In 2021 I recorded my reading in an A5, one page per day, diary which I purchased from Sainsbury’s and which was covered in a lovely suede-like beige cover. It was a delight to use for the year, especially as it had a ribbon so I could easily find my most recent entry but there was a lot of wasted space as I often had nothing to enter for a day and rarely filled a page, even though I have large and generous handwriting. I read 335 books in the year but I bought 360 so my to-be-read pile (some paper and some electronic) grew.
2021 was the first year in which we lived in our current home and although I had disposed of many of my books before moving I still had eight full length bookcases and a few extra shelving units filled with books I wanted to keep – those I still have to read are mostly in piles on the floor. For the first time ever I had a room devoted entirely to books in my new home which contains all my bookshelves and a cosy armchair and footstool. This makes me very happy. Sometimes when I am tired or depressed I will spend time in my bookroom reorganising the books on the shelves or just picking out volumes at random and reading snippets. It is truly a delight although I realise that it can’t really accommodate many more books and there are murmurings in the house from the person with whom I share my life about limits on the strength of the floor joists and the necessity not to put too much weight in one place !
2021 was also the year in which I retired. I finished work at the end of June having worked from home since the start of the year. It took a bit of adjusting but I soon found that it came naturally to read during the day. I have found, however, that the books I am now reading do tend to be more challenging because I have more time and more space in my mind to devote to serious thinking. I am definitely reading more non-fiction, literary fiction and classics which take more time to read. Despite this change I do note that in 2021 44% of my reading was crime novels so my habits haven’t changed that much.
The first book I read in the year was A Bespoke Murder by Edward Marston which is the first in his series of crime novels set in London during WW1 and featuring characters in the police force. I find that this author’s books pass the time quite nicely and that his grasp of history is significantly better than many similar writers but I do think that his characters’ dialogue is often clunky and unnatural. I think I prefer this series to his more famous railway detective books. You can see what I thought about a later book in the series here.
The last book that I read in the year was another crime novel. A Medal for Murder by Frances Brody. This is one of a series featuring her historical detective Kate Shackleton and the books are set just after WW1. I think of these as quite similar to those of Edward Marston, although this author is definitely better at dialogue. They pass the time nicely but are nothing special. You can read what I thought about a couple of others in the series here.
2021 was a significant year in my life in that I was able to retire and spend more time reading, something that I had wanted to do for years. Although I find that I am not reading significantly more books than I did in the past I am definitely spending more time reading. And yes, retirement is everything I hoped and wished it would be.
Here’s a more detailed blog I wrote about my reading during this year and there are links to my books of the year for 2021 here, here and here.
Anne Is Reading 