This year I read 80 books, an all-time record!
The average rating was 3.5 stars, a notable increase from recent years. I think this is because of my new book selection method: I use the book ratings on Good Reads to choose books from my To Read list. So now I am targeting better books, rather than a scattershot approach.
A few years ago I tried to increase the proportion of female authors I read, and this year I finally achieved gender parity.
I also continued to try to read authors from a wider diversity of backgrounds. I managed to get the proportion of cis/straight/white authors down to 66%.
My full list of reviews is below. Any suggestions for reading goals for the year? One idea has been autobiographies from a range of different disciplines.
5 stars (3)
The Hate Race,Maxine Beneba Clarke,The grind of growing up under the repression of casual racism in Australia. Agonising & damning. Now I understand.,
Educated,Tara Westover,"The wrenching cataclysm when a God-fearing and -trusting, paranoid, patriarchal… ",https://t.co/97kfM4q1JZ
Boy Swallows Universe,Trent Dalton,Growing up with drug crime in the Qld suburbs of the 80s. Great characters & execution. Rough & aspiring with a touch of magical realism.,
4.5 stars (5)
The Weight of Ink,@RachelSKadish,"Deeply absorbing, fascinating & intricate. Connects us to the human… ",https://t.co/fPfrDCOUFw
Retrosuburbia,David Holmgren,"The definitive, inspirational text on permaculture-based resilience in t… ",https://t.co/cbMTRKvlxA
The Overstory,Richard Powers,"An elegy to the wild earth, and to a humanity losing its way. Oh my aching heart.",
Sister Heart,Sally Morgan,A few words that heart-achingly capture the tragedy of the Stolen Generatio… ,https://t.co/l5SzH06IUm
The Clock of the Long Now,Stewart Brand,"What would it mean to think in a 10,000 year timeframe? Much to ponder. Slowly...",
4 stars (20)
Shadows of Self,@BrandSanderson,Another satisfying romp through a quasi-industrial but magical world. G… ,https://t.co/lPVSYbZPVt
Flight Behaviour,Barbara Kingsolver,"Self-realisation unleashed through natural wonder, in the face of small town narrow-mindedness and shadowed by the destruction of the living world.",
No Friend But The Mountain,Behrouz Boochani,Horrifying and surreal view from inside our shameful offsho… ,https://t.co/eaBhWaehui
Skyward,Brandon Sanderson,"An old trope but sharply done. Absorbing, well-paced and fun teen sci-fi.",
Rusted Off,Gabrielle Chan,"A close inspection of the politics of country Australia, with a foot on each side of the deepening city-rural divide. Necessary reading.",
The Rosie Result,Graeme Simsion,"An entertaining, clever and reaffirming story of trying to fit in - or not - to a neurotypical world.",
Human Acts,Han Kang,"The lived experience of Korea's past brutal repression. Spare, cutting, chilling.",
Machines Like Me,Ian McEwan,An alternative history where Turing lived and AI thrived. Can we create a human-like robot if we don't understand our own mind?,
The House of the Spirits,Isabel Allendale,Quirkily charming history of a mad & magical family. Slammed back to earth by harrowing experience under dictatorship.,
Fools Crow,James Welch,"Life as a Native American, just as the wave of colonisation crashes. Illuminates a tragically lost world.",
Stoner,John Williams,"A sympathetic and moving portrayal of a plain life told with cool clarity. One of many failures, some modest success, and moments of sweet passion, strength and integrity.",
The Remains of the Day,Kazuo Ishiguro,"'In bantering lies the key to human warmth.' A painfully awkward,… ",https://t.co/GTNTJxkOqL
Exodus,Leon Uris,"The extraordinary rebirth of Israel. Excessively biased: heroic Jews, timid Brits, ignorant Arabs.",
Circe,Madeline Miller,A seamless reworking of Greek myths where the gods are vacuous & vain and the mortals vibrant & deeply alive.,
Growing Up African In Australia,Maxine Clarke (ed),An unsettling collection revealing the lives and prejudice experienced by being black in Aus.,
