susanna.fraser goes exploring in 2021

Hi everyone! This is my second year in the Category Challenge, though I've been a LibraryThing member for what feels like forever. I answer to either Susanna or Susan (Susanna Fraser being my pen name), and I live in Seattle with my husband and 16-year-old son. Right now we're all at home, trying not to drive each other insane. My husband was already working from home before the pandemic started, and for now my job and Alex's school are 100% remote.

I turn 50 on January 1, so I thought about doing some sort of half-century themed thread. But then I decided I wanted to focus on my lifelong delight in using books to learn and explore, a journey I hope will continue for many years to come!

Exploring the World: Books set in, or by authors from, parts of the world other than the US, the UK, or Canada (since those three countries cover probably a good 95% of what I read most years). My goal is at least two books for each of the regions below.



The Americas other than the USA and Canada
1. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies
2. Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
3. A Summer For Scandal

Europe other than the UK
1. Beowulf: A New Translation
2. The Last Million
3. Her Gallant Captain at Waterloo
4. The Fate of Rome
5. The Wars of Napoleon
6. The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World
7. Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution

North Africa and the Middle East
1. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay
2. Guest House for Young Widows

Sub-Saharan Africa
1. How to Catch a Queen
2. Rosewater

Asia
1. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
2. The Anarchy
3. She Who Became the Sun

Australia and Oceania
1. Tales of the Tikongs
2. The Women in Black
3. Death in Daylesford

Seeking Out New Life and New Civilizations: Science Fiction



1. Ms. Marvel Team-Up
2. Rosewater
3. Alien Artifacts
4. Hench
5. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
6. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
7. Fugitive Telemetry
8. Seven of Infinities
9. Alice Payne Arrives
10. Ghost-Spider Vol. 1: Dogs Days Are Over
11. Alice Payne Rides
12. Temporally Out of Order
13. Ghost-Spider Vol. 2: Party People
14. Project Hail Mary
15. Ms. Marvel: Outlawed
16. A Psalm for the Wild-Built
17. Vessel
18. Consolation Songs
19. Clarkesworld Issue 172
20. Galactic Stew
21. Victories Greater Than Death

Exploring the Imagination: Fantasy



1. Clockwork Boys
2. The Wonder Engine
3. Snowspelled
4. Spellswept
5. Thornbound
6. Moontangled
7. Sweep in Peace
8. Dying With Her Cheer Pants On
9. The Dark Archive
10. Tremontaine: The Complete Season One
11. Equal Rites
12. Heroine's Journey
13. One Fell Sweep
14. Fireheart Tiger
15. Pyramids
16. What Abigail Did That Summer
17. Wyrd Sisters
18. Gideon the Ninth
19. Paladin's Strength
20. Black Sun
21. Witches Abroad
22. The Assassins of Thasalon
23. Angel of the Overpass
24. Dark and Deepest Red
25. Imaginary Numbers
26. Calculated Risks
27. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
28. Lords and Ladies
29. Maskerade
30. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
31. Deathless Divide
32. Cemetery Boys
33. Phoenix Extravagant
34. She Who Became the Sun
35. The Wolf and the Woodsman
36. The Bees
37. Paladin's Hope
38. Taproot
39. The Last Graduate
40. Knot of Shadows
41. Ghost Days: An Anna O'Brien Collection
42. Briarley
43. Rivers of London, Vol. 9: Monday, Monday
44. Galactic Stew

Exploring the Heart: Romance



(Yes, yes, I know, this wasn't a romance on the actual show in question. But I'm still bitter at the bad writing and IMHO racist BS that wrecked what should've been the swooniest slow-burn partners-in-evil-fighting love story EVER...)

1. How to Catch a Queen
2. Pregnant By the Playboy
3. The Duke Who Didn't
4. One to Watch
5. The Lady Always Wins
6. Her Gallant Captain at Waterloo
7. Conventionally Yours
8. That Can Be Arranged
9. How to Find a Princess
10. The Hellion's Waltz
11. A Summer For Scandal
12. The Professor Next Door
13. Accidentally Engaged
14. The Wife in the Attic
15. Intercepted
16. The Voting Booth
17. The Chai Factor
18. Bidding for the Bachelor
19. Taproot
20. Donut Fall in Love
21. Briarley
22. Meet Me in Mayfair

Exploring My Inner Child: YA and children's books



1. Dactyl Hill Squad
2. Every Reason We Shouldn't
3. Dark and Deepest Red
4. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
5. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
6. Deathless Divide
7. Cemetery Boys
8. The Voting Booth
9. The Last Graduate

Exploring New Voices: New-to-me authors. I hope to discover at least 10.



FICTION:
1. Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis
2. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
3. Ms. Marvel Team-Up by Eve Ewing
4. Rosewater by Tade Thompson
5. Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley
6. One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
7. Every Reason We Shouldn't by Sara Fujimura
8. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek
9. Heroine's Journey by Sarah Kuhn
10. Tales of the Tikongs by Epeli Hau'ofa
11. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
12. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
13. The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews
14. Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert
15. The Women in Black by Madeleine St John
16. Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield
17. Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore
18. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
19. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
20. Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee
21. Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron
22. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
23. Intercepted by Alexa Martin
24. The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
25. The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert
26. Vessel by Lisa A. Nichols
27. The Bees by Laline Paull
28. Taproot by Keezy Young
29. Ghost Days: An Anna O'Brien Collection by Asher Elbein
30. Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray
31. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
32. The Guncle by Steven Rowley

NONFICTION:
1. Here For It - R. Eric Thomas
2. The Journeys of Trees - Zach St. George
3. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs - Steve Brusatte
4. Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved - Darren Naish & Paul Barrett
5. The Riches of This Land - Jim Tankersley
6. Neon Girls: A Stripper's Education in Protest and Power - Jennifer Worley
7. The Last Million - David Nasaw
8. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies - Seth Holmes
9. Almost American Girl - Robin Ha
10. You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington - Alexis Coe
11. Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom - Russell Shorto
12. The Data Detective - Tim Harford
13. The Fate of Rome - Kyle Harper
14. Jesus and John Wayne - Kristin Kobes Du Mez
15. Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith - Sarah Bessey
16. Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs - Camilla Townsend
17. The Thunder Before the Storm - Clyde Bellecourt
18. Creating Short Fiction - Damon Knight
19. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes - Dan Egan
20. The Wars of Napoleon - Albert Sidney Britt III
21. Keep Sharp - Sanjay Gupta
22. Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres by Ruth Brandon
23. How the Word Is Passed - Clint Smith
24. The Hill We Climb - Amanda Gorman
25. The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World by Patrick Wyman
26. The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef
27. Real Queer America by Samantha Allen
28. The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson
29. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
30. Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots by James Suzman
31. Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 by John Ferling
32. Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke
33. Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses
34. Walk in Love: Episcopal Belief and Practices by Scott Gunn and Melody Wilson Shobe
35. Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound by David B. Williams
36. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay
37. Guest House for Young Widows by Azadeh Moaveni
38. Never Say You Can't Survive by Charlie Jane Anders
39. The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
40. Reading Evangelicals by Daniel Silliman
41. Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman
42. Secret Seattle by Susanna Ryan
43. Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World by Benjamin Reiss
44. Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz
45. Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman

Exploring the Soul: Books on Religion and Spirituality. I'm an Episcopalian lay worship leader, and I generally read a few related books in any given year.



