After a rough year with books in 2016, reading came easily in 2017. There were of course books I didn’t like or struggled with, but I was a lot less reluctant to put them aside in favor of books I did want to read.
I also went through clear phases of wanting to read (which usually happens in the hour between I go to bed and go to sleep) and not wanting to read, and I tried not to be too hard on myself if I just wasn’t in the mood.
Last year’s goal was to read 75 books, and I came in at my mark just before midnight on December 31. It was a lot of fun to push myself, but in retrospect, I realize I need less stress, not more, so for 2018 I want to read 50. I might end up going over that amount, which is OK with me, but I wanted to challenge myself less and work with something I know requires some work but is attainable without too much pressure.
Another goal I had was to focus more on women authors, which I definitely succeeded at. Of the 75, 55 were women, 18 were men, 1 was a collection with both, and 1 was anonymous.
I also wanted to read more works by POC, and while I upped this number over previous years (19/75), it still wasn’t even half, which is definitely something I want to change in 2018.
One cool thing about 2017: I joined a book club! I’ve wanted to forever, but issues have ranged from people who weren’t committed, to selections I’m just not into, to not finding anyone interested. But when an acquaintance of mine from the local music scene suggested that I join her already-existing book club, I figured “Why not?” And I’m so glad I did, because the members are just lovely. So looking forward to the books we read in 2018.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the books I read in 2017 (in the order I read them), with my favorites in bold. Note that one of these I read twice, so I count that as two reads (which is why, if you counted them, you’d only see 74).
A Stolen Life: A Memoir -Jaycee Dugard
Carry On -Rainbow Rowell
Hold Your Own -Kate Tempest
Our Best Shot: Disclosures of Unlawful Compassion in the United States -Anonymous
Your Black Friend -Ben Passmore
Angels and Demons -Dan Brown
Charlotte’s Web -E.B. White
My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (with Recipes) -Luisa Weiss
The Da Vinci Code -Dan Brown
As You Were #5: This Job Sucks! -Mix
Difficult Women -Roxane Gay
Swing Time -Zadie Smith
Between the World and Me -Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian -Sherman Alexie
Cat Therapy -Mary Golding
Squatters of Trash Island -James the Stanton
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl -Issa Rae
In Other Words -Jhumpa Lahiri
Magical Beatdown -Jenn Woodall
The Grownup -Gillian Flynn
Listen to Me -Hannah Pittard
Milk and Honey -Rupi Kaur
The Woman in Cabin 10 -Ruth Ware
The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night -Elizabeth Pantley
The Paper House -Anna Spargo-Ryan
How To Be A Woman -Caitlin Moran
Snowbird: Book One -Erin K. Wilson
Brave New World -Aldous Huxley
The Invisible Bridge -Julie Orringer
Big Little Lies -Liane Moriarty
Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories -Lauren Groff
The Rules Do Not Apply -Ariel Levy
on heat -Christy Davids
At-Risk -Amina Gautier
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things -Bryn Greenwood
Confessions of an Unintentional CTO: Lessons in Growing a Web App -Jack Kinsella
Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto -Jessa Crispin
Please Keep Warm -Michael Sweater
Cat Boy -Benji Nate
Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Optimizing Collections -Károly Lőrentey
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body -Roxane Gay
Night -Elie Wiesel
The Weight of Him -Ethel Rohan
The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1) -Carolyn Keene
The Nest -Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Into the Water -Paula Hawkins
Siren School -Isabella Rotman
The Corrections -Jonathan Franzen
The Hate U Give -Angie Thomas
Be Your Own Backing Band: Comics about Music -Liz Prince
Goodbye, Vitamin: A Novel -Rachel Khong
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl -Mona Awad
Next Year, for Sure -Zoey Leigh Peterson
A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories -Lucia Berlin
Electric Arches -Eve L. Ewing
Things We Lost in the Fire -Mariana Enríquez
My Absolute Darling -Gabriel Tallent
Loose Woman: Poems -Sandra Cisneros
No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame -Janet Lansbury
Little Fires Everywhere -Celeste Ng
The End of Eddy -Édouard Louis
Her Body and Other Parties -Carmen Maria Machado
Karate Chop: Stories -Dorthe Nors
Girls -Jenn Woodall
Blankets -Craig Thompson
What We Lose -Zinzi Clemmons
Grief is the Thing with Feathers -Max Porter
The Moomins and the Great Flood -Tove Jansson
The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help -Amanda Palmer
Comet in Moominland -Tove Jansson
Finn Family Moomintroll -Tove Jansson
Moominpapa’s Memoirs -Tove Jansson
Fair Play -Tove Jansson
What about you? What did you read in 2017? What did you love? What did you hate? What are your reading goals for 2018?
Want to see what I’ve read in years past? Here are my lists for 2016, 2015, and 2014.
1 Comment