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2017 in Reading

Here’s what I read in 2017.

Bookshelves filled with old nonfiction and reference texts.
Photo by Alfons Morales on Unsplash
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  • Categorized under: reading.

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Ann Leckie
  3. Fruits Basket
  4. Y: The Last Man
  5. Nonfiction Hits
  6. Awesome Novellas
  7. Unlikely Exploits
  8. The Expanse

Introduction

Here’s everything I read in 2017:

  • Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 5 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • “The Venus Effect” by Joseph Allen Hill
  • Liselotte and Witch’s Forest 2 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
  • The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein
  • Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
  • The Last Witness by K.J. Parker
  • Star*Line 40.1 ed F.J. Bergmann (poetry)
  • The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
  • Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
  • Pansy by Andrea Gibson (poetry)
  • Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 6 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • Our Super Adventure by Sarah Graley (comics)
  • Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker
  • Finding My Elegy by Ursula K. Le Guin (poetry)
  • How to Think About Money by Jonathan Clements
  • The Pocketknife Bible by Anis Mojgani (poetry)
  • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Community and Growth by Jean Vanier
  • The Fall of Fergal by Philip Ardagh
  • Heir of Mystery by Philip Ardagh
  • The Rise of the House of McNally by Philip Ardagh
  • Arcadia by Tom Stoppard (play)
  • The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
  • The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
  • The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
  • Liselotte and Witch’s Forest 3 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 7 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • “Semiotic Disobedience” by Sonia Katyal
  • Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
  • All Systems Red by Martha Wells
  • Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 8 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler
  • The Churn by James S.A. Corey
  • The 2017 Rhysling Anthology ed David C. Kopaska-Merkel (poetry)
  • Passing Strange by Ellen Klages
  • The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar (play)
  • Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 9 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • The Things We Do For Love by K.J. Parker
  • Killing Gravity by Corey J. White
  • Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 10 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt
  • Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw
  • Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 11 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 12 by Natsuki Takaya (manga)
  • Y: The Last Man – Book One by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (comics)
  • Y: The Last Man: One Small Step by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (comics)
  • The Civil Servant’s Notebook by Wang Xiaofang
  • Theatre Topics: Volume 25, Number 3, September 2015 ed Gwendolyn Alker
  • The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  • Stunt Water by Buddy Wakefield (poetry)
  • Dwarf Stars 2017 ed Robin Mayhall (poetry)
  • The New Rosary in Scripture by Edward Sri
  • Code 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig
  • Star*Line 40.2 ed F.J. Bergmann (poetry)
  • Y: The Last Man: Safeword by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (comics)
  • Y: The Last Man – Book Three by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (comics)
  • Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
  • Screaming by John Reinhart (poetry chapbook)
  • Y: The Last Man – Book Four by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (comics)
  • Steering the Craft: A 21st-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Y: The Last Man – Book Five by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (comics)
  • Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
  • Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell
  • Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace
  • Educating for Insurgency by Jay Gillen
  • Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn
  • Nightmare Magazine Issue 49: POC Destroy Horror! ed Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World by Shadi Hamid
  • Star*Line 40.3 ed F.J. Bergmann (poetry)
  • Provenance by Ann Leckie
  • Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016 ed John Joseph Adams
  • How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon by Rosa Brooks
  • Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey

No joke, 2017 was a productive, delightful year in reading for me. As a slight disclaimer, however, I will note that on the above list, I have labeled which reads were plays, comics, and poetry, but I have not labeled which reads were novellas — and I did read a lot of novellas last year.

Now, let’s look at some highlights.

Ann Leckie

Ann Leckie is my new favorite author. She’s the space opera goddess for our times. Last winter, I read her Imperial Radch trilogy, a profound and enjoyable meditation on empire, identity, and justice. And this past autumn, I read her new book Provenance, which is basically most of the awesomeness of the Radch trilogy condensed into a smaller tale in a new, fascinating civilization. Ann Leckie is a masterful world builder. She pays careful attention to the details of dress and food, she has a keen eye for class differentials, power imbalances, and issues of justice, and she brilliantly and successfully experiments with gender, politics, and aliens. I kind of want to write a dissertation on her.

Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket is Danae’s favorite manga series. I understand why. I also love it. The series features a huge ensemble of well-developed, likable characters who grow and mature together within a beautiful web of mutual relationships. It’s one of those series where, by the time you finish reading it, the characters all really feel like your friends. It’s fabulous.

Y: The Last Man

My old community-mate Pat introduced this comic book series to me. Y: The Last Man tells the story of Yorick Brown and his pet monkey, the only two survivors of a mysterious plague that instantly kills every other mammal with a Y chromosome. It’s a post-apocalyptic adventure that’s fun, interesting, pulpy, enjoyably stupid, well-plotted, tightly-paced, and featuring great characters. It’s tons of fun.

Nonfiction Hits

I read some great nonfiction this year as well. Stand out nonfiction books are:

Awesome Novellas

I read tons of novellas this year. My four favorites are:

Unlikely Exploits

Philip Ardagh is one of my favorite children’s authors because of his Eddie Dickens series. This year, I finally got around to reading one of his other series, the Unlikely Exploits trilogy. This trilogy is one of the most delightful, genuinely surprising things I’ve ever read, and I actually like it more than his Eddie Dickens series (which is still very close to my heart). The three books in this trilogy are:

  • The Fall of Fergal by Philip Ardagh
  • Heir of Mystery by Philip Ardagh
  • The Rise of the House of McNally by Philip Ardagh

The Expanse

The Expanse remains at the top on my “Generally Recommended” list. Put simply, The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey is the most fun I’ve ever had reading — yes, I find it more fun than Harry Potter. The first book in the series is Leviathan Wakes. Go read that. This past December, I read Nemesis Games, the fifth book in the series, and like every other book in the series, it totally rocked.

The series also has a TV show (also called The Expanse) airing on Syfy. It’s third season starts soon. Go watch it. To my mind, it’s the best show currently on air.

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