1. Jesus and John Wayne
2. That Can Be Arranged
3. Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith
4. Gathering Moss
5. A Psalm for the Wild-Built
6. Walk in Love: Episcopal Belief and Practices
7. Guest House for Young Widows
8. Reading Evangelicals
9. Wholehearted Faith

Exploring the Past: History and historical fiction



FICTION:
1. Dactyl Hill Squad
2. Beowulf: A New Translation
3. The Duke Who Didn't
4. To Calais, In Ordinary Time
5. The Lady Always Wins
6. Her Gallant Captain at Waterloo
7. The Women in Black
8. Dark and Deepest Red
9. The Hellion's Waltz
10. Deathless Divide
11. A Summer For Scandal
12. The Wife in the Attic
13. Ghost Days: An Anna O'Brien Collection

NONFICTION:
1. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
2. The Riches of This Land
3. The Last Million
4. You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington
5. Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom
6. The Fate of Rome
7. The Anarchy
8. Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
9. The Thunder Before the Storm
10. The Wars of Napoleon
11. Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres
12. How the Word Is Passed
13. The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World
14. Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
15. Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800
16. Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
17. Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound
18. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
19. Guest House for Young Widows
20. Let the Record Show
21. Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World
22. Four Lost Cities
23. Beyond the Blue Horizon

Exploring Nature: Science and related topics



1. The Journeys of Trees
2. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
3. Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved
4. In the Company of Crows and Ravens
5. Vesper Flights
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
7. Keep Sharp
8. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
9. Gathering Moss
10. The Book of Eels
11. Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound
12. On Animals
13. Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World

Seattle Public Library Summer Book Bingo: An annual tradition. For the past several years I've scored a blackout.

1. Romance: The Hellion's Waltz
2. On Your Shelf: The Wars of Napoleon
3. Small Press: Temporally Out of Order
4. Beach Read: A Summer For Scandal
5. Black Joy: How to Find a Princess
6. Activism/Social Justice: The Thunder Before the Storm
7. Made You Laugh: Lords and Ladies
8. Coming of Age: She Who Became the Sun
9. Recommended by Library Staff: Keep Sharp
10. Graphic Novel or Comic: Ghost-Spider Vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over
11. Recommended by a Friend: Real Queer America
12. QTBIPOC: Cemetery Boys
13: Mystery or Crime: Death in Daylesford
14: Cli-fi or Environmental Nonfiction: The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
15. Poetry or Essays: The Hill We Climb
16. Asian American or Pacific Islander Author: Phoenix Extravagant
17. SAL Speaker: Gathering Moss
18. Speculative Fiction: Alice Payne Rides
19. BIPOC Food Writing: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
20. Sports: Intercepted
21. Olympic Host City: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
22. A Book From a Series: Imaginary Numbers
23. A Book From a Series: Calculated Risks
24. Recommended by a Local Bookseller: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

GenreCAT



January: - Theme: Non Fiction
1. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
2. Here For It
3. The Journeys of Trees
4. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
5. Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved

February: - Theme: Memoirs/Biography
1. Neon Girls: A Stripper's Education in Protest and Power
2. Almost American Girl

March: - Theme: Action & Adventure
1. One Fell Sweep

April: - Theme: Literary Fiction
1. The Word for Woman Is Wilderness

May: - Theme: Short Stories/Essays
1. Temporally Out of Order

June: - Theme: Historical Fiction
1. The Hellion's Waltz

July: - Theme: Romance
1. A Summer For Scandal
2. The Professor Next Door

August: - Theme: Poetry/Drama/Graphic Novels
1. Sparrow Envy

September: - Theme: YA/Children
Possibilities:
1. The Voting Booth

October: Theme: Horror/Supernatural/Paranormal
Possibilities:
1. Taproot
2. Ghost Days: An Anna O'Brien Collection

November: - Theme: SFF
1. Consolation Songs
2. Briarley
3. Clarkesworld Issue 172

December: - Theme: Mysteries

HistoryCAT



January: The Middle Ages

1. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
2. Beowulf: A New Translation

February: Modern c.1800 to now
1. The Riches of This Land
2. The Duke Who Didn’t
3. The Last Million

March: Early Modern c.1500 to c. 1800
1. You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington
2. Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom

April: Ancient 8th C BC to 6th AD
1. The Fate of Rome

May: Dynasties/Civilisations/Empires - HOSTING
1. The Anarchy

June: Military/War/Revolution
1. The Wars of Napoleon

July: Social History
1. Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres

August: Your Own Country
1. Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

September: Religion/Philosophy/Politics/The Law
Possibilities:
1. Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800

October: A country/region of your choice
Possibilities:
1. Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution

November: Events
1. Let the Record Show

December: Adventure/Exploration and Discovery
Possibilities:
1. Four Lost Cities
2. Beyond the Blue Horizon

RandomCAT



January (LOL)
1. Here For It

February (Fruits and Veggies)
1. Dying With Her Cheer Pants On: Stories of the Fighting Pumpkins
2. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies

March (Surprise)
1. Heroine's Journey

April (Go to the library without leaving your house):
1. Gideon the Ninth

May (Let's play Monopoly):
1. Dark and Deepest Red

June (Everything Old is New Again):
1. Lords and Ladies
2. Maskerade

July (Summertime):
1. A Summer For Scandal
2. Death in Daylesford

August (On the Road Again):
1. A Psalm for the Wild-Built
2. She Who Became the Sun

September (Award Winner):
1. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

October (characters who help/give):
1. Bidding for the Bachelor
2. The Last Graduate

December (holiday reads)
1. Meet Me in Mayfair

AlphaKIT



Yearlong: X and Z
1. The Journeys of Trees - by Zach St. George
2. Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman

January..............P M
1. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
2. Pregnant By the Playboy
3. Moon of the Crusted Snow
4. Ms. Marvel Team-Up
5. Moontangled

February............T K
1. The Riches of This Land - by Jim Tankersley
2. Tremontaine: The Complete Season One by Ellen Kushner

March.................U R
1. Equal Rites
2. Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom

April....................A W
1. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
2. The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews
3. Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert
4. Jesus and John Wayne
5. That Can Be Arranged
6. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells
7. Witches Abroad
8. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

May.....................I N
1. Seven of Infinities
2. Imaginary Numbers

June....................C D
1. The Thunder Before the Storm by Clyde Bellecourt
2. Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight
3. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
4. Writing the Other: A Practical Approach by Cynthia Ward and Nisi Shawl
5. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

July......................S O
1. Keep Sharp
2. A Summer For Scandal
3. Ms. Marvel: Outlawed
4. How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith

August................V J
1. The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World
2. The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef

September.........F L
1. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
2. Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 by John Ferling
3. Vessel by Lisa A. Nichols
4. Walk in Love: Episcopal Belief and Practices
5. The Chai Factor

October..............H E
1. Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
2. Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound
3. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay by Hooman Majd
4. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
5. Paladin's Hope
6. Ghost Days: An Anna O'Brien Collection by Asher Elbein

November.........B Y
1. Guest House for Young Widows
2. Never Say You Can't Survive
3. Briarley

December..........G Q
1. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto
2. Galactic Stew
3. The Guncle
4. Victories Greater Than Death

GeoKIT



Yearlong Location Challenge Categories
- Africa
1. How to Catch a Queen
2. Rosewater

- Asia
1. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
2. The Anarchy
3. She Who Became the Sun
4. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay

- Europe
1. Beowulf: A New Translation
2. The Fate of Rome
3. The Wars of Napoleon

- Central and South America (includes the Caribbean)
1. A Summer For Scandal

- North America (includes Mexico, Canada, and USA)
1. Moon of the Crusted Snow
2. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies
3. Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

