This is my journey in books for 2018!

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Total Reading

According to Goodreads, I read 151 books in 2018, with a combined total of 36,740 pages. Of those, 102 were graphic novels. That leaves 49 traditional books. I only started reading graphic novels in the last couple years, and I always struggle with how to record them.

TOTALS: I read 36,740 pages across 151 books

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I have no problem accepting graphic novels as “real reading.” As a fairly new reader of the format, I can attest to the fact that reading graphic novels requires a skill set, just as nonfiction and text-based fiction require their own approach. And I have no problem accepting graphic novels as literature. I have learned so much about story structure and character development from graphic novels. Manga have made me cry more often than the European classical canon has for damn sure.

But the average volume of manga takes about one hour to read; while the average novel takes 10-15 hours. It still feels like cheating to count a single volume of Fruits Basket the same way as The Hate You Give. That’s what I did last year.

Late in the year I realized that most manga series run between 12-25 volumes – roughly the same time commitment as a novel. Goodreads only applies a book toward your annual challenge if you fill in the “Date Completed” field. So this year, I will continue to add every book I read, regardless of format. But I will only date the final volume in a graphic novel series. That should make it easier to set a total reading goal that’s high enough to include my quick reads without disincentivizing more challenging time commitments. Because manga arent’ the only short books I read…

Short and Long

SHORTEST BOOK 56 pages Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, … by Ashley Bryan

LONGEST BOOK 623 pages The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

AVERAGE LENGTH 243 pages

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Popular and Unique

MOST POPULAR 284,611 people also read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

LEAST POPULAR 6 people also read 不機嫌なモノノケ庵 12 [Fukigen na Mononok… by Kiri Wazawa

I didn’t actually read volume 12 of The Morose Mononokean in Japanese. I read it digitally in English on Crunchyroll Manga. Since the manga has not been printed in English, Goodreads doesn’t recognize it, so I was forced to list the Japanese version. That said, one of my 2019 reading goals is to read Yotsuba, a much easier manga, in Japanese.

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Highest Rated

HIGHEST RATED ON GOODREADS Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 11 by Natsuki Takaya 4.77 average

MY 2018 BOOKS

What follows is a visual list, in order of completion, of every book I read in 2018. Since I don’t expect anyone to scroll all the way to the end, I’ll ask now – did we read any of the same books? Did you like them?

MISSING BOOKS? You can easily add books to this list by setting the Date Read for each book to any time in 2018.
Are you re-reading? That counts too! See My Books shelved in 2018 2018 READING
CHALLENGE You read 151 out of 200 books.   76% Better luck in 2019!