Happy Friday! And a big thank you and welcome to my newest Patreon patron Lisa! Want to join in the fun and get exclusive stuff? Click here!
I loved the first episode of The Magicians, based on my pal Lev Grossman's books, and it's now online and on demand if you want to give it a watch before the January 25th premiere! Let me know what you think!
Speaking of TV, I'm sure you will all be shocked to hear that I am VERY EXCITED about The Crown, Netflix's upcoming drama about the Queen. Here is the first preview. It looks so angsty! Matt Smith looks so much like Prince Philip! I'm mildly concerned it's going to be unfair to the Queen, for whom I honestly have a lot of respect because of the way she has sincerely devoted her life to duty and hard work!
Ooh! The New York Public Library Just Uploaded Over 187,000 Free Images For All To Use
DANCING DINOSAURS
GINGERBREAD HOGWARTS
The Periodic Table Just Got Four New Elements. Everything Is Different Now.
I love this song and did not know any of this! How "The Sound of Silence" Became a Surprise Hit
Greatest list of losers ever?
Perhaps your Friday needs a quiz of dreamy men: Which British TV drama man will you hook up with? (I got Poldark, and he's a bit earnest and idealistic for me, but I guess we're saying "hook up with" not "deal with forever" so . . . I'll take it.)
Every Time Someone’s Eyes Flash Fire In A Sir Walter Scott Novel
Friday, January 8, 2016
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Morning Coffee (1/7/16)
ICYMI, there's now a way you can support these posts by signing up as a patron (so delightfully old Europe-sounding, no?) - as little as a dollar a month. Click here for details! (I'll probably put this notice at the top of posts for a while.)
And a big THANK YOU to Sara M., my first patron!
These New Year's Eve attacks on women in Cologne are so horrifying and worrisome in 15 different ways - obviously the attacks themselves, but also the ways they're being used as "evidence" against Germany's refugee policies.
Useful context: An expert on right-wing terrorism explains the militia movement behind the Oregon takeover
Oh. Good. Gary Johnson. Just what the world needs right now.
The Sudden But Well-Deserved Fall of Rahm Emanuel (My main takeaways here: a. my weird vague fondness for Emanuel is almost entirely Josh Lyman-based and I should get over that, and b. I really need to read Rick Perlstein's books. I think I own TWO of them.)
Lest we forget: Megyn Kelly Is a Horrible Person
Oh, Carly. Way too transparent.
This is amazing: Facebook made its own Android app crash on purpose to test user loyalty
How “true crime” went from guilty pleasure to high culture
Related: I haven't watched Making a Murderer yet so I only skimmed this, but in case you are interested: The damning evidence against Steven Avery that Making A Murderer ignored
"The Reuben is good, for some reason."
(My boring Senor Frog's story: My dad and I once went to one in the Bahamas because it was literally the only place we could find that was open before noon and we needed somewhere to sit and spread out our map to figure out a walking route. I had some sort of terrible bright green drink at 11:45am. Obviously the place was full of drunk people already. WE JUST WANTED TO FIND THE ART MUSEUM. [The art museum was closed. Every single place we tried to go that day was closed except, I think, the pirate museum. Somewhere I have a picture of a pirate holding the sock I was knitting because that was back when we were all making everyone take pictures holding partially knitted socks.])
And a big THANK YOU to Sara M., my first patron!
These New Year's Eve attacks on women in Cologne are so horrifying and worrisome in 15 different ways - obviously the attacks themselves, but also the ways they're being used as "evidence" against Germany's refugee policies.
Useful context: An expert on right-wing terrorism explains the militia movement behind the Oregon takeover
Oh. Good. Gary Johnson. Just what the world needs right now.
The Sudden But Well-Deserved Fall of Rahm Emanuel (My main takeaways here: a. my weird vague fondness for Emanuel is almost entirely Josh Lyman-based and I should get over that, and b. I really need to read Rick Perlstein's books. I think I own TWO of them.)
Lest we forget: Megyn Kelly Is a Horrible Person
Oh, Carly. Way too transparent.
