Themis-Athena's Garden of Books

[World map created with Mapchart.net]

 

The aim: To diversify my reading and read as many books as possible (not necessarily 80) set in, and by authors from, countries all over the world.  Female authors preferred.  If a book is set in a location other than that of the author's nationality, it can apply to either (but not both).

 

On the map I'm only tracking new reads, not also rereads.

 

This is a project continued from 2019.  2020 reads for a country already covered in 2019 will override the 2019 reads.  (2019 books listed below the page break.)

 

The Books:

Africa

 

 

 

 

 

Americas

USA

Martha Wells: All Systems Red (new)

Sarah-Jane Stratford: Radio Girls (new)

Various Authors, Lee Child (ed.): Mystery Writers of America Presents: Vengeance (new)

Tamora Pierce: Alanna: The First Adventure and In the Hands of the Goddess (both new)

 

Antigua

Jamaica Kincaid: A Small Place (new)

 

 

 

 

 

Asia

 

 

 

 

 

Australia / Oceania

 

 

 

 

 

Europe

United Kingdom

Gladys Mitchell: Death Comes at Christmas (aka Dead Men's Morris) (new)

Agatha Christie: 12 Radio Mysteries (revisited on audio)

E.M. Delafield: The Diary of a Provincial Lady (new)

Dorothy Dunnett: The Game of Kings (new)

David Ashton: McLevy, Series 1 & 2 (new)

Elizabeth George: I, Richard (revisited on audio)

 

Iceland

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir: The Legacy (new)

 

 

 

 

The "Gender Wars" Stats:

Read in 2020, to date:

Books by female authors: 11

- new: 9

- rereads: 2

 

Books by male authors: 1

- new: 1

- rereads:

 

Books by F & M mixed teams / anthologies: 1

- new: 1

- rereads:

 

 

 

The Reading Lists:

AFRICA: 

http://booklikes.com/apps/reading-lists/974/africa

 

LATIN / SOUTH AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN: 

http://booklikes.com/apps/reading-lists/975/latin-south-america-and-caribbean

 

EAST / SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA: 

http://booklikes.com/apps/reading-lists/981/east-southeast-asia-and-oceania

 

MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA: 

http://booklikes.com/apps/reading-lists/977/middle-east-and-central-asia

 

EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE: 

http://booklikes.com/apps/reading-lists/978/eastern-and-central-europe

 

WOMEN WRITERS (global list):

http://themisathena.booklikes.com/post/1618777/women-writers-reading-list

 

 

Richard Armitage reading this bedtime story about a witch in winter. He did a good job telling this story. 

 

Richard Armitage read The Trouble at the Dinosaur Cafe. Lovely read.  

 

The dinosaurs are having a good time at the cafe but the bully Rex comes in. Luckily, Rex is defeated with tickles. 

A few years ago, Olga Godim came up with a fun "reading year in review" version in the form of a self-interview, where the only answers permitted were book titles.  I instantly decided to copy it and add a few more categories of my own.  While I didn't have time to do this again in the more recent past, as my last "2019 in review" posts, I decided to undust it -- with yet more additions of my own --, along with another, similar questionnaire, the Bookish Academy Awards (posted separately).

 

(Note: For the more seriously-minded, my "real" "best new(-to-me) books of 2019" post -- with links to my reviews / reading status updates, where in existence -- is HERE.)

 

 

In 2019, what was / were your ...

 

Most Memorably Good Encounters?

Hard to beat -- every single year anew.

 

 

Most Horrific Encounters?

 

 

Nicest Relations Met?

 

 

Most Awful Relations Met?

The husband from hell.

 

 

Worst Person Met (overall)?

Hard to think of anybody worse than a serial killer (both in real life and in fiction).

 

 

Best Vacation Spots?

Seriously, the locations were the best things about all of these books.  Though the mystery in Death in Kashmir was at least decent as well (and I'd advise you to give the audio version the widest berth you're capable of).

 

 

Most Exciting Adventures?

Well, duh. :)

 

 

Best Guided Tours?

 

 

Favorite Place to Visit?

 

 

Least Favorite Place?

I know I'm breaking the rules here because the answer isn't in the book names as such, but honestly, can you think of a worse place to be trapped in than a theocratic autocracy?

 

 

Most Embarrassing Memory?

Tie between the chance encounter of an alcoholic psychopath and his future victim on the one hand and the discovery of a murder victim inside his own locked deed box at his lawyer's office on the other hand ...

 

 

Most Heartbreaking Memory?

This book will slay you -- hide and hair.

 

 

Best Weather?

 

 

Worst Weather?

Tie between two extremes -- the rain-, snow- and-wind-chased Shetlands and tropical, hot and humid Colombia.

 

 

Scariest Event?

 

 

Funniest Moment?

Pure slapstick.

 

 

Saddest Moment?

 

 

Best Food?

 

Chocolate, Butter in a Lordly Dish, and two versions of Christmas Pudding?  I'll take it ...

 

 

Worst Food?

 

 

Overstatement of the Year?

Hey, it's the apocalypse ... we'll be having So. Much. Fun!!!

 

 

Understatement of the Year?

 

 

Best Animal Encounters?

 

 

Scariest Animal Encounters?

 

 

 

Most Precious Acquisitions?

 

 

 

Favorite Garments?

 

 

Prettiest Flowers?

 

 

Favorite Visual Arts?

 

 

Favorite Music?

 

 

Best Parties?

If I had reread Gaudy Night this year, it of course would have been included as well.  As it is ...

 

 

Poshest Homes Visited?

 

 

Coziest Homes Visited?

 

 

Worst Homes Visited?

 

 

Most Puzzling Questions?

The Bookish Academy Awards / Book Oscars is a questionnaire I found a couple of years ago on the Blogger blog of Ashley / Read all the things and decided to steal it for my then-recent and all-time favorites.  Most of my "all-time" answers are still true; however, here's an edition specifically for my 2019 reading (wherein "nonfiction" will not be limited to the specific "Best Documentary" equivalent category -- so expect, for example, my favorite / most respected "real life" people to show up amongst the "best protagonist" listings).

 

(Note: For the more seriously-minded, my "best new(-to-me) books of 2019" post -- with links to my reviews / reading status updates, where in existence -- is HERE.)

 

 

Best Director(s)
(This Year's Favorite Writers):

Three-way tie between Aminatta Forna, Toni Morrison, and Margaret Atwood.

 

 

Best Actress
(Best Female Protagonist):

Favorite New Encounters:
The (unnamed) goddess / narrator of Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower
Gertrude Bell (Writings: A Woman in Arabia)
Michelle Obama (Becoming)
Mildred Lathbury (Barbary Pym: Excellent Women)
Loveday Brooke (Catherine Louisa Pirkis: The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective)

 

Favorite Repeat Encounters:
Granny Weatherwax (and Nanny Ogg & Magrat Garlick) (Terry Pratchett: Wyrd Sisters)
Miss Marple (Agatha Christie)
Miss Silver (Patricia Wentworth)

 

Honorary Mention:
Harriet Vane (Dorothy L. Sayers: Strong Poison / Have His Caracase / Gaudy Night / Busman's Honeymoon)
Can't officially include her because I didn't reread any of the Wimsey books featuring her in 2019, but hey, there is just no way she cannot be part of this list.

 

 

Best Actor
(Best Male Protagonist):

 

New Encounters with Long-Time Favorites:
Kofi Annan (Interventions: A Life in War and Peace)
Matthew Shardlake (C.J. Sansom: Tombland)

 

Favorite Repeat Encounters:
Hogfather (aka DEATH) (Terry Pratchett: Hogfather)
Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle)
Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers)
Hercule Poirot (Agatha Chistie)
Roderick Alleyn (Ngaio Marsh)
Brother Cadfael (Ellis Peters)

 

 

Best Supporting Actress
(Best Female Sidekick or Supporting Character):

Three-way tie between Ariadne Oliver (Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot series), Josephine Leonides (the self-appointed kid sleuth in Agatha Christie's Crooked House) and the wife of Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Alleyn, painter Agatha Troy.  (All repeat encounters.)

 

 

Best Supporting Actor
(Best Male Sidekick or Supporting Character):

 

Favorite New Encounter:
You Bastard, the mathematical genius in camel clothes (Terry Pratchett: Pyramids)

 

Favorite Repeat Encounters:

Dr. John Watson (Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes series)
Captain Arthur Hastings (Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot series)
(=> The two original / quintessential sidekicks)
Mervyn Bunter (Dorothy L. Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey series)
Jack Barak and Guy Malton (C.J. Sansom: Matthew Shardlake series)
From the Unseen University of Terry Pratchett's Discworld: Hex and the Librarian

 

 

Best Ensemble Cast:

I know this isn't actually an Academy Awards category (only Golden Globes), but I've long felt it should be one -- and there are some books to which the same thought applies as well.

Three-way tie between Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, and Terry Pratchett / Neil Gaiman's Good Omens.