- Oceania (includes Australia and New Zealand)
1. Tales of the Tikongs
2. The Women in Black

- Polar (includes Antarctica and tundra regions)

KITastrophe



Year-Long: Epidemics and Pandemics
1. To Calais, In Ordinary Time
2. The Fate of Rome
3. Dark and Deepest Red
4. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
5. Let the Record Show

Jan-Mar: Technology/Industrial/Man-made
Apr-June: Transportation and Maritime
1. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

July-Sept: Weather/Geological/Fires
1. Project Hail Mary

Oct-Dec: Riots/Uprisings/Sieges/War/Invasions
1. Guest House for Young Widows

SFFKIT



January: - Read an SFF book you meant to read in 2020
1. Clockwork Boys
2. The Wonder Engine

February: Sentient Things
1. Sweep in Peace

March: -Indy Jones in Space! (or Fairyland)
1. Alien Artifacts

April - Series
1. Gideon the Ninth
2. Paladin's Strength
3. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
4. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
5. Black Sun
6. Fugitive Telemetry

May: - Time Travel
1. Alice Payne Arrives
2. Alice Payne Rides
3. Temporally Out of Order

June: - It's About The Journey
Possibilities:
1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

July: - Historical Fantasy
1. Deathless Divide

August: - Female Authors
1. A Psalm for the Wild-Built
2. She Who Became the Sun

September: - Near Future/ Alternate Reality
Possibilities:
1. Vessel

October: - Creature Feature
Possibilities:
1. The Bees

November: - Short Stories
1. Consolation Songs
2. Clarkesworld Issue 172

December: - Last Chance
Possibilities:
1. Galactic Stew

BingoDOG





1. Shit, Actually
2. Pyramids
3. The Dark Archive
4. Snowspelled
5. How to Catch a Queen
6. Pregnant By the Playboy
7. Fireheart Tiger
8. Her Gallant Captain at Waterloo
9. The Wonder Engine
10. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
11. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
12. Moon of the Crusted Snow
13. Clockwork Boys
14. Thornbound
15. In the Company of Crows and Ravens
16. Every Reason We Shouldn't
17. Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved
18. Here For It
19. The Lady Always Wins
20. Almost American Girl
21. The Journeys of Trees
22. To Calais, In Ordinary Time
23. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies
24. Equal Rites
25. Tales of the Tikongs

BINGO PART TWO



1. The Word for Woman is Wilderness
2. Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith
3. Conventionally Yours
4. Paladin's Strength
5. That Can Be Arranged
7. Alice Payne Arrives
8. Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
9. The Assassins of Thasalon
11. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
12. Dark and Deepest Red
13. Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres
14. The Data Detective
15. Creating Short Fiction
18. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
19. Writing the Other: A Practical Approach
20. Lords and Ladies
21. Hench
22. Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom
23. Wyrd Sisters
24. The Women in Black
25. What Abigail Did That Summer

Q1 log

January:
1. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
2. Here For It
3. How to Catch a Queen
4. The Journeys of Trees
5. Clockwork Boys
6. The Wonder Engine
7. Pregnant By the Playboy
8. The Rise and Fall of The Dinosaurs
9. Snowspelled
10. Spellswept
11. Moon of the Crusted Snow
12. Ms. Marvel Team-Up
13. Thornbound
14. Rosewater
15. Dactyl Hill Squad
16. Beowulf: A New Translation
17. Moontangled
18. Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved

February:
1. Sweep in Peace
2. The Riches of This Land
3. Dying With Her Cheer Pants On
4. In the Company of Crows and Ravens
5. The Dark Archive
6. Vesper Flights
7. The Duke Who Didn't
8. Shit, Actually
9. Tremontaine Season One
10. Neon Girls: A Stripper's Education in Protest and Power
11. One to Watch
12. The Last Million
13. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies
14. Almost American Girl

March
1. To Calais, In Ordinary Time
2. The Lady Always Wins
3. Equal Rites
4. Heroine's Journey
5. One Fell Sweep
6. You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington
7. Fireheart Tiger
8. Pyramids
9. Tales of the Tikongs
10. Her Gallant Captain at Waterloo
11. What Abigail Did That Summer
12. Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom
13. Alien Artifacts
14. Wyrd Sisters

Q2 log

April:
1. The Data Detective
2. Gideon the Ninth
3. Paladin's Strength
4. Hench
5. The Word for Woman is Wilderness
6. The Fate of Rome
7. Conventionally Yours
8. Jesus and John Wayne
9. That Can Be Arranged
10. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
11. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
12. Black Sun
13. Witches Abroad
14. Fugitive Telemetry

May:
1. The Anarchy
2. The Women in Black
3. Seven of Infinities
4. Alice Payne Arrives
5. Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith
6. The Assassins of Thasalon
7. Angel of the Overpass
8. Ghost-Spider Vol. 1: Dogs Days Are Over
9. Alice Payne Rides
10. Dark and Deepest Red
11. Temporally Out of Order
12. How to Find a Princess
13. Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs
14. Imaginary Numbers
15. Calculated Risks

June:
1. The Thunder Before the Storm
2. Creating Short Fiction
3. Ghost-Spider Vol. 2: Party People
4. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
5. Lords and Ladies
6. The Hellion's Waltz
7. Writing the Other: A Practical Approach
8. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
9. The Wars of Napoleon
10. Maskerade
11. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

Q3 log

July
1. Keep Sharp
2. Deathless Divide
3. A Summer For Scandal
4. Project Hail Mary
5. Ms. Marvel: Outlawed
6. Death in Daylesford
7. Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres
8. The Professor Next Door
9. Cemetery Boys
10. How the Word Is Passed
11. The Hill We Climb
12. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
13. Gathering Moss
14. Phoenix Extravagant

August
1. A Psalm for the Wild-Built
2. Accidentally Engaged
3. The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World
4. The Scout Mindset
5. She Who Became the Sun
6. The Wife in the Attic
7. Real Queer America
8. Intercepted
9. The Book of Eels
10. Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
11. Sparrow Envy

September
1. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
2. Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
3. The Wolf and the Woodsman
4. The Voting Booth
5. Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800
6. Vessel
7. Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness
8. Craft in the Real World
9. Walk in Love: Episcopal Belief and Practices
10. The Chai Factor

Q4 log

October
1. Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
2. The Bees
3. Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound
4. Bidding for the Bachelor
5. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay
6. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
7. Paladin's Hope
8. Taproot
9. The Last Graduate
10. The Cruelty is the Point
11. Knot of Shadows
12. Ghost Days: An Anna O'Brien Collection

November
1. Guest House for Young Widows
2. Never Say You Can't Survive
3. Donut Fall in Love
4. Consolation Songs
5. Briarley
6. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through
7. The Four Tendencies
8. Clarkesworld Issue 172
9. Reading Evangelicals
10. Wholehearted Faith
11. Let the Record Show
12. On Animals
13. Secret Seattle

December.
1. Rivers of London, Vol. 9: Monday, Monday
2. Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World
3. Dial A for Aunties
4. Four Lost Cities
5. Galactic Stew
6. The Guncle
7. Meet Me in Mayfair
8. Beyond the Blue Horizon
9. I Should Be Writing
10. Victories Greater Than Death
11. Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology

Good to see you all set up and ready for another year!

I like the set up here! Dropping my star early.

And welcome (when it comes) to the 50 club! I reached it in 2019, and so far it's not too bad (apart from the creaky knees!).

This is a lovely theme. Happy reading!

What an interesting theme! I hope you have fun exploring.

Happy explorations!

