![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Reading in 2020
I didn't have a reading goal for the year, which was good, since it would have fallen by the wayside anyway, because new fandom.
Total number of books read (including novel-length fic): 52
Down from 86, 95, and 114 the previous years before. So that's not much, for me, but of course I wrote a lot instead.
Book authors by gender (judged by name, so there could be mistakes)
Female authors: 35
Male authors: 17
By language read in:
English: 49
Swedish: 2 (wow, last year about 25% of what I read was in Swedish)
Danish: 1
By author's country of origin:
UK: 38
USA: 5
Sweden: 2
And one each from Barbados, Greece, Denmark and Canada.
Ha ha, wow, I guess that's what comes of getting into a British fandom! Usually I have trouble getting the amount of American books below 50%. All but one of the American books were for book club and wouldn't have been read otherwise.
Genre (roughly; some were hard to categorize):
non-fiction: 18
SF: 3
fantasy: 11
historical: 19
YA: 3
romance: 7 (ha ha, I note that I labeled FotH as romance)
Fifteen of the non-fiction books were fic research about 18th century Britain. Lots of historical fiction, too.
Only two of the books were audiobooks (not counting the ones I made, heh).
23 books by new-to-me authors.
Five of them were rereads.
Two of the books were poetry.
22 out of the 34 fiction books passed the Bechdel test.
Most read author: D. K. Broster, obviously, with seven books. Second most read author is a tie between the historian Jeremy Black with three books, and three books in the Comfortable Courtesan series by A L Hall (which I much recommend!).
Least favorite books: Several of my book club books (Witchmark by C L Polk, The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Oath of Dogs by Wendy Wagner), including one that I chose because it was standing unread in my bookcase. It is possible that since I was reading so much historical fiction, especially older such, I was not as much in the mood for modern SF&F? Or maybe I wouldn't have been into them regardless--I mean, I was into the Murderbot book.
Favorite new-to-me books in 2020. Links go to my book posts.
Many of D. K. Broster's historical novels!
Fight for a Throne: the Jacobite '45 Reconsidered (2015) by Christopher Duffy (This is so ridiculously detailed and niche that it's not like I'm recommending it for the casual reader. But I have appreciated it extremely as a fic reference, and it's very well written.)
Men of War Lou Falkner (2019) (An enemies-to-friends-to-lovers Age of Sail m/m romance with lovely writing.)
Flemington (1921) by Violet Jacob (The other slashy historical book set in 1745.)
Bruce Lenman's non-fiction about 18th century Jacobites. (Snarky and well-written, with a social perspective.)
The Bull Calves (1947) by Naomi Mitchison (This is a reread, but I just had to include it anyway--it is brilliant! Set in 18th century Scotland, in the aftermath of war and with a female main character. I also really liked The Big House by the same author.)
Bonnie Dundee (1985) by Rosemary Sutcliff (Er, more Scottish history.)
If Not, Winter (2002) by Sappho, trans. Anne Carson (Enjoyed very much despite its fragmentary nature.)
Alfabet (1981) by Inger Christensen (Poetry about humanity and nature. Apricot trees exist!)
Piranesi (2020) by Susanna Clarke (...everyone knows about this.)
Total number of books read (including novel-length fic): 52
Down from 86, 95, and 114 the previous years before. So that's not much, for me, but of course I wrote a lot instead.
Book authors by gender (judged by name, so there could be mistakes)
Female authors: 35
Male authors: 17
By language read in:
English: 49
Swedish: 2 (wow, last year about 25% of what I read was in Swedish)
Danish: 1
By author's country of origin:
UK: 38
USA: 5
Sweden: 2
And one each from Barbados, Greece, Denmark and Canada.
Ha ha, wow, I guess that's what comes of getting into a British fandom! Usually I have trouble getting the amount of American books below 50%. All but one of the American books were for book club and wouldn't have been read otherwise.
Genre (roughly; some were hard to categorize):
non-fiction: 18
SF: 3
fantasy: 11
historical: 19
YA: 3
romance: 7 (ha ha, I note that I labeled FotH as romance)
Fifteen of the non-fiction books were fic research about 18th century Britain. Lots of historical fiction, too.
Only two of the books were audiobooks (not counting the ones I made, heh).
23 books by new-to-me authors.
Five of them were rereads.
Two of the books were poetry.
22 out of the 34 fiction books passed the Bechdel test.
Most read author: D. K. Broster, obviously, with seven books. Second most read author is a tie between the historian Jeremy Black with three books, and three books in the Comfortable Courtesan series by A L Hall (which I much recommend!).
Least favorite books: Several of my book club books (Witchmark by C L Polk, The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Oath of Dogs by Wendy Wagner), including one that I chose because it was standing unread in my bookcase. It is possible that since I was reading so much historical fiction, especially older such, I was not as much in the mood for modern SF&F? Or maybe I wouldn't have been into them regardless--I mean, I was into the Murderbot book.
Favorite new-to-me books in 2020. Links go to my book posts.
Many of D. K. Broster's historical novels!
Fight for a Throne: the Jacobite '45 Reconsidered (2015) by Christopher Duffy (This is so ridiculously detailed and niche that it's not like I'm recommending it for the casual reader. But I have appreciated it extremely as a fic reference, and it's very well written.)
Men of War Lou Falkner (2019) (An enemies-to-friends-to-lovers Age of Sail m/m romance with lovely writing.)
Flemington (1921) by Violet Jacob (The other slashy historical book set in 1745.)
Bruce Lenman's non-fiction about 18th century Jacobites. (Snarky and well-written, with a social perspective.)
The Bull Calves (1947) by Naomi Mitchison (This is a reread, but I just had to include it anyway--it is brilliant! Set in 18th century Scotland, in the aftermath of war and with a female main character. I also really liked The Big House by the same author.)
Bonnie Dundee (1985) by Rosemary Sutcliff (Er, more Scottish history.)
If Not, Winter (2002) by Sappho, trans. Anne Carson (Enjoyed very much despite its fragmentary nature.)
Alfabet (1981) by Inger Christensen (Poetry about humanity and nature. Apricot trees exist!)
Piranesi (2020) by Susanna Clarke (...everyone knows about this.)