This is amazing: Facebook made its own Android app crash on purpose to test user loyalty
How “true crime” went from guilty pleasure to high culture
Related: I haven't watched Making a Murderer yet so I only skimmed this, but in case you are interested: The damning evidence against Steven Avery that Making A Murderer ignored
"The Reuben is good, for some reason."
(My boring Senor Frog's story: My dad and I once went to one in the Bahamas because it was literally the only place we could find that was open before noon and we needed somewhere to sit and spread out our map to figure out a walking route. I had some sort of terrible bright green drink at 11:45am. Obviously the place was full of drunk people already. WE JUST WANTED TO FIND THE ART MUSEUM. [The art museum was closed. Every single place we tried to go that day was closed except, I think, the pirate museum. Somewhere I have a picture of a pirate holding the sock I was knitting because that was back when we were all making everyone take pictures holding partially knitted socks.])
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Patreon!
As I mentioned in my New Year's update, a few readers have asked if there's a way to financially support the link posts and blog in general. This post explains how that is possible! So if you are interested in hearing about that, read on. If not, this is what you need to know: the reader experience won't change; posts aren't going behind a paywall or anything.
For those unfamiliar with the site: Patreon is a service that lets individual small donors band together to support creators with monthly pledges. It's sort of like crowdfunding on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, except it's for ongoing work rather than a time-limited project. You pledge whatever amount per month you want and from your end it's a recurring automatic payment, like you might have set up for the New York Times or Netflix or something. From my end, once a month I get a payment from Patreon for what was given that month by my patrons.
And based on the amount you give, you get rewards! (They stack, so at each level you also get all the rewards from the previous levels.) They're all detailed on my page, but a few examples: for $1 you get a thank you and monthly updates on what I'm working on. Anyone giving $5 a month or more gets a newsletter with bonus links and other content that didn't make the blog. The $10 level also gets my Pop Culture Diary of what I'm reading/watching/listening to and how I feel about it. And so on. (You can change your pledge amount easily at any time; I am a patron of some people and have done this successfully with no problems!) I've also set up some milestone goals for things I will be able to afford to write/post when the total amount per month hits certain benchmarks - everything from book reviews to commissioning guest posts.
Questions? Let me know! Want to read more about this or sign up? Click here!
For those unfamiliar with the site: Patreon is a service that lets individual small donors band together to support creators with monthly pledges. It's sort of like crowdfunding on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, except it's for ongoing work rather than a time-limited project. You pledge whatever amount per month you want and from your end it's a recurring automatic payment, like you might have set up for the New York Times or Netflix or something. From my end, once a month I get a payment from Patreon for what was given that month by my patrons.
And based on the amount you give, you get rewards! (They stack, so at each level you also get all the rewards from the previous levels.) They're all detailed on my page, but a few examples: for $1 you get a thank you and monthly updates on what I'm working on. Anyone giving $5 a month or more gets a newsletter with bonus links and other content that didn't make the blog. The $10 level also gets my Pop Culture Diary of what I'm reading/watching/listening to and how I feel about it. And so on. (You can change your pledge amount easily at any time; I am a patron of some people and have done this successfully with no problems!) I've also set up some milestone goals for things I will be able to afford to write/post when the total amount per month hits certain benchmarks - everything from book reviews to commissioning guest posts.
Questions? Let me know! Want to read more about this or sign up? Click here!
Morning Coffee (1/6/16)
ICYMI last night, North Korea says it tested a hydrogen bomb, but so far no one's sure if this is true.
Here's a good explanation of the President's executive orders to reduce gun violence, with video of his announcement. (And this idea that he was faking emotion when talking about the deaths of tiny children just sickens me.)
Are Trump supporters driven by economic anxiety or racial resentment? Yes.
But Ezra Klein is very soothing: Here's what I think Donald Trump's loss will look like (This sounds right to me, and I feel like in many ways the real contest in these early states is between the power of yelling [Trump, Sanders] and the power of organization/logistics [Clinton, maybe Cruz or even Christie]. Organization/logistics better win or my entire worldview will be shaken.)