I like your categories and will be interested to see where you explorations take you.

>25 Jackie_K: So far my knees are OK (knocks wood), but I feel my age in my back, my shoulders, and my eyesight.

Enjoy learning and exploring in 2021!

So, it's possible I'm going just a little bit crazy with my long lists of possible reads, when I know there's no way I'll ever get to them all. But I've mostly been pulling them from my Seattle Public Library "For Later" list, which has become an unwieldy monster 299 books long. One of my goals this year is to try to actually USE said list, rather than just sticking books there and forgetting about them. So on quiet evenings like this one, I'm trying to triage the list for choices that meet category requirements so I can pick a few candidates to check out when the time comes.

Good luck with your 2021 reading!

>32 susanna.fraser: - "triage books" - I like that. Hope you get some good reading done.

Great pictures to illustrate your categories.

Welcome back to your second year. A very nice set up. Happy reading in 2021!

Great setup! I'm especially interested in your exploring the world challenge, and heartily recommend two titles from it - Rosewater & God's of Tango.

>37 markon: Thanks for the recommendations!

Hope you have a great year of reading.

Welcome back, Susanna! I love your exploring theme for 2021 and looking forward to seeing what books you read.

Starting the year with two books finished, admittedly because I saved the last chapters to read today because they met 2021 challenges rather than 2020 ones.



1. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford

Well-written popular history, though the sheer number of unfamiliar names (for places and people) made it hard to follow at times.



2. Here For It by R. Eric Thomas

A memoir in essays with a nice balance of poignant and hilarious.

>41 susanna.fraser: The Mongol Queens piques my interest. I'm going to wish list that one.

I've been wanting to read (probably listen) Here For It since I first heard about it over the summer. Glad to know it was a good one for you.

3. How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole

Another great book by one of my go-to romance authors, though if you're interested in escapist romances about royalty in invented countries, with realistic emotional stakes, you should start at the beginning with A Princess in Theory.

I really like your exploring theme, and hope you enjoy it. And three books already! :)

"Exploring" is a wonderful theme and I really like this setup! Happy reading in 2021!

And keep up with my friends here, Susanna. Have a great 2021.

>41 susanna.fraser: Promptly added Here for it to my hold list at the library.

>45 Chrischi_HH: That'll slow down soon--I'm back to work tomorrow!



4. The Journeys of Trees by Zach St. George

A fairly quick look at how forests are being impacted by climate change and invasive species, and human attempts to help rather than hinder them.

5. Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher

Another thoroughly enjoyable Kingfisher fantasy novel.

6. The Wonder Engine by T Kingfisher

The sequel to Clockwork Boys. Really, it's a single story; it'd just be a bit of a doorstopper as a single volume. I enjoyed it, and added it to the Character You'd Be Friends With bingo category for pretty much every major character but Brenner. That said, the insatiable killing machine they've been asked to stop gave me chills.

Just stopping by to wish you a fun year of book travels. Great theme and especially meaningful right now.

>52 This-n-That: Thanks!



7. Pregnant By the Playboy by Jackie Lau

I took a mental health day from both work and closely following the news. Despite its deliberately trope-y title, this was the best thing I could've possibly read as a distraction.

8. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte

The perfect book to catch up on everything that's changed in dinosaur science since I was a kid reading National Geographic. I'm sure my husband is glad I've finally finished it, because I've been walking around like Janet in the early episodes of The Good Place: "Fun fact! Tyrannosaurus rex used those tiny useless-seeming arms as a clamp to keep his prey from escaping after he pounced!"

>54 susanna.fraser: I need this book in my life! Thanks for mentioning it :)

>54 susanna.fraser: 'I've been walking around like Janet in the early episodes of The Good Place: "Fun fact! ..." '

I too am an adult who has never grown out of this behaviour. :D

I like the sound of the book too.

Haha, I may have to get this, so that I can impress my dino-nerd daughter (she's the Janet in this house. "Did you know, Mummy: random dino fact".).

>55 rabbitprincess: >56 spiralsheep: >57 Jackie_K: I definitely recommend it!



9. Snowspelled

A lovely little novella-length fantasy romance set in an alternate Regency England where the women run the country and the men make the magic.

10. Spellswept by Stephanie Burgis

A short story prequel to Snowspelled, which fleshes out the world building a bit more.



11. Moon of the Crusted Snow - by Waubgeshig Rice

A rather literary post-apocalyptic novel set in a First Nations reserve in Northern Canada. First cell and satellite service disappears at the beginning of winter, then electricity, and no supplies are delivered from the south. We never really learn why. I enjoyed the book, though the ending felt abrupt and the standard genre reader in me would've liked an explanation of what went wrong in the outside world.

>59 susanna.fraser: Two tempting books in one post! There should be a rule against this sort of thing. :-)

>60 spiralsheep: I live to serve up book bullets.



12. Ms. Marvel Team-Up by Eve Ewing

So far this is a long weekend for quick reads for me, and this graphic novel featuring Ms. Marvel sharing adventures first with Spider-Man and then with Captain Marvel hit the relaxing spot.

13. Thornbound by Stephanie Burgis

Continuing with the series. These are just nice confections of stories for a relaxing weekend.

14. Rosewater by Tade Thompson

Near-future science fiction set in Nigeria. It's excellent, though if you like your protagonists traditionally likable and heroic (which I do) you might find it tough going (as I did, though I'm glad I read it).

15. Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel Jose Older

Middle grade fiction with kids riding dinosaurs in the Civil War. It's not really the kind of kids' book with adult crossover appeal IMHO, but I loved the fun concept, and it was a nice palate cleanser.

16. Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley

I had to read Beowulf for AP English some 30+ years ago, and I remember finding it dense and impenetrable. I wish we'd had a translation like this one. The translator's mix of occasional use of extremely modern terms (think "bro" and "hashtag: blessed") with more standard aspects of early English poetry (alliteration, metaphors like "whale road" for the sea) was a bit jarring at times, but it was lively, vivid, and smooth to read.

>65 susanna.fraser: Glad you found a smooth read. In general I like ancient lit, but Beowulf was one I never could get into.

17. Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis

Continuing this series with a short and sweet f/f fantasy romance.

>54 susanna.fraser:
I've added The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World to my wishlist as well. My public library actually has a copy.

18. Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved by Darren Naish & Paul Barrett

Another dinosaur book, on the dry side compared to The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. It's still written for a non-technical audience, but it reads more like a textbook for the kind of class a non-science major might take to meet their life sciences requirement in college.

Incidentally, since there seems to be some interest, both of these dinosaur book recommendations came from The Common Descent Podcast, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in evolution who likes podcasts. The two hosts are genial, smart, and fun, and they have really pleasant speaking voices, which, while not relevant to the quality of the information given makes for an enjoyable listening experience.

19. Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

I'm glad this month's SFFKit theme (sentient things) reminded me this series exists. I'd read the first book several years back and been charmed by it, but somehow never got back to the series.

20. The Riches of This Land by Jim Tankersley

A combination history of the postwar American middle class and diagnosis of what's been going wrong with it for basically all of my 50-year life.

21. Dying With Her Cheer Pants On by Seanan McGuire

Cheerleaders protecting their school and their town from assorted forces of evil. Definitely recommended for anyone who likes Buffy-style fantasy horror.

>70 susanna.fraser: I also discovered the innkeeper series last year, and really enjoyed the quirky characters and the world building.

>63 susanna.fraser: Do you intend to read the rest of the Rosewater trilogy? I enjoyed the first two more than the third, but am glad I read the whole series. Given your predilection for liking your heroes straightforward, I'd understand if you didn't.

