In case you didn't know it, I like to read.
This year I managed to review 106 books on this blog. I finished 107, but didn't review my homie Celia C. Perez's book draft. You can bet there will be a sparkling review of The First Rule of Punk once I get my paws on the published version. I got 50 or more pages into six or so others, before giving up on them. I enthusiastically recommend not finishing books you don't love. You're in charge of your leisure reading! I don't know what to say about reading for school. Maybe I do, but I won't say it on the grounds that it might incriminate me.
In case you didn't know, I like to read books by women. 99 (or 99.25%) of the books I finished were by people on the female spectrum.
I marked only 17/16% as highly recommended.
48 or 45% are by people with identities that are in one or more ways marginalized--people of color, LGBTQ folks, and people with disabilities.
POC: 33 or 31%
LGBTQ: 26 OR 24%, which seems odd to me, but maybe that's because a lot of the queer-authored books I read were in the third third of the year.
Disability (that I know about/is evident in the story): 4 or 3.74%, so I need to concentrate on that in 2017.
YA: 45 or 42%: because the entire fall, being back in grad school, I couldn't deal with adult books.
Children's books: 2 or 1.9%.
Nonfiction: 9/8.4% (two for grad school, including one of the male-authored books)
Biographies: 15 or 14% (includes autobios & memoirs)
Graphic works: 7 or 6.5%
Rereads: 7 or 6.5%
20th century books: 8 or 7.5% (only two of these, both cat-themed were new-to-me)
Here's the whole list if you're interested:
The color coding is to separate months. Celia's book is uncolored because I didn't review it. Look up any of the titles on this site to find the review. Other than The First Rule of Punk. I'm indicating the "highly recommendeds" for you by bolding them.
| title | author |
| tempest rising | nicole peeler |
| lowriders in space | cathy camper |
| alex as well | alyssa brugman |
| notorious rbg | irin carmon & Shana Knizhnik |
| tracking the tempest | nicole peeler |
| death, dickinson, and the demented life of frenchie garcia | jenny torres sanchez |
| autofocus | lauren gibaldi |
| the letter q | sarah moon |
| Find Me | romily bernard |
| Diamond Head | cecily wong |
| Girl Defective | simmone howell |
| Frannie and Tru | karen hattrup |
| Passing for Black | Linda Villarosa |
| hotel cat | esther |
| the arena | holly jennings |
| an age of license | lucy kingsley |
| magic under glass | jaclyn dolamore |
| tell me again how a crush should feel | sara farizan |
| animal dreams | barbara kingsolver |
| the godfather | mario puzo |
| the dark light | julia bell |
| moody bitches: perimenopause chapter | julie holland |
| places no one knows | brenna yovanoff |
| suits: a woman on wall street | nina godiwalla |
| confucius jane | katie lynch |
| when we wake | karen healey |
| while we run | karen healey |
| tribe of tiger | elizabeth marshall thomas |
| mean little deaf queer | terry galloway |
| In the Light of What We See | Sarah Painter |
| the first rule of punk | c dog |
| girl through glass | sari wilson |
| the flip side | shawn johnson |
| darkover landfall | marion zimmer bradley |
| radio girls | sarah-jane stratford |
| 3:59 | gretchen o'neil |
| fire touched | patricia briggs |
| Schism | britt holewinski |
| spell sword | marion zimmer bradley |
| black cool | rebecca walker |
| what are you doing here | laina dawes |
| crossing the line | malin alegria |
| quince clash | malin alegria |
| you'll grow out of it | jessi klein |
| my (underground) american dream | julissa arce |
| jujitsu rabbi and the godless blonde | rebecca dana |
| the hallowed ones | laura bickle |
| the outside | laura bickle |
| honor girl | maggie thrash |
| behold the dreamers | imbolo mbue |
| personal charm | missy kulik |
| dig me out | jovana babovic |
| happy mothers | amulya malladi |
| heritage of hastur | marion zimmer bradley |
| montgomerly sole | mariko tamaki |
| as i descended | robin talley |
| Devil wears Prada | lauren weisberger |
| in the swish | dawn green |
| all the bright places | jennifer niven |
| kindred graphic novel | octavia butler |
| dramarama | e someone |
| loose ends list | carrie firestone |
| bloom county | berkeley breathed |
| driving the saudis | janye amelia larson |
| revenge wears prada | lauren weisberger |
| education of margot sanchez | lilliam rivera |
| shattered chain | marion zimmer bradley |
| primates of park avenue | wednesday martin |
| you can't touch my hair | phoebe robinson |
| book of negroes | hill, lawrence |
| feedback | mira grant |
| wolfgirl | c.d. bell |
| another brooklyn | jacqueline woodson |
| why not me | mindy kaling |
| the mothers | brit bennett |
| me & mom & me | maya angelou |
| the clancys of queens | tara clancy |
| orphan sky | ella leya |
| something in between | melissa de la cruz |
| game of love and death | martha brockenbrough |
| reboot | amy tintera |
| rebel | amy tintera |
| graphs, maps, trees | franco moretti |
| firefly lane | kristin hannah |
| forbidden tower | marion zimmer bradley |
| hollywood witch hunter | valerie tejeda |
| honey girl | lisa freeman |
| difficult women | roxane gay |
| you know me well | nina lacour and david levitan |
| airhead | meg cabot |
| planned obsolescence | kathleen fitzpatrick |
| nikki lives | meg cabot |
| runaway | meg cabot |
| let's get lost | adi alsaid |
| keeping the beat | marie powell |
| zenn diagram | wendy brant |
| what's a soulmate | lindsey ouimet |
| lillies of the bowery | lily r mason |
| juliet takes a breath | rivera |
| burn baby burn | meg medina |
| i'm just a person | tig notaro |
| lost boi | sassafrass lowrey |
| screaming divas | kamata |
| how to make a wish | ashley herring blake |
| queen of katwe | tim crothers |
| in the country we love | diane guerrero |
| deep thoughts from a hollywood blonde | jennie garth |