2015 Reading List

Wed, 12/30/2015 - 2:22pm by jenna

I review everything I read here and pull out the highlights in a print reading log, but I'm seeing lots of friends write up their year's reads (Vikki Law, Meredith Farkas, and others on Facebook). Their round ups make me want to create a master list, too. Favorite reads get a ♥.

The categories should really overlap, so I made some choices. Since I participated in the Diverse Books challenge this year, pledging to ready 50 books "where people of color can be first-page HEROES rather than second-class citizens. Books in which LGBTQIA characters can represent social CHANGE rather than social problems. And books where people with disabilities can be just…people.", and because people often have overlapping identities, I've grouped POC, LGBTQIA, and disabilities titles together.

It's strange to me that I don't remember reading some of these books at all. Others are vivid, pretty well in keeping with those I marked as "highly recommended" at the time I reviewed them.

By my count I finished 95 books and reviewed 12 zines this year.
59 of the books would qualify for the diverse books challenge, even though 10 of them aren't about POC or LGBTQ lives and a few of them were written by white people.

I read 6 books written or edited by men, which is a lot for me.

I reviewed 12 zines, 2 or 3 of them are by white heterosexuals.

For the record, I am a white heterosexual and a jerk like most people in the world; I just like to absorb other perspectives through the books I read, and other media, as much as possible.

My numbers could be off. I have a spreadsheet, but it's complicated by books I reviewed but didn't finish, and books I didn't review or finish, as well as having zines in the same count as the books. Bad data. I'll do better next year.

Adult Fiction by/about Women of Color and/or Queer Women

These authors aren't necessarily WOC or Queer themselves.

Ayiti by Roxane Gay
Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
Blood Oranges by Kathleen Tierney
China Dolls by Lisa See
♥ Crazy Horse's Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth
♥ Disgruntled by Asali Solomon
♥ Dryland by Sara Jaffe
The Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet
♥ The Round House by Louise Erdrich
♥ Somebody's Daughter by Marie Myun-Ok Lee

Adult Fiction by/about White Straight Women

Acts of God by Ellen Gilchrist (short stories)
Dietland by Sarai Walker
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone and Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert
♥ In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper by Hilary Liftin
Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel

Adult Fiction by Women of Color or Queer Women Whose Characters Aren't

The Hole We're In by Gabrielle Zevin
Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown

Bio/Autobio by Women of Color and/or Queer Women

Color Blind by Precious Williams
A Cup of Water Under My Bed by Daisy Hernandez
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
Out of Orange: a Memoir by Cleary Wolters
Taking Flight: from War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela DePrince and Elaine DePrince
♥ Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes

Bio/Autobio by White Straight Women

Cut Me Loose by Leah Vincent
Dancing Through It by Jenifer Ringer
Fairyland: a Memoir of My Father by Alysia Abbott
It's Not About Perfect by Shannon Miller
Rebel On Pointe by Lee Wilson
Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini

Young Adult Fiction by/about Women of Color and/or Queer Authors

These authors aren't necessarily WOC or Queer themselves.

♥ About a Girl by Sarah McCarry
♥ After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
Am I Blue edited by Marion Dane Bauer (short stories)
Ana of California by Andi Teran
Anatomy of a Girl Gang by Ashley Little
Angelfall and The World After by Susan Ee
Behind the Scenes and ♥ Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler
♥ Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Far From You by Tess Sharpe
Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman
♥ Girl in Translation and ♥ Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok
♥ Ink and Ashes by Valynne E. Maetani
Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters
Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis
None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio
A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
The Summer I Wasn't Me by Jessica Verdi
This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
♥ This Side of Home by Renée Watson
Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore
When We Were by Alexandra Diaz
♥ ♥ ♥ Work-in-progress by my BFF Celia Perez (which I've now read two drafts of and can't wait for the next one)

Young Adult Fiction by/about White Straight Women

All the Rage by Courtney Summers
Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley
♥ My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp
Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando
Roommates by Emily Chase
Soulless by Gail Carriger
This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer