December 2016 Bookpost
For once right on schedule, here is the last 2016 bookpost. I find it interesting that all six novels I read (or finished) in December were written by women. It's a current goal of mine to increase the number of works written, drawn or edited by women that I read in 2016, which I modestly succeeded in (going from 34 to 42 items) and plan to improve further on in 2017. I did not plan for a sweep, it just worked out that way.
Another goal of mine was to improve the number of works read from authors of color. I failed to improve significantly on 2015's dismal numbers of full-length workds(we're talking single digits both years). I intend to fix that this year. (I am reading Ninefox Gambit right now, which is a good start.) Although, it should be noted that Apex and Lightspeed, to which I subscribe, as well as Uncanny and Clarkesworld which I currently read for free, are all known for being better than average at featuring a diverse pool of authors.
So here's the final list of books for 2016 and the stats:
102. Cloudbound, Fran Wilde - Sequel to the Compton Crook-winning Updraft. Fran told me "there's filking in this book!" She wasn't kidding; there is an in-universe ballad whose lyrics get tweaked at a key moment. We also find out where the bone towers come from. The trilogy wraps with Horizon later this year.
103. Sky Ranger, Susan Jane Bigelow
104. Apex Magazine #91 (December 2016)
105. The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home, Catherynne Valente - Last of the Fairyland series. Not the ending I expected, but Valente sticks the landing.
106. Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor - Recommended this one to my book group, which liked it. This book is as much a study of how a city like Lagos would respond to any sort of significant shock, like a major flood, than it is a book about aliens landing. It is nice to see a first contact story set somewhere on earth other than New York, Washington, London, or [insert your favorite North American or Western European city here].
107. Feedback, Mira Grant
108. Lightspeed #79 (December 2016)
109. By Its Cover, Donna Leon - Brunetti investigates the theft of pages from a library's rare books. For me, this was an interesting callback to Ken Jennings' Maphead, which talks about such thefts as they relate to books with medieval maps.
110. The Book Smugglers’ Quarterly Almanac: Volume 1, Ana Grilo and Thea James, eds.
111. The Book Smugglers’ Quarterly Almanac: Volume 2, Ana Grilo and Thea James, eds.
And here are the stats for the year.
Total Reads: 111
Novels: 46
Novellas: 8
Non-Fiction: 8
Anthologies/Collections: 7
Graphic Novels: 20
If you subtract the magazines, it's 87 books, novellas or graphic novels for the year, a slight increase over last year's 82 reads. I would have expected the final number to come out higher given how much time I spent on airplanes and in hotels this year.
Another goal of mine was to improve the number of works read from authors of color. I failed to improve significantly on 2015's dismal numbers of full-length workds(we're talking single digits both years). I intend to fix that this year. (I am reading Ninefox Gambit right now, which is a good start.) Although, it should be noted that Apex and Lightspeed, to which I subscribe, as well as Uncanny and Clarkesworld which I currently read for free, are all known for being better than average at featuring a diverse pool of authors.
So here's the final list of books for 2016 and the stats:
102. Cloudbound, Fran Wilde - Sequel to the Compton Crook-winning Updraft. Fran told me "there's filking in this book!" She wasn't kidding; there is an in-universe ballad whose lyrics get tweaked at a key moment. We also find out where the bone towers come from. The trilogy wraps with Horizon later this year.
103. Sky Ranger, Susan Jane Bigelow
104. Apex Magazine #91 (December 2016)
105. The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home, Catherynne Valente - Last of the Fairyland series. Not the ending I expected, but Valente sticks the landing.
106. Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor - Recommended this one to my book group, which liked it. This book is as much a study of how a city like Lagos would respond to any sort of significant shock, like a major flood, than it is a book about aliens landing. It is nice to see a first contact story set somewhere on earth other than New York, Washington, London, or [insert your favorite North American or Western European city here].
107. Feedback, Mira Grant
108. Lightspeed #79 (December 2016)
109. By Its Cover, Donna Leon - Brunetti investigates the theft of pages from a library's rare books. For me, this was an interesting callback to Ken Jennings' Maphead, which talks about such thefts as they relate to books with medieval maps.
110. The Book Smugglers’ Quarterly Almanac: Volume 1, Ana Grilo and Thea James, eds.
111. The Book Smugglers’ Quarterly Almanac: Volume 2, Ana Grilo and Thea James, eds.
And here are the stats for the year.
Total Reads: 111
Novels: 46
Novellas: 8
Non-Fiction: 8
Anthologies/Collections: 7
Graphic Novels: 20
If you subtract the magazines, it's 87 books, novellas or graphic novels for the year, a slight increase over last year's 82 reads. I would have expected the final number to come out higher given how much time I spent on airplanes and in hotels this year.