You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. -- CS Lewis
Remember the whole "only read books by specific peoples" thing going around this time last year? Well, while I felt that "only read" was a tad restrictive, I did agree that it certainly wouldn't hurt to broaden my reading outside my defaults. I just wasn't sure what my defaults were so I decided to keep track of who wrote what I read for pleasure in 2015 - excluding their sexual orientation or gender identity because unless they're public about it, it's none of my business.
I read 30 books for pleasure. No rereads this year, which is a little strange for me.
DATA:
6 were non-fiction: 4 memoirs, 1 biography, 1 history/travel
24 were fiction: 10 fantasy, 8 science fiction, 4 mystery, 2 mainstream
20% non-fiction / 80% fiction
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Two were co-written so 30 books, 32 authors. And although in two instances, I read multiple books by the same author, I'm identifying the writer of each book independently.
22 were written by people identifying as women
10 were written by people identifying as men
68% female / 32% male
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according to author photo and/or Google and/or personal knowledge, 5 of the women are POC, 0 of the men
16% POC / 84% white
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10 were written by authors identified either by jacket copy or Google as British
7 by authors identified either by jacket copy or Google as Canadian
14 by authors identified either by jacket copy or Google as American
and 1 Australian
(I'm guessing that publishers or Google are going by which passport the author in question carries but it's equally possible they used 2D20 and faked it.)(Except for the Canadians, that's accurate because I know all of them.)(Lots of geography here, not many people.)
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Conclusion:
If I'm wondering what to read next, it wouldn't hurt to pick up a book by a person of colour who doesn't live in the - for lack of a clearer designation - first world. I might also want to shift more a few books into the Canadian column. And it's possible I could read one or two more male authors.
Only 30 books though? That's pathetic. I definitely need to do more reading for the joy of reading.
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It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it. ~Oscar Wilde