Hi, I'm Beth. I create: words and art. I do yoga. I cook tasty food. I publish Shimmer magazine. Now 37% more purple. Needful Things
Hi, I'm Beth. I create: words and art. I do yoga. I cook tasty food. I publish Shimmer magazine. Now 37% more purple. Needful Things
This year’s goal was 150 books. Well, we moved this year, and it feels like I spent all year either packing or adjusting. Still, I managed 60 books. Uniformly by white authors, except the times I intentionally sought out books by people of color; more books by women than by men; and predominantly pleasure reading. And I think there were a few more books that I forgot to record.
1. Waiter Rant, Steve Dublanica. Based on the blog. Male, caucasian.
2. Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie. Remnant of a spaceship kicks some ass. Female, caucasian.
3. Doctor Sleep, Stephen King. Follow-up to The Shining. Male, caucasian.
4. Flowers in the Attic, V. C. Andrews. A manual of bad parenting. Female, caucasian.
5. Known Devil, Justin Gustanis. Book 3 in a series about hijinks in paranormal Scranton. Male, caucasian.
6. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman. 65-year old woman joins the CIA, hijinks ensue. Female, caucasian.
7. Ashes of Honor, Seanan McGuire. Toby finds kidnapped daughter of a friend, hijinks ensue. Book 5,375Â in the series. Female, caucasian.
8. Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead. Our Heroine is a vampire’s bodyguard/best friend. Book 1 in the series. Female, caucasian .
9. Bride of Death, Tim Pratt. Our Heroine returns from the dead, kicks some ass. Book 2,573 in the series. Male, caucasian.
10. The Amazing Mrs Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman. Mrs. P goes to Turkey; hijinks ensue. Female, caucasian.
11. Chimes at Midnight, Seanan McGuire. Toby the junkie. Female, caucasian.
12. Hit Man, Lawrence Block. Hit man gets a doggie. Male, caucasian.
13. Half-Off Ragnarok. Alex vs cocatrix. Female, caucasian.
14. Shadow Unit 14. Bear and Bobet. Female, Caucasian.
15. Hit Parade, Lawrence Block. Hit man hijinks continue. Male, Caucasian.
16. Hit List, Lawrence Block. Hit man hijinks continue. Male, caucasian.
17. Hit and Run, Lawrence Block. Hit man hijinks continue. Male, caucasian.
18. Under the Banner of Heaven, John Krakauer. Mormon fundamentalist mayhem. Male, caucasian.
19. The Elusive Mrs. Polifax, Dorothy Gilman. Mrs P. goes to Bulgaria. Female, caucasian.
20. Into the Vampire City, Phil Tucker. Vampire Miami. Male, caucasian.
21. Handbook for Dragon Slayers, Merrie Haskell. Charming Germanic dragon tale. Female, Caucasian
22. Sanctum, Sarah Fine. Girl goes to city of the dead to rescue friend who committed suicide. Female, Caucasian.
23. Heartwood, Freya Robertson. Tree people vs water people. Female, Caucasian.
24. Fiction River, Crime. ed. K. Rusch. Crime fiction anthology.
25. Service Included, Phoebe Damro. Female waiter in fine dining. Female, caucasian.
26. The Hunger, John Delucie
27. Claire deWitt and the Bohemian Highway, Sara Gran. Friend murdered in SF. Book 2. Female, caucasian.
28. DMQZ, Quinn Flemming. Former cop investigates in post-epidemic New York. Male, Caucasian.
29. Best American Mysteries 2012, ed. Robert Crais. Varies.
30. The Falling Woman, Pat Murphy. Lady archaeologist, Mayans. Female, Caucasian.
At this point, I decided to read non-white people for the rest of the year.
31. Silver Phoenix, Cindy Pon. Our Heroine flees a predator and heads to the city to find her father. Hijinks ensue. Female, Chinese-american
32. The Good House, Tananarive Due. Voodoo in the pacific NW. Female, african-american.
33. The Chaos, Nalo Hopkinson. well, Chaos ensues. Female, Carribean
34. All the Lucky Ones are Dead, Gar Anthony Haywood. Death of a hip-hop star. Male, African-american
35. Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosely. Easy takes a job to pay the mortgage. Male, african-american
36. Sly, Slick & Wicked, Angela Henry. Death of a gallery owner. Female, african-american.
37. Kitty Goes to War, Carrie Vaughn. Kitty vs werewolf vets and snow. Female, caucasian
Somewhere around here, I got really distracted from my reading plan and the rest is not in order; and I also stopped reading POC exclusively. I wanted a lot of comfort books, it looks like.
38. Mrs Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha, Dorothy Gilman. Hong Kong hijinks. Female, Caucasian
39. A Palm for Mrs Polifax, Dorothy Gilman. Mrs P goes to a health resort in Switzerland. Female, Caucasian
40. Mrs Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish. Mrs P goes to Morocco. Female, Caucasian.
41. Mrs Polifax Pursued. Mrs P. goes to the carnival and to Africa. Female, Caucasian.
42. Mira Grant, Parasite. First book of the new series. Female, Caucasian.
45. The Egypt Game, Zilpha Keatly Snyder. Loved this book to death when I was little; still do. Female, Caucasian
46. Cretaceous Dawn, Michael and Lisa Graziano. Yay dinosaurs! Male, female, caucasian.
47. Axe Cop, Malachai and Ethan Nicholle, male, caucasian
48. Sandman, Volume 1, Neil Gaiman. male, caucasian
49. Kill City Blues, Richard Kadrey, male, caucasian
50. The Science of Herself, Karen Joy Fowler, collection. female, caucasian.
51. Questionable Practices, Eileen Gunn, short story collection, female, caucasian
52. The Spectral Link, Thomas Ligotti. collection. male, caucasian.
53. Scene and Structure, Jack Bickhame. male, cuacasian.
54. Bad Little Girls Die Horrible Deaths, Harry Connolly. collection. male, caucasian.
55. Streets of Shadows, ed. Maurice Broaddus. multiple authors. Collection.
56. Geek Love, ed. Shanna Germain. multiple authors. Collection.
57. A Key, and Egg, an Unfortunate Remark. Harry Connolly. Pacifist urban fantasy, charming. Male, caucasian
58. The Shambling Guide to New York. Mur Lafferty. Our Heroine writes tour guide for Coterie. charming. female, caucasian
59. Shadow Kiss, Rachelle Mead. Vampire Academy Book 3. female, caucasian.
60. Blood Promise, Rachelle Mead. Vampire Academy Book 4. female, caucasian.
2015: Let’s hit 100 again, and read more diverse books.