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books read in 2019
Jan. 21st, 2020 10:05 amHow many books read in 2019?
106
The first book you read in 2019:
Snobs by Julian Fellowes, I remember reading this in the bathtub.
The last book you finished in 2019:
On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufhal, which is quiet and lovely.
The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2020:
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, as recommended by a friend. Like a better HP.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
19 nonfiction, 87 fiction.
Male/Female authors?
65 women
Non-white authors?
29 non-white authors, which I'm trying to do better this year
Most books read by one author this year?
I read three stories from Delilah S Dawson - Black Spire, Phasma and Perfect Weapon.
How many books in each format?
12 were digital, the rest paper books
Top Five Favorite books read?
In no particular order:
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Phasma by Delilah S Dawson
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno Garcia
The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara
Best books you read in 2019?
The Cooking Gene by Michael W Twitty completely reshaped how I think about the food traditions of the South and how it relates to slavery & American history.
In the Woods by Tana French was the most incredibly tense novel I've read in years.
Least favorite?
I quit reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara several hundred pages in, skipped to the end and then read a synopsis online for the middle. It was fucking horrible and I hated this book. It baffles me that so many people, including one of my favorite authors, adore this book. Maybe I just don't have the stomach for literary torture porn. Because that's what this is - hundreds of pages of (quite literal at points) torture and injury. The book starts and ends with no real change except the character dies.
Most disappointing book/Book you wished you loved more than you did?
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan was awful. A beautiful premise utterly spoiled and terrible. Made even more disappointing by the author's obvious disdain for the scifi he was writing. It could have been amazing but it was just bad.
Best series you discovered in 2019?
Chuck Wendig's Aftermath books, set in the Star Wars universe.
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
Delilah S Dawson
Oldest book read?
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, 1939
Newest?
On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl
Longest book title?
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Shortest title?
Lot by Bryan Washington
Shrill by Lindy West
Dragonfish by Vu Tran
Parkland by David Cullen
Snobs by Julian Fellowes
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Hollywood by Gore Vidal
How many re-reads?
Four, half of which were Fay Weldon whom I adore.
Any in translation?
Just four, something I'd like to improve this year.
How many of this year's books were from the library?
52 (My library emails my checkout receipt and it keeps a running tally of how much money I've saved. My 2019 total was something like $1500.)
How many books did you buy?
No comment at this time.
Book that most changed my perspective:
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo made me think long and hard about my words and my actions when it came to race and racism in America. There's a lot of unexamined stuff in all of us and sunlight is a good disinfectant.
Favorite character:
I loved Phasma's story so much because it was unapologetically ferocious and she was so determined.
Favorite scene:
The party scene where Ambassador Mahit realizes she will never, ever belong to the culture she's studied and loved her whole life in A Memory Called Empire. It's so visceral and moving.
Most inspirational in terms of own writing?
Lot by Bryan Washington. He brings so much queerness and life and Texas to the page in ways that people don't expect. Also, food.
How many you'd actually read again?
Quite a few probably.
A book that you never want to read again:
I am Madame X by Gioia Diliberto was so shallow and disappointing.
Book you recommended most to others in 2019?
The Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno Garcia
The book series you read the most volumes of in 2019:
Wendig's Aftermath books
The genre you read the most in 2019:
Science fiction/fantasy, no doubt.
Your favorite "classic" you read in 2019:
Does Gore Vidal count? I loved Hollywood.
The hardest book you read in 2019 (topic or writing style):
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo covered a lot of brutal ground on white supremacy.
The funniest book you read in 2019:
Shrill by Lindy West
The saddest book you read in 2019:
Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain by Danny Goldberg really moved me. I was unsure a book by Nirvana's manager would really tell me anything I didn't already know as a 90's teen who stayed up all night with Kurt Loder the day they found him. But it was really a moving book that made me miss Kurt and the artist he might have become.
The shortest book you read in 2019:
The Best Girls by Min Jin Lee
The longest book that you read in 2019:
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Best book that was outside your comfort zone/a new genre for you?
In the Woods by Tana French. I don't tend to pick up police procedural/investigative mystery novels but this was so incredibly done.
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2019?
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden reads like a snowball rolling downhill and becoming an avalanche.
Most beautifully written book in 2019?
A tough question but I think the magic that Ann Leckie pulls off with perspective and voice in The Raven Tower was the most remarkable.
Book you most anticipated in 2019?
I was extremely excited for Gods of Jade and Shadow.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2019?
Probably the cover of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir especially with the black edged pages of my hardback copy.
Book you can't believe you waited till 2019 to finally read?
Chuck Wendig's Aftermath books, for sure.
Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?
Let's not talk about the shelf of un-read books in the dining room.
Did you DNF anything?
Three books, including A Little Life which remains a baffling nightmare doorstopper.
Looking Ahead:
One book you didn't read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2020?
My newly installed TBR shelf has Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand which I am very excited for. I love her everything.
New book you are most anticipating for 2020?
Looking forward to Tamsyn Muir's next book, Agency by William Gibson, Cleanness by Garth Greenwell and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia!
