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starfishstar) wrote2025-02-20 08:57 pm
Books in 2024
Y'all, I am managing to post this in February, not May, and that is already a massive improvement over last year ;-)
How many books read in 2024?
58 (which is even fewer than last year, and the lowest number, aside from the very first year I started keeping track, 2014 – and at that point I was still kind of a re-learning that I even was a reader, after the post-college slump in reading for pleasure that a lot of people seem to go through)
How many fiction and nonfiction?
46 fiction, 12 nonfiction
How many male authors, female authors, nonbinary authors?
33 by women, 18 by men, 3 by nonbinary authors, 4 by author teams of multiple genders
How many books by people of color?
22 books (38%)
Favorite books of 2024?
1. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
2. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
3. World Made of Glass by Ami Polonsky
4. Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood and Balcony on the Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine by Ibtisam Barakat
5. Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot, translated from Swedish by Eva Apelqvist
and some runners-up:
An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi
We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, translated from Japanese by E. Madison Shimoda
Northranger by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo
Tides by Betsy Cornwell
Katie the Catsitter: The Purrfect Plan by Colleen Venable and Stephanie Yue
Ferris by Kate Dicamillo
Oldest book read?
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (1817)
Longest and shortest book titles?
longest title:
If not counting nonfiction books, which tend to have unwieldy, overly long subtitles, then the longest is
The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri
followed by
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby
shortest title:
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Longest book?
Fire by Kristin Cashore (512 pages)
Any translated books?
4 translated books: 1 from Swedish, 1 from Portuguese, 1 from Serbo-Croatian, and 1 from Japanese
Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?
Looks like it's a three-way tie between three authors of whom I read three books each: Alexis Hall (but of course), Rex Ogle and his pseudonym Rey Terciero, and Maggie Stiefvater (because I finally finished reading the Dreamer trilogy, her spinoff from the Raven Cycle). Then a few authors I read two books by: Ibtisam Barakat (her two memoirs), Ngozi Ukazu, and Kristin Cashore.
Any re-reads?
Yes! Fire was a reread in preparation for writing my Yuletide fic; I also reread the two volumes of the Watson and Holmes comic in order to write my Holmestice fic. Also reread a few others, like Carmen Maria Machado's memoir In the Dream House and one of the Spires books by Alexis Hall, now that those are being reissued with tons of author annotations about the writing process and his many thoughts.
Which books wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?
In addition to a few nonfiction books that were friends' recommendations, there were a number of middle grade novels that I read on the recommendation of 1) my students, 2) my 11-year-old friends, 3) at least one adult friend, 4) various librarian workshops I attended, and 5) a literacy class I took. And of course I read quite a few of the year's ALA Youth Media Award winners, because, again, librarian. I also finally read a book by Ruth Ozeki, an author who'd been recommended to me by a patron in the library where I worked three jobs ago!
Did you read any books you’ve always been meaning to read?
I was indeed glad to finally read a book by Ruth Ozeki – I was impressed! And I'd been wanting for a while to read Ibtisam Barakat's two memoirs about growing up in Palestine, Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood and Balcony on the Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine. Plus, I got around to Northanger Abbey in my veeeery gradual (eventual?) reading of all of Jane Austen. Although, in this case I read the original mainly so I could read and enjoy Rey Terciero's modern, graphic novel, queer-YA-love-story-set-on-a-ranch version, Northranger :-)
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