Book List 2017

Intro & History of this Project
I started a firm Reading Goal in 2011, keeping track of titles and sometimes even writing a book review or two! You can revisit my past lists in the link list at the bottom of this post. I have kept my goal at 52 books per year, because that is (for me) an easy target to hit. Last year I went over by almost 20 books, but some years I just sneak by.

Specific Book Goals
- Read more from women and minority authors (POC, LGBTQ2S++)
- Explore more back catalogs of authors I enjoy
- Find some books to read with Lucas
- 7 non-fiction

Where Do I Get My Books? aka Why Aren't I Book-Poor by Now?
The vast majority of the books I read are from the library. I cannot afford (nor would I encourage it) purchasing between 50 and 70 books per year. Did you know that in Canada, authors receive royalties from library books? (It's not much, but it's something) But more importantly, a library has to BUY books from a publisher, just like a bookstore. So if you love a book or an author and want them to reap the benefits of more people buying and enjoying their book, borrowing it from your local library, or requesting its addition to your library is a great way to do that. If a publisher gets more requests for certain books, they will place more emphasis on that author (marketing $, prime placement in bookstores, commissioning new titles, etc.), and that author will in turn get more people reading them and get more money! Win Win Win! Sorry, that got a little soapboxy.

I also purchase a lot of books from Wee Book Inn, and borrow titles from my friends. You too can read a ridiculous amount of books and not break the bank!

And now...the LIST
Two asterisks behind a title (**) means I recommend this book!
For each entry, I try to write a little bit about the genre, or the type of book it is.
I also try to include potential Trigger Warnings with each book that needs them. This is still a work in progress for me, but I am learning and hopefully getting better with each.

January (8)
1. Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina (TW for domestic violence, racism, sexism, animal cruelty)**
2. The Secret Loves of Geek Girls ed. Hope Nicholson (short stories, ALL lady authors!, pop culture, TW for domestic violence)**
3. Maplecroft (The Borden Dispatches #1) by Cherie Priest (horror with a touch of sci-fi)**
4. Happy City: Transforming our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery (non-fiction)**
5. Chapelwood (The Borden Dispatches #2) by Cherie Priest (horror with a touch of sci-fi)**
6. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (graphic novel, great for all ages)**
7. Revival (Volume 1) by Tim Seely & Mike Norton (graphic novel, horror)**
8. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (historical "sci fi", TRIGGER WARNINGS for physical violence and abuse...I mean it's a book about slavery in the American antebellum south told from the POV of a black woman, so, yeah)**

February (4)
9. I'm Judging You, The Do-Better Manual by Luvvia Ajayi (non-fiction, humour)**
10. Year of Yes: How To Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rimes (non-fiction, listen to the audiobook if you can!)**
11. Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History by Sam Maggs, illustrated by Sophia Foster-Dimino (non-fiction)**
12. I See the Promised Land: A Life of Martin Luther King Jr. by Arthur Flowers & Manu Chitrakar (non-fiction, graphic novel)**

March (4)
13. Better than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin (non-fiction)**
14. Bound For the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero by Kate Clifford Larson (non-fiction)**
15. The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz (non-fiction)
16. She Matters: A Life in Friendships by Susanna Sonnenberg (fictionalized non-fiction)**

April (7)
17. March: Book One by John Lewis & , Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell (graphic novel, history)**
18. All The Ugly And Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood (TW: child abuse, rape, mental illness)**
19. Feminism is For Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks (non-fiction)**
20. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel (non-fiction)**
21. Sex Object: A Memoir by Jessica Valenti (non-fiction, feminist lit, TW: drug use, sexual assault, rape)**
22. Wide Sargasso Sean by Jean Rhys (a new classic, SPOILER IN THE NEXT SENTENCE, "prequel" to Jane Eyre)
23. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott (non-fiction)**

May (6)
24. Stretch by Scott Sonenshein (non-fiction)**
25. Room Issue 40.1 "Food" (assorted poetry, prose, short stories, interviews, all ladies!)**
26. The Fifth Season by NK Jemison (science fiction, first book in a trilogy**
27. Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo (fantasy, final book in a trilogy)**
28. Difficult Women by Roxane Gay (short stories, TRIGGER WARNINGS)**
29. The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemison (science fiction, second book in a trilogy)**

June (4)
30. American War: A Novel by Omar El Akkad (dystopian, very relevant to current events, TRIGGER WARNING - torture, child abuse, war)**
31. When Women Were Birds: Fifty Four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams (prose/poetry)**
32. West Wind by Mary Oliver (poetry)**
33. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (non-fiction)**

July (11)
34. Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin (non-fiction, self-improvement)**
35. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (suspense/mystery)
36. 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam (non-fiction, self-improvement)
37. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (historical fiction)**
38. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (fantasy, first book in a duo)**
39. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach (non-fiction)**
40. Pyramids: A Discworld Novel by Terry Pratchett (fantastical!)**
41. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (fantasy, final book in a duo)**
42. Company Town by Madeline Ashby (Canadian, dystopian science fiction, POC main characters, sex workers, and a murder mystery!)**
43. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (first book in a trilogy, space opera, science fiction, clever AF)**
44. Witches of New York by Ami McKay (historical fiction, "women's lit")**

August (7)
45. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (second book in a trilogy, space opera, science fiction, clever AF)**
46. The Hum & The Shiver by Alex Bledsoe (fantasy...kind of)**
47. Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (final book in a trilogy, space opera, science fiction, clever AF)**
48. Dodger by Terry Pratchett
49. Novice by Taran Matharu (fantasy)
50. The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay (historical fiction, TRIGGER WARNINGS for sexual assault, child abuse & neglect)**
51. The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of a Century by Sarah Miller (non-fiction)**
GOAL ACHIEVED ON AUGUST 23

September (5)
52. Ghost Map by Steven Johnson (non-fiction, science, diseases and cities)**
53. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan (medical non-fiction, memoir)**
54. The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (non-fiction)
55. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins (crime mystery)
56. The Stone Sky by NK Jemisin (third book in a trilogy, mind blowing science fiction)**

October (6)
57. Get Your Shit Together by Sara Knight ("self-help" motivational)
58. No Impact Man by Colin Beavan (environmentalism, minimalism, non-fiction)**
59. Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton (inspirational, non-fiction)**
60. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (fantasy, mythology)**
61. Everything That Remains by The Minimalists (memoir, non-fiction)
62. The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare (feminist romance)**

November (7)
63. Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman (short stories, fantasy/horror)**
64. Jackaby by William Ritter (fantasty, mystery)**
65. Provenance by Ann Leckie (space opera, mystery)**
66. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (history, fantasy)**
67. This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein (non-fiction, environmentalism)**
68. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (historical fiction)
69. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (history, fantasy, trilogy)**

December
70. The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (history, fantasy, trilogy)**
71. Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao (fantasy, trilogy)**
72. Star Wars Dark Disciple by Christie Golden (takes place within the Clone Wars arc)**
73. Unsettling Canada by Arthur Manuel (non-fiction)**
74. Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice by Dr. Willie Parker (non-fiction, abortion rights)**
75. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson (alternate telling of Peter Pan)
76. The Strange Case of the Alchemists's Daughter by Theodora Goss (historical, cross-over fiction)**

Goal: 52
TOTAL READ: 76

Non-fiction: 24
POC Authors: 15
Lady Authors: 39


Follow along with the hashtag #lisareads2017 on Instagram @sonotladylike
or on Goodreads

Previous Year's Lists
2011 Book-Learning
2012 Book-Learning
2013 Book-Learning
2014 Book List
2015 Book List
2016 Book List

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