Seriously: Calm Down About the Fake 10,000 Character Limit on Twitter
Important context: Waco and Ruby Ridge: the 1990s standoffs haunting the Oregon takeover, explained
Sometimes complaining on the Internet works: Star Wars Monopoly game to add Rey character after fan outcry (FWIW, I saw several thinly sourced claims saying Hasbro's contract with Disney prevented them from putting Rey in any toys released before a certain date, and I find that reasonably plausible, but someone still should have realized how it would come across.)
Speaking of Hasbro and Disney, this was fascinating: The $500 Million Battle Over Disney’s Princesses
Whoa - English Heritage is recreating 1066 on Twitter.
Two Monks Learn How To Draw Hands
Here's a good explanation of the President's executive orders to reduce gun violence, with video of his announcement. (And this idea that he was faking emotion when talking about the deaths of tiny children just sickens me.)
Are Trump supporters driven by economic anxiety or racial resentment? Yes.
But Ezra Klein is very soothing: Here's what I think Donald Trump's loss will look like (This sounds right to me, and I feel like in many ways the real contest in these early states is between the power of yelling [Trump, Sanders] and the power of organization/logistics [Clinton, maybe Cruz or even Christie]. Organization/logistics better win or my entire worldview will be shaken.)
Seriously: Calm Down About the Fake 10,000 Character Limit on Twitter
Important context: Waco and Ruby Ridge: the 1990s standoffs haunting the Oregon takeover, explained
Sometimes complaining on the Internet works: Star Wars Monopoly game to add Rey character after fan outcry (FWIW, I saw several thinly sourced claims saying Hasbro's contract with Disney prevented them from putting Rey in any toys released before a certain date, and I find that reasonably plausible, but someone still should have realized how it would come across.)
Speaking of Hasbro and Disney, this was fascinating: The $500 Million Battle Over Disney’s Princesses
Whoa - English Heritage is recreating 1066 on Twitter.
Two Monks Learn How To Draw Hands
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Morning Coffee (1/5/16)
ICYMI, my thoughts on Deanna Raybourn's A Curious Beginning. (I tried to make a 2016 Books masterlist but Blogger isn't publishing pages correctly for some reason so . . . I'll try that again later, I guess.)
ISIS Issues a Lengthy Ruling on Who Is Allowed to Rape Female Captives
On that note: The Many Exciting Ways 2016 Could Be Worse Than 2015
Wow: Disappearance of 5 Tied to Publisher Prompts Broader Worries in Hong Kong
Racial prejudice is driving opposition to paying college athletes. Here’s the evidence.
One good thing! Twitter’s new rules explicitly crack down on ‘hateful conduct’
A Historian Who Fled the Nazis and Still Wants Us to Read Hitler (I am inclined to agree. I know many people think reading or publishing Hitler [or other terrible people] is an inherently hateful act, but I think that it's an important component in understanding history, and I think that the moment we accept the idea that reading something implies agreeing with it, everything is lost.)
New Chrome App Helps Women Stop Saying “Just” and “Sorry” in Emails
I was never particularly into Raffi, so far as I remember, but this profile was fascinating anyway.
Looking for new things to stream while you're inside shivering? Todd VanDerWerff has you covered.
How to Decorate Your Dream Library
ISIS Issues a Lengthy Ruling on Who Is Allowed to Rape Female Captives
On that note: The Many Exciting Ways 2016 Could Be Worse Than 2015
Wow: Disappearance of 5 Tied to Publisher Prompts Broader Worries in Hong Kong
Racial prejudice is driving opposition to paying college athletes. Here’s the evidence.
One good thing! Twitter’s new rules explicitly crack down on ‘hateful conduct’
A Historian Who Fled the Nazis and Still Wants Us to Read Hitler (I am inclined to agree. I know many people think reading or publishing Hitler [or other terrible people] is an inherently hateful act, but I think that it's an important component in understanding history, and I think that the moment we accept the idea that reading something implies agreeing with it, everything is lost.)
