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lightreads ([personal profile] lightreads) wrote2020-01-02 09:10 pm

2019 reading

I read, um. *counts on fingers*. 218 books in 2019 (counting novellas, not counting DNF's). This feat is not going to be repeated anytime soon as I am unlikely to have another year featuring a stressful and periodically complicated pregnancy followed by 3.5 months of sitting on the couch under a hungry baby. I said my goal for the year was to survive, though, and I did that. With, uh. A lot of books. A lot a lot. And only a quarter of them were by Nora roberts.

For 2020 I'm not resolving anything fancy like not reading men (though I will do that again soon). It's going to be another survival year. I do resolve to make a concerted effort to clear out some of the books that have been sitting on my device for years. Not putting any metrics on that because see above re survival.

Anyway, some highlights. The standout book of the year is nonfiction -- Between Silk and Cyanide. I had a good run of nonfiction in general, as I've started a new practice of having a nonfiction book going alongside a fiction book, which translates to a lot more nonfiction getting into the mix. Honorable mentions go to Age of Ambition and Delusions of Gender.

For science fiction, I have to call out the classic Mars Trilogy. And also the going-to-be-a-classic The Future of Another Timeline. And, like everyone, I loved A Memory Called Empire.

For YA, there's the whole A Corner of White trilogy, which brought me a new author I intend to follow for a long time.

I read a lot of novellas, and Passing Strange is the clear standout.

For collections, it has to be Chiang's Exhalation, but Jemisin's How Long 'Til Black Future Month was also great.

For romance, obviously Red, White, And Royal Blue

For fantasy, The Raven Tower absolutely knocked my socks off. The Divine Cities Trilogy is good in an entirely different way.

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