 

 

Best Original Screenplay
(Most Unique Plot or World Building):

Two-way tie between Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower -- far and away the most innovative world-building I've come across in a long time -- and, of course ... Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

 

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

In the original version of this questionnaire, "Best Adapted Screenplay" translates into "Best Book-to-Movie Adaptation".  However, I think in the book world (especially that of recent years) there is another translation which fits the purpose just as well; namely, "Best Pastiche / Series Continuation."  So I decided to go with both of them:

 

1 - Best Book-to-Movie Adaptation:

(Note: To correspond with all the other categories, this only takes into account the cases where I read the book AND also revisited the movie in 2019.  Which, as it turns out, boils down to not a whole lot more than my yearly Christmas favorites ...)

 

Non-Christmas story:
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None (2015 BBC adaptation)

 

Christmas stories:
Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1995, ITV David Suchet Poirot series)
Agatha Christie: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (aka The Theft of the Royal Ruby) (1994, ITV David Suchet Poirot series)
Arthur Conan Doyle: The Blue Carbuncle (1987, Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series)
Dorothy L. Sayers: The Nine Tailors (1974, BBC Ian Carmichael Lord Peter Wimsey series)
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol (1999 TNT adaptation starring Patrick Stewart)
Frances Hodgson Burnett: Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980 adaptation starring Ricky Schroder and Alec Guinness) (note: no specific Christmas connotations in the book)

 

2 - Best Pastiche:

Ben Schott: Jeeves and the King of Clubs
Perfect pitch -- no contest.

 

 

Best Cinematography
(Best Plot Twist):

Dame Agatha still taks the cake when it comes to original plot twists (even upon the umpteenth reread), but I think Joy Ellis has recently given her a fair run for her money -- even if the final twists in none of her books that I read in 2019 caught me quite as "from left field" as did my first ever Ellis book, Their Lost Daughters, which I read in late 2018.

 

 

Best Makeup
(Best Book Cover):

Book's Contents Lives up to the Cover's Promise:
Ann Leckie: The Raven Tower
Diarmaid MacCulloch: Thomas Cromwell: A Life

 

Cover Promises More Than the Contents Delivers:
Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Gods of Jade and Shadow
Elif Shafak: Three Daughters of Eve
Lorna Nicholl Morgan: Another Little Murder

 

Best Series Covers:

Discworld "black background" hardback and audiobook covers

Brltish Library Crime Classics series

 

 

Best Costume Design
(Best Historical or Contemporary Setting):

Contemporary:
Ann Cleeves: Raven Black and White Nights (Shetland series)
Peter May: The Lewis Man
Ian Rankin: In a House of Lies
(What can I say ... I just love Scotland -- and books set there!)

Xinran: The Good Women of China

 

Historical:
Toni Morrison: Beloved
Delia Owens: Where the Crawdads Sing
Diarmaid MacCulloch: Thomas Cromwell
Tom Reiss: The Black Count
C.j. Sansom: Tombland
Ellis Peters. Brother Cadfael series

 

 

Best Animated Feature
(A book that would work well in animated format):

 

Two-way tie between Ladyhawke (Joan D. Vinge's novelization of the movie starring Rutger Hauer, Matthew Broderick and Michelle Pfeiffer) and, you guessed it ... Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

 

 

Best Visual Effects
(Best Action in a Book):

Hyeongseo Lee: The Girl With the Seven Names
Seriously, with a real life story like this, who even needs thrillers anymore?

 

 

Best Original Score

Originally, "Best Original Score" translated only into "Best Book-to-Movie Adaptation".  But I think this is another case where an Oscar category is capable of two equally valid different interpretations in the book world, and again I decided to go with both of them:

1 - Best Book / Series Incorporating Music as an Important Element:

Peter Grainger: An Accidental Death

 

2 - Best Audio Version:

Aminatta Forna: The Memory of Love
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's narration: Major goosebumps material.

 

 

Best Short Film
(Best Novella or Short Story):

Arthur Conan Doyle: Danger!

 

 

Best Documentary
(Best Non-Fiction):

Four-way tie between Diarmaid MacCulloch's Thomas Cromwell, Xinran's The Good Women of China, Tom Reiss's The Black Count, and Michelle Obama's Becoming.  Four outstanding books that are as engaging as they are informative.

 

 

Honorary / Lifetime Achievement Award
(Overall Favorite Body of Work):

 

 



 

New Encounters with Long-Time Favorites:
Elizabeth Gaskell: My Lady Ludlow
J.K. Rowling: The Casual Vacancy
Ian Rankin: In a House of Lies
C.J. Sansom: Tombland

 

Favorite Repeat Encounters:
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility
Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time
Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes series, stand-alone story Danger!
Dorothy L. Sayers: Whose Body?, Five Red Herrings, The Nine Tailors
Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy & Tuppence, and Quin & Satterthwaite series, And Then There Were None, Crooked House, Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, and various short stories
Ngaio Marsh: Roderick Alleyn series
Patricia Wentworth: Miss Silver series
Ellis Peters: Brother Cadfael series
Terry Pratchett: Discworld series and Good Omens (co-written with Neil Gaiman)

 

 

I originally compiled this list for the 2018 Women Writers Bingo, but decided to undust it and continue using it for this year's "Around the World in 80 Books Mostly by Female Authors."

 

Basically this is an extract from my bookshelves (both TBR and read -- "read" where I've already read other books by the same author and am interested in further exploring her work). Further authors are added on an ongoing basis as they come to my notice.  This ought to keep me busy for the next couple of years, I think ...

 

(Note: I'm tracking the precise reading year from 2018 onwards, and only authors read from 2018 onwards are crossed out / checked off.  Rereads count as "read" in the year of the reread for purposes of this list.  Authors who write under several pen names are added to the list under all names, with a note as to their alias(es).)

 

A

• Marguerite Abouet
  Iris Abraham
  Gabriela Adameșteanu
  Alice Adams
• Sandra Adell
  
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 2018, 2019
• Renee Ahdieh - 2019
  
• Mouna-Hodan Ahmed
  Deborah S. Akers
  
• Leila al-Atrash
  Nujoom Al-Ghanem
  Mayy Al Khalifa
  
• Madeleine Albright
• Louisa May Alcott - prior to 2018
• Tasha Alexander
• Svetlana Alexievich
  
• Jokha Alharthi
  Samina Ali
  
• Isabel Allende - prior to 2018
• Lauren K. Alleyne
• Margery Allingham - 2018 and prior, 2019
  
• Rajaa Alsanea
• Mia Alvar
• Julia Alvarez - 2019
• Vicky Alvear Shecter
• Anita Amirrezvani
• Tahmima Anam
• Jessica Anderson
• Ingrid Andreas
• Neshani Andreas
  
• Donna Andrews - 2018 and prior, 2019
  
• Mary Kay Andrews
• Li Ang
  
• Andrea Angeli
  
• Maya Angelou
• Nathacha Appanah
  Monica Arac de Nyeko
  Jean Arasanayagam
• Hannah Arendt - prior to 2018
• Elizabeth von Arnim - 2018 and prior
• Emily Arnold McCully
• Maureen Ash
• Frances Ashcroft
• Mary Astell
• Thea Astley
• Diana Athill
• Kate Atkinson
• Margaret Atwood - 2018 and prior, 2019
  
• Phoebe Atwood Taylor
• Jane Austen - prior to 2018, 2019
  
• Fatma Aydemir

 

 

B

• Natalie Babbitt
  
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Beryl Bainbridge - prior to 2018
• Doreen Baingana
• Milka Bajić-Poderegin
• Sarah Bakewell - 2019
• Asja Bakic
• Pamela Ball
• Sandra Balzo
• Ellen Banda-Aaku
• Chitra Banerjee Divakarumi - 2019
• Banine - 2019
• Muriel Barbery
• Pat Barker
• Djuna Barnes
• Linda Barnes
• Nevada Barr - 2019
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning - prior to 2018
• Violet Barungi
  Bani Basu
  Natalie Baszile
• Vicki Baum
• Mary Beard
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Alison Bechdel
• Zdenka Becker
• Ilene Beckerman
  Lillian Beckwith
• Harriet Beecher Stowe - prior to 2018
• Aphra Behn
• Lauren Belfer
• Gertrude Bell - 2019
• Josephine Bell
• Gioconda Belli - prior to 2018
• Marie Belloc Lowndes
• Carol Lea Benjamin
• Margot Bennet
• Isabelle Berrubey
• Barbara Beuys - prior to 2018
• Calixthe Beyala
• Piyali Bhattacharya
  Benazir Bhutto
  
• Ruth Binney
• Elizabeth Bishop
• Holly Black
• Julia Blackburn
• Victoria Blake
• Moonyeen Blakey
• Lesley Blanch
  Sophie Blanchy
  Nina Blazon - 2019
  Karen (Tania) Blixen (Isak Dinesen) - prior to 2018
  Judy Blume
• Enid Blyton - prior to 2018
• Tracy Borman
• Phyllis Bottome - 2018
• Nora Bossong
• Margaret Bourke-White
• Elizabeth Bowen
• Marjorie Bowen - 2018 and prior
  