>73 markon: I doubt I'll finish the trilogy at this point. I read fiction primarily to relax and unwind, especially in our current pandemic world, and it doesn't quite scratch that itch for me.



22. In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John Marzluff and Tony Angell

Wherein I learn more about the fascinating brainy birds who share Seattle with its human population.

>74 susanna.fraser: Corvids are my favourite family of birbs, because of their antics. Some of the crows around here even seem to have a basic sense of humour, at least at the level of thinking that occasionally dropping harmless things on their favourite humans is mutually amusing (can confirm it amuses me anyway).

>75 spiralsheep: I don't think any of my local crows recognize me yet, since I'm still pretty new to deliberately feeding birds. (Right now crows are the only birds I'm feeding, with peanuts in the shell, because I had to take down my seed feeder temporarily due to a salmonella outbreak caused by an enormous irruption of pine siskins in our area. A crow scientist acquaintance told me I could safely feed crows either cat/dog kibble or peanuts in the shell, since the smaller songbirds don't like the former and can't easily eat the latter.)



23. The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman

Book 7 in an ongoing series. I confess I sometimes struggle to keep up with all the intrigue, plots, and counter-plots from book to book, especially reading them 6 months to a year apart, but I do always enjoy spending time with Irene, Kai, and their friends.

>76 susanna.fraser: Sensible of you to take advice from an expert. I also split feed: food for ground feeding birds in the morning; and dairy-free kitten biscuits for the hedgehogs, badgers, and foxes, at dusk after the crows have roosted.

"I confess I sometimes struggle to keep up with all the intrigue, plots, and counter-plots from book to book, especially reading them 6 months to a year apart"

This is one of the reasons I now only read standalones and completed series. I'm glad you're enjoying the Invisible Library. Maybe they're complex enough for a re-read to be enjoyable sometime in the future.

>77 spiralsheep: They don't quite hit my re-read threshold, unlike, say, the Rivers of London series, which I'll happily re-read, or at least re-skim, just before a new book comes out.



24. Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald

A set of essays about the natural world, mostly but not exclusively focused on birding, and often moving to read.

25. The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan

An extremely fun romance set in 1890's England, and yes, those are Asian characters on the cover. Nineteenth century England had plenty of ethnic diversity, after all, and Milan gives her half-Chinese duke a highly plausible backstory.

26. Shit, Actually by Lindy West

Humorous essays on modern cinema, mostly but not exclusively on how problematic and/or bad it is, though I'm happy to find West shares my appreciation for The Shawshank Redemption.

>80 susanna.fraser: probably my favorite movie of all time!

>76 susanna.fraser: Oooh, I need to get back into that series. I've read only the first one.

My number 80, no idea what this is about/for???~~~!!! Sorry!

>83 Tess_W: I assumed you meant The Shawshank Redemption?

>82 casvelyn: It's fun but oh-so-convoluted.



27. Tremontaine: The Complete Season One by Ellen Kushner et al.

Originally published as a serial, the adventures of a reckless lesbian duellist/spy/trader, a young mathematical genius, a university student, also quite reckless, bent on scientific revolution, and a duchess in financial difficulties, all of whose problems are gradually woven together over the course of thirteen episodic chapters.

>84 susanna.fraser: LOL that was it!

28. Neon Girls: A Stripper's Education in Protest and Power by Jennifer Worley

Memoir by a woman who in the mid-90's through early 2000's worked as a stripper at the San Francisco Lusty Lady to help pay for grad school (she's now a tenured English professor). It's really a fascinating book, at the intersection of feminism, gender issues in general, labor organizing, sex work, etc. I don't think there's any was I would ever have worked as a stripper myself, but I think I would've enjoyed being friends with Jennifer and many of her colleagues.

29. One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

A rom-com story whose plus-size fashion blogger heroine is persuaded to go on a Bachelorette-type reality TV show, which I enjoyed despite my own lack of interest in both fashion and reality TV (except for cooking competitions).

30. The Last Million by David Nasaw

A depressing account of how badly the Western democracies botched their response to the refugee crisis after WWII.

31. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth Holmes

More depressing but IMHO important nonfiction, this one an anthropologist's account of his years traveling and working alongside indigenous Mexican farmworkers from Oaxaca who pick fruit as undocumented migrants in Washington and California.



32. Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

A memoir in graphic novel format describing the author's experiences immigrating from South Korea to America as a teenager in the mid-90's.

33. Every Reason We Shouldn't by Sara Fujimura

YA coming-of-age story with a prominent romantic subplot. A 16-year-old figure skater faces familial, athletic, and social challenges, including a budding romance with a short track speed skater who's just started training at her family's rink.

34. To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek

A deeply trippy, fascinating book about an oddly assorted group of people traveling through England straight into the teeth of the Black Death in 1348 England.

35. The Lady Always Wins by Courtney Milan

This story is somewhere between a long short story and a short novella, but it still feels like a complete and satisfying love story.

>92 susanna.fraser: I remember liking that one. Apparently I gave it 4*. Fortunately I've forgotten the story so I'll be able to read it again too. :D

>93 spiralsheep: Happy re-reading!



36. Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett.

Somehow I didn't like the Discworld books when I first tried one or two decades ago. I don't know what I was thinking. Oh well--gives me more to discover now!

37. Heroine's Journey by Sarah Kuhn

Fun urban fantasy wherein a superheroine's younger sister fights to be able to use her own powers and join the team.

38. One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews

This series is such a fun, deft mix of fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal romance.

39. You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe

A brief biography of George Washington, free of the usual hagiography, though in its brevity I think it's more of an overview or a supplement to biographies like Chernow's than something that would give you a deep understanding of the man and his times on its own.

40. Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

Novella featuring princesses, love, fire elementals, and politics in a world based on pre-colonial Vietnam.

41. Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

Lesser Pratchett, but still fun, and got me the Type of Building in the Title BingoDOG square.

>99 susanna.fraser: That's good thinking for the building in title square.

42. Tales of the Tikongs by Epeli Hau'ofa

I'm not sure I'd exactly say I liked these satirical short stories set on a fictional South Pacific island, but they did hold my interest.

43. Her Gallant Captain at Waterloo by Diane Gaston

With this story of childhood sweethearts turned star-crossed lovers by familial disapproval, reunited on the eve of the great battle, I've now finished my first BingoDOG blackout of the year. Maybe I'll try for one per quarter...

>102 susanna.fraser: Congrats on your Bingo, that is amazing!

>102 susanna.fraser: Congratulations on your bingo!

44. What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

Novella in the Rivers of London series featuring one of my favorite secondary characters (Peter's smart, snarky young cousin Abigail) and my favorite set of magical beings after the Rivers themselves (the talking foxes that seem to have adopted Abigail as their special charge).

45. Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom by Russell Shorto

Sort of a braided biography of six people whose lives were impacted by their experiences living through the American revolution. Good popular history for those interested in the era.

46. Alien Artifacts ed. by Joshua Palmatier & Patricia Bray

Multi-author short story anthology about human encounters with alien technology (rather than the aliens themselves).

>105 susanna.fraser: I'm going to have to get my hands on this ASAP!

>108 rabbitprincess: It's so much fun!



47. Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

I figure I'm going to be gradually working my way through Pratchett's witch books, and likely the rest of Discworld, every time I'm not sure what to read next until I've read them all.

48. The Data Detective by Tim Harford

Simple guidelines to help everyday people interpret statistics and avoid being fooled by deceptively framed data.

