books of 2016

   It feels a bit weird to blog as normal in the present political climate, but I think it's important to maintain some semblance of enjoyment of smaller things in life - reading books, watching movies - even while things continue to get worse and worse. Maybe this sounds apocalyptic, but we're living in apocalyptic times. I've neglected this blog for awhile for various reasons, but I think it's a practice that I need to take up again, for my own mental health. My reading patterns are tending more towards social justice lately, surprise surprise, which might not be totally evident here because I'm more likely to write about the fiction I read. What I'm trying to say is that I'm doing my best to take care of myself and to write about what I'm reading and watching, even though this blog will probably be periodically neglected.

   Here's the list of books I read in 2016 in the order I read them, I think. It was a smaller reading year, but a good one. I'll link to individual posts I wrote about each of these, if I wrote them.

• World War Z / Max Brooks - since finishing this book early last January, I've re-read favourite bits and listened through the audiobook version several times. It is VERY GOOD. 
• Bleak House / Charles Dickens - friggen FINALLY finished this beast, and I loved it. 
• Saga, vol. 5 / Brian K Vaughan, Fiona Staples - I missed out on meeting Fiona Staples by MERE HOURS when I went to Chapters on a whim and bought this book. MERE HOURS. I'm still upset. 
• Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant / Tony Cliff - there's hijinks and a flying boat. Recommend. 
• Treasure Island!!! / Sara Levine - I loved this weird book with its awful protagonist. 
• Rat Queens, vol. 2 / Kurtis J Wiebe, Roc Upchurch - I still maintain that "Roc Upchurch" MUST be a made up name. Rat Queens is great. 
• Giant Days / John Allison - I'm not sure how much of this I read, because I was reading collected volumes as well as single issues on my libraries digital collection, and I lost track of my place in the story. Thoroughly delightful. 
• Y : The Last Man, vol. 4-5 / Brian K Vaughan - less starkly offensive than I thought it was going to be on a re-read. I've been enjoying it.
• Burn for Burn / Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian - only okay. 
• My Boyfriend Barfed in my Handbag / Jolie Kerr - I've never been so entirely entertained while reading about cleaning. I've been giving this to people as a wedding gift. 
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society / Mary Ann Schaffer - a book that does "aren't book people great" and doesn't make it panderingly annoying! A true feat. Learned about some WWII history as a bonus. 
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette? / Maria Semple - AMAZING. ANTARCTICA. LOVE IT.  
• The Accident Season / Moira Fowley-Doyle - no thanks.
• Yes Please / Amy Poehler - friends, this audiobook is pure gold. 
• The Woods, vol. 1-4 / James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas - scary alien planet, mystery, SPACE, high school politics, integrating into a strange society, spookiness, this book has it all. 
• Year of Yes / Shonda Rhimes - Shonda Rhimes reads the audiobook, and let me tell you, it is such a good experience to listen to this. Highly highly highly recommend. 
• Something New / Lucy Knisley - possibly my fave Knisley.
• Maisie Dobbs / Jacqueline Winspear - Maisie Dobbs is in the same club as Phryne Fisher in my heart. I love Lady Detectives. 
• The Selection / Kiera Class - this book is pretty dumb but you know what? I couldn't put it down. 
• Wolf Winter / Cecilia Ekback - this book is SO EXCELLENT that I took the time to tweet at Cecilia Ekback and say something like "this book was so excellent".
• The Illumination / Kevin Brockmeier - read this on the recommendation of a friend and guess what? Gonna read more books she recommends. 
• Room / Emma Donoghue - it is weird that a book dealing with this dark of subject matter is so uplifting and kind, but Room manages it beautifully. 
• Everland / Rebecca Hunt - I've been telling all kinds of people to read this. Then and now storytelling set in Antarctica with characters developing grudging respect? YES FRIGGEN PLEASE. I read this in the summer and it made me forget what season it was.  
• Petty Theft / Pascal Girard - this was fine!
• Girls of Riyadh / Rajaa Alsanea - read this because of the Get Booked podcast where they called it "Gossip Girl but in the Middle East" and immediately read it. It was very very good. 
• If You Feel Too Much / Jamie Tworkowski - I think this is written in the exact way that I find just slightly annoying enough as to not get as much out of my reading as I otherwise could. I liked it less than I thought I would. 
• The Witches / Stacy Schiff - SO LONG and kinda boring but I learned a TON. 
• The Peach Keeper / Sarah Addison Allen - this was fun and good. 
• Witch Child / Celia Reeves - read/watched a lot of stuff about witches this year. 
• Why Not Me? / Mindy Kaling - another great audiobook. Enjoyed this more than Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? but that is no slight on the earlier book. Both are good!
• Seraphina / Rachel Hartman - half dragons half humans, all intrigue
• Stiletto / Daniel O'Malley - yesssssssssssssss, give me more urban fantasy complete with paper pushing.
• Sum / David Eagleman - 40 very small stories, all about what the afterlife might be like. Read this because of a blogging buddy. 
• The Great Divorce / C. S. Lewis - more about the afterlife? This one was also good. 

   And that's the book list. I'll post about movies later.