Happy Year in Books! Dragon's Library Year in Review 2025

It's not quite New Year's but it's close enough.

This year I was much more intentional about reading even though I'm still addicted to my phone. And I don't know what it is about the month of August that seems to have made me forget that books even exist lately. I'll probably read at least one more book this year, but likely one I've read before and I try not to double blog books. So actually, I've read more than 80 books this year. Plus often I read picture books at work and they don't strike me enough to think about blogging them later. 

Books I Blogged in 2025

Picture Books                4

Middle Grade/YA         19

Nonfiction                     6

Graphic Novel              21

Memoir                         10

Novel                            13

Poetry                           1

Short Stories               5

Total                            80

Aside from all the graphic/middle grade/YA novels (which I go through a lot of because I'm in a children's library 5-10 hours a week) I read a surprising number of memoirs. There were actually more than 10 because some of the memoirs I counted under graphic novels. Most of these memoirs were about complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. I eat that stuff up. 

Dragon's Library Year in Review 2024

For about the last 2 years, I was aware that social media was destroying my brain and I was addicted to mindless scrolling on my phone, but I felt powerless to do anything about it. Since the pandemic, this had manifested in a number of pathetic ways, increasingly in my reading habits, as evidenced by the sharp decline in the number of books I consumed: 42 last year, as opposed to an average of over 100 a year before covid. 

November brought a break for me and I was able to get myself 99% off Facebook, Reels, Instagram, Threads, and all the other infinite sources of garbage I had been feeding myself. It's not easy, and one thing that helped was downloading the Libby app, so that I could channel my entrenched inclination to stare at the phone into a more productive use of my time. My book consumption increased by an order of magnitude. Almost half the books I read in 2024, I read in November and December. 

Next year is going to be rough for a lot of people in a lot of ways, but for me, being on Libby instead of Facebook is going to make things a little bit better. 

Anyway, here it is: 

Dragon's Year in Review

Picture books:             12

Middle grade/YA        17

Nonfiction                   5

Graphic novel             12

Memoir                       7

Novel                          14

Poetry                         2

Short stories               2

Total:                         71

Year in Review: 2023, the Year I Forgot to Read

Every year I vow to review 100 books, but this was the year I failed most abysmally. Part of it was my health: I was sick in bed for almost the entire month of February, and then again for almost an entire month between November and December. But there's no excuse for the summer, when I pretty much just fell into my phone. I'm even 3 weeks late writing this post, but I'm going to back date it so it looks like I wrote it on New Year's Eve. 

Anyway, here's my sad little list.

Dragon's Reading Year in Review

Picture books:                16

Middle grade/YA:          2

Nonfiction:                    3

Graphic novels:             13

Memoir:                        1

Novels:                          4

Poetry:                          1

Short story collection:  1

Total books reviewed: 41

I'm going to do better this year! 

 

Year in Review, 2021

Through sheer force of will, I managed to review one more book this year than last year, pushing myself through the difficulty of reading while snowed in an AirBnB with a variety of small children and noise making toys. It's not ideal, but nothing about 2021 has been ideal for most people. 

For the record, when I count these books, I put all big kids stuff in the YA/middle grade novels category even if it's a graphic novel or nonfiction.  Of course I read a lot of in that area because I volunteer at an elementary school library, so I wasn't constrained by the COVID restrictions at the public library and I didn't have to make special trips to get kids book.

So, here's the tally:

Dragon's 2021 Year in Review

Picture books:                     10

YA/middle grade novels:    27

Nonfiction:                          7    

Graphic novels:                   5

Memoir:                              1

Novel:                                 12

Poetry:                                1

Short story collections:      4

Total books read:               67  

Year in Review

Overall, 66 is the smallest number of books I have in any year since I started blogging books 14 years ago. Blame it on 2020. In fact I read a decent number of novels but hardly reviewed any picture books. And I didn't read much of anything else except kids' novels. I mean, the library was close for a lot of it. 

I actually read way more books than this, but I only review ones I haven't reviewed before, and I ended up rereading a bunch of things in my own collection, along with reading a bunch of books I've been carrying around for years and never read (like the VALIS trilogy, which I bought when I was 15 because someone told me it was a book that smart people read. Me of 1990 couldn't make heads or tails of the first chapter and gave up, but 2020 me, with 30 years of accumulated knowledge and wisdom, got it just fine) and it only took a pandemic to get me there.  

Dragon's Library Year in Review, 2020

Picture books:            3 

Middle grade/YA:     25 

Nonfiction:                 2 

Graphic Novels:        16 

Memoir:                     4 

Novels:                      14 

Plays:                         1 

Poetry:                       1 

Total:                         66

Year in Review, 2019

Well, I fell just a bit short of the goal of reviewing 100 books this year. In fact, I did start some picture book reviews on paper and then lost the paper and forgot about the books, and I actually have 4 unread or partially read library books on my desk, but the end of December was particularly strange this year, and here we are: 95 is also a respectable number.

