History, True or Feigned: What I read in 2021

Three years ago, a friend of mine posted a list of the books they had read in 2018, I thought it was a great idea so I've been posting such a list myself, first on Facebook, now on my blog. I find it a very useful exercise in self-reflection - though I suspect my kids see it as another example of my narcissism. 😏

Also, if anyone else makes such lists, I'd love to see them. Feel free to share the lists, or links to your lists, in the comments.😀

Looking over this year's list (see below), these trends stood out:

# of Rereads: 23 (I've marked rereads below with an *)
# Military History reads: 9

# of fantasy works: 30
# by or about Tolkien: 4
# Forgotten Realms: 4
# of Marine reads: 3
# Frigate Navy period reads: 12

# Thieves' World & related: 1
# Matter of Britain works: 1

#Moorcock works: 7

# of Flashman & Prohaska reads: 6

# of holiday reads: 7

Some negative trends I noticed - far less Tolkien, Thieves World, and Matter of Britain (King Arthur) then has been usual for me and really no mythology works. I went especially hard on all of those the past two years, so I suppose that is why there are fewer reads here. My "deep dive" into Socrates and Plato in Summer 2020 wasn't matched with a similar deep dive of any sort this past summer, in part because I took over a year to post the blog entry on Socrates and Plato. I might do another of those deep dives in the future though, especially if work and family life calm down.

I have fewer books here, just like last year, I think that is primarily due to the pandemic, I get a lot of reading down on the train when I commute, and I have been working at home more. I kinda hope that regular office hours will be back soon so my reading will again increase.

I expected to read a lot of Mexican War and Seminole War, as well as other Frigate Navy periods works for my ongoing book project and I did. Of course, I actually read far more books then are listed here for that (easily 100+ separate books not counting articles and primary sources will be cited in its notes) but I didn't include "graduate student reads" here, only books that I sat and read cover to cover and fully digested.

I also finished the full Prohaska series, which I adored. I wish there were more of those books. I also finished the Elric series, and the first Corum trilogy, rereading both decades later was interesting. I finally read the two latest volumes from Jim Butcher's Dresden Files as well. The best surprise was the Johannes Cabal series, I still have one more book in that series which will help me kick off 2022.

Looking forward, I still want to read Ken Follett's Century trilogy, but it is going to be very time consuming so I've been putting it off. I expect to do some travelling in the spring, that might be a good time to start. I've also had a yearning to reread the Harry Potter series, but I've been resisting because there are so many new works to read. I also want to reread the latter Thieves World books. More historical fiction, along the lines of Flashman and Prohaska are almost certainly in my future.

I reread the exact same number of books this year, 23, as last. I'm fairly comfortable with that number, especially since many were books I had read 20, 30, or even 40 years ago. I have slipped in my annual Tolkien rereads a bit, and I am comfortable with that, since I am still reading at least one of his works a year. I do want to read more new books, but I think this year's balance was about right. Rereading always reveals new details that didn't connect the first time through, but I also love being surprised by new stories.

Beyond that, I have fewer plans for my reading next year then this year. My current book project will be in the stage where the writing is refined, and I don't want to get locked in yet on what my next book will be, I don't want to get focused on one subject when I might need to get myself excited about a different subject and time period.

What I read in 2021:

1. JRR Tolkien, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight*

2. 1812: The Navy's War, George C. Daughan

3. Rising Tide: The Threat from the Sea Book I by Mel Odom*

4. The U.S. Army Campaigns of the War of 1812