Hi friends,
December was another rough month for us, but it improved with Christmas and the holidays when we got to spend time with family. I was thinking about New Year’s goals and wondering what goals I should set for my reading, which got me wondering about my reading over the past few years. So, because I’m a huge nerd, I analyzed my reading from 2019-2021 and made some neat charts to help me think about what books I want to read in 2022! See the Reading Report below for more info.
For December, the reading was particularly good this month with two five-star books including the first Brandon Sanderson entry in the Wheel of Time. I realized that I had a long reading streak of fantasy books, so I threw in a few good nonfiction books as well.
As always, let me know what you think of these books and if you have suggestions for future reading.
Happy New Year!
Tonya
Reading Report
From 2019-2021, I read a total of 211 books, or about 70 books on average a year. My goal is to read about 1 book a week, but some books are quicker and some books are longer, so I’m happy with the total and don’t think that I would try to read more than that because unfortunately time is a finite resource.
The split between fiction and nonfiction was almost even with 112 fiction and 99 nonfiction books, but when I looked at the data year-by-year, I realized that I’ve been reading a lot more fiction in 2021 than I did in 2020 and 2019. See the line chart below.
I’m thinking that this is because in 2021 I started to follow booktubers -- people on YouTube who talk about books -- that mostly read fantasy and scifi, and they influence my book choices a lot.
I was also interested in what type of books within the fiction and nonfiction groups I’ve been reading the most.
So, clearly I read a lot of fantasy, followed by general fiction. What can I say? I love a good fantasy world. I’m actually OK with how these areas fall out. I like fantasy, and I want it to comprise a large portion of my fantasy reading. I do think that I might increase my scifi reading though as there are some classic scifi stories that I want to explore more.
The nonfiction reading is much more balanced, but popular science books was the largest category, which I think I’m OK with. Looking at this, I think I want to increase my history, policy, and memoir reading. As I compiled this data, I realized that I don’t remember hardly anything about most of the books I’ve read, especially those from 3 years ago, but the ones that I had the biggest take-aways from were the policy and history ones. I like reading science books, but a lot of the time the technicalities go over my head, so while I find them interesting, I don’t usually remember a lot about them.
I think overall I want to increase my nonfiction reading in 2022. Maybe not to half of all the books I read, but closer to it. So, let me know if you have any good recommendations in the history, policy, and memoir areas.
December Reading
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, for those who like scifi stories
Review: This is a collection of scifi short stories that differ greatly in scope, theme, and setting. While I enjoyed some more than others, I think this mainly illustrated to me the amazing scope and depth of Liu’s writing. Some of the stories were somewhat disturbing. One focuses on a serial killer and another on mythical beasts that lose their magic as the world stops believing in it. Most of them had melancholy or outright unhappy endings, but I found myself always thinking a lot about what was going on and what the author was trying to say. I highly recommend for anyone wondering what the next step is in scifi. Liu has some amazing ideas and is really good at executing them.
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes!
Review: Well, I read 11 books by Robert Jordan, so I could read 3 by Brandon Sanderson, and it was worth it. To be honest, I mostly enjoyed the Jordan installments as well, and he did create the most in-depth fantasy world I’ve ever read, so most of the credit has to go to him, but I found that Sanderson kept and expounded on all my favorite Wheel of Time elements while also fixing some of the problems I had with Jordan’s writing. The biggest point here is pacing. Sanderson’s writing style is so much better paced, and while the book still comes in at 800+ pages, it feels like it moves a lot faster than the earlier entries. Sanderson changes the point-of-view characters a lot more often than Jordan, and is the master of leaving you hanging with one character to keep you reading while he moves to another character. While this can be frustrating to read, it does make the book hard to put down. The biggest thing I didn’t like about this book was Rand. I mean, I get his character arc, and he has completely justifiable reasons for being stressed with the literal weight of the world upon his shoulders, but in this book, he just got so unlikeable with his whole “I am harder than steel. I am cuendillar,” thing that I just stopped caring about him and dreading his point-of-view chapters. I get that this was part of his arc, and based on the ending, I’m hoping that he’s better in the next book, but I think Sanderson made him a little too unlikable along the way. I know a lot of people complain about how Sanderson didn’t get Mat right in this installment, and I did notice some changes to his character that made him sound more like a Sanderson comic relief character, but to be honest, I thought they were pretty funny and was OK with them. Egwene, of course, was the star of this installment though. I liked her before, but now she’s my absolute favorite. The way she stands up to Elaida is the definition of bada**, and her leadership skills in dealing with the rift in the White Tower are so cool. I also loved her in the final fight scene with the Seanchan. *chef’s kiss* So good! I’m looking forward to the next installment!