• Dorothy Bowers
• Caryl Brahms
• Pamela Branch
• Christianna Brand
• Charlotte Brontë - prior to 2018
• Emily Brontë - prior to 2018
• Anne Brontë - 2018 and prior
• Geraldine Brooks
• Nancy Marie Brown
• Pearl S. Buck - prior to 2018
• Julia Bührle-Nowikowa
• Thi Bui
• Lois McMaster Bujold
• Jan Burke
• Fanny Burney
• Anna Burns
• Jessie Burton
• Margaret Busby
• Stephanie Butland
• A.S. Byatt - prior to 2018

 

 

C

• Adèle Caby-Livannah
  Lucy Caldwell
  
• Margaret Campbell Barnes
• Trudi Canavan - 2019
  
• Dorothy Canfield
• Joanna Cannan
• Charity Cannon Willard
• Peggy Caravantes
• Marie Magdeleine Carbet
  Susan Carlile
• Angela Carter - 2018
• Miranda Carter
• Vera Caspary
• Helen Castor - prior to 2018
• Willa Cather - prior to 2018
• Catherine of Siena
• Eleanor Catton - prior to 2018
• Elizabeth Chadwick
• S.A. Chakraborty
• Saumitra Chakravarty
• Gertrude Chandler Warner
  Eileen Chang
  Roz Chast
• Suzanne Chazin
• Andrée Chedid
• Ruoxi Chen
• Tracy Chevalier
• Marjorie Chibnall
• Miriam Ching Yoon Louie
• Laura Childs
• Paulina Chiziane
  Zen Cho - 2019
  
• Kunzang Choden
• Kate Chopin - prior to 2018
• Agatha Christie - 2018 and prior, 2019, 2020
  
• Chu T'ien-hsin
• Rin Chupeco
• Marchette Chute
• Sandra Cisneros - prior to 2018
• Eleanor Clark
• Susanna Clarke - prior to 2018
• Ann Cleeves - 2019
  
• Barbara Cleverly
• Hilary Rodham Clinton
• Colette
• Lindsey Collen
  
• Merle Collins
• Sara Collins - 2019
  
• Louise Collis
• Maryse Condé
• Jill Ker Conway
  Lesley Cookman - 2019
  
• Kara Cooney
• Artemis Cooper
• Helene Cooper
• Ann Cornelisen
• Mairead Corrigan Maguire
• Petra Couvee - 2018
• Hannah Crafts
• Charlie Craggs
• Marie Curie
• Eve Curie
• Helen Czerski - 2018

 

 

D

• Elizabeth Daly
• Clemence Dane
• Tsitsi Dangarembga
• Edwidge Danticat
• Britta Das
• Alexandra David-Neel - prior to 2018
• Diane Mott Davidson
• Robyn Davidson
  Belva Davis
• Lindsey Davis
• Margaret Leslie Davis
• Natalie Zemon Davis
• Dorothy Day
  Jennifer De
• Amalia Decker Márquez
• Charlotte DeCroes
  E.M. Delafield - 2020
  
• Barbara Demick
• Anita Desai
• Ananda Devi
  Ashapurna Devi
  Argentina Diaz Lozano
• Emily Dickinson - prior to 2018
• E.M. Delafield
• Argentina Diaz Lozano
• Joan Didion
• Annie Dillard
  Lidija Dimkovska
  Gail Dines
• Isak Dinesen (Karen / Tania Blixen) - prior to 2018
• Emma Donoghue - prior to 2018
• H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
• Susan Doran
• Kirstin Downey
• Ruth Downie
• Evelyn Doyle
• Margaret Drabble - 2018
  Joanne Drayton
  
• Daphne Du Maurier - 2018 and prior
• María Dueñas
• Anis Duff
• Sarah Dunant
• Dorothy Dunnett - 2020
  
• Nancy K Duplechain
• Marguerite Duras - prior to 2018
• Jane Dyer

 

 

E

• Angela Eagle
• Maria Edgeworth
• Esi Edugyan - 2018
• Jennifer Egan
• Ellen Elias-Bursac
• George Eliot - prior to 2018
• Duong Van Mai Elliott
• Joy Ellis - 2018, 2019
• Katrina Engberg 2019
• Anne Enright
• Nora Ephron - prior to 2018
• Louise Erdrich - 2019
  
• Jenny Erpenbeck
• Margaret Erskine
• María Amparo Escandón
• Iraj Esmaely
• Laura Esquivel
• Jennifer Estep - 2019
  
• Janet Evanovich

 

 

F

• Lygia Fagundes Telles
• Linda Fairstein
• Anne Fadiman
• Jerrilyn Farmer
• Tarfia Faizullah
  Fadia Faqir
  Zora Feilo
• Elena Ferrante
• America Ferrera
• Elizabeth Ferrars - 2019
• Rosario Ferré - 2019
• Helen Fielding - prior to 2018
• Sia Figiel
• Erica Fischer
• M.F.K. (Mary Frances Kennedy) Fisher
• Helen Fitzgerald
• Penelope Fitzgerald
  Louise Fitzhugh
• Fannie Flagg - prior to 2018
• Judith Flanders
• Jane Fletcher Geniesse
• Joanne Fluke - 2018
• Gillian Flynn
• Moderata Fonte - prior to 2018
• Sarah Foot
• Esther Forbes
• Eleanor Ford
• Amanda Foreman - prior to 2018
• Karin Fossum - 2018
• Aminatta Forna - 2019
• Earlene Fowler
• Janet Frame
• Anne Frank - prior to 2018
• Lois P. Frankel
• Ariana Franklin
• Miles Franklin
• Antonia Fraser - prior to 2018
  
• Caroline Fraser
• Ru Freeman
• Valentīna Freimane
• Marilyn French - prior to 2018
• Tana French - prior to 2018, 2019
• Esther Freud
• Lucy Fricke
  Betty Friedan
  Florence Frisbie
• Alexandra Fuller - 2019
• Margaret Fuller
• Anna Funder

 

 

G

• Diana Gabbaldon
• Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) - 2018
• Teresa Gallagher
• Mavis Gallant
• Janice Galloway
• Patrícia Galvão
  Petina Gappah
  Helen Garner
• Elizabeth Gaskell - 2018 and prior, 2019
• Sylvia Geist
  Shirley Geok-lin Lim
• Elizabeth George - 2018 and prior, 2019, 2020
  
• Stella Gibbons - prior to 2018
• Frances Gies
• Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Beatrice Malleson, aka Anne Meredith) - prior to 2018
  
• Natalia Ginzburg
  Jo Glanville
• Janet Gleeson
• Kristin Gleeson
• Patricia Glinton-Meicholas
• Molly Gloss
• Lisa Goldstein
• Carol Goodman
• Nadine Gordimer
• Charlotte Gordon
• Patricia Grace
  Carrie Gracie
  
• Sue Grafton
• Caroline Graham - prior to 2018
• Katharine Graham
• Tessa Gratton
  Rachel Gratzfeld
  Lucy Grealy
• Anna Katharine Green - 2019
  
• Joanne Greenberg
• Kerry Greenwood - prior to 2018
• Germaine Greer
• Lady Augusta Gregory
• Susanna Gregory - prior to 2018
• Kate Grenville
• Aceituna Griffin
• Nicola Griffith
• Martha Grimes - prior to 2018
• Sarah Gristwood
• Judith Guest
• Esther Gumbs
• Sujatha Gidla
• Rosa Guy
  Yaa Gyasi

 

 

H

• Hahn Moo-Sook
  Jeannette Haien
  Claire Hajaj
• Radclyffe Hall - 2018
• Brigitte Hamann
• Barbara Hambly
• Denise Hamilton
• Edith Hamilton - prior to 2018
• Patricia Hampl
• Sheila Hancock
• Helene Hanff
• Lorraine Hansberry
• Valerie Hansen
• Nino Haratischwili
• Kate Harding
• Elizabeth Hardwick
• Kathryn Harkup - 2018
• Joanne Harris - 2019
  
• Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
• Mavis Doriel Hay - 2018 and prior
• Eliza Haywood
• Bessie Head
• Vicki Hearne
• Anne Hébert
• Elke Heidenreich - prior to 2018
• Sybilla Heinze
• Lillian Hellman - prior to 2018
• Kristien Hemmerechts
• Amy Hempel
• Sandra Hempel
• Jennifer Morag Henderson
• Cristina Henriquez
• Christine Heppermann
• Toeti Heraty
• Claudia Hernandez
• Georgette Heyer - 2018 and prior, 2019
• Célestine Hitiura Vaite
• Joanna Hickson
• Susan Higginbotham
• Mary Higgins Clark - prior to 2018
• Patricia Highsmith - 2018 and prior, 2019
  
• Hildegard von Bingen - prior to 2018
• Susan Hill
• Laura Hillenbrand
• Lisa Hilton
• Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• Tami Hoag
• Merle Hodge
• Antonia Hodgson - prior to 2018
• Frances Hodgson Burnett - prior to 2018
  Alice Hoffman
• Beatrice Hohenegger
• Else Holmelund Minarik
• Renate Holland-Moritz
• Victoria Holt (Eleanor Hibbert, aka Jean Plaidy & Philippa Carr) - prior to 2018
• Winifred Holtby - 2019
  
• Selina Hossain
• Susan Howatch - 2018
• Georgina Howell
• Dorothy B. Hughes - 2019
  
