In 2016, I read eight old-fashioned paperbacks, and listened to 77 audiobooks, beating my personal record from last year's reading accomplishments. I also achieved my goal of reading at least 5 classics this year (by my definition of "classic," which includes classic sci-fi as well as more traditional literature, I read ten; I've marked these with asterisks in my list below).
The average length of these audiobooks was 8 hours on the dot. My average amount of listening per day was 1 hour and 42 minutes.
My "most influential book" awards go to The Blue Zones, the second half of 7 Habits, and a re-reading of Boundaries.
Walden wins my award for most rambling and least able to retain my attention (though Emma, The World Set Free, and the first half of 7 Habits also get honorable mentions in this category; Invisible Man would have taken the award, but I abandoned listening because after a few hours I couldn't stand the narration any longer).
Only counting non-Star Wars books, The Rosie Project was my favorite listen from this year. It was my wife Alissa's recommendation, being one of the only novelized romance stories she can stand, and I loved it. A close second was My Sister's Keeper, coincidentally (truly) also Alissa's recommendation.
This year also included 26 Star Wars audiobooks (of course it did; this is up from last year's 22). Of these, my favorite was Lost Stars, which tells the human-level stories of Imperial cadets as they grow up and serve in the Empire during the timeframe of movies 4-6, raising absolutely fascinating moral/ethical questions about loyalty to a cause vs loyalty to its leader vs loyalty to friends and family. I loved the book primarily though because it puts a face on "the other side." For instance: the main characters both had a best friend who perished on the Death Star during the Rebel's "terrorist" attack. We as a society struggle to understand the "other" - there is so much fear and mistrust created by our political parties both nationally and internationally. I think this is a great book which helps encourage the reader to consider the "other's" viewpoint, and does so in an accessible approach whether you're a Star Wars fan or not.
And of course, I also loved reading the Star Wars paperback novel Ahsoka, because she (along with Jaina Solo and Mara Jade) is one of my Star Wars universe crushes :)
And here are the lists of books:
| Title | Author | Audiobook length |
|---|---|---|
| Star Wars: Bloodline | Claudia Gray | 12:14:47 |
| Star Wars: Dark Forces Collectors Trilogy Soldier for the Empire, Rebel Agent, Jedi Knight | William Dietz | 5:28:59 |
| My Sister's Keeper | Jodi Picoult | 13:41:15 |
| The Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft, Volume One | H. P. Lovecraft | 3:30:15 |
| The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood | Howard Pyle | 10:36:35 |
| The Rosie Project | Graeme C. Simsion | 7:32:00 |
| The Zimzum of Love | Rob and Kristen Bell | 2:12:18 |
| Total Recall | Philip K. Dick | 1:00:00 |
| Full Heart Living | Tom Glaser | 5:40:00 |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | J.K. Rowling | 11:48:08 |
| A Brief History Of Time | Stephen Hawking | 5:47:20 |
| I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Zero Hour | Pittacus Lore | 7:47:27 |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | J.K. Rowling | 8:17:00 |
| The World Without Us | Alan Weisman | 12:04:32 |
| The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People | Stephen Covey | 14:03:00 |
| Of Thee I Sing | Barack Obama | 00:16:15 |
| Star Wars: Dark Empire II | Tom Veitch | 1:54:19 |
| Star Wars: Dark Empire | Tom Veitch | 2:37:21 |
| Frankenstein* | Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley | 8:42:00 |
| Radio Free Albemuth | Philip K. Dick | 7:45:02 |
| Kisses from Katie | Katie Davis | 8:52:57 |
| The Scarlet Letter* | Nathaniel Hawthorne | 9:28:00 |
| Beyond Lies the Wub | Philip K. Dick | 00:21:04 |
| The Island of Dr. Moreau* | H. G. Wells | 4:07:32 |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | J.K. Rowling | 9:24:16 |
| Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt | Chuck Wendig | 15:32:00 |
| Watership Down | Richard Adams | 15:53:32 |
| Emma* | Jane Austen | 15:18:00 |
| The World Set Free | H. G. Wells | 6:38:00 |