New Chrome App Helps Women Stop Saying “Just” and “Sorry” in Emails
I was never particularly into Raffi, so far as I remember, but this profile was fascinating anyway.
Looking for new things to stream while you're inside shivering? Todd VanDerWerff has you covered.
How to Decorate Your Dream Library
Monday, January 4, 2016
2016 Books: A Curious Beginning
A Curious Beginning: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery by Deanna RaybournNAL/Penguin, 2015
337 p.
Veronica Speedwell is an unconventional Victorian orphan with a love for natural history, adventure, and handsome foreign men who finds herself thrust into the middle of a murderous plot. I love Raybourn's previous Lady Julia Grey series of historical mysteries, and this is a delightful start to a new series. Recommended for fans of Laurie King's Mary Russell or Elizabeth Peters's Amelia Peabody, or anyone who likes smart, feminist detective stories with humor and a dash of romance.
New Year's Update & Morning Coffee (1/4/16)
Happy New Year! I know it's the fourth, but I was celebrating with family and friends and am just now getting back in the swing of things. A big project that took up a lot of my time in 2015 is winding down, so I'm hoping to have more posts in addition to link posts here for you in 2016. (I know, I know, it's 2016 and I'm saying I'm going to BLOG MORE, sheesh.) I'm not sure exactly what this will look like yet - please let me know if there are things you want to read about (or not) - but one thing I'll definitely add this year is a running list of the books I've read, with at least a few thoughts on each one, if not full-fledged reviews. Look for the first of those posts later today.
A few people have asked me recently if there's a way they can support this blog and specifically the link posts financially, and I'm looking into options for that. But don't worry - it will be completely optional and your reading experience won't change based on whether you pay or not.
Okay, on to the links!
Me elsewhere: There was barely any TV news this week but here's what we've got.
Wondering what's going on with the Oregon militia thing? NPR's piece is a good place to start.
Chris Christie is back in the presidential mix. But what about Bridgegate?
The White House's Year in Photographs is always worth a look.
Why That Study About How Vegetarians Are Killing the Environment Is Ridiculously Wrong
Awesome: Philadelphia woman opens comics shop that focuses on diversity and coffee
Author Maureen Johnson wrote a very good essay on dealing with illness: My Year on Space Mountain
This sounds so cool, provided they do it in a way responsible toward the ocean etc.: An Underwater Museum in Egypt Could Bring Thousands of Sunken Relics Into View
Lots of stabbings and 2 deaths by pie: every death in Shakespeare, in one chart
I don't agree with all the conclusions here, but I love reading about what and how people read: I read 164 books in 2015 and tracked them all in a spreadsheet. Here's what I learned.
Unnecessary Digs At Servants In Classic Vampire Novels
A few people have asked me recently if there's a way they can support this blog and specifically the link posts financially, and I'm looking into options for that. But don't worry - it will be completely optional and your reading experience won't change based on whether you pay or not.
Okay, on to the links!
Me elsewhere: There was barely any TV news this week but here's what we've got.
Wondering what's going on with the Oregon militia thing? NPR's piece is a good place to start.
Chris Christie is back in the presidential mix. But what about Bridgegate?
The White House's Year in Photographs is always worth a look.
Why That Study About How Vegetarians Are Killing the Environment Is Ridiculously Wrong
Awesome: Philadelphia woman opens comics shop that focuses on diversity and coffee
Author Maureen Johnson wrote a very good essay on dealing with illness: My Year on Space Mountain
This sounds so cool, provided they do it in a way responsible toward the ocean etc.: An Underwater Museum in Egypt Could Bring Thousands of Sunken Relics Into View
Lots of stabbings and 2 deaths by pie: every death in Shakespeare, in one chart
I don't agree with all the conclusions here, but I love reading about what and how people read: I read 164 books in 2015 and tracked them all in a spreadsheet. Here's what I learned.
Unnecessary Digs At Servants In Classic Vampire Novels
Thursday, December 31, 2015
2015 in Books: The List
Okay! Here is a list, in order by author, of the books I read in 2015. I agonized for MONTHS (no, really) about picking favorites or making a top ten list or something, so instead I am just going to bold the titles I particularly recommend.