The middle grade/YA number includes all those terrible Warriors books I read to my stepdaughter. (they are objectively awful, unless you are interested in a poorly written but extremely predictable feral cat-based soap opera) as well as most of the delightful Worst Witch books. The graphic novel category includes several graphic nonfiction memoirs, and comprises graphic novels written for adult, teen, and child audiences.

Here come the numbers.

Dragon's Library Year in Review, 2019

Picture books: 13
Middle grade/YA: 25
Non-fiction: 2
Novels: 14
Graphic novels: 34
Short story collections: 2
Memoir/bio: 3
Poetry: 1
Art: 1

Total: 95 books reviewed.

Happy New Year! Keep reading voraciously and indiscriminately!

Year in Review, 2018

For me, as for many people 2018 was a difficult year, but it was a good year for reading books. I well exceeded my goal of 100 reviews, read more books for adults, reread some kids books I hadn't looked at in quite some time, and consciously read more books by authors who were not straight, white men. I've also been chipping away at reading the Harry Potter series (out loud) to my stepdaughter; we're almost through Chamber of Secrets. I didn't review as many picture books as in previous years as I did not do kindergarten story time last semester, but I do have something in the works that, if it comes together, will mean I'll get to read even more books in 2019. If it comes together, I'll let you know.

Here's the final tally:

Picture Books: 40
Middle Grade/YA: 29
Non-fiction: 2
Novels: 15
Graphic novels: 18
Short Story Collection: 4
Memoir/Bio: 4

Total: 112 books reviewed!

As always, this list does not reflect the fact that there are certain books that I read over and over. In general, I only blog books once (although I have blogged books that were apparently so unmemorable that I forgot I had already read and reviewed them).

Good Riddance, 2017

Welcome to Dragon's Library's 10th Annual Year in Review!

As I take a moment to reflect back on my year in books, I can't help but think about how difficult 2017 was in general, and how much everyone seems to be looking forward to putting its misery behind us and harnessing the momentum of the New Year. I also can't help but notice that my reading habits are not that impressive (thank you very much, Netflix) and that I need to focus more of my overall energy on serious reading.

As always, this isn't an exhaustive list of everything I've read. I know I missed a dozen picture books, at least, and possibly some short middle grade novels, and I don't blog books that I've already blogged before, so favorite novels that I reread often aren't included in the count. Plus there's at least one book I read in ARC that won't be available until next year, so I'll blog it later. Single issue comic are not included in the count, only trade paperbacks (and one Gary Larson collection).

And now, Dragon's Library Year in Review:

Picture Books: 57
Middle Grade/YA: 21
Non-fiction: 2
Novels: 6
Graphic novels: 17
Short Story Collection: 1
Memoir: 2
Not easily categorized: 1

2016 Year in Review

Yes, 6 hours to midnight on New Year's Eve is an ideal time to publish my 10th (TENTH!) annual year in review at Dragon's Library. Apparently I just missed my 100-book quota (barely) I'm a bit disappointed in my own habits. I reviewed a lot of picture books (and I read even more, but I don't write new reviews when I reread books) but apparently I devoted far more time to reading junk on the internet than reading novels and adult non-fiction. I'm halfway through a book by Desmond Tutu right now but it will have to get counted among the first books of 2017.

Technically, I am now a contributer at Book Riot, but I'm afraid if I can't be a real reader in the coming year, they might toss me out. I haven't read enough to participate in the discussion lately.

For what it's worth, here it is:

Dragon's Year in Review, 2016

Picture books: 57
Middle grade/YA novels:10
Nonfiction: 3
Adult fiction: 7
Graphic novels: 19
Short story collections: 1
Memoir: 1
Poetry: 1

Total: 99

2016 Review

This was a weird year, similar to last year's weirdness, but not identical. Looking back, I feel like I did very little serious reading. I also did not write a novel, although I did write and illustrate hundreds of webcomics and blog posts, and publishe numerous articles on Panels.net. Writing for panels explains why I read so many graphic novels this year, but I'm still disappointed because I obviously spent a lot more time screwing around on the Internet than was strictly necessary, and very little time actually reading.

Pretty sure I'll write a novel next year, though.

My stats, FWIW:

Picture books: 31
Middle/YA novels: 12
Graphic novels/comics: 37
Non-fiction: 4
Novels: 1
Short story collections: 2
Memoir: 1
Poetry: 1

I'm retraining my mind to not depend on the Internet by learning to play the ukulele and folding 1000 paper cranes. (So far I have folded 234 paper cranes and I can play Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" very slowly without looking at the tabs, and a few other songs very slowly with looking at the tabs.) I'm giving myself permission to do things I'm not good at, but I'm also ready to get back into some big projects. I just have to figure out how to balance all the things I want to do with the number of spoons that are available to me as a person with a chronic disability and a lot of domestic responsibilities.