49. Gideon the Ninth

So, finally read a book everyone has been talking about for forever. And I'm glad I did, but the ending caught me kinda by surprise and left me debating whether I want to continue with the series.

>109 susanna.fraser: I love Discworld. And my favourite series, the Witches and the Watch, both became better as PTerry went along. I hope you enjoy your read through.

>112 spiralsheep: I started with the Tiffany Aching series, which several friends recommended, so the Witches seemed like the next logical choice.



50. Paladin's Strength by T Kingfisher

What an absolutely lovable book. It has plenty of plot and quite a bit of violence, but so much heart and such a brave, fierce, and loving pair of protagonists.

51. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

In a world of superheroes and supervillains, a young temp working in a supervillain's office gets a hideous injury at the hands of a superhero, and we watch her antihero's origin story.

52. The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews

One of my very rare forays into literary fiction (in order to maintain my streak of reading at least one book per month for the GenreCAT). I wasn't crazy about it, since I found the young protagonist almost unbearably pretentious and self-involved for most of the book, but it held my interest.

53. The Fate of Rome by Kyle Harper

Wherein three pandemics and (natural) climate change are huge contributors to the eventual fall of an empire.

>116 susanna.fraser: Oh, I've got this on the TBR! Thanks for the reminder.

54. Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert

A fun, geeky road trip romance wherein the two college-aged heroes fall in love on a cross country drive to a gaming convention.

55. Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

A look at the nationalistic, authoritarian, and patriarchal tendencies of white evangelical American Christianity, which have been been building for over a century but became overwhelmingly prominent over the last few decades.

>119 susanna.fraser: I've put a hold on this at the library. Australia now has an evangelical prime minister who is showing himself not only to be incapable of supporting women, but to have actively worked against them. Some context will be useful.

The election of Trump showed the rest of the world a different America.

>120 pamelad: It was interesting for me to read because I'm ex-evangelical, and I started my own drift leftward, both politically and theologically, right around the time the evangelical church was taking a hard right turn around the mid-90's. Now I see my high school friends and family members talk about religion and politics and it's almost unrecognizable from the far less angry and militant version of the faith from my own evangelical days. The book helped me see the turning points more clearly.

Trump's election showed me a different America, too, and even though I'm beyond relieved to have Biden's compassion and competence in the White House now, I feel like we're still balanced on a knife's edge and could far too easily fall back into the nightmare in another 4 years.

56. That Can Be Arranged by Huda Fahmy

A sweet, funny memoir in graphic novel form, and a totally different take on traditional religion and gender roles, wherein the author balances initiative, autonomy, and self-respect with tradition and faith as she meets and marries her husband.

Lots to catch up with!

>84 susanna.fraser: I enjoyed Tremontaine when I read it a few years ago for a book group. It's more fantasy and more gritty than my usual preferences, but I thought it was really well done. I also read Ellen Kushner in another SFF anthology and liked that as well, but I haven't gone looking for anything specifically by her. Maybe I should.

>94 susanna.fraser: I had a similar initial "meh" reaction to Terry Pratchett back in the day, but you seem to me sailing through his books!

>119 susanna.fraser: Jesus and John Wayne is also on my list, so I was very interested to see this discussion here.

57. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells

Short story in the Murderbot universe, and the first time we see Murderbot from another character's POV. I wouldn't always count a standalone short story, as opposed to an anthology or a full issue of a fiction magazine, but I've read some fairly dense books this month, and besides, MURDERBOT, who is the best.

>119 susanna.fraser: It sounds like you and I have had similar religious and political journeys (although I'd say I was always a lefty even back in my evangelical days). I've seen this book recommended a few times, and think I'm going to add it to my wishlist.

>125 Jackie_K: I was going to say I think you'll enjoy it, but that's probably not the right term. "Informative and interesting" is probably a better fit than "enjoyable."



58. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

This is such a lovely novel, quiet, character-driven, and introspective. I'm sorry to hear this is the last planned book in the Wayfarers series, but I look forward to whatever Chambers writes next.

59. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

A quite compelling and well-executed start to an epic fantasy series set in a world based on pre-Columbian American cultures.

60. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

Continuing my witch-centric Pratchett read.

61. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

New Murderbot is always a good thing, and this is a delightful story, though I wish I'd known going in that this story is a novella rather than a novel and falls before last year's full-length novel, Network Effect in the series chronology.

62. The Anarchy by William Dalrymple

A very good and informative history of 18th century India and how the British East India Company staged a hostile takeover of the Mughal Empire.

63. The Women in Black by Madeleine St John

I had no idea what to expect from this book, but it turned out to be a lovely, relaxing read about several women working in a department store during the Christmas rush in 1950's Sydney.

64. Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard

An intricate novella that manages to combine science fiction, mystery, romance, and a touch of heist. (And happens to have a gorgeous cover.)

>131 susanna.fraser: So glad you enjoyed The Women in Black! I also found it lovely and relaxing.

>132 susanna.fraser: I really don't need to add more books to my TBR, but I don't think I can resist a combination of "science fiction, mystery, romance, and a touch of heist"!

65. Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield

Time travel novella, with I think the most twisty and convoluted a timeline I've yet encountered. It took a few chapters to hook me, but left me intrigued enough that I've already put book 2 on hold at my library.

66. Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith by Sarah Bessey

Memoir of an evangelical whose faith has gotten more complicated. I can relate, though her journey and approach are a lot different than mine in some ways--she started charismatic/Pentecostal and is still more or less part of that community, while my personal journey from Southern Baptist to Episcopalian has pretty much touched on just about every major American Protestant tradition BUT that one. (OK, and Lutheranism. I've never been a Lutheran. But Baptist-Methodist-Presbyterian-Episcopalian covers a fair amount of ground.)

67. The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold

New Bujold, which I'm always going to read the instant I find out about it. This one is novel-length and ties up quite a few loose ends from Penric and Desdemona's prior adventures in Cedonia.

68. Angel of the Overpass by Seanan McGuire

Third in the Ghost Roads series (which is closely linked to the InCryptid series).

69. Ghost-Spider Vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over by Seanan McGuire

It doesn't quite hit my Squirrel Girl sweet spot, but this was good Marvel fun.

70. Alice Payne Rides by Kate Heartfield

The sequel to >134 susanna.fraser:

71. Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore

A moody, evocative, and queer riff on The Red Shoes.

72. Temporally Out of Order ed. by Joshua Palmatier & Patricia Bray

Short story anthology featuring temporal glitches involving objects ranging from ATMs to church bells to parking garages.

73. How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole

A fun, over-the-top f/f romcom featuring a heroine who might be the long-lost princess of a small island kingdom but really hopes she isn't, paired with a bodyguard who longs to restore her family's honor by finding the missing princess.

74. Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend

A history of the Mexica people (better known to European history as the Aztecs) from their rise to power through the first century or so of Spanish rule, told largely through their own voices in the form of chronicles in the Nahuatl language written in the 16th and 17th centuries. As expected, the version of this history I learned about in school (very briefly) was extremely incomplete and European-skewed.

75. Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire

Catching up with the InCryptid series in what's turned into a McGuire-heavy reading month.

76. Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire

And since the prior book ended on a cliffhanger, I just kept going.

77. The Thunder Before the Storm by Clyde Bellecourt

Stories of a life of activism by a founder of the American Indian Movement.



78. Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight

A forty-year-old writing guide, dated in spots, but not OUTdated. I'm planning to actually use many of the exercises.

79. Ghost-Spider Vol. 2: Party People by Seanan McGuire

I needed a fun graphic novel for a break between all of the relatively heavy nonfiction I'm currently reading.

80. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

It took awhile to get into this one, but I ended up sufficiently charmed that I'll probably continue with the series.

81. Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

Wow, this is a slow reading month...but Pratchett is wonderful as always.

82. The Hellion's Waltz by Olivia Waite

F/F historical romance, third in the author's series with a well-researched focus on women's crafts and professions in the 19th century (one heroine is a weaver, the other a musician and piano tuner).

83. Writing the Other: A Practical Approach by Cynthia Ward and Nisi Shawl

A brief and practical writing guide, full of exercises.

84. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

What a depressing book. There was a little note of hope in the very end, with a partial recovery of some native fish species...but what a depressing book.

85. The Wars of Napoleon by Albert Sidney Britt III

Sort of a high-level overview of Napoleon's military career. It's occasionally nice to get such a big-picture view--I know a ton about the British army in Spain under Wellington, and a fair amount about Napoleon's invasion of Russia, but I'm not sure I'd ever realized that part of the reason Napoleon pushed on in Russia when wisdom would've dictated pulling back and trying again in 1813 is he'd just gotten news of the British victories in Spain in the summer of 1812 and wanted his own big victory to counterbalance them.

86. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

Discworld does Phantom of the Opera.

87. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

A good book, but something about the narrative style was a bit distancing, as if I was being told a story rather than invited in to inhabit one.

88. Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta

A worthwhile book about reducing the risk of and/or mitigating the effects of dementia. It gave me many useful tips and tricks, though it also, probably unavoidably, triggered my medical anxiety to some degree.

89. Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

The sequel to Dread Nation, all about a fire-forged friendship where the fire is a zombie apocalypse in the aftermath of the Civil War.

90. A Summer For Scandal by Lydia San Andres

Historical romance set in the early 20th century on a fictional Caribbean island, and a leisurely, low-stakes kind of story--which is a good thing. It was a nice change of pace from the violence and action in my prior read.

Just catching up on your thread!:)

>159 VictoriaPL: ::waving hello::



91. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Weir does such a good job infusing very technical, hard-science heavy SF with human, emotional stakes.

92. Ms. Marvel: Outlawed by Saladin Ahmed

Just catching up on one of my superheroes.

93. Death in Daylesford by Kerry Greenwood

Somehow I'd missed the fact a new Phryne Fisher novel came out at the beginning of June, but when I learned about it today, I bought it and read it, of course.

94. Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres by Ruth Brandon

A look at the lives of several governesses of the 18th and 19th centuries, some famous (Mary Wollstonecraft, Claire Clairmont, Anna Leonowens), others unknown.

95. The Professor Next Door by Jackie Lau

A short, sexy contemporary rom-com for a summer afternoon.

96. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

YA urban fantasy about a Latinx trans boy seeking to prove to his family that he has the brujo powers to summon the dead that run in the male side of his family, in time for Dia de Muertos.

>165 susanna.fraser: Did you enjoy it? I just read Thomas' more recent work, and adored it, so I've been thinking about picking this one up...

>166 whitewavedarling: I did! It was well-paced and deeply tied to its cultural roots. Also, I'm the mother of a 17-year-old trans boy, so it was nice to get a fictional perspective of a character like him.

>167 susanna.fraser: Glad to hear you enjoyed Cemetary Boys. It's on my TBR list, as I'm reading from the Hugo and Lodestar award nominees.

97. How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith

Gorgeously written, moving, and important account of how contemporary Americans of all races wrestle with the history and legacy of slavery.

98. The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman

Doubtless the shortest book I'll read all year--it is literally JUST the inaugural poem accompanied by an intro by Oprah Winfrey--picked up on a whim from my library's Peak Picks table, but it was good to revisit the poem and spend a little time sitting with its imagery and ideas.

99. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis

Something of a first draft of pandemic history, through the eyes of a small group of scientists and medical professionals with particular insight into what was going on.

100. Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer

I hit triple digits for 2021 with a series of essays on mosses, in equal parts scientific and spiritual.

>172 susanna.fraser: Congratulations on the triple digits, and what a book to do it with! This one is on my wishlist; I very much enjoyed her Braiding Sweetgrass earlier this year.

>173 Jackie_K: She really writes so beautifully and thoughtfully.



101. Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

Steampunk fantasy about a rather cowardly and apolitical artist who becomes involved in a resistance movement when he's blackmailed into working with an occupying nation's mechanical dragon.



102. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

A lovely, meditative novella that by serendipity happened to match up with many of themes of Gathering Moss

103. Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

Fun, trope-filled, and culturally specific rom-com (the culture in question being Canadian-Tanzanian-Indian).

104. The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World by Patrick Wyman

Excellent popular history of the transition from medieval to early modern Europe by one of my favorite history podcasters.

105. The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef

An interesting, if rather Ted-Talky, book on the importance of avoiding self-deception and how to grow better at it.

Just back from a week's vacation, wherein I read the following books:



106. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Such an amazing, rich fantasy alternate history set in 14th century China (I think I've got the right century there).



107. The Wife in the Attic by Rose Lerner

F/f gothic romance that isn't so much a Jane Eyre retelling as a dialogue with it.



108. Real Queer America by Samantha Allen

I would've enjoyed this memoir/travelogue of happy, resilient LGBT life in conservative parts of America a lot more if her digs at your traditional progressive enclaves like NYC, San Francisco, and my own Seattle hadn't felt so truly vicious and venomous to me.



109. Intercepted by Alexa Martin

An utter romp of a romcom set in the world of NFL football, and a perfect read for the parts of our 8-hour drive from Kalispell back to Seattle today when I wasn't the one driving.

Looks like you had a good vacation reading-wise!

>178 susanna.fraser: I am in the hold list at the library for She Who Became The Sun - cannot wait!

110. The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson

A little bit like Robin Wall Kimmerer's work in being kind of a blend of memoir, essay, and natural history, though it didn't engage me quite as much--I found myself wishing for the straight-up natural history of eels I was expecting it to be.

111. Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

I've had this on my Kindle for ages, and I'm glad I finally made time to read it (being convinced, as I am, that Grant is hugely underrated amid all the adulation directed at Robert E. Lee). Though I have to confess to skimming a lot of the minute details of which brigadier generals were sent where and why during the various campaigns.



112. Sparrow Envy by J. Drew Lanham

Really lovely poems and short essays on birding, nature, and life.

113. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat

I think this cook's guide/cookbook is actually going to break me out of a months-long kitchen burnout that's led to ordering delivery for dinner way, way too often.

>182 susanna.fraser: I might take a look at Sparrow Envy. I read his memoir last year (The Home Place) and really enjoyed it.

>184 Jackie_K: It's short and quite lovely.

114. Work: A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots by James Suzman

A timely read for Labor Day weekend, and a reminder that agriculture and urbanization are mixed blessings.

115. The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

A rather gory, evocative fantasy novel recognizably based on medieval Eastern Europe.

116. The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert

A sweet, straightforward YA romance set on Election Day--the meet-cute is they're 18-year-olds voting for the first time, and as she's walking out she discovers he's not on the list of registered voters at their precinct and is determined to make sure his voice is heard.

117. Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 by John Ferling

Source of a week-long Hamilton earworm, affirmed my conviction that the Electoral College was always a bad idea.

118. Vessel by Lisa A. Nichols

Near-future science fiction, wherein the lone survivor of a six-person NASA crew comes home with large gaps in her memory...

119. Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke

A graphic nonfiction book, moving and sad.

120. Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses

A writing craft book focusing heavily on workshopping from an intersectional perspective that's a bit more flexible and kinder to diverse perspectives than the standard 20th century literary fiction workshop.

121. Walk in Love: Episcopal Belief and Practices by Scott Gunn & Melody Wilson Shobe

What it says on the tin, with a heavy emphasis on the Book of Common Prayer...which in many ways is what drew me to the Episcopal Church in the first place.

122. The Chai Factor by Farah Heron

Romcom, albeit an angsty and melodramatic one in spots.

123. Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan

Biography by the popular podcaster--conversational, informative, and occasionally hilarious, just like Duncan's podcasts.

124. The Bees by Laline Paull

Weird, fascinating literary fantasy about bees, specifically a bee with a dangerous tendency to go rogue.

125. Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound by David B. Williams

Wherein I learn more about the abundant marine life of my adopted home region and the many ways we settlers/colonizers have disrupted it.

126. Bidding for the Bachelor by Jackie Lau

The latest release by my current favorite contemporary romance author.

127. The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay by Hooman Majd

Memoir of an Iranian-American journalist who spends a year in Tehran with his wife and young son in 2011. I think it would've been more interesting with more daily life and less politics. (The author is a relative of former president Khatami and so is well up on that side of the country.)

128. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

I've been listening to the author's new podcast on this subject and decided to give the book a listen as well. By focusing on the victims rather than the killer, this book sheds an unrelenting light on the limited choices available to working class women in the 19th century, and how easy it was to fall into dire poverty and homelessness as soon as life began to go wrong. It also made me reflect on how little has changed in some ways, since 21st century Seattle resembles 19th century London more than I think any of us want to admit in that regard.

129. Paladin's Hope by T Kingfisher

A lovely conclusion to the Saint of Steel trilogy.

130. Taproot by Keezy Young

Two books in a row now where the best description seems to be "lovely." In this case, a sweet queer paranormal romance.

131. The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

So good! I think I like this series even better than the Temeraire books.

132. The Cruelty is the Point by Adam Serwer

I don't read many political books lately--that's what podcasts are for--but I'm glad I took the time for this one that looks at Trumpism in the broader context of American history and politics.

>203 susanna.fraser: Reading it now and liking it a lot! Slightly worried that it will end on a cliffhanger and I'll have to wait at least a year for book 3.

>205 christina_reads: I'd call it a partial cliffhanger. There's clearly going to be a book 3.

133. Knot of Shadows by Lois McMaster Bujold

It's Bujold. It's Penric & Desdemona. I found out it existed around 7 PM last night and had finished reading it by 10:30 or so, though I'm sure I will go back and savor it in the future.

134. Ghost Days: An Anna O'Brien Collection by Asher Elbein

An appropriately creepy for Halloween collection of horror-fantasy tales about an Appalachian witch at the turn of the 19th century.

>197 susanna.fraser: I like the sound of this one, have added it to my wishlist.

>209 Jackie_K: I found it very informative, especially since I moved to the NW as an adult and therefore never learned the local history in school.



135. Guest House for Young Widows by Azadeh Moaveni

This was appalling and heartbreaking, and I couldn't put it down. I kept hoping against hope the Bethnal Green girls would somehow escape and make it home, but...no.

136. Never Say You Can't Survive by Charlie Jane Anders

Useful writing advice, especially for when you're living in a bleak timeline.

137. Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau

A delightful romcom by my go-to author for such things.

138. Consolation Songs ed. by Iona Datt Sharma

An anthology of optimistic SFF short stories assembled to raise money for covid relief. As is typical with multi-author anthologies, they varied in tone and style, but overall this was an enjoyable read.

139. Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray

A m/m Beauty & the Beast retelling, novella-length, set in 1940 England.

140. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through ed. by Joy Harjo

Poetry is never going to be my go-to genre of literature, but I'm glad I read this anthology of work by Native American poets across regions and centuries.

141. The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

Someone recommended this book at a writers conference I attended last month, and I found it useful despite the sometimes annoying perky self-help tone. The Tendencies of the title are related to how you respond to expectations--if you readily meet both internal and external expectations, you're an Upholder; if you meet external ones only, you're an Obliger; if internal ones only, you're a questioner; and if you resist all expectations, you're a Rebel. By this scheme, I'm an Obliger, even though I don't think of myself as selfless, a pushover, or anything of the kind, because I do consider it a matter of good character to honor any obligations I have to anyone else, but I find it harder to stick to truly personal goals. (The way around this problem, which I'd already partially stumbled into, is to find ways to add an element of external obligation to personal goals.)

142. Clarkesworld Issue 172 ed. by Neil Clarke

I've decided to count fiction magazines toward my total books read because they're functionally short story anthologies.

143. Reading Evangelicals by Daniel Silliman

I checked this book out after hearing the author interviewed on one of my podcasts. It's a rather academic look at the American evangelical religion and subculture through the lens of five bestselling Christian novels of the last several decades: Love Comes Softly, This Present Darkness, Left Behind, The Shunning, and The Shack. It's a marker of my age and when I began drifting from evangelicalism toward mainline/progressive Christianity that I've read the first two on the list but not the more recent three, though I'm familiar with the dialogue around all of them.

144. Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans

Reading this book made me mourn the author's untimely death (in 2019, age 37) all over again, just thinking of all the books she could have written if she'd had more time.

145. Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman

A detailed, intense history of effective activism at the height of the AIDS epidemic in New York City. It's a dense read, and probably not a good first introduction to the subject, but offers some applicable lessons for present-day activism.

146. On Animals by Susan Orlean

Just a nice collection of essays, often humorous, on various domestic and semi-domestic animals.

147. Secret Seattle by Susanna Ryan

A book that showed me how much I still have to learn about the city I've called home for over two decades now.

148. Rivers of London, Vol. 9: Monday, Monday by Ben Aaronovitch

The Rivers of London graphic novels aren't as satisfying as the regular series, but I'll take my magic cops, river goddesses, and talking foxes where I can get them.

149. Wild Nights: How Taming Sleep Created Our Restless World by Benjamin Reiss

Science and history with a touch of literary reflection on how the expectations around sleep have changed in recent centuries.

150. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Not my usual type of book, but a lot of fun. Think Crazy Rich Asians meets Weekend at Bernie's.

151. Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz

A fascinating look at the archeology of Catalhoyuk, Pompeii, Angkor, and Cahokia, with a focus on how the end of a city doesn't mean the end of its people and culture.

152. Galactic Stew ed. by David B. Coe & Joshua Palmatier

A food-themed SFF short story anthology.

153. The Guncle by Steven Rowley

A very funny, very sad book about grief, loss, and learning to move forward, if not on.

154. Meet Me in Mayfair by Tessa Dare

This is an anthology of four Christmas novellas, but only the first in the collection, the one by Tessa Dare, really worked for me.

155. Beyond the Blue Horizon by Brian Fagan

A look at early seafarers around the world, from Stone Age people colonizing Australia and southeast Asian islands right up to the Vikings. Interesting and informative, but in terms of my personal tastes it had more about shipbuilding technology and less about people than I'd hoped.

156. I Should Be Writing by Mur Lafferty

One of my Christmas presents. Not so much writing advice as writing encouragement--sort of a pep talk.

157. Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders

Gloriously over-the-top YA space opera.

158. Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman

Deeply personal feminist essays through the lens of the monsters of Greek mythology.

And that's the last of my 2021 reading--not that I won't get any reading done tomorrow, but I'll be continuing one book and starting another that are too long to finish in a single day. If you're interested in following my further reading adventures, my 2022 thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/336577#n7693091