FIRST, three 2015 books I was lucky enough to read early copies of in 2014; all are excellent: The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson, The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black, Tunnel Vision by Susan Adrian.
1. Alameda, Courtney: Shutter
2. Atkinson, Kate: A God in Ruins
3. Blume, Judy: In the Unlikely Event
4. Bray, Libba: Lair of Dreams
5. Brezenoff, Steve: Guy in Real Life
6. Cocks, Heather & Jessica Morgan: The Royal We
7. Cornwell, Bernard: The Last Kingdom
8. Danielewski, Mark Z.: Only Revolutions
9. Demetrios, Heather: I'll Meet You There
10. Dick, Philip K.: The Man in the High Castle
11. Duncan, Alexandra: Sound
12. Eliot, George: Silas Marner and Two Short Stories
13. Esther, Elizabeth: Girl at the End of the World
14. French, Tana: In the Woods
15. French, Tana: The Likeness
16. Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
17. Han, Jenny: To All the Boys I've Loved Before
18. Hawkins, Paula: The Girl on the Train
19. Hawkins, Rachel: Rebel Belle
20. Keplinger, Kody: The DUFF
21. Kondo, Marie: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
22. LaCour, Nina: Everything Leads to You
23. Le Carre, John: The Looking Glass War
24. Levine, Gail Carson: Ella Enchanted
25. Martin, George R.R.: A Feast for Crows
26. Nelson, Jandy: I'll Give You the Sun
27. Nicolson, Adam: Why Homer Matters
28. Nordberg, Jenny: The Underground Girls of Kabul
29. Norton, Mary Beth: In the Devil's Snare
30. Perkins, Stephanie, ed.: My True Love Gave to Me
31. Plath, Sylvia: The Bell Jar
32. Quintero, Elizabeth: Gabi: A Girl in Pieces
33. Raybourn, Deanna: Dark Road to Darjeeling
34. Raybourn, Deanna: Midsummer Night
35. Rendell, Ruth: From Doon with Death
36. Ritter, William: Jackaby
37. Robb, J.D.: Interlude in Death
38. Roth, Veronica: Insurgent
39. Rowling, J.K.: The Casual Vacancy
40. Rutoski, Marie: The Winner's Curse
41. Saenz, Benjamin Alire: Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
42. Schiff, Stacy: The Witches: Salem, 1692
43. Silvera, Adam: More Happy Than Not
44. Sloan, Holly Goldberg: I'll Be There
45. Stein, Sarah & Lucy Talbot: The Bridesmaid's Manual
46. Stoker, Bram: Dracula
47. Thomas, Rob & Jennifer Graham: Mr. Kiss and Tell
48. Thoreau, Henry David: Walden and Civil Disobedience
49. Waters, Sarah: The Paying Guests
50. Weir, Andy: The Martian
51. Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray
52. Wolitzer, Meg: Belzhar
53. Yglesias, Rafael: The Wisdom of Perversity
FIRST, three 2015 books I was lucky enough to read early copies of in 2014; all are excellent: The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson, The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black, Tunnel Vision by Susan Adrian.