If you're reading this and you're not reading my art blog, I'd like to know why.

2014: My Year of Few Words

In short: for the first time in my life, I deliberately stopped writing.

I mean, I didn't stop writing. I write constantly. But I deliberately did not write any novels. I started a few short stories but didn't finish anything. I wrote 3/5 of a script for a graphic novel. I wrote 55 4-panel comic strips and a lot of blog posts. I drew constantly, mostly on my Wacom tablet, sometimes 8 or 10 hours a day. Fiction sort of went by the wayside, and my reading did too. I feel like I read a LOT of comics and graphic novels, but very little serious or adult fiction or nonfiction. Of course, books that I've previously reviewed don't get counted, even though there are books that I read every year. 

Serious books I attempted to read this year but did not complete include Thomas Pikkety's Capital in the 21st Century, which is probably brilliant but there was a waiting list and the library only lets you keep it 3 weeks and it was SO DENSE, J. Craig Venter's Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of the Digital Age, which I was more or less interested in it even though some of the science was beyond me but somehow I couldn't follow through, and Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer, which, frankly, I forgot to read. 

This year's list is disappointing to me. But here it is: 

Dragon's 2014 Year in Review

Picture Books: 18
YA/Middle Grade Novels: 25
Adult novels: 16
Fairy Tale Collections: 1
Graphic Novels: 9
Nonfiction: 7
Memoir/Biography: 3
Poetry: 1
Short Fiction Collection: 1
Not Easily Categorized: 1

Total: 82

Another Year, Another Review

Better late than never! (Backdating this so it gets filed under 2013.) Yes! Here it comes! Dragon's Year in Review!

From a writing standpoint, it was a mixed bag. I did not submit enough, but I did win second place in the Tucson Weekly Erotic Fiction Contest and have a flash fiction forthcoming in Cheap Pop. I convinced two agents to look at one of my novels, one of whom passed with little commentary except to say that "the voice did not jibe" with him and there was no accounting for taste; he didn't like The New Yorker's taste in fiction either. The second still hasn't made up her mind. I've spent most of the year working on a monstrous novel, which is closing in on 800 pages and will need to be completely written when I reach the end.

My biggest coup was throwing caution to the wind and giving notice at my lucrative and reasonably reliable copywriting job. The real world was crushing me, and while I may starve, at least I shall starve as an artist. More news on that front is forthcoming.

Of course, I also got married; visited Death Valley, Sedona New York, LA, San Francisco, and Santa Fe, and took my mother-in-law on a 3-day road trip from Manhattan, Kansas to Tucson, Arizona that involved spending the night on a Mennonite farm in Oklahoma, visiting the Very Large Array in New Mexico, drinking margaritas in Albuquerque, and eating Pie in Pie Town; finally bought a beautiful wooden desk where I can work like a grown-up; organized all my nonfiction books by LOC designation, all my fiction books by the author's last name, and all my office supplies in such a way that I know exactly where everything is, but no one else can find it; made a not insignificant amount of art; read some good books, but not as many as I wanted to; and wrote some decent prose, but not as much as I wanted to.

In short, life happened. And now...

Dragon's 2013 Year in Review

Picture Books: 18
YA/Middle Grade Novels: 25
Adult novels: 12
Fairy Tale Collections: 1
Graphic Novels: 20
Nonfiction: 5
Memoir/Biography: 6
Plays: 1
Not Easily Categorized: 2

Total: 90

Could be better; could be worse. The intention for 2014 is to boost my number of reviews, both here and at Best Children's Books. Among other things.

Anyway, you know, keep reading. Happy New Year!

It's Time Once Again...

...for the Year in Review!

It's not as exciting as it should be.

My statistics this year were abysmal, and for no good reason other than that I succumbed to the siren song of the Internet far too often. (OK, there were also numerous adventures, and parties, and trips that kept me away from the keyboard.) Less web surfing is definitely in the plan for 2013. If I can't review 100 books a year, that's pretty sad. Of course, I also wrote a few dozen reviews over at Steve Barancik's Best Children's Books. I did not sell or publish any fiction except for what appears online at Raincoat Flashers (6 total, also my worse stats ever over there), and this should be addressed in 2013 as well.

The Internet has not defeated me! I shall master it yet!

Picture Books: 28
YA/mid-grade novels: 23
Adult novels: 9
Short story collections: 1
Fairy tale collections: 3
Poetry: 1
Graphic novels: 6
Nonfiction: 5
Memoir/biography: 1
Reference: 1
Unclassifiable: 1

Total books: 84

See you all next year :)

Dragon's Year in Review

Stats! We got stats!

