The Best of… 2017 Edition

As December comes to a close, it’s a nice end-of-year tradition for me to review my reading for the past year, and just see how it panned out. There’s no number goals or similar, but I do likes to see how I’ve spent my reading time over the last twelve months, just out of curiosity.

(Note: like a lot of other bloggers have noted, these titles weren’t necessarily published in 2017; they were just read by me in the last twelve months.)

First, a huge thank you to everyone who drops and reads my blog, whether you are a one-off reader or a regular. I appreciate your time and comments!

To the numbers:

• Total # books read: 58 (about right for the average year the past few years)
• Total DNF’s: 2

• Total fiction: 31 (51.2%)
• Total non-fiction: 21 (44.2%).

• Total Pages: 15,542

• Format of books (e-books vs. tree books): 3 e-books, 55 tree books.

Years Published:

• Oldest title: 1897
• Nineteenth century: 1
• Twentieth century: 28
• Twenty-first century: 27

TBR Progress:

• Off the TBR: 28 (48.2%)

New books in:

• Bought new/new-to-me:  16 books bought (compared with 27 TBR read (i.e. out of house)

Demographics:

• Male vs. female/other identified authors: 26 male authors, 32 female/other
• POC author or POC-related topic: 13 (23%)

Fiction: 29

• Novels: 26
• Plays/Drama: 1
• Graphic Novel: 1
• Short stories: 2

Top Five Fiction:

• Lantana Lane – Eleanor Dark (1986)
  • Australian novel set in small community in outback.
• Beloved – Toni Morrison (1987)
  • Second in trilogy, but also works as stand-alone. New York city life of troubled African-American couple set in mid-century.
• Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel (2014)
  • Rollocking good dystopian read about (American) life after an explained/ unexpected epidemic
• Ceremony – Leslie Silko Marmon (1977)
  • Series of interlinked stories set in First Nations community during modern times.
• The Lizard Cage – Karen Connelly (2005)
  • Fictional retelling of political prisoner living hard existence in world of corrections in Burma/Myanmar.

Non-Fiction: 26

• Most read about topic: history (especially social history), social justice, travel

Top Five Non-Fiction:

• Dreams from my Father – Barack Obama (1995)
  • Autobiography from our former U.S. President. Reads like fiction when compared with our reality with the Orange Goblin. 😦
• Medical Apartheid – Harriet A. Washington (2007)
  • Hard-hitting investigative/historical journalism closely reviewing the troubled past of how the U.S. medical establishment has treated African-Americans over the past century or so. Fascinating and disturbing.
• Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life – Sally Bedell Smith (2017)
  • No blog post, but trust me, this is a good read, however you may feel about the possible future King of England.
• A Kim Jong Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, his Star Actress, and a Young Dictator’s Rise to Power – Paul Fischer (2015)
  • A very weird and very true tale about how a young North Korean dictator kidnapped a foreign filmmaker and his movie star wife to force him to improve the quality of the North Korean film industry. Fascinating and keeps you reading.
• At the Broken Places: A Mother and Trans-Son – Mary Collins and Donald Collins (2017)
  • A dual POV from a mother and her trans-son’s gender transition. Fascinating because the mother is so unsupportive and doesn’t seem to understand why the adult child should choose to do this “to her”. Really, people?

Movie of the Year:

• Chicken People (2016)
  • Absolutely charming documentary about the world of competitive chicken showing in the U.S. It’s a real thing, and this was just lovely (even if you’re not into chickens that much). Over the course of one year, follows a small group of amateur (?) chicken breeders and how they progress in the competitive season.

Goals for next year? I am keeping it very open and laid back as I enter my first semester teaching college for the Spring, and with my new job responsibilities. Whatever numbers I read, they are less important than the quality of reading.

Here’s to a happy new year for all!