• Keri Hulme
• Zora Neale Hurston
• Siri Hustvedt
• Elspeth Huxley
• Hypathia of Alexandria

 

 

I

• Laura Ingalls Wilder - 2018
• Susan Isaacs
• Rada Iveković
• Molly Ivins - prior to 2018

 

 

J

• Kate Jackson
• Shirley Jackson - prior to 2018
• Lilian Jackson Braun
• Jane Jacobs
  Mila Jam
• Miranda James
• P.D. James - 2018 and prior, 2019
• J.A. Jance - 2018
• Tove Jansson
• Lisa Jardine
• Salma Khadra Jayyusi
• Inge Jens
• Ianthe Jerrold
• Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner
• Sarah Orne Jewett
• Katherine (and Romilly) John
• Marie-Elena John
• Elizabeth Jolley
• Erica Jong
• Sushma Joshi
• Morag Joss
• Rachel Joyce
• Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz - prior to 2018
• Julian of Norwich

 

 

K

• Frida Kahlo
• Liz Kalaugher - 2019
• Esther Kamatari
  Madeleine Kamman
• Lydia Kang
• Parselelo Kantai
  Musimbi Kanyoro
  Mary Karooro Okurut
  Mary Karr
  Kapka Kassabova
• Ellis Kaut - prior to 2018
• M.M. Kaye - 2019
  
• Hélène Kaziende
• Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Susanna Kearsley - 2018
• Carolyn Keene
  China Keitetsi
• Helen Keller - prior to 2018
• Faye Kellerman
• Karen Kelly
  Mary Kelly 2019
• Margery Kempe
• Sarah Kendzior
• Christine Kenneally
• Dorothy M. Kennedy
• Hannah Kent
• Porochista Khakpour
  Dalal Khalifa
• Jamaica Kincaid - 2020
  
• Laurie R. King
• Thelma B. Kintanar
  
• Naomi Klein
• Barbara Kingsolver
• Leslie S. Klinger
• Rosalie Knecht - 2018
• Helen J. Knowles
• Rachel Knowles
• Nataliya Kobrynska
• Clea Koff - 2019
• E.L. Konigsburg
  Anna Kordsaia-Samadaschwili
• Elizabeth Kostova
• Nicole Krauss
• Ruth Krauss
• Ellen Kushner
• Nicole Kwan
  Nestan Nene Kwinikadse
• Aug San Suu Kyi

 

 

L

• Marie Laberge
• Camilla Läckberg
• Mercedes Lackey
• Mary Ladd Gavell
• Carmen Laforet
• Selma Lagerlöf - prior to 2018
• Jhumpa Lahiri - prior to 2018
• Laila Lalalami   2019
• Lorna Landvik
• Carolyne Larrington
• Nella Larsen
• Carole Lawrence - 2018
• Elizabeth Lawrence
• Ann Leckie - 2019
• Penny Le Couteur
• Ursula K. Le Guin
• Hyeonseo Lee - 2019
• Laurie Lee
• Lilian Lee
  Michelle "Mush" Lee
• Min Jin Lee - 2019
• Tanith Lee
• Madeleine L'Engle
• Charlotte Lennox
• Ulla Lenze
• Donna Leon - prior to 2018
• Jill Lepore
  Betsy Lerner
• Doris Lessing
• Elizabeth Letts
• Shirley Robin Letwin
• Yanwing Leung
• Laura Levine - 2018
• Andrea Levy
• Marina Lewycka
• Amy Licence
• Juliette Lichtenstein
• Tai-man Lin
• Astrid Lindgren - prior to 2018, 2019
• Nashormeh Lindo
• Joan Lindsay - 2019
• Ewa Lipska
• Leanda de Lisle
• Clarice Lispector - 2019
• Elizabeth Little
• Ivy Litvinov
• Guadalupe Loaeza
• Norah Lofts
• Maud Hart Lovelace
  Mary S. Lovell - prior to 2018
• Sarah Lovett - 2018
  
• E.C.R. Lorac - 2018, 2019
  
• Valeria Luiselli

 

 

M

• Sharon Maas - prior to 2018
• Cynthia Mac Leod
• Greer Macallister
• Hilary Macaskill
• Helen MacInnes - 2018
• Margaret MacMillan
• Rose Macaulay
  Betty MacDonald
  Okky Madasari
• Karen Maitland - prior to 2018
• Eve Makis
  Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
  Alexandra Malala
  Janet Malcolm
• Nadezhda Mandelstam
  Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
  Sarah Manguso
• Abby Mann
• Erika Mann
• Katia Mann - prior to 2018
• Elisabeth Mann-Borghese
• Olivia Manning
• Katherine Mansfield - prior to 2018
• Hilary Mantel - prior to 2018
• J. Nozipo Maraire
• Juliet Marillier
• Beryl Markham - prior to 2018
• Monika Maron
• Ngaio Marsh - 2018 and prior, 2019
• Megan Marshall
• Magali Nirina Marson
• Sujata Massey
• Maria Matios
• Dalene Matthee
• Francine Matthews - 2018
• Doris Maurer
• Aurélie Maurin
• Margaret Mazzantini
• Mari McAuliffe
• Sarah McBride
• Anne McCaffrey
• Susan Carol McCarthy
• Helen McCloy
• K.D. McCrite
• Sharyn McCrumb - 2018 and prior, 2019
  
• Carson McCullers
• Colleen McCullough - prior to 2018
• Val McDermid - 2018 and prior
• Alison McGhee
• Jill McGown - 2018
• Maureen F. McHugh
• Pat McIntosh - prior to 2018
• Shirley McKay
• Patricia McKillip - 2018
• Paula McLain
• Bethany McLean
• Catherine Meadows
• Leslie Meier - 2018
• Lise Meitner
• Francesca Melandri
• Tamta Melaschwili
• Rigoberta Menchú
• Maaza Mengiste
• María Rosa Menocal
• Cecile Menon
• Anne Meredith (Lucy Beatrice Malleson, aka Anthony Gilbert) - prior to 2018
• Fatima Mernissi
• Isabel Mesa de Inchauste
• Claire Messud
• Anne Michaels
• Barbara Michaels (Barbara Mertz, aka Elizabeth Peters)
• Rosalind Miles
• Margaret Millar
• Madeline Miller - 2019
• Marja Mills
• Anchee Min
• Denise Mina - prior to 2018
• Rupali Mishra
• Gladys Mitchell - prior to 2018, 2019, 2020
  
• Margaret Mitchell - prior to 2018
• Jessica Mitford
• Nancy Mitford
• Miyuki Miyabe
• Sarah Mkhonza
• Nadifa Mohamed
• Lília Momplé
• Theresa Monsour
• Rosa Montero
• Lucy Maud Montgomery - prior to 2018
• Anne-Marie-Louise D'Orleans Montpensier
• C.L. (Catherine Lucile) Moore
• Lorrie Moore
• Susanna Moore
• Wendy Moore - 2019
  
• Elsa Morante
• Silvia Moreno-Garcia - 2019
• Lorna Nicholl Morgan - 2019
• Susan Morgan
• Jan Morris
• Toni Morrison - prior to 2018, 2019
  
• Veronique Mortaigne
• Toni Mount - prior to 2018
  Patricia Moyes
  
• Mpho 'M'atsepo Nthunya
• Hermynia Zur Mühlen
• Bárbara Mujica
• Scholastique Mukasonga
• Herta Müller
• Nayomi Munaweera
  
• Alice Munro - prior to 2018
• Lady Murasaki Shikubu
• Iris Murdoch
• Tamar Myers

 

 

N

• Barbara Nadel
• Nora Nadjarian
  Azar Nafisi
• Meera Nair
• Elma Napier
• Sylvia Nasar
• Taslima Nasrin
• Shizuko Natsuki - 2019
• Marguerite de Navarre
• Gloria Naylor
• Irène Némirovsky - 2018
• Katherine Neville
• Virginia Nicholson
• Anaïs Nin - prior to 2018
• Ingrid Noll - prior to 2018
• Kathleen Norris
• Elizabeth Norton
• Amélie Nothomb
• Sara Novic
• Mary Novik - prior to 2018
• Naomi Novik
• Frances Noyes Hart
• María Nsue Angüe
• Tiina Nunnally

 

 

O

• Joyce Carol Oates
• Michelle Obama - 2019
• Tea Obreht - prior to 2018
• Edna O'Brien - prior to 2018
• Carol O'Connell
• Flannery O'Connor - prior to 2018
  M.R. O'Connor
  
• Sandra Day O'Connor
• Nuala O'Faolain
• Margaret A. Ogola
• Sofi Oksanen - 2019
  
• Tillie Olsen
  Iris Origo
• Susan Orlean - 2019
  
• Margaret Oliphant
• Emmuska Orczy - 2018 and prior, 2019
• Mary Orr
• Anna Maria Ortese - prior to 2018
• Perri O'Shaughnessy
• Elsa Osorio - prior to 2018
• Meta Osredkar
• Isabel Ostrander
• Delia Owens - 2019
  
• Helen Oyeyemi
• Ruth Ozeki
• Cynthia Ozick

 

 

