A year-end, partial roundup of my non-work reading.
(Partial because I’ve been juggling a few extra responsibilities this year and so I did a bad job of keeping track of what I was reading. I know there’s stuff I’m forgetting but, well, I’m forgetting it. Even with the forgotten books, I read less than I would have liked to (I always say that, but this year was different) because while I was doing a lot of sitting quietly in one place, I really had a hard time getting myself into a reading headspace. Going to aim to do better in the coming year.)
Because I watch Survivor and feel terrible about myself for doing it, I felt a little bit better after reading a book about watching Survivor and feeling terrible about yourself for doing it: The Lie About the Truck by Sallie Tisdale
A satire of everything, only sci-fi insofar as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is sci-fi, and ultimately a tale of an extremely loyal cat: Starter Villain by John Scalzi, audiobook read by Wil Whedon.
Because I enjoyed the above so much, although I enjoyed this one less: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, audiobook read by Wil Whedon.
Reread, if somewhat less attentively than last time but something I will always go back to: The Complete Sherlock Holmes¸, audiobook read by Stephen Fry.
Reread because I wanted to like it as much as as The Library Book and didn’t on my first read six or seven years ago: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
Read more detective fiction by women: Blackwater Falls and Blood Betrayal by Ausma Zehanat Khan
Read more detective/legal fiction by women in positions of power in DC: Stabbing in the Senate, Homicide in the House, Calamity at the Continental Club, K Street Killing, all by Colleen Shogan*, audiobooks read by Angie Hickman; and Rogue Justice by Stacey Abrams
Recommended for fans of the Montalbano series, didn’t hit the same way for me: Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
Added a lot to the podcast it was based on: Blood on their Hands by Mandy Matney, audiobook read by the author
Not the most compelling account of document-based reporting: The Sing-Sing Files by Dan Slepian, audiobook read by the author
Poets are the best prose writers: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Read this last year and forgot to put it on last year’s list so I”m adding it here: Artificial Unintelligence by Meredith Broussard
el taller reads together selection: No queda nadie de Brais Lamela Gómez, trad. María Alonso Seisdedos
Slow going, DNF so far but will finish in the new year: The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, audiobook read by Hanako Footman; My First Murder by Lena Lehtolainen (also my travel-to-Finland selection)
Grossed out by some of the graphic medical details, DNF for now, might try again in the new year: 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Threw into my bag on four transcontinental flights but didn’t manage to read a word. Will try again next year, maybe not on an airplane: We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Siyou Ishida, trans. Madison Shimoda
And a new addition for this year, an extremely selective selection of children’s literature:
Charmingly macabre and surprisingly high-literary-concept for a children’s book: The Skull by Jon Klassen
Well, that escalated quickly: This is Not my Hat and Circle, both also by Jon Klassen
Poetry and poetics for the Under-2 set: Onomatopanda, Hippopposites, Comparrotives, and Llamaphones, all by Janik Coat; In Praise of Mystery/Elogio al misterio by Ada Limón; Cerca/Close and Lejos/Far by Juan Felipe Herrera
Poetry that is CATastrophic (not sorry at all) in Spanish translation: El gato ensombrerado de Dr. Seuss, trad. Georgina Lázaro y Teresa Mlawer; El libro de los gatos habilidosos del Viejo Possum de T.S. Eliot, trad. Regla Ortiz
On the other hand I was really excited to open this book and see “adapted into Spanish” rather than “translated into Spanish,” and was not disappointed: La llama llama rojo pijama by Anna Dewdney, Spanished by Yanizia Canetti
También nos encantó: El libro del ombligo de Sandra Boynton; Su propio color de Eric Carle; Un pájaro en casa de Blanca Gómez; ¡Qué rico! de Janik Coat.
I had some specialized vocabulary needs: Carros y camiones de Richard Scarry
Normalizing different kinds of families and disabilities from the jump: Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers; and I Am a Masterpiece by Mia Armstrong
Best of the year:
Martyr!, The Skull, Starter Villain
Footnote:
*Disappointed/concerned about this, which happened after I finished the five books that are available as audiobooks so far: America’s Top Archivist Puts a Rosy Spin on U.S. History—Pruning the Thorny Parts