1. Alameda, Courtney: Shutter
2. Atkinson, Kate: A God in Ruins
3. Blume, Judy: In the Unlikely Event
4. Bray, Libba: Lair of Dreams
5. Brezenoff, Steve: Guy in Real Life
6. Cocks, Heather & Jessica Morgan: The Royal We
7. Cornwell, Bernard: The Last Kingdom
8. Danielewski, Mark Z.: Only Revolutions
9. Demetrios, Heather: I'll Meet You There
10. Dick, Philip K.: The Man in the High Castle
11. Duncan, Alexandra: Sound
12. Eliot, George: Silas Marner and Two Short Stories
13. Esther, Elizabeth: Girl at the End of the World
14. French, Tana: In the Woods
15. French, Tana: The Likeness
16. Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
17. Han, Jenny: To All the Boys I've Loved Before
18. Hawkins, Paula: The Girl on the Train
19. Hawkins, Rachel: Rebel Belle
20. Keplinger, Kody: The DUFF
21. Kondo, Marie: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
22. LaCour, Nina: Everything Leads to You
23. Le Carre, John: The Looking Glass War
24. Levine, Gail Carson: Ella Enchanted
25. Martin, George R.R.: A Feast for Crows
26. Nelson, Jandy: I'll Give You the Sun
27. Nicolson, Adam: Why Homer Matters
28. Nordberg, Jenny: The Underground Girls of Kabul
29. Norton, Mary Beth: In the Devil's Snare
30. Perkins, Stephanie, ed.: My True Love Gave to Me
31. Plath, Sylvia: The Bell Jar
32. Quintero, Elizabeth: Gabi: A Girl in Pieces
33. Raybourn, Deanna: Dark Road to Darjeeling
34. Raybourn, Deanna: Midsummer Night
35. Rendell, Ruth: From Doon with Death
36. Ritter, William: Jackaby
37. Robb, J.D.: Interlude in Death
38. Roth, Veronica: Insurgent
39. Rowling, J.K.: The Casual Vacancy
40. Rutoski, Marie: The Winner's Curse
41. Saenz, Benjamin Alire: Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
42. Schiff, Stacy: The Witches: Salem, 1692
43. Silvera, Adam: More Happy Than Not
44. Sloan, Holly Goldberg: I'll Be There
45. Stein, Sarah & Lucy Talbot: The Bridesmaid's Manual
46. Stoker, Bram: Dracula
47. Thomas, Rob & Jennifer Graham: Mr. Kiss and Tell
48. Thoreau, Henry David: Walden and Civil Disobedience
49. Waters, Sarah: The Paying Guests
50. Weir, Andy: The Martian
51. Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray
52. Wolitzer, Meg: Belzhar
53. Yglesias, Rafael: The Wisdom of Perversity
2015 in Books: The Statistics
Because I like playing with spreadsheets . . .
I finished reading 55 books in 2015; 53 were new to me and two were rereads. (I'm ignoring the rereads for the rest of this post, mostly because they're on a separate tab of my spreadsheet.)
The oldest was Thoreau's Walden, published in 1854. I read five books from the second half of the nineteenth century (Thoreau, Gaskell, Eliot, Wilde, Stoker) and four from 1962-65 that make an interesting cultural microcosm (in publication order: Dick's The Man in the High Castle, Plath's The Bell Jar, Rendell's From Doon with Death, Le Carre's The Looking Glass War). Then one from the 1990s and the rest from the 2000s, including 15 published in 2014 and twelve published in 2015. (There are also three books published in 2015 that I read in 2014, which keeps confusing my various lists.)
The longest was George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows at 1060 pages; the shortest was Deanna Raybourn's Midsummer Night at 56 pages. The books add up to a total of 19263 pages, or an average of 363 pages each.
(According to what I could find from author bios) I read 37 books by American authors, ten by British, three by Irish, and one each by Scottish, Swedish, and Japanese authors.
As far as I could determine: 36 by authors identifying as female, 15 by male, one by a male/female writing pair, and one anthology including authors of more than one gender.
I didn't record how many authors of color I read, but I'll try to be more aware of that next year.
33 books published/marketed to an adult audience, 19 young adult, one juvenile.
45 fiction and 8 nonfiction. (I'm being generous to Thoreau there.) The fiction numbers include ten mystery, six fantasy, five science fiction, three historical fiction, three romance, and two horror.
20 of the books were part of series. Nine were first in the series, six were second, three were fourth, one was 3.5, and one was 12.5. (The fractions are interstitial novellas. I don't make the rules.)
The only authors by whom I read more than one book this calendar year were Tana French and Deanna Raybourn. (Both highly recommended, obviously.)
36 authors were new to me (plus maybe a few more in a short story anthology; I don't have that list in front of me).
33 of the books were from the library, nine I bought specifically to read right away(ish), seven I already had unread on my shelves, three were gifts, one I borrowed from a friend, and one was a review copy from the publisher.