P

• Tina Packer
• Sydney Padua
• Elaine Pagels
• Sara Paretsky - prior to 2018
• Sandra Paretti - prior to 2018
• He-ran Park
  Park Wan-Suh
• Dorothy Parker - prior to 2018
  
• I.J. Parker
• Teresa de la Parra
• S.J. Parris - prior to 2018
• Rachel Pastan
• Ann Patchett - prior to 2018
• Jill Paton Walsh
• Renee Patrick
• Olena Pchilka
  Nancy Pearl
• Diane Pearson
• Maggie Pearson
• Iva Pekárková
• Sharon Kay Penman - prior to 2018
• Stef Penney - 2019
• Louise Penny - 2019
  
• Andrea Penrose
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman - prior to 2018
• Régine Pernoud
• Anne Perry - 2018 and prior
• Lakshmi Persaud
• Ellis Peters / Edith Pargeter - 2018 and prior, 2019
• Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz, aka Barbara Michaels) - 2019
  
• Kathryn Petras
  Katja Petrowskaja
  Alice Piciocchi
• Nancy Pickard
• Jodi Picoult
• Hazel Pierce
• Tamora Pierce - 2020
  
• Marge Piercy
• Christine de Pizan - prior to 2018
• Markéta Pilátová
• Jean Plaidy (Eleanor Hibbert, aka Victoria Holt & Philippa Carr) - prior to 2018
• Sylvia Plath - prior to 2018
• Margaret Pointer
• Sarah B. Pomeroy
• Elena Poniatowska
• Frances de Pontes Peebles
• Hannah Pool
• Angelia Poon
• Katherine Anne Porter
• Linda Porter
• Beatrix Potter - prior to 2018
• Susan Power
• Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
• Helen Prejean - prior to 2018
• Annie Proulx - prior to 2018
• Elinore Pruitt Stewart
• Barbara Pym - 2019
• Hilary Pym

 

 

Q

• Rachel de Queiroz
• Amanda Quick
• D.M. Quincy
• Anna Quindlen - 2018 and prior
• Qiu Miaojin

 

 

R

• Lea Rabin
• Ann Radcliffe
• Michèle Rakotoson
  Ilma Rakusa
  Ann Rand
  Esther Randriamamonjy
  Claudia Rankine
• Carol Daugherty Rasnic - prior to 2018
• Gwen Raverat
• Catherine Rayner
• Pauline Réage
• Dolores Redondo - 2019
  Ruth Reichl
• Kathy Reichs - prior to 2018, 2019
  
• Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Susanne Reiter
• Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine) - 2018 and prior, 2019
  
• Laura Restrepo
• Barbara Reynolds
• Lucy Ribchester
• Dorothy Richardson
• Henry Handel Richardson (Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson)
• Brenda Rickman Vantrease
• Stella Rimington - 2018 and prior
• Ann Rinaldi
• Jenesha de Rivera
  
• Margaret Rivers Larminie
• Candace Robb - 2019
  
• J.D. Robb
• Alice Roberts
• Mary Roberts Rinehart - 2018, 2019
• Marilynne Robinson
• Roxana Robinson
• Judith Rock
• Katrin Rohde
• Elizabeth Romer
• Sally Rooney
• Henriette Roosenburg
• Nelly Rosario
• Liza Ross
• Colette Rossant
• Christina Rossetti - prior to 2018
• Roswitha von Gandersheim - prior to 2018
• Angeline Rothermundt
• Laura Joh Rowland
• J.K. Rowling - 2018 and prior, 2019
  
• Arundhati Roy - prior to 2018
• Gabrielle Roy
• Priscilla Royal - 2019
  
• Hallie Rubenhold
• Joanna Russ
• Harriet Rutland
• Sofie Ryan

 

 

S

• Vita Sackville-West
• Jehan Sadat
• Françoise Sagan
• Kurban Said
• Angela Saini
• Dora Jessie Saint (Miss Read)
  
• Zainab Salbi
• Rebecca Salonen
  Preeta Samarasan
• George Sand - prior to 2018
• Cora Sandel
• Deborah Santana
• Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
• Sappho - prior to 2018
• Marjane Satrapi
• Beth Saulnier
• Dorothy L. Sayers - 2018 and prior, 2019
• Ruth Scarborough
• Andrea Schacht
• Katherine West Scheil
• Stacy Schiff
  June Schlueter - 2018
• Diane Schoemperlen
• Julie Schumacher
• Harriet Scott Chessman
• Lisa Scottoline - prior to 2018
• Deborah Scroggins
• Alice Sebold - prior to 2018
• Lisa See
• Anna Seghers - prior to 2018
• Sei Shōnagon
• Annemarie Selinko - prior to 2018
• Nilanjana Sengupta
• Barbara Seranella
• Julia Serano
• Renata Šerelytė
• Diane Setterfield - 2018
• Anna Sewell - prior to 2018
• Elif Shafak - 2019
• Rashmila Shakya
• Kamila Shamsie - 2018
• Phyllis Shand Allfrey
• Beth Shapiro
• Mary Shelley - prior to 2018
• Carol Shields
• Kyung-sook Shin
• Anna Maria Sigmund
  Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - 2020
• Katharine Sim
• Luafata Simanu-Klutz
• Helen Simonson
• Helen Simpson
• Mary Sinclair
• Sally Singhateh
• Maj Sjöwall (& Per Wahlöö)
• Margaret Skea
• Rebecca Skloot
• Karin Slaughter
• Jane Smiley
• Ali Smith - prior to 2018
• Betty Smith
  Dodie Smith
• Julie Smith
• Shelley Smith
• Zadie Smith
• Akanisi Sobusobu
  Zaharia Soilihi
• Rebecca Solnit
• Susan Sontag - prior to 2018
• Sonia Sotomayor
• Diana Souhami
• Muriel Spark - prior to 2018
• Annie Spence
• Julia Spencer-Fleming
• Deb Spera
• Johanna Spyri - prior to 2018
• Anne-Louise-Germaine de Staël (Madame de Staël)
• Freya Stark
• Gertrude Stein
• Gloria Steinem
• Regis Tove Stella
• Carola Stern - prior to 2018
• Amy Stewart
• Mary Stewart - prior to 2018
• Sarah Stockwell
  Sarah-Jane Stratford - 2020
  Sarah Stone

• Jean Strouse
• Susan Stryker
• Andrea Stuart
• Edna St. Vincent Millay - prior to 2018
• Kate Summerscale - prior to 2018
• Rachel Swaby
• Beverly Swerling
• S.D. Sykes
• Magda Szabó
  Wisława Szymborska

 

 

T

• Lalita Tademy
• Véronique Tadjo
  Jillian Tamaki
  Mariko Tamaki
• Amy Tan - 2018 and prior
• Natasha Tarpley
• Donna Tartt
• Irma Tawelidse
• Mary Taylor Simeti
• Vianney K Teabo
• Teffi - 2019
• Janne Teller
• Edith Templeton
• F. Tennyson Jesse
• Sheri S. Tepper - prior to 2018
• Mother Teresa
• Josephine Tey - 2018 and prior, 2019
• Manjushree Thapa
  Angela Thirkell - 2019
• Angie Thomas
• Flora Thompson
  Kay Thompson
• Jane Thynne - 2018
• Grace Tiffany
• Gillian Tindall
• James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Bradley Sheldon)
• Dianne Tittle De Laet
• Masako Togawa
• Olga Tokarczuk
• Pamela D. Toler
• Claire Tomalin
• Jean Toomer
• Lillian de la Torre
• Stella Tower
• Sylvia Townsend Warner
• Rose Tremain - prior to 2018
• Joanna Trollope
• Sojourner Truth
• Gail Tsukiyama
• Barbara Tuchman
• Abigail Tucker
• C.J. Tudor
• Patricia Justine Tumang
• Katy Tur
• Janette Turner Hospital
• Helen Tursten - 2018
• Hilda Twongyeirwe
• Joyce Tyldesley - prior to 2018
• Anne Tyler
• Kathleen Tynan

 

 

U

• Jenny Uglow
• Ludmila Ulitskaya - 2018
• Ellen Ullman
• Sigrid Undset
• Chika Unigwe
• Else Ury - prior to 2018
• Ayu Utami
• Sandra Uwiringiyimana - 2019

 

 

V

• Catherynne M. Valente
• Sarah Vaughan
• Jane Vejjajiva
  Maniue Vilsoni
• Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) - 2018 and prior
• Serena Vitale
• Anoeschka Von Meck
• Susan Vreeland

 

 

