smith, Zoe Sharp, Lee Child, Joseph Finder, Michael Connelly, LGraham Greene, Thana Niveau, John Llewellyn Probert, Daniel Mills, Kristine Ong Muslim, Reggie Oliver, Mark Samuels, Kim Newman, Lord Dunsany, HG Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, JS Le Fanu, Loren D Estleman and Ross Macdonald. 

Comics

I tried to keep track of all the comics I read but lost track somewhere along the way. I know there were over 100 graphic novels and various individual issues. Writers included Garth Ennis, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, Mark Waid, Chris Claremont, Ales Kot, Jamie Delano, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Neil Gaiman, Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Gail Simone, G Willow Wilson, and Rick Remender.


So that's what I read in 2016. Not including novels, collections, anthologies and non-fiction that I started but haven't finished. The spread of genres could be better (I really need to catch up on SF and Fantasy) and I didn't read as many female authors as I'd hoped. While the amount of ethnic authors is pitiful. And offhand there's only one author on the list who isn't heterosexual. Didn't manage as many classics as I'd hoped either. Still, it's a better balance of old favourites and new writers (or at least new to me) than I often manage. Hopefully this year will see a continuation of this and I will both broaden and deepen my reading.