I’ve noticed that over the past few years, the number of books I’ve read each year has been in steady decline. This year I read just 67 books (which, I suppose is still a fair amount).
My favorite reads for the year, in alphabetical order, were:
- Best American Short Stories 2018 edited by Roxane Gay and Heidi Pitlor
- Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro
- The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
- Girl at War by Sara Nović
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
- How to be Safe by Tom McAllister
- There There by Tommy Orange
- Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
- Word Puppets by Mary Robinette Kowal
It’s worth noting that my list is female-dominated, moreso than my overall reading, which continues a pattern from previous years.
Some statistics: books by women accounted for 52.4% of my reading, up from 50.8% last year. PoC: 21.4% up from 16.3%. Dead White Men 10.5% down from 20.1%. Non-US 25.7% down from 39.8%. Translations 4.6% down from 14.1%. Authors new to me 76.7% up from 68%. Re-reads 0.7% down from 2.8%. Authors I’ve met relatively flat 7.5% from 7.2% Median publication year 2013 vs 2009. Books advanced in the reading queue to meet demographic goals, 35.8% up from 24%. Books read as novel research, 16.4% down from 22.7%.
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