W

• Alice Walker
• Amy Wallace
• Maureen Waller
• Harriet Walter - prior to 2018
• Minette Walters
• Evangeline Walton
• Jo Walton
• Wang Chen-ho
  Ayeta Anne Wangusa
• Sarah Waters
• Winifred Watson
• Tiffany Watt Smith
• Betty Webb
• Cicely Veronica Wedgwood
  Simone Weil
• Alison Weir - prior to 2018
  Martha Wells - 2020
• Eudora Welty - prior to 2018
• Patricia Wentworth - 2018 and prior, 2019
• Debbie Lee Wesselmann - prior to 2018
• Rebecca West
• Kate Westbrook - 2018
• Megan Whalen Turner
• Edith Wharton - 2018 and prior
• Jennie N. Wheatley
  Phillis Wheatley
• Sara Wheeler
• Ethel Lina White - 2018
• Samantha Wilcoxson - prior to 2018
• Ellen Wilkinson - 2019
• Margery Williams - prior to 2018
• Wendy Williams
• Valerie Plame Wilson - 2018
• Jeanette Winterson - prior to 2018
• Margaret Wise Brown - prior to 2018
• Susan Wittig Albert
• Christa Wolf - prior to 2018
• Mary Wollstonecraft - prior to 2018
• Faith Wolseley
• Barbara Wood
• Frances Wood
• Paula L. Woods
• Virginia Woolf - prior to 2018, 2019
• Jennifer Worth - prior to 2018
• Mary Wortley Montagu
• Jennifer Wright - 2018
• Marian Wright Edelman
• Andrea Wulf
• Honor Wyatt

 

 

X

• Xinran (Xuē Xīnrán) - 2018, 2019

 

 

Y

• Tiphanie Yanique
• Jane Yolen
• Banana Yoshimoto - 2018
• Marguerite Youcenar - prior to 2018

 

 

Z

• Oksana Zabuzhko
  Adela Zamudio
• Juli Zeh - 2018
• Jamie Zeppa
• Xianliang Zhang
• Edith M. Ziegler
• Feenie Ziner
  Jennifer Zoble
• Stefanie Zweig

 

 

 

Three years ago I took a look at my reading stats for the then-just-finished year (2017) and decided they were off in several respects:

 

* Too many rereads

* Too many mysteries

-- i.e., too much comfort reading --

* AND way too few books by female authors.

 

Also, the ratio of books read vs. new, unread additions to my "owned books" TBR was abysmal -- in 2017, I added almost as many books to my shelves without ending up reading them than I actually did read.

 

So, the first thing I did was join a challenge created by Awogfli and put together a Women Writers challenge in response, with the aim of enhancing the percentage of female authors I'm reading.  That project went rather well, all told, so last year I added another challenge level (to be continued in 2020): Use your reading to travel around the world, to as many countries as possible (while still giving preference to female authors).  That project, too, went better than I had expected in 2019.  And, hooray, I even got my "owned TBR" additions under control.  Well, sort of -- at least I reduced them by one half ...

 

With three years of reading statistics under my belt -- the initial ones from 2017 and those from the two succeeding years -- I think it's time to take a first comprehensive look at the last three years' developments.

 

So here we go:

 

 

The one set of statistics that doesn't look like it has greatly changed is the book format -- ever since I really "discovered" audiobooks in 2016, my audiobook consumption has been vastly greater than my print book readings.  However, this is actually in large part the reason why my owned and unread TBR has gone down, because very often I'll have both the audiobook and the print edition and I'll switch back and forth between them.  This may mean I'll eventually find a different way of charting these books, but so far I've counted them as "audio", and for consistency's sake I may just continue doing that after all.

 

Aaaand finally the genre breakdown: Still plenty of mysteries (even more if you take into account that the majority of my historical fiction reading consists of mysteries and thrillers / crime fiction, too), but another effect of my Around the World challenge -- as well as Moonlight's 2019 "crowdsourced" project / reading list! -- has been to diversify my genre chart (somewhat).  Mysteries (not even including historical mysteries) still account for a solid 50%, and that's fine -- since I'm also planning to continue my foray into the world of Detection Club /Golden Age crime fiction, it's unlikely that this percentage is going to drop significantly. But by and large I'm pretty happy with the way things have turned out so far!

 

 

A big Thank You to everybody who joined the game and participated so actively: Collectively, we achieved the very respectable total score of

 

505 POINTS

 

Go us -- well done everybody!  Thank you so much from this year's hosts: Murder by Death, Moonlight Snow (Reader), TeaStitchRead (Mrs. Claus' Tea House), and me.  Once again, it's been great fun watching the truly amazing things that everybody came up with to complete to the various tasks and the creativity that went into everybody's posts.

 

And a special shout-out to Darth Pedant for stepping in and doing such an absolutely smashing job substituting for MbD as a host of the Melbourne Cup Day "pick your ponies" task!

 

Before moving on the stats of this year's game, I wanted to share, at least once, the gorgeous 2019 festive calendar image "as such" -- without being half hidden below all the calendar doors, open or closed.

 

 

Thank you once more to MbD for finding it -- as MbD told us, it's an illustration for Charles Dickens's Christmas Carol.

 

Thank you all, also, for playing along and reporting your completed tasks using the form that MbD created -- even though RL interference didn't let me get around to posting stats as frequently in 2019 as during the 2018 game, the form (and the Excel sheet it yielded) made tracking points just so much easier!

 

 

The Figures:

Number of active participants: 18
("Active" = completed at least one book or other task for the game)
Average number of points collected: 28.06
Number of card blackouts: 4
("Blackout" = completed at least one book or other task per square)

 

 

Results by Squares / Holidays:

 

With almost 28%, overall the book tasks were the most popular tasks of the game, followed by Task 1, with Tasks 2 and 3 almost on equal footing and Task 4 bringing in the rear (though not by a terribly wide margin).  (Well, this is a book site ... :) )

 

Almost 60% of all tasks completed were the second or further task completed for the square in question.

On a total of 8 squares, one or more participants completed all five tasks (book and other tasks):

* Día de los Muertos

* Japanese Culture Day

* Melbourne Cup Day

* International Day for Tolerance

* International Children's Day

* World Philosophy Day

* St. Nicholas' Day

* St. Lucia's Day

Biggest individual point-earning square: Día de los Muertos -- 46 points total
Runner-up: Melbourne Cup Day -- 42 points total
Third Place: Japanese Culture Day -- 40 points total

 

Seeing one of our newly-introduced holidays (Japanese Culture Day) scoring so well makes me very happy -- and hattip to our new co-host TeaStitchRead / Mrs. Claus' Tea House, who whipped out all four tasks for this square in absolutely zero time as one of her first hosting contributions.

Least point-earning square: Festivus -- 9 points total

 

Average points per square (including bonus points): 21.04

Average points per square (excluding bonus points): 20.88

 

 

Breakdown of Books and Tasks per Square

 

 

The Books

Squares for which the highest number of participants read a book: Día de los Muertos and Japanese Culture Day -- 10 participants

Runner-up: Guy Fawkes Night - 9 participants

Shared Third Place: Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, and Christmas -- 8 participants each

Fewest books read for: World Philosophy Day and St. Andrew's Day -- 2 participants each

Average number of book points accrued per square: 5.67

 

 The Tasks

 

Square with the overall highest number of points collected for all non-book tasks: Melbourne Cup Day -- 37 points (including 2 bonus points)

Runner-up: Día de los Muertos -- 36 points

Third place: Japanese Culture Day -- 30 points

 

Excluding bonus points, Día de los Muertos and Melbourne Cup Day switch places; Japanese Culture Day remains third.

 

Least number of non-book points: International Human Rights Day -- 4 points

Most popular individual task: Día de los Muertos, Task 3 (epitaph for the year's most disliked book) --  14 points

Runner-up, by points: Melbourne Cup Day, Task 1 ("Pick your ponies") -- 12 points (including 2 bonus points)

Runner-ups, by participants (= excluding bonus points): Japanese Culture Day, Task 4 (Japanese food), and Melbourne Cup Day, Tasks 1 and 3 ("Pick your ponies" and picture of favorite cup / mug)   -- 10 points each

Third place: Melbourne Cup Day, Task 2 (“Roses are Red, Violets are Blue” poem) -- 9 points

Least popular: Thanksgiving, Task 4 (postcard to a friend), International Human Rights Day, Task 4 (reconstitute a body of the UN), Hanukkah, Task 4 (food donation), Festivus, Tasks 3 and 4 (going "pole'mic on a book character, and "Festivus miracle" dialogue), Kwanzaa, Task 3 (corn dish), New Year's Eve, Task 4 (holiday dinner with famous person as guest), and Epiphany, Task 2 (personal "epihany" experience) -- all 0 points (sniff).  With one exception, these are all in the final weeks of the game ... seems most of us just ran out of steam towards the end!

 

Average number of points accrued for non-book tasks per square, including bonus points: 15.3

Average number of points accrued for non-book tasks per square, excluding bonus points: 15.1

 

Average number of points accrued for individual non-book tasks, including bonus points: 3.9

Average number of points accrued for individual non-book tasks, excluding bonus points: 3.67

 

 

Congratulations, everybody, and thank you all so much again for making this such a fun and successful game!

As Moonlight Reader and Darth Pony Pedant noted, there's a bug in the system that currently doesn't let you record any reading end dates beyond 2019 (i.e., from Jan. 1, 2020 onwards).  This is systemic, i.e. will have to be fixed by BookLikes or their outsourced helpers, HOWEVER, for the time being here's an easy workaround:

 

Open your bookshelf in admin view.  Among the icons next to the 25-50-75 drop-down menu for selecting the number of books displayed on your shelf, there is a little nut (or wheel)-shaped icon that takes you to the special "settings" menu for your shelf page.  Click on it.