The Heart,Maylis de Kerangal,"An absorbing and evocative flow of sensation, emotion and life; a heart is given a new home.",
Neverwhere,Neil Gaiman,"The thrill of an adventurous life. Colourful characters, wild imagination. Like an urban fantasy version of Hitchhiker's Guide.",
Fahrenheit 451,Ray Bradbury,An homage to the wisdom in remembering. A warning against superficial livin… ,https://t.co/MK0o2oaujq
Mistress of the Empire,Raymond Feist & Janny Wurts,"Unending intrigue and an excess of good luck, topped… ",https://t.co/OSTd2A2kVM
One Hundred Years Of Dirt,Rick Morton,A searing insight into the trauma of poverty and the resulting systemic disadvantage. A much needed reminder of my own privilege. Very relevant politically.,
3.5 stars (26)
Beneath the Mountain,Alison Alexander,Fairly pedestrian but fascinating for a South Hobart local. Som… ,https://t.co/TsLj3N8QSr
Telling Tales,Ann Cleeves,Convincing crime novel in small-town England with rich characters. Vera is quite something.,
Bel Canto,Ann Patchett,"Love and opera flourish in the midst of a hostage crisis. Touching, but ends… ",https://t.co/KJRmv4zP1C
Hunting & Gathering,Anna Gavalda,Odd-bod housemates create family and find love & meaning despite differences. Distinctive & charming.,
All The Light We Cannot See,Anthony Doerr,The endurance of love and family despite total war and its perversities.,
Mistborn: Secret History,Brandon Sanderson,Worthwhile revival of a good character. Helpfully illuminates behind the scenes of the Cosmere.,
Half of a Yellow Sun,Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche,An eye-opening excursion into the society and history of post-c… ,https://t.co/SZMetiEK3p
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August,Claire North,"A novel, mind-bending take on time travel. Well done but don't think too hard about it.",
Doomsday Book,Connie Willis,"Two pandemics, in 2056 and 1348, linked by time travel gone awry. The fut… ",https://t.co/yWBFK9P50s
The Bone Clocks,David Mitchell,A slightly fantastical trip from past to (dystopian) future. Told by a variety of well-portrayed characters (some real bastards).,
The Lions of Al-Rassan,Guy Gavriel Kay,"A solid fantasy set in an imagined historical Iberia, rent by religious fanatacism. Touching conflict between love for friends and country.",
The Museum of Modern Love,Heather Rose,"What is art, life, love? An exploration around the work of Marina Abramovic. Ineffable.",
Forgotten War,Henry Reynolds,Nearly as many Aboriginals and settlers died in our frontier wars as in WW2. And they were strategically far more important. And yet we forget.,
Foundation,Isaac Asimov,"A perfectly timed read for me, bringing together ideas around data-driven historical modelling & (very) long-term thinking. A touch implausible, excessively male, and no chance for character development.",
The Pearl,John Steinbeck,"A parable of wealth, power and greed, buried by an avalanche of loss.",
From Secret Ballot To Democracy Sausage,Judith Brett, A proud history of how Australia developed one of the best electoral systems in the world. Packed full of fascinating facts.,
The Green Mill Murder,Kerry Greenwood,"My first Phryne novel. Quite a lot of fun, slightly ridiculous.",
On The Way Home,Laura Ingalls Wilder,Diary of migration through the Midwest in the 1890s. Straightforward but revealing insight into settler life back in the day.,
Anne of Green Gables,LM Montgomery,"A charming & irrepressible zest for life. Wholesome, with a touch of cheek.",
All Systems Red,Martha Wells,"Amusing attitude (for a killer robot) and convincing world, but lacking in depth and context.",
Carrying the World,Maxine Beneba Clarke,In lyrical defiance of prejudice. I need more practice at poetry.,
La Belle Sauvage,Philip Pullman,"A worthy return to Lyra's world, where the fantastic pushes, then floods, into the everyday.",
