End of year (and December) book post

[nrgburst]

I should really just do these monthly, eh? Apparently I've read 105 books this year, which is just more than double what I read last year, so yay? (Or thanks COVID pandemic for all the extra reading time since I was unemployed, I guess?) 

So at the beginning of the year I had Just. Had. It. with narratives by men where women and people of color suffer (and often die) and have their stories co-opted to elevate a (usually white and morally shitty but we're supposed to feel sorry for him) man in the end. Therefore I decided to choose to read books written by women only on purpose. Part of this was due to an essay I read, where one of the "cool" English Lit profs at the writer's college explained that there were no Great Works written by women, so that was why there were none on the assigned reading list. And it galled me because yup, I could absolutely hear my old "liberal" English profs saying the exact same thing. I had not even questioned our reading list, just assumed that my half of the species didn't have a perspective worth hearing.


Yeah. No. Sick to death of that, although I understand why men don't think books by women are relatable to the human experience, since I always somehow knew that books with a male protagonist were meant for everybody, but books with a female one, only for girls because of my own internalized misogyny.


Past time to start deliberately changing my own mind about that.


Some of the books that I had on hold already were by men, or I realized later, by trans men, but the vast majority (100/105) were written or co-written by women. (Ilona Andrews for example, is a husband/wife writing team, but if you've ever read Gordon Andrew's single authored KD stories, you can really tell he isn't the one doing the heavy lifting of writing "their" works.)

I think I'm going to keep going with the "skewed" selection process. Not that every lady authored book has been perfect and wonderful- of course not, but I think it's realigned my thinking a little bit? Like I think it's starting to reflect in POV work in my own writing, which is a good thing.

My faves this year:

1. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
3. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El Mohtar
4. The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
5. Clap when you land by Elizabeth Acevedo
6. The Fifth Season/The Obelisk Gate/The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemesin
7. The Huntress by Kate Quinn
8. The Cruel Prince/The Wicked King/The Queen of Nothing/How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black

Honorable mentions: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah and Born a Crime by Trevor Noah- I might buy these still. They still stick out in my head as worth revisiting for sure. 


Books read in December: 



 Pegasus in Space by Anne McCaffrey

This was pretty cringey to read (and boring!) because it was eventually about Peter Reidinger getting "miracle" cured from his paralysis while the same bad guys are still up to no good in space, trying to thwart the Good Guys from Progress. Not even worth reading for the background material for the rest of the Talents series, IMO. More Tirla would probably have saved it for me, but alas, she is really just a background character in this one.

 The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West

This took me forever to get through even though it was funny and insightful, just because it felt too depressingly relevant and honestly, kind of hopeless despite not meaning to be? I'm going to read Shrill (and try to find the Hulu show) by the same author, but I think I need to process this one for a bit still.

 Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones

I needed to re-read this because Howl is a dramatic peacock like Cardan Greenbriar, and I wanted a good lighthearted romp after that last book. Sophie is a pessimistic delight of a main character too, getting ish done despite Howl's shining dishonesty and getting turned old (all the misfortune surely comes of being the eldest). I actually re-bought the whole series in ebook format while it was on sale at iBooks, so I'll probably re-read the other two in the coming year. 

 All Systems Red by Martha Wells

OMG I loved Murderbot so much. It just wants to watch its shows and not have to interact with people, okay? Also to save its humans, who make horrible, really tantamount-to-suicidal decisions, but fine, fine, it's just par for the course and all the startling self-aware revelations and Unexpected Feelings along the way are Totally Normal and won't affect long term functionality. Yup. 

 SHOUT by Laurie Halse Anderson

I keep reading unexpected poetry this year and loving it. I think my favorite bits were her reflections on her year in Denmark as a transfer student- what a wonderful, healing experience for her. Also I thought these lines about Speak and school censorship hold so much truth: 

"censoring my books
in the name of "innocence"
will not build the fence you want"


      Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect and Compulsory and Home short stories by Martha Wells (The rest of the Murderbot series)

So I've just been binging this series when I have good hours between headaches. There's a new one coming out in 2021 too! :DDD Murderbot just keeps getting into situations with gripping action and tantalizing mysteries to be uncovered along with humans that walk into life-threatening peril Usually On Purpose. Also a corporate conspiracy is revealed over the course of the books, and its OH SHIT moment in Exit Strategy had me just howling! Ah, Murderbot, you self-fulfilling prophecy, you. I'm still in the process of reading Network Effect now, but I'm going to assume the last bit of the book is as good as the others (and that I'll finish it before the 31st).



Next up on my Libby is actually A Promised Land by Barack Obama, and then I have a huuuge list of books recced by people from Jurdannet, so I think I'll probably hit 100 books next year too. How was your reading journey this year, guys? Any burning recs?

Comments

[kingstoken]

I got to get around to reading the Murderbit series people keep talking about how good it is.

[nrgburst]

It is really good! Murderbot is surprisingly relatable and it's gripping and fast paced! Plus they're novellas so easy to digest in a sitting.

[senmut]

The only thing that makes me reread Pegasus in Space are the women in it, but Amariyah is my fave and she comes off... poorly, in some of how she is written. Anne's bias against brown people that comes off as theym being shrewish, sharp, or conniving was heavy on both her and most of Tirla's people and Tirla herself at points.

[nrgburst]

Honestly, I got more of a strangely subservient attitude from Amariyah, which had me so ??? Like she's being raised by a white woman in America, with every privilege-- why isn't she acting/talking like it? I'm pretty sure the answer is "internalized racism" about what brown people are inherently like, TBH. I mean, to be expected in an older novel, I suppose? It did limit my enjoyment for sure though.

[fadedwings]

I listened to the audiobooks of Clap When You Land (read by the author) and This is How You Lose the Time War. I really enjoyed those, they were both so good!

[nrgburst]

YESSSS I had such a great book year, and those were definitely highlights! :DDD