106
The first book you read in 2019:
Snobs by Julian Fellowes, I remember reading this in the bathtub.
The last book you finished in 2019:
On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufhal, which is quiet and lovely.
The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2020:
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, as recommended by a friend. Like a better HP.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
19 nonfiction, 87 fiction.
Male/Female authors?
65 women
Non-white authors?
29 non-white authors, which I'm trying to do better this year
Most books read by one author this year?
I read three stories from Delilah S Dawson - Black Spire, Phasma and Perfect Weapon.
How many books in each format?
12 were digital, the rest paper books
Top Five Favorite books read?
In no particular order:
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Phasma by Delilah S Dawson
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno Garcia
The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara
Best books you read in 2019?
The Cooking Gene by Michael W Twitty completely reshaped how I think about the food traditions of the South and how it relates to slavery & American history.
In the Woods by Tana French was the most incredibly tense novel I've read in years.
Least favorite?
I quit reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara several hundred pages in, skipped to the end and then read a synopsis online for the middle. It was fucking horrible and I hated this book. It baffles me that so many people, including one of my favorite authors, adore this book. Maybe I just don't have the stomach for literary torture porn. Because that's what this is - hundreds of pages of (quite literal at points) torture and injury. The book starts and ends with no real change except the character dies.
Most disappointing book/Book you wished you loved more than you did?
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan was awful. A beautiful premise utterly spoiled and terrible. Made even more disappointing by the author's obvious disdain for the scifi he was writing. It could have been amazing but it was just bad.
Best series you discovered in 2019?
Chuck Wendig's Aftermath books, set in the Star Wars universe.
Favorite new author you discovered this year?
Delilah S Dawson
Oldest book read?
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, 1939
Newest?
On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl
Longest book title?
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Shortest title?
Lot by Bryan Washington
Shrill by Lindy West
Dragonfish by Vu Tran
Parkland by David Cullen
Snobs by Julian Fellowes
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Hollywood by Gore Vidal
How many re-reads?
Four, half of which were Fay Weldon whom I adore.
Any in translation?
Just four, something I'd like to improve this year.
How many of this year's books were from the library?
52 (My library emails my checkout receipt and it keeps a running tally of how much money I've saved. My 2019 total was something like $1500.)
How many books did you buy?
No comment at this time.
Book that most changed my perspective:
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo made me think long and hard about my words and my actions when it came to race and racism in America. There's a lot of unexamined stuff in all of us and sunlight is a good disinfectant.
Favorite character:
I loved Phasma's story so much because it was unapologetically ferocious and she was so determined.
Favorite scene:
The party scene where Ambassador Mahit realizes she will never, ever belong to the culture she's studied and loved her whole life in A Memory Called Empire. It's so visceral and moving.
Most inspirational in terms of own writing?
Lot by Bryan Washington. He brings so much queerness and life and Texas to the page in ways that people don't expect. Also, food.
How many you'd actually read again?
Quite a few probably.
A book that you never want to read again:
I am Madame X by Gioia Diliberto was so shallow and disappointing.
Book you recommended most to others in 2019?
The Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno Garcia
The book series you read the most volumes of in 2019:
Wendig's Aftermath books
The genre you read the most in 2019:
Science fiction/fantasy, no doubt.
Your favorite "classic" you read in 2019:
Does Gore Vidal count? I loved Hollywood.
The hardest book you read in 2019 (topic or writing style):
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo covered a lot of brutal ground on white supremacy.
The funniest book you read in 2019:
Shrill by Lindy West
The saddest book you read in 2019:
Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain by Danny Goldberg really moved me. I was unsure a book by Nirvana's manager would really tell me anything I didn't already know as a 90's teen who stayed up all night with Kurt Loder the day they found him. But it was really a moving book that made me miss Kurt and the artist he might have become.
The shortest book you read in 2019:
The Best Girls by Min Jin Lee
The longest book that you read in 2019:
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Best book that was outside your comfort zone/a new genre for you?
In the Woods by Tana French. I don't tend to pick up police procedural/investigative mystery novels but this was so incredibly done.
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2019?
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden reads like a snowball rolling downhill and becoming an avalanche.
Most beautifully written book in 2019?
A tough question but I think the magic that Ann Leckie pulls off with perspective and voice in The Raven Tower was the most remarkable.
Book you most anticipated in 2019?
I was extremely excited for Gods of Jade and Shadow.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2019?
Probably the cover of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir especially with the black edged pages of my hardback copy.
Book you can't believe you waited till 2019 to finally read?
Chuck Wendig's Aftermath books, for sure.
Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?
Let's not talk about the shelf of un-read books in the dining room.
Did you DNF anything?
Three books, including A Little Life which remains a baffling nightmare doorstopper.
Looking Ahead:
One book you didn't read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2020?
My newly installed TBR shelf has Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand which I am very excited for. I love her everything.
New book you are most anticipating for 2020?
Looking forward to Tamsyn Muir's next book, Agency by William Gibson, Cleanness by Garth Greenwell and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia!