The new year has begun and, somewhat belatedly, I would like to take another look at the past year, specifically at my reading workload. I already summarized and presented my list in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to it in 2023, but 2024 is now on the agenda.
So what and how much did I read in 2024? Quite a lot. I read 339 books, magazines and comics. This figure eclipses last year’s record with an increase of 18%. On average, I read almost 1 book, magazine or comic per day, in three languages: German, English and French.
I keep a close record of my book reading, because as an author I have to do research from time to time and be able to efficiently search my library, which currently contains around 4,000 to 5,000 books, including around 1,000 French comic books. On the one hand, I have a Google spreadsheet in which I enter my reading workload, and on the other, I use Librarything to catalog my books. The latter helps me to quickly look up what I already have when I’m traveling, especially when I’m in a French comic store and wonder which volumes in a series I already have.
So how does my 2024 reading list break down? Of the 339 works, 184 were comic books (mostly French and a few German), 56 non-fiction books, 2 biographies, 32 magazines, 1 illustrated book, 4 children’s books, one memoir and 46 novels. And of the latter, three quarters were crime novels, namely those by Donna Leon.
Commissario Brunetti
In the last six months of 2024, I devoured Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti series. In the 33 volumes, Venice is at the center of the murders and other strange occurrences that Guido Brunetti investigates together with Signorina Elettra, a fashion-conscious employee who can hack every computer system in her flower-filled office, the beautiful, The case must be solved by the beautiful Commissario Claudia Griffoni from Naples, Brunetti’s best friend Sergente Bruno Vianello and, of course, her Vice-Questore Patta, who is always smartly dressed and readily takes credit for successes and blames others for failures. The biggest villain? The machinations of her associate Tenente Scarpa.
The books are full of descriptions – not only of the gruesome murders – but of the food that Brunetti’s wife Paola prepares for him every day, despite her work as an English professor at the university.
Oh yes, and of course all of this is interwoven with the aristocratic society in Venice, which considers itself above the law. Not so the Faliers, the noble family into which Paola was born and whose parents slowly but surely become friends and fond of their son-in-law. Paola, Signorina Elettra and the other characters add a dry humor to the series that makes it even more entertaining and easier to read.
I read this series while my father, who had recommended the books to me, was having a very difficult time in hospital.
Proportion of Female Authors
Since 2022, I have also noted the gender of the authors. This was prompted by the criticism of British journalist Mary Ann Sieghart in her book The Authority Gap. Since then, when I pick up a non-fiction book, I also check whether it is written by a female expert to get a balanced view of the world. This year I’ve expanded that to include novels as well
| Year | Total | thereof women | Percent |
| 2019 | 56 | 5 | 8,9% |
| 2020 | 86 | 13 | 15,1% |
| 2021 | 67 | 28 | 32,2% |
| 2022 | 68 | 39 | 57,4% |
| 2023 | 63 | 30 | 47,6% |
| 2024 | 102 | 51 | 50,0% |
My Favorites’ Lists
Which of the comics and non-fiction books did I like best in 2024?
Comics
- 1629
- Laurel & Hardy
- Ulysse & Cyrano
- La 3éme Kamera
- Habemus Bastard
- Pico Bogue
- Anna Anna
Non-Fiction Books
- Der Kaiser reist Inkognito
- Chaises et tables volantes auc XVIII siècle
- Of Boys and Men
- Frostbite
- Die Kunst ein Egoist zu sein
- Le Salon Vert
Reading
As an author, I have to spend at least as much time reading as I do writing, and I’ve described how I do that here. I also read all over the vegetable garden. My rule for non-fiction books is that every second non-fiction book must not be related to my current topics. So when I’m working on a new non-fiction book on – let’s say – artificial intelligence, I read about topics such as “Die Finkenschnabel”, “Marina Abramovic”, “Das Wiener Zinshaus” or “Why men marry some women and not others” in between. I always stumble across interesting passages that can fertilize my current topics with good comparisons or metaphors and make them more varied.
2024 was also a year in which I had to leave California for Europe more often than average. As my father had a serious operation with some complications, I had to travel across the Atlantic privately as well as for work. For me, sitting on a plane or train is a time when I can read for several hours away from the internet (see Deutsche Bahn) and other distractions. I also wrote about Fast Reading While Traveling in the summer, the picture above shows my reading workload over 3 weeks.
What Will 2025 Bring?
After I didn’t manage to finish a book in 2024 for the personal reasons and worries I mentioned, I’m aiming for at least two, and preferably three, this year. The first is almost finished, the others are halfway through. So my reading workload this year may be less than in 2024, but I’ll do my best.