| The Minority Report and Other Stories | Philip K. Dick | 5:33:25 |
| An Invisible Thread | Laura Schroff | 7:02:44 |
| The Blue Zones | Dan Buettner | 7:39:17 |
| A Journey to the Center of the Earth* | Jules Verne | 9:17:23 |
| King Lear (BBC Radio Shakespeare) | William Shakespeare | 2:37:52 |
| The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* | Robert Louis Stevenson | 3:06:46 |
| As You Like It (BBC radio collection) | William Shakespeare | 1:59:45 |
| Night | Elie Wiesel | 3:38:42 |
| Star Wars: Crimson Empire | Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley | 1:32:45 |
| I am Malala | Malala Yousafzai | 9:55:03 |
| Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lord of the Sith (Full cast audio drama) | Tom Veitch | 2:18:00 |
| Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (Full cast audio drama) | Tom Veitch | 2:42:00 |
| America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the bridge to a new America | Jim Wallis | 10:09:58 |
| Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl* | Anne Frank | 9:55:21 |
| Hamlet: a fully dramatized audio production from the Folger Theatre | William Shakespeare | 3:32:49 |
| A Voice in the Wind (Unabridged) | Francine Rivers | 21:26:43 |
| Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson book 9) | Patricia Briggs | 10:07:00 |
| Boundaries | Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend | 11:00:03 |
| Star Wars: Outbound Flight | Timothy Zahn | 6:18:00 |
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Alan Dean Foster | 10:05:57 |
| The Great Gatsby* | F. Scott Fitzgerald | 4:53:29 |
| Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Radio Drama, as heard on NPR | National Public Radio | 3:12:15 |
| Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company | Alexander Freed | 13:40:57 |
| Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama, as heard on NPR | National Public Radio | 4:22:08 |
| Star Wars: The Original Radio Drama, as heard on NPR | National Public Radio | 5:55:36 |
| The Collected Stories of Winnie-the-Pooh | A. A. Milne | 4:27:00 |
| Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars The Force Awakens: Lost Stars | Claudia Gray | 11:26:01 |
| Dragon Blood (Hurog duology book 2) | Patricia Briggs | 9:34:24 |
| Dragon Bones (Hurog duology book 1) | Patricia Briggs | 8:56:56 |
| Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars The Force Awakens: Smuggler's Run | Greg Rucka | 3:22:07 |
| All's Well That Ends Well (BBC radio collection) | William Shakespeare | 2:14:47 |
| The Great Divorce | C.S. Lewis | 3:22:50 |
| Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi | Kevin Hearne | 9:02:20 |
| The Invisible Man* | H. G. Wells | 6:13:47 |
| Star Wars: Millennium Falcon | James Luceno | 10:06:04 |
| Who Is This Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus | John Ortberg | 7:40:50 |
| Star Wars: Apocalypse (Fate of the Jedi book 9) | Troy Denning | 16:30:00 |
| Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Unabridged) | Dan Ariely | 7:22:57 |
| A Grief Observed | C.S. Lewis | 1:50:52 |
| Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves | James S. A. Corey | 9:52:49 |
| Walden, and, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience* | Henry David Thoreau | 13:50:56 |
| Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion: Razor's edge | Martha Wells | 9:57:19 |
| Star Wars: Ascension (Fate of the Jedi book 8) | Christie Golden | 14:44:14 |
| Scary Close | Donald Miller | 4:07:38 |
| Star Wars: Dynasty of Evil (Darth Bane book 3) | Drew Karpyshyn | 9:22:33 |
| Star Wars: Conviction (Fate of the Jedi book 7) | Aaron Allston | 12:57:30 |
| Star Wars: Vortex (Fate of the Jedi book 6) | Troy Denning | 14:29:25 |
| Star Wars: Allies (Fate of the Jedi book 5) | Christie Golden | 13:23:57 |
And the paperbacks:
- Star Wars: Ahsoka, by E. K. Johnston
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi, by Michael Reave and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling
- A Practical Wedding, by Meg Keene
- The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse, by Brian Farrey
- Star Wars: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, edited by Kevin J. Anderson
- A Practical Wedding Planner, by Meg Keene
- XKCD: What If?, by Randall Munroe
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