32 picture books
9 novels
9 nonfiction
30 YA/juvenile literature
5 memoir/biography
9 short story collections
1 reference book
3 graphic novels
3 poetry

3 books I can't easily classify

104 books total

Which is really pretty abysmal. All I can say is that I worked a lot this year. I had 2 short stories published. I finished writing 2 novels. I read a couple unpublished novels that didn't make this list. And it took me more than 2 months each to wade through The Dancing Wu Li Masters and Partner to the Poor. Theoretically, I could review another Rosemary Wells book right now, but I'd have to get out of bed to find it, so the count stands at 104. Disregarding the kids' books, I scarcely averaged 1 serious book a week.

The YA count was huge, primarily due to the 15 volume Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, plus the Hunger Games, plus my friend Nova's novel, Imaginary Girls. 

Two of my mentors, Jaimy Gordon and Bonnie Jo Campbell also made the list this year (both with award-winning novels) as did my darling friend, KJ Kabza, with his collection of previously published short speculative fiction. Wow, I know a lot of writers. 

Oh! While I'm name-dropping, I also visually interpreted a poem from one of Ofelia Zepeda's books for the kids at the elementary school where I'm a literacy volunteer, and my fiance emailed Ofelia Zepeda a photograph of the bulletin board (they're both employed at the University of Arizona) and she wrote back, telling him to thank me, and that it was beautiful. And Tom Angleberger also emailed, thanking me for my review of Origami Yoda on another site, saying that I was pretty much the only reviewer to get his book, and I interviewed him. I should publish that interview....

Also this year, my local library system purchased 2 books that I suggested! Partner to the Poor was one. I'm still waiting for the second (about octopus intelligence) but they've cataloged it, so I'm guessing it will be available pretty soon. And, if you didn't catch it above, I'm engaged, so look out for my upcoming review of Miss Manners' Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding. Anyone who knows me will be surprised that there's any element of dignity to my wedding.

Happy New Year!

 

An entire year?

Man, another year has gone by, which means it's time for another year in review at Dragon's Library!

Although I beat my count (barely) from last year, it still felt like a lot of stuff prevented me from reading all I wanted. There are *piles* of unread books on my desk, and I'm still plowing through Jaimy Gordon's Lord of Misrule along with the massive Natural History of the Sonoran Desert and some other stuff as well. However, this was the year that I first sold a short story (available this January in Bards and Sages, which you can purchase at Barnes and Noble, I've been told. Also the year that my leveled reader, Rosalind Franklin's Beautiful Twist was made available from Reading A-Z. Also this year, I was invited to review books at Steve Barancik's Best Children's Books. And, of course, I continue to make bank as a freelance writer.

My categories here leave something to be desired, I guess. Should Confessions of an Economic Hit Man go under "memoir" or "non-fiction"? Where do I draw the line between adult novels and YA novels? Ah, it's all arbitrary. Books are books. Here's a rough accounting.

Picture books: 48
Adult novels: 7
Nonfiction: 12
YA/juvie fiction: 40
Memoir/biography: 4
Short story collections: 4
Reference: 1
Myth/fairy tale collection: 4
Graphic novel: 2
Poetry: 1

Total Books Reviewed: 123

Happy New Year

Good Riddance

Happy New Years! It's time once again for Dragon's Library year in review.

Picture Books 15
Novels 11
Nonfiction 11
YA/juvenile fiction 49
Memoir/biography 7
Short fiction collection 5
Reference 9
Mythology 7
Graphic novels 3
Poetry 2

Total 119

My lowest count yet :( I could make excuses, but there it is. On the plus side, unless I spend part of 2010 in a coma, I doubt the numbers could get any lower.

2008 recap

Admittedly, my count is down from last year and the books I did read were a little lighter. Blame it on...boys. Yeah. That's it. Boys.

Well, OK, one boy. But he's a good one.

151 total books reviewed

60 picture books
11 novels
15 nonfiction
23 YA/juvenile literature
3 plays
9 memoir/biography
6 short story collections
2 reference books
1 collection of mythology/legend
18 graphic novels
1 poetry
1 book I just can't classify

Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday, Dragon's Library

Today marks the the one-year anniversary of this blog, and, being human, I find it interesting to do a year-end review with tallies and trends.

167=total number of books reviewed

59 picture books
24 novels
23 nonfiction books
18 YA/children's lit
10 plays
9 memoirs
9 short story collections
7 reference books
4 collections of myths and legends
2 graphic novels
1 poetry collection
1 book I just can't classify

Granted, there are plenty of reference books that I consulted but did not blog, as well as some YA novels too shameful to admit reading and a handful of other books I did not write about for one reason or another, but this really is the reading year in review. Pleased with the outcome of this experiment in terms of what I learned from keeping a reading log, I feel the $6.74 in revenue generated by this site in 12 months is just icing on the cake.

Happy New Year! Thanks for reading.