Fever Dream,Samanta Schweblin,"An insidious poison, a strange telling, a gentle horror.",
Where Song Began,Tim Low,Australia's huge and distinctive contribution to the bird world. A bit all-o… ,https://t.co/nMk0OKq5N2
The White Girl,Tony Birch,"The incomprehensible disdain of the Aborigines Protection Act and its enforcers. Another era (for me), but one of unmatched love & courage.",
The Great Leveler,Walter Scheidel,Violent shocks are needed to reduce inequality substantially. Could… ,https://t.co/D5f0A5U1Bt
3 stars (17)
Hidden Depths,Ann Cleeves,A murder mystery that doesn't quite live up to its name.,
Elantris,Brandon Sanderson,"A low-action fantasy. Decent characters and ideas but lacks depth. Also, some clunky plot leaps.",
The Universe Speaks in Numbers,Graham Farmelo,The fundamental laws of physics appear to be inherently mathematical. I'd hoped for more insight into the underlying concepts.,
A Change of Climate,Hilary Mantel,"Well-written and readable, but lacks impact given the hefty issues it tackles.",
Luna: Moon Rising,Ian McDonald,Great setting but a confusion of superficial characters.,
Facts and Fears,James Clapper,"Begins as boring bureaucratic biography, but warms up to provide some ins… ",https://t.co/YKhf6aggy8
The Dry,Jane Harper,Murder mystery in small drought-afflicted country town. Engaging but ends too neatly.,
Among Others,Jo Walton,Has potential but basically nothing happens. Perhaps for nostalgic scifi-obsessed baby boomers.,
Murder in Montparnasse,Kerry Greenwood,Phryne as feisty and formidable as ever. Some pleasing flashbacks to wartime Paris to round her out.,
Death at Victoria Dock,Kerry Greenwood,"Another Phryne. Some good action, but not much mystery.",
Hear Our Defeats,Laurent Gaude,"Disparate but well-entwined stories of battles lost and won. All are defeated, even in victory.",
Artificial Condition,Martha Wells,"More fun times with Murderbot, whose old habits die hard, but now with an equally idiosyncratic super-AI sidekick.",
Democracy in Chains,Nancy MacLean,"The alarming push by radical libertarians to undermine majoritarian democracy, giving primacy to property rights and wilfully disregarding the distorting power of wealth. Perhaps questionable scholarship.",
Crimson,Niviaq Korneliussen,Queer life in alcohol-fuelled traumatised Greenland. Little insight into p… ,https://t.co/jBxYdnGIxj
Landmarks,Robert Macfarlane,Variously engaging essays on authors and their beloved landscapes. Interspersed with glossaries of apt & charming words capturing the subtleties of place.,
The Priory of the Orange Tree,Samantha Shannon,"A good attempt at inclusive fantasy. Long, with so-so characters, and occasionally too neat.",
The Shepherd's Hut,Tim Winton,"Not a lot happens. Vernacular doesn't quite ring true, but sense of place is strong."
2.5 stars (7)
Pereira Maintains,Antonio Tabucchi,"Over-the-hill journalist finds new, subversive, lease on life in a… ",https://t.co/VfSpmOol8F
The Winterlings,Christina Sanchez-Andrade,"A hint of magical realism, a hint of mystery, quirky but nothing cogent.",
The White Book,Han Kang,"White things. Death, loss & what could have been. Poetic, beautiful, gentle. But purposeless.",
Waiting for the Barbarians,JM Coetzee,"A polemic against empire and colonialism, but transmitted through an aggravating vague haze.",
Murder and Mendelssohn,Kerry Greenwood,"Lacking in mystery and self-indulgent, going so far as to rip-off the BBC's Sherlock.",
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree,Shokoofeh Azar,"Magical realism on steroids, Persian style. Pe… ",https://t.co/sOx2EGbjP6
An Ancient Peace,Tanya Huff,A fairly run-of-the-mill sci-fi adventure. Attempt at humour and banter didn't work for me.,
2 stars (2)
Last Evenings on Earth,Roberto Bolaño,"Evocative, languid, but going nowhere.",
The Rich Greenie,Stuart Barry,Some good ideas on making your banks accountable but couched in awful ins… ,https://t.co/U8tqWQMsIN