 

 

You shelf settings menu contains a category called "Shelf table view - visible columns."  Among the selections offered there, find the option for "private note".  Check it off -- but leave all your previously checked selections alone!  I.e., just add this selection to all the others ... unless of course you really want to modify those, too, while you're at it.  Don't forget to save your settings.

 

 

Now, if you return to your bookshelf, it should contain a new column called "Note". 

 

Find the book(s) for which you want to record your reading end date.  Open the popup screen where you'd ordinarily do so.  At the bottom of that screen, there is a "private note" option.  Click on it and record your "finished" date there.  Save and close the menu.  Your note should now show up in the shelf table column that you just created.  Ehh voilà -- you're done!

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

↓↓↓ detail ↓↓↓

 

Please note: This is only a workaround to record your reading end date as such -- it's no replacement for a proper fix, and it will not work with your 2020 reading challenge nor with sorting books by read date.  But it's easy to implement, and at least allows you to keep your records straight as far as dates go.

 

Addenda:

1.: I found out this morning that the system doesn't report reading start dates, either.  So you'll have to include both the start and the end date in your notes.

2.: Elentarri has found that the system does still record review submission dates.  So another way to record your reading end date would be to create a mini-post (even if it only says "I liked / didn't like this" or "I finished this on ..."), tick the "review" check box, and manually reset the posting date to the date you actually finished the book.

3. To facilitate sorting / finding your 2020 books on your shelves, it may make sense to create a "2020" shelf (if you're not shelving by year already anyway).

MARKERS:

Books: Candles

Tasks: Stars

 

 

DOOR 1: DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS

Book:  Ngaio Marsh: Death and the Dancing Footman (audio version, read by James Saxon)

Task 1: Miss Marple limerick.

Task 2: Chili con carne.

Task 3: Epitaph for The Disappearing Spoon.

Task 4: Gaby in Mexico (& Guatemala).

 

Points: 5

 

 

 

DOOR 2: JAPANESE CULTURE DAY

Book: Michael Innes: Death at the President's Lodging (audio version, read by Stephen Hogan)

Task 1: Beethoven Festival.

Task 2: KitKat flavors.

Task 3:

Task 4: Teriyaki Chicken.

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 3: MELBOURNE CUP DAY

Book: Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent (audio version, read by Nadia May)

Task 1: Pick your ponies.

Task 2: Ross are red, violets are blue: Shakespeare, Much Ado.

Task 3: Cheshire Cat mug.

Task 4: Holiday treats in a cup.

 

Points: 5

 

 

DOOR 4: GUY FAWKES NIGHT

Book: Joy Ellis: The Stolen Boys (audio version, read by Richard Armitage)

Task 1:

Task 2: Book world revolution: thinking differently about books.

Task 3:

Task 4: Bookshelf ordering system.

 

Points: 3

 

 

DOOR 5: BON OM TOUK

Book: Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None (audio version, read by Dan Stevens)

Task 1: Favorite rainy day books.

Task 2:

Task 3: Dragons.

Task 4: Books on my shelf with antonym titles.

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 6: VETERANS' / ARMISTICE DAY

Book: E.C.R. Lorac: Murder by Matchlight (audio version, read by Mark Elstob)

Task 1: Sunrise photos.

Task 2: Authors who died this year I'll miss the most.

Task 3:

Task 4: Sunset walk in the woods.

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 7: INT'L DAY FOR TOLERANCE

Book: Chris Ewan: The Good Thief's Guide to Paris (audio version, read by Simon Vance)

Task 1: Redeeming feature of a DNF'd book (Renee Ahdieh, The Wrath and the Dawn).

Task 2: Baby diaries.

Task 3: Having to let go my library.

Task 4: My one UNESCO world heritage site to visit: Machu Picchú.

 

Points: 5

 

 

DOOR 8: INT'L CHILDREN'S DAY

Book: Cyril Hare: An English Murder

Task 1: Favorite children's and middle grade books.

Task 2:

Task 3:

Task 4: Carnivals and amusement parks.

 

Points: 3

 

 

DOOR 9: WORLD PHILOSOPHY DAY

Book: Plato: Timaeus and Critias (audio version, read by David Rintoul, David Timson and Peter Kenny)

Task 1: Reading philosophy.

Task 2: Rating and reviewing policy.

Task 3: Creature comforts.

Task 4: Books read in school.

 

Points: 5

 

 

DOOR 10: RUSSIAN MOTHERS' DAY

Book: Lesley Cookman: Murder in Steeple Martin (audio version, read by Patience Tomlinson)

Task 1:

Task 2: Fiction about royalty "moonlighting" as commoners.

Task 3:

Task 4: Nobel prize medal for Harriet Vane.

 

Points: 3

 

 

DOOR 11: THANKSGIVING

Book: Louisa May Alcott: The Christmas Stories (audio version, read by Susie Berneis)

Task 1: Toddler on the move alone in the city.

Task 2: The books I am most thankful to have found this year.

Task 3:

Task 4:

 

Points: 3

 

 

DOOR 12: ST. ANDREW'S DAY

Book: Ann Cleeves: White Nights (audio version, read by Kenny Blyth)

Task 1: Favorite Scottish writers.

Task 2:

Task 3: 2019 Reading: greatest "catches" from my TBR.

Task 4: Black Watch tartan.

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 13: ADVENT

Book: Louise Penny: Still Life (audio version, read by Adam Sims)

Task 1: Advent calendar.

Task 2: Favorite holiday tradition / moment.

Task 3: Pineapple (wassail) bowl.

Task 4:

 

Points: 4

 

 

 

DOOR 14: ST. NICHOLAS' DAY

Book: Joy Ellis: Five Bloody Hearts (audio version, read by Matthew Lloyd Davies)

Task 1: Book wish list.

Task 2: Holiday treats.

Task 3: Same book -- different title.

Task 4: Audre Lorde: Coal.

 

Points: 5

 

 

DOOR 15: INT'L HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

Book: Nancy Mitford: Christmas Pudding (audio version, read by Kristin Atherton)

Task 1: Foreign cuisine: Chicken Tikka Masala.

Task 2:

Task 3: Literature Nobel Prize for Harriet Vane.

Task 4:

 

Points: 3

 

 

DOOR 16: ST. LUCIA'S DAY

Book: Katrine Engberg: Krokodilwächter (audio version, read by Dietmar Bär)

Task 1: Harriet Vane and the St. Lucia maidens.

Task 2: Sleigh rides.

Task 3: Kokopelli and Dobby.

Task 4: Books from the farthest origins.

 

Points: 5

 

 

DOOR 17: WINTER SOLSTICE
(YULE/ YALDĀ NIGHT/ DONGZHI/ SOYAL)

Book: Agatha Christie: Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (audio version, read by Simon Vance, Hugh Fraser, David Suchet, and Joan Hickson)

Task 1: Candles.

Task 2: Listening to Mary Kelly's The Christmas Egg long past my regular bedtime.

Task 3:

Task 4: Childhood good night stories.

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 18: HANUKKAH

Book: Nicholas Blake: Thou Shell of Death (audio version, read by Kris Dyer)

Task 1: Dreidel spin: first book of 2020.

Task 2: Water chestnut latkes.

Task 3: Reading Angela Thirkell's High Rising by flashlight.

Task 4:

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 19: FESTIVUS

Book: Donna Andrews: Owl Be Home for Christmas (audio version read by Bernadette Dunne)

Task 1: Airing of grievances: 5 most disliked books of 2019.

Task 2: Battle of the Books: Pippi Longstocking vs. Anna Karenina.

Task 3:

Task 4:

 

Points: 3

 

 

DOOR 20: CHRISTMAS

Book: Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot's Christmas (audio version, read by Hugh Fraser)

Task 1:

Task 2: Christmas movies.

Task 3: Christmas book gifts.

Task 4: The gifts that meant the most to me.

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 21: KWANZAA

Book: Agatha Christie: A Caribbean Mystery (audio version, read by Emilia Fox)

Task 1:

Task 2: Favorite books where music is an important feature.

Task 3:

Task 4: Coffee and pastries with a colleague.

 

Points: 3

 

 

DOOR 22: NEW YEAR'S EVE

Book: Candace Robb: A Gift of Sanctuary (audio version, read by Stephen Thorne)

Task 1: 2020 reading goals.

Task 2: 2019 reading stats.

Task 3: 2020 reading year bibliomancy.

Task 4:

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 23: HOGSWATCH

Book: Terry Pratchett: Hogfather (audio version, read by Nigel Planer)

Task 1:

Task 2: Favorite Discworld characters.

Task 3: Discworld subseries world I'd like to visit: The Witches.

Task 4: Good Omens: Rooting for Crowley, Aziraphale, and Agnes.

 

Points: 4

 

 

DOOR 24: EPIPHANY

Book: Agatha Christie: Star Over Bethlehem (audio version read by Simon Vance)

Task 1: Spicy red pesto pasta.

Task 2:

Task 3: Purple comfort socks (with pompoms!).

Task 4: Tea and book.

