Hey everyone, before this month closes out I wanted to post my humble reading list for 2019!
As someone who loves to read, having a super busy schedule without regular reading is pretty terrible. But! I did finish a handful of books over the year and thought I would write a post about them.
I think the biggest thing for me was the fact that I made a point to actually keep track of which books I read this year. In the past, I never bothered myself with keeping track and it’s honestly a shame, especially since this year I took the time to go over the list again and I was reminded of all the good memories.
While I did not read very many books, I should say that I felt I was constantly reading other materials instead, such as articles or research related to my work and other interests. So this short list certainly is not an example of all the reading I completed this year by far. Below, I separated them into fiction and non-fiction. I generally only read fiction books (on account of the amount of non-fiction articles I read) but this year I did manage to include a few non-fiction books in there as well.
Fiction:
Stardust - Neil Gaiman
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The Light We Lost - Jill Santopolo
Me and Mr. Darcy - Alexandra Potter
Well Met - Jen DeLuca
Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Non-fiction:
Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered - Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark
No Visible Bruises - Rachel Louise Snyder
If you have read American Gods and also read my latest short story for this month, you may have picked up on how it influenced my writing. Specifically, the cold and icy scenes in AG. While writing, I found I was placing myself back into that headspace I was in while reading the book. The constant cold, the harsh ice, even the mystery of nature. There was always something so off-putting about how cold the world was.
Well Met took me by surprise when I read it earlier this year. It was a very difficult year for me and reading the book really put me in good spirits. The plot also revolves heavily around the concept of a Renaissance Faire, which if anyone knows me, they know how much I enjoy going to the Faire.
I don’t exactly know what I was doing when I picked up Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered but it was on a shelf of the library and caught my eye. Kilgariff and Hardstark are actually hosts of a podcast called “My Favorite Murder” which follows true crime stories. I am the first to admit that I have not listened to any of their podcasts, but when I picked up the book and began reading I didn’t feel out of place. So hats off to these ladies for creating a book that doesn’t leave a reader confused if they haven’t listened to their podcast! Their first section about politeness is endearing and really inspiring. So inspiring, that I created a doodle for Inktober.
I followed that book with another non-fiction book; however, this one was much heavier than the previous one. No Visible Bruises is a book that speaks to me on a different level than all the others. The book details the lives of people affected by domestic violence and how their homicides came to be, despite the efforts of those who tried to prevent them from happening. As someone who works with clients at a domestic violence agency, I regularly see the struggles detailed in Snyder’s book. I see how the miscommunication happens between agencies and hospitals and law enforcement. Moreover, it took me a very long time to finish this book and I would barely manage a chapter a week sometimes. Most of that was due to my limited time, but other times it was because of the heavy topics in each chapter and I was trying not to become burned out. Self-care is necessary for those working in this industry.
The next few books I read will be light-hearted romances or action-filled fantasies, because balance is important. So far in 2020, I already finished Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston which is a lighter romance with a lot of humor. Following that I plan to read Little Weirds by Jenny Slate and then The Crow of Connemara by Stephen Leigh. I should note that most of the books on my 2019 list and all three I just listed for 2020 were all lent to me by my good friends. Gotta love your bookworm buddies - they have good taste in books!
Feel free to let me know if you have read any of these books, as I would love to chat about them.
Carley