31 hardcover, 15 trade paperback, three ebook, two mass market paperback. One paper ARC (advance reading copy) and one electronic ARC.
Next up: A list of what all these books actually were, if you want?
I finished reading 55 books in 2015; 53 were new to me and two were rereads. (I'm ignoring the rereads for the rest of this post, mostly because they're on a separate tab of my spreadsheet.)
The oldest was Thoreau's Walden, published in 1854. I read five books from the second half of the nineteenth century (Thoreau, Gaskell, Eliot, Wilde, Stoker) and four from 1962-65 that make an interesting cultural microcosm (in publication order: Dick's The Man in the High Castle, Plath's The Bell Jar, Rendell's From Doon with Death, Le Carre's The Looking Glass War). Then one from the 1990s and the rest from the 2000s, including 15 published in 2014 and twelve published in 2015. (There are also three books published in 2015 that I read in 2014, which keeps confusing my various lists.)
The longest was George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows at 1060 pages; the shortest was Deanna Raybourn's Midsummer Night at 56 pages. The books add up to a total of 19263 pages, or an average of 363 pages each.
(According to what I could find from author bios) I read 37 books by American authors, ten by British, three by Irish, and one each by Scottish, Swedish, and Japanese authors.
As far as I could determine: 36 by authors identifying as female, 15 by male, one by a male/female writing pair, and one anthology including authors of more than one gender.
I didn't record how many authors of color I read, but I'll try to be more aware of that next year.
33 books published/marketed to an adult audience, 19 young adult, one juvenile.
45 fiction and 8 nonfiction. (I'm being generous to Thoreau there.) The fiction numbers include ten mystery, six fantasy, five science fiction, three historical fiction, three romance, and two horror.
20 of the books were part of series. Nine were first in the series, six were second, three were fourth, one was 3.5, and one was 12.5. (The fractions are interstitial novellas. I don't make the rules.)
The only authors by whom I read more than one book this calendar year were Tana French and Deanna Raybourn. (Both highly recommended, obviously.)
36 authors were new to me (plus maybe a few more in a short story anthology; I don't have that list in front of me).
33 of the books were from the library, nine I bought specifically to read right away(ish), seven I already had unread on my shelves, three were gifts, one I borrowed from a friend, and one was a review copy from the publisher.
31 hardcover, 15 trade paperback, three ebook, two mass market paperback. One paper ARC (advance reading copy) and one electronic ARC.
Next up: A list of what all these books actually were, if you want?
Morning Coffee (12/31/15)
Happy New Year's Eve!
The NY Daily News has kind of been the best this year. Here's their Cosby editorial and amazing cover.
A Comprehensive List of All the Women Who've Gotten Rich Accusing Celebrities Like Bill Cosby of Rape
New Hampshire! A Female Lawmaker Defends Public Breastfeeding. Her Male Colleague Threatens To Grab Nipples.
Can Trump’s Clinton-Sex-Scandal Revival Hurt Hillary?
Star Trek stamps!!!
In other Star Trek news, I am SO HAPPY that these people are getting sued.
This is GREAT: "I searched my feelings, I knew it to be true: I was part of the fucking problem, and I needed to read some fucking romance."
Forget ‘Auld Lang Syne’: A Brief, Depressing Tour of New Year’s Literature
2016 Conversation Guide
25 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2016
The NY Daily News has kind of been the best this year. Here's their Cosby editorial and amazing cover.
A Comprehensive List of All the Women Who've Gotten Rich Accusing Celebrities Like Bill Cosby of Rape
New Hampshire! A Female Lawmaker Defends Public Breastfeeding. Her Male Colleague Threatens To Grab Nipples.
Can Trump’s Clinton-Sex-Scandal Revival Hurt Hillary?
Star Trek stamps!!!
In other Star Trek news, I am SO HAPPY that these people are getting sued.
This is GREAT: "I searched my feelings, I knew it to be true: I was part of the fucking problem, and I needed to read some fucking romance."
Forget ‘Auld Lang Syne’: A Brief, Depressing Tour of New Year’s Literature
2016 Conversation Guide
25 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2016
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