 

Points: 4

 

 

 

 

BOOK JOKER

(Not used.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOTAL SCORE:

 

      95 points

 

 

 

 

As Moonlight Reader and Darth Pony Pedant noted, there's a bug in the system that currently doesn't let you record any reading end dates beyond 2019 (i.e., from Jan. 1, 2020 onwards).  This is systemic, i.e. will have to be fixed by BookLikes or their outsourced helpers, HOWEVER, for the time being here's an easy workaround:

 

Open your bookshelf in admin view.  Among the icons next to the 25-50-75 drop-down menu for selecting the number of books displayed on your shelf, there is a little nut (or wheel)-shaped icon that takes you to the special "settings" menu for your shelf page.  Click on it.

 

 

You shelf settings menu contains a category called "Shelf table view - visible columns."  Among the selections offered there, find the option for "private note".  Check it off -- but leave all your previously checked selections alone!  I.e., just add this selection to all the others ... unless of course you really want to modify those, too, while you're at it.  Don't forget to save your settings.

 

 

Now, if you return to your bookshelf, it should contain a new column called "Note". 

 

Find the book(s) for which you want to record your reading end date.  Open the popup screen where you'd ordinarily do so.  At the bottom of that screen, there is a "private note" option.  Click on it and record your "finished" date there.  Save and close the menu.  Your note should now show up in the shelf table column that you just created.  Ehh voilà -- you're done!

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

↓↓↓ detail ↓↓↓

 

Please note: This is only a workaround to record your reading end date as such -- it's no replacement for a proper fix, and it will not work with your 2020 reading challenge nor with sorting books by read date.  But it's easy to implement, and at least allows you to keep your records straight as far as dates go.

 

Addenda:

1.: I found out this morning that the system doesn't report reading start dates, either.  So you'll have to include both the start and the end date in your notes.

2.: Elentarri has found that the system does still record review submission dates.  So another way to record your reading end date would be to create a mini-post (even if it only says "I liked / didn't like this" or "I finished this on ..."), tick the "review" check box, and manually reset the posting date to the date you actually finished the book.

3. To facilitate sorting / finding your 2020 books on your shelves, it may make sense to create a "2020" shelf (if you're not shelving by year already anyway).

UPDATED: Added Star Rating Stats

I can't believe I posted this yesterday without them!

 

 

2020 Reading Goals

Pretty much the same as this year: Read more books by women writers than by male authors, diversify my reading, and keep on exploring the world of Golden Age mystery fiction.

 

The Around the World reading challenge -- which is also to be continued in 2020 -- this year has taken me to places of the world that aren't exactly part of my normal reading fare, and I think visits to 46 countries (8 in Africa, 10 in the Americas (11 if Puerto Rico were counted separately), 13 in Asia and the Middle East, 2 in Oceania, and 13 again in Europe) is a pretty decent tally for the first year. I hope things are going to continue in a similar vein next year.

 

My Golden Age mystery reading plans are probably going to cross the "diversifying" aims to a certain extent -- they already did this year -- for the simple reason that the vast majority of Golden Age mystery writers were Caucasian.  But that just can't be helped, I suppose.

 

 

The 2019 Stats

Books begun: 250

Books finished: 247

Average Rating: 3,8

 

 Genre Breakdown by Subgenres

 

 

 
    
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The key, obviously, is in the intersection of genres and ethnicity: 25 of the 27 books by non-Caucasian authors I read were something other than mysteries; or put differently, virtually all of the 124 mysteries were by Caucasian authors (including all of the 92 Golden and Silver Age mysteries, which in themselves account for 2/3 of all my mystery intake).  I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do much about those statistics -- nor do I very much want to, as long as I manage to make decent progress with my Around the World challenge and manage to get in a fair amount of non-Caucasian books in all the other genres.

 

Favorite books of 2019: HERE

Least favorite books of 2019: HERE

 

 

Bibliomancy

 My question: Is 2020 going to be a good reading year for me?

 

Miss Austen's Collected Novels are one of the larger volumes on my shelves, so I decided to seek my answer there.

 

The answer: "[impor]tance in assisting the improvement of her mind, and extending its pleasures."

 

That sounds rather promising, doesn't it?

(And I'm taking it as an additional good sign that the answer is from Mansfield Park, wich was the first novel by Austen that I read -- and the book that made me fall in love with her writing in the first place ...)

 

 

 

Dreidel Spin for First Book of the Year

This is a pick from some of the books that my BFF, Gaby, gave me for Christmas and my birthday this year:

 

נ (Nun) - Craig Adams: The Six Secrets of Intelligence

ג (Gimel) - Isabel Colegate: The Shooting Party

ה (Hei) - Preet Bharara: Doing Justice

ש (Shin) - Sarah-Jane Stratford: Radio Girls

 

 

... and the dreidel picked:

 

 So, Sarah-Jane Stratford's Radio Girls it is!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Door 22

Task 1: Tell us: What are your reading goals for the coming year?

Task 2: The reading year in review: How did you fare – what was good, what wasn’t?

Task 3: Bibliomancy: Ask a question related to your reading plans or experience in the coming year, open one of your weightiest tomes on page 485, and find the answer to your question in line 7.

 

Door 18, Task 1: Spin the dreidel to determine which book is going to be the first one you’ll be reading in the new year.

Find a virtual dreidel here:

https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/make-a-dreidel

http://www.jewfaq.org/dreidel/play.htm

http://www.torahtots.com/holidays/chanuka/dreidel.htm

 

 

 

May 2020 be filled with much happiness, love, and great books for us all.  To those of us for whom 2019 was not a good year, may 2020 be infinitely better.  To those who had a good 2019, may 2020 be as good and then some.

 

Happy New Year to one and all!

The one "revolution" I would like to see happening in the book world is that we all reconsider how we are thinking about books, and how we are treating them as a result. 

 

In recent years, they seem to have become chiefly "products" -- maybe not quite like clothing, electronics, or other forms of moveable goods, but not so todally different from them, either.  And of course, that is not entirely wrong -- authors and publishers make money selling books; reviewers and purchasers are protected by consumer product standards ... that is all as it's supposed to be. 

 

But books are so much MORE than just products:  They are, as Stephen King rightlly put it, a uniquely portable magic; a device that is able to transport us, with the flipping of a single page, to a foreign land, a sci-fi or fantasy world, or back into the past, and into the lives of characters we may never meet in person (though as a kid, I'll own that in my mind I did), but who will nevertheless quite likely become dearer to us than many a real life acquaintance.  And, as XOX's recent posts have reminded us, books are also catalysts of independent thought (and thus, the most potent weapen -- at least long term -- in combatting oppression and dictatorship). 

 

 

Yet, large parts of the publishing and book mass merchandizing industry (chiefly, but not limited to Amazon) seem to be treating book mainly in terms of what they can or cannot contribute to the bottom line, and that, I feel not only does the books themselves an injustice, but it also misses out on opportunities which to miss might ultimately be more than merely a pity -- it might be dangerous: most importantly, the opportunity to win over new readers, not by compelling them to read what somebody (advertising, teachers, literary gurus, whoever) has declared a "must read", but by making them actually curious about books and reading, and by letting them explore the wonderful world hidden between the pages of a book all on their own.

 

Something that ties into this idea is the importance of libraries -- because libraries, more than any other institution, are the catalysts of precisely this notion, of reading for the sake of the joy of literary exploration, rather than selling and owning books as a piece of merchandise or a possession used in order to show off (to demonstrate one's own erudition, as a piece of interiror decoration, or for whatever other purpose).  It is no accident, in my view, that libraries are struggling for survival in so many places -- and that publishers, sellers and distribution services are actively restricting the options made available to library users.  In my view, this is a classic case of shooting oneself in the foot -- they're depriving themselves of their own future customer base -- but I do find it worrying that this is happening at all; in an industry, moreover, that really should make it its business not only to be concerned with the product they're selling but also with the wider significance of that product.  (Of course self-publishing, the technical revolution and other factors have all got a role to play in this, but still -- the fact remains that books aren't just any old product, and we'd all do well to stop, take a deep breath, and refocus.)

 

(Task: Start a revolution: What one thing would you change about the book reading world? (Be it publishing, distribution, editing, cover art, bookstores – anything having to do with books.)

 

I'm clean out of energy to prepare any (even simple) desserts or other dishes, so here, in lieu of a New Year's Eve toast, is the remainder of my holiday goodies in the kitty mug / cup that my BFF gave me for Christmas, with her homemade "Stollen" (Christmas loaf) and a miniature Stollen that my mom obtained from her favorite tea shop.

 

 

(Task: Prepare your favorite dessert – in a cup!  Post a photo of it for us to enjoy vicariously.)

 

My only salvation in stressful times: Creature comforts.  Lots of them.  And BookLikes!

 

2019 was a hell of a year in virtually every respect, and I don't mean that in a good sense -- I can only hope 2020 will be a LOT better.  BookLikes was my one happy place this year, so thank you all, the whole BookLikes community, for keeping me sane and happy whenever real life was getting a bit overwhelming.

 

 

And of course, the boys' love helped as well ...

 

 

... and, as I said, creature comforts.  Lots of them.

 

 

(Task: How do you stay zen / sane over the holidays or in other stressful periods?)