+++
author = "LuisGC"
title = "My Year 2018 in Books"
date = "2019-01-01"
type = "post"
categories = ["post"]
tags = ["review", "literature", "culture"]
status = "published"
[[images]]
  src = "https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7825/46560537701_875ce8d48b_b.jpg"
  alt = "Juan Gómez Jurado during the presentation of Reina Roja in Málaga"
  caption = "Juan Gómez Jurado during the presentation of Reina Roja in Málaga<br /> Source: <a href='https://www.laopiniondemalaga.es/cultura-espectaculos/2018/11/23/prohibo-terminantemente-leais-entrevista/1049352.html'>La Opinión de Málaga</a>"
+++

Any [**Goodreads**](https://www.goodreads.com/) user has access to a yearly report with some statistics and basically the covers of all the books read in one year. In order to have it the user only has to set the books as _read_ and the _read date_ to any time in that year.

Taking advantage of this nice feature I will summarize [My 2018 in Books](https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2018/12155365) from Goodreads:

* I read **7,224 pages** across **56 books**, a 112% of my 50 books read in 2018 goal
* The average length was **129 pages**
* My average rating was **3.7** (up to 5)
* The longest book I read was [_Patria_](https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patria_(novel)), by [**Fernando Aramburu**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Aramburu)

The amount of works is not very important (because some of the 56 are comics or short stories) but still 56 books means almost 5 books per month, that translates to one book per week approximately. Not bad, taking into account the other million things that I do (or intend to do) every week.

I'm not copying here the full list, [friend me on Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/12155365-luis) if you are curious, but at least I want to highlight some of them.

I have included in the ranking three books by [**Juan Gómez Jurado**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_G%C3%B3mez-Jurado), including the Top 1, so he deserves to be in the featured image of the post obtained from <a href='https://www.laopiniondemalaga.es/cultura-espectaculos/2018/11/23/prohibo-terminantemente-leais-entrevista/1049352.html'>La Opinión de Málaga</a>.

I'm currently reading [El Emblema del Traidor](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13086272-el-emblema-del-traidor) also by Juan but when I finish it I will begin my 2019 reading **again** books by or about [**J.R.R. Tolkien**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien). I miss it.

## My TOP 10 read books in 2018

1. [**Reina Roja**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42392504-reina-roja) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/364872.Juan_Gomez_Jurado">Juan Gomez-Jurado</a> (you can read [my review in Spanish in Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2593970922))
2. [**Travels With Charley: In Search of America**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8135136-travels-with-charley) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/585.John_Steinbeck">John Steinbeck</a> (you can read [my review here in the blog](/blog/2018/02/travels-with-charley-by-john-steinbeck/))
3. [**Patria**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31842429-patria) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/68308.Fernando_Aramburu">Fernando Aramburu</a> (you can read [my review in Spanish in Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2251783938))
4. [**A Room of One's Own**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37944086-a-room-of-one-s-own) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6765.Virginia_Woolf">Virginia Woolf</a> (you can read [my review in English in Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2354781993))
5. [**El rayo que no cesa**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19051109-el-rayo-que-no-cesa) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/527954.Miguel_Hern_ndez">Miguel Hernández</a> (you can read [my review in Spanish in Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2360895290))
6. [**Poeta en Nueva York**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34918025-poeta-en-nueva-york) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/44150.Federico_Garc_a_Lorca">Federico García Lorca</a> (you can read [my review in Spanish in Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2360896179))
7. [**Espía de Dios**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8362050-esp-a-de-dios) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/364872.Juan_Gomez_Jurado">Juan Gomez-Jurado</a>
8. [**Ndura: Hijo de la selva**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36524894-ndura) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8433319.Javier_Salazar_Calle">Javier Salazar Calle</a> (you can read [my review in Spanish in Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2447363435))
9. [**Contrato con Dios**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11934526-contrato-con-dios) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/364872.Juan_Gomez_Jurado">Juan Gomez-Jurado</a>
10. [**Intemperie**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17268452-intemperie) by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6899846.Jes_s_Carrasco">Jesús Carrasco</a> (you can read [my review in Spanish in Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2359397308))