Current Listen: Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge Count: 13 out of 125 books
Hello, internet! I have an unexpected day off today since school is closed, so I thought the fates were telling me to write a blog post!
In my last post, my reading year in review, I included some statistics about my reading in 2017. I've never really analyzed my reading before this year, but I think from now on I will do it every year. I found it incredibly interesting. In case you missed it, here are the statistics I listed in the previous post:
-I read 23 books written by an author that is not American.
-I read 38 books written by people of color.
-I read 82 books written by women.
-I read 42 young adult fiction books (that is honestly not as high as I thought it would be).
-I read 26 middle grade and children's books.
-I read 22 graphic novels.
-I read 22 adult fiction books.
-I read 17 nonfiction books.
A few thoughts:
1. No one is surprised that the vast majority of my reading last year was YA, middle grade, and children's fiction. I am not at all ashamed of that. Last year was a PARTICULARLY good year for YA, and I feel like the YA community has done a great job encouraging and promoting diversity, which is very important to me. That being said, I have a problem--I buy a lot of adult fiction and nonfiction and then don't read it. I get distracted by YA new releases and everything else gets pushed aside. Despite the fact that I mostly read YA, the vast majority of the books I own are adult fiction and nonfiction titles.
RESOLUTION 1: I will read 30 adult fiction books in 2018.
2. As a follow-up to my first point, a lot of the books I buy and WANT to read are award-winning books. If a lot of other people love it, there is a pretty good chance that I will too. I have reading FOMO in a big way. Last year I did read Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, which won the Man Booker Prize, and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner. I enjoyed being a part of the conversation around those books.
RESOLUTION 2: I will read 5 Pulitzer Prize-winning books in 2018.
(Side note: I know the Pulitzer Prize is arbitrary and I could have easily picked any number of literary prizes. But I happen to already own more than 5 Pulitzer winners, so that's what I picked.)
3. I am okay with the number of diverse books that I read this year. 38 books by people of color is not too shabby. I am VERY pleased with the number of books I read that were written by women. The YA community is bursting at the seems with women of color writing outstanding novels (Angie Thomas, Sandhya Menon, Sabaa Tahir, Marie Lu, and I could go on and on). The statistic that disappointed me the most was how many books I read that were not written by an American. And of those 23 not written by an American, most were written by a Canadian or a Brit. I would like to continue to read and support diverse writers, and I would especially like to branch out and read more writers from other parts of the world.
RESOLUTION 3: I will read 50 books by writers of color.
RESOLUTION 4: I will read 20 books by people not from the United States, Great Britain, or Canada.
4. Lastly, I would like to continue to expand by horizons by reading more nonfiction. I read some outstanding memoirs and essay collections last year, and I would like to add to those with some of the awesome histories, biographies, and narrative nonfiction that I own or can get from the library. I've already started with the AWESOME Chernow biography of Washington, and I have a collection of audiobook nonfiction that I need to get to this year.
RESOLUTION 5: I will read 25 nonfiction books.
I know this is a lot. I'm not going to be mad at myself if I don't complete every one of these goals. But I'm gonna try, dammit. And for now, that's all she read!
RESOLUTION 2: I will read 5 Pulitzer Prize-winning books in 2018.
(Side note: I know the Pulitzer Prize is arbitrary and I could have easily picked any number of literary prizes. But I happen to already own more than 5 Pulitzer winners, so that's what I picked.)
3. I am okay with the number of diverse books that I read this year. 38 books by people of color is not too shabby. I am VERY pleased with the number of books I read that were written by women. The YA community is bursting at the seems with women of color writing outstanding novels (Angie Thomas, Sandhya Menon, Sabaa Tahir, Marie Lu, and I could go on and on). The statistic that disappointed me the most was how many books I read that were not written by an American. And of those 23 not written by an American, most were written by a Canadian or a Brit. I would like to continue to read and support diverse writers, and I would especially like to branch out and read more writers from other parts of the world.
RESOLUTION 3: I will read 50 books by writers of color.
RESOLUTION 4: I will read 20 books by people not from the United States, Great Britain, or Canada.
4. Lastly, I would like to continue to expand by horizons by reading more nonfiction. I read some outstanding memoirs and essay collections last year, and I would like to add to those with some of the awesome histories, biographies, and narrative nonfiction that I own or can get from the library. I've already started with the AWESOME Chernow biography of Washington, and I have a collection of audiobook nonfiction that I need to get to this year.
RESOLUTION 5: I will read 25 nonfiction books.
I know this is a lot. I'm not going to be mad at myself if I don't complete every one of these goals. But I'm gonna try, dammit. And for now, that's all she read!
