2019: Year in Books
Jan. 5th, 2020 08:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentric2018 meme
How many books read in 2019: Only 94! I find it fascinating that I read less this year than in either of the last two years of my PhD. I think doing link roundups didn't help - I may have read much more online misc this year.
Fiction:Nonfiction:Other breakdown:
Nonfiction (both academic and otherwise): 22
Other (mixed content lit mags): 6
Fiction (novels, novellas, short stories): 66, of which: 3 short story collections; only one work as audiobook.
Demographic breakdown of authors:
15 by solo male authors/editors or collaborating all-male teams
15 assorted (including mixed gender editing teams, nonbinary solo authors or editors, cookbooks with no identified authors)
Which leaves 64 works by solo or collaborating female authors, or headed up by female editors (some fudging there - I included at least one work by someone who describes herself as genderfluid but uses pronouns consistent with her assigned sex and afaik has no problem with being id'd as a female author)
I did make it to 20 books by POC/ethnic minority authors, despite not making my 100 book overall goal. Only 9, however, by authors I know to be trans or genderqueer, even at a fairly elastic definition of the latter.
Favourite Book Read, subdivided:
Non-fiction for personal interest: This time a difficult decision. I think, just narrowly, 'Growing Up Queer in Australia' (beating out 'From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage').
Academic reading: Performing Emotions in Early Europe, I think, although Castles and Space In Malory's Morte Darthur comes close.
Fiction for fun: Lots of things I liked but didn't astoundingly love, this year. I think 'How Long Till Black Future Month' is the one that blew me away.
Least Favourite: Lara Kipnis' 'Against Love', a book deeply lacking in critical faculty.
Oldest book read: I think that would be Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Newest book read: Growing Up Queer in Australia, maybe? Although the spring issue of Meanjin slightly postdates it.
Longest Book Title: From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting
Shortest Title: Ali Smith, 'Winter'
How many re-reads? A whopping 23!
Most books read by one author in the year?: KJ Charles and Robin Hobb are tied this year, at six each.
Any in translation? Revathi's hijra memoir 'The Truth About Me' (I think the English is the first edition, but it's definitely translated); Sayaka Murat's 'Convenience Store Woman'.
How many were from the library? 14, a good showing given I wasn't in an academic job and spent a chunk of the year in a non-english speaking country.
I kept only ONE of my reading resolutions for the year (the min 20 POC/ethnic minority authors one), so, NO MORE OF THAT THEN.
How many books read in 2019: Only 94! I find it fascinating that I read less this year than in either of the last two years of my PhD. I think doing link roundups didn't help - I may have read much more online misc this year.
Fiction:Nonfiction:Other breakdown:
Nonfiction (both academic and otherwise): 22
Other (mixed content lit mags): 6
Fiction (novels, novellas, short stories): 66, of which: 3 short story collections; only one work as audiobook.
Demographic breakdown of authors:
15 by solo male authors/editors or collaborating all-male teams
15 assorted (including mixed gender editing teams, nonbinary solo authors or editors, cookbooks with no identified authors)
Which leaves 64 works by solo or collaborating female authors, or headed up by female editors (some fudging there - I included at least one work by someone who describes herself as genderfluid but uses pronouns consistent with her assigned sex and afaik has no problem with being id'd as a female author)
I did make it to 20 books by POC/ethnic minority authors, despite not making my 100 book overall goal. Only 9, however, by authors I know to be trans or genderqueer, even at a fairly elastic definition of the latter.
Favourite Book Read, subdivided:
Non-fiction for personal interest: This time a difficult decision. I think, just narrowly, 'Growing Up Queer in Australia' (beating out 'From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage').
Academic reading: Performing Emotions in Early Europe, I think, although Castles and Space In Malory's Morte Darthur comes close.
Fiction for fun: Lots of things I liked but didn't astoundingly love, this year. I think 'How Long Till Black Future Month' is the one that blew me away.
Least Favourite: Lara Kipnis' 'Against Love', a book deeply lacking in critical faculty.
Oldest book read: I think that would be Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Newest book read: Growing Up Queer in Australia, maybe? Although the spring issue of Meanjin slightly postdates it.
Longest Book Title: From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting
Shortest Title: Ali Smith, 'Winter'
How many re-reads? A whopping 23!
Most books read by one author in the year?: KJ Charles and Robin Hobb are tied this year, at six each.
Any in translation? Revathi's hijra memoir 'The Truth About Me' (I think the English is the first edition, but it's definitely translated); Sayaka Murat's 'Convenience Store Woman'.
How many were from the library? 14, a good showing given I wasn't in an academic job and spent a chunk of the year in a non-english speaking country.
I kept only ONE of my reading resolutions for the year (the min 20 POC/ethnic minority authors one), so, NO MORE OF THAT THEN.
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Date: 2020-01-05 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-05 05:36 pm (UTC)I do! Extremely useful for pointless stats.
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Date: 2020-01-05 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-05 06:52 pm (UTC)I should keep track of what I read this year, just for fun. I used to keep a list in the past. I haven't finished anything yet this year, but I am in the middle of a book called The Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris which is about a white girl married to a Japanese boy on the cusp of Pearl Harbor.