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, if you’re read the first 3, you should finish the series
Review: This is the 4th and final book in the Books of Babel series, and there were a lot of things that I liked and some things that I didn’t like-- namely the ending. To start with the bad, I was really surprised at the ending and thought for a long time after if I liked it or not. I was hoping that Bancroft would give me a nice Sanderson or Rowling ending and wrap up all the loose ends like a pretty package. Well, that’s not what we got. Bancroft did answer some questions about the nature of the tower, but his ending introduced just as many as it resolved. I was fairly satisfied with how all of our characters’ arcs were resolved. I loved that Marya got her resolution with the evil Duke and Edith’s closure, but I wasn’t happy with how our gang got split up. It felt like Bancroft was setting it up for another sequel, but he’s said that this is the last, which leaves makes the unanswered questions even more unsavory. Still, it was nice that everyone had their “moment” in the climax, and I loved watching it all play out. I was hoping that Bancroft would knock it out of the park with this ending, but I feel like he didn’t quite deliver.
Time for Socialism: Dispatches from a World on Fire by Thomas Piketty
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: I’m unsure if I’d recommend this, I think maybe yes?
Review: This is a collection of newspaper articles written by Piketty between 2016-2021. He basically compiled them all into a short book and added a prologue, which seems kind of lazy, but the guy regularly puts out 1,000+ tomes with in-depth economic analyses, so maybe this faster option was warranted. I think of it as a palate cleanser for Piketty, or the cliff notes versions of his earlier works, as he repeats many of the same themes and analyses here. If you want to understand the economics of inequality and don’t want to read a 1,000+ pages, then this is a good place to start. A lot of the essays talk about France and the European Union, which makes sense since Piketty is French, but to be honest, I just don’t care that much about the politics and economics of the EU. I can barely keep track of the U.S.’s issues, but I still found the insight into their politics interesting, and I feel better informed now for sure.
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, for those into history and this fascinating area of the world
Review: How did the Polynesian people manage to navigate thousands of miles of empty ocean to settle the remotest islands in the world without modern, or even pre-modern navigational technologies? This question has plagued Europeans since they first encountered these peoples in the 1500s, and Thompson documents not just the answer to that question, but the many actors -- European and Polynesian -- that have tried to answer it and how. The resulting story is fascinating on many levels as the reader gets to learn about how these ancient explorers did navigate the Pacific and how scholarly, and not-so-scholarly methods have evolved and been applied to this question. I really enjoyed the ride and loved learning about how we’ve changed how we answer questions and what we consider sources of valid information. Highly recommend.
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, but you have to read the preceding 3.2 books.
Review: This is the last of 3 novellas that Sanderson co-wrote with Patterson that occur simultaneous with the events of the 3rd Skyward novel Cytonic. This one is from the point-of-view of Jorgen, Spensa’s old flight leader and new boyfriend. It tells the story of what’s going on with Detritus and the rest of Spensa’s old flight crew while she’s adventuring in the Nowhere. Coming in at 232 pages, this book stretches the definition of novella, and the combined three novellas total over 600 pages, which is longer than the Cytonic book itself. I really enjoyed this installment and loved getting into Jorgen’s -- aka Jerkface’s -- head. There are a few really well-written action sequences, and I loved seeing Jorgen learn more about his powers. I also really enjoyed seeing the kitsen homeworld because who doesn’t love reading about 10cm tall fierce, feisty, fearless talking foxes? Sanderson confirmed that we’ll get more from the Skyward universe after the upcoming 4th installment that will complete Spensa’s arc, as he plans to continue partnering with co-authors to explore this awesome scifi world he’s created. If the upcoming works are anything like these three “novellas” then I’m on board for the ride. |
| We spent the week between Christmas and New Year's at my in-law's cabin playing with cousins and relaxing in front of their giant fireplace. |
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| Christmas pies! This year's entries included caramel apple, pumpkin, chocolate silk, and Oreo. |
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| Chloe was super excited to meet Santa at our church Christmas party. |
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| Maya was excited before, but was overcome with shyness in the moment, so Daddy had to help her talk to Santa. |
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| Chloe got several arts and crafts presents for Christmas. This 3D dog puzzle was one of her favorites. |
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| Grandma Honey got the girls this animatronic tiger for Christmas. It's the type of toy that continues to make noise after you walk away, which is always disconcerting. The girls love it though, and call her Honey. |
