2016 sure wasn’t good for much, but apparently it made me want to hide my face in a book even more than usual because I read 143 books this year. My favorite, and the one that I wish everyone in America would read, is Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. The heartbreaking and enraging light it sheds on poverty in America is even more important as we head into a Donald Trump administration, where the vulnerable are going to be increasingly at risk. So, please go read it if you haven’t yet!
Here are some more of my favorites, in no particular order:
Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote- I just think the world would be a kinder and more forgiving place if everyone read some Ivan Coyote, and this is my favorite of theirs so far.
Childhood: The Biography of a Place by Harry Crews
The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters
Half Wild: Stories by Robin MacArthur
Honorable mentions: Another Place You’ve Never Been by Rebecca Kauffman, Whatever Happened to Interracial Love by Kathleen Collins, How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball, Shrill by Lindy West, Ghost Songs by Regina McBride, Heat & Light by Jennifer Haigh, Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner.
Books I hated that everyone else seemed to love: Uprooted by Naomi Novik (which just seemed like a new version of Twilight to me, lame main character and creepy relationship dynamics) and When Breath Becomes Air (pretentious, felt overly academic and fake to me).
Rogue Readers' Advisory 