books read in 2013
In 2013 I made a spreadsheet of all the books that I read that year, and I started to do the same thing for 2014 but then my computer broke. But it's all good because I had emailed the 2013 list to myself and I remembered everything anyway. I thought I'd post the lists here anyway so
2013
1. Adaptation by Malinda Lo (I thought this had a strong start and a not so strong middle or ending.)
2. Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle (I enjoyed her other books that I've read, but this was just okay. But maybe I'm just not the target audience.)
3. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
4. Strangers from a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki
5. Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia
6. Living "Illegal" by (like four different people and I couldn't be bothered to write their names)
7. Drown by Junot Diaz
8. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
9. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (I'd give the first half maybe 4 or 5 stars. I'd give the second half maybe 1 or 2 stars)
10. A Disability History of the United States (I regret finishing this just for the sake of finishing it. On another day, I might have gotten more out of it.)
11. Interpreter of Maladies (possibly the only book on this list that I read in a day)
12. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (I sooo regret rushing through this and finishing it just for the sake of finishing it.)
13. Deathless by Catherine M. Valente (Same here, I guess the only positive thing that came out of me forcing me to read books that I might have like had I read them when I felt like reading them is that it somehow got me back in the swing of reading.)
14. Adorkable by Sarra Manning
15. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
16. Prodigy by Marie Lu (I felt that this was stronger than Legend, where the character development had been lacking.)
17. Ash by Malinda Lo (I have very lukewarm feelings about this)
18. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
19. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
20. The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley (favorite book of the year)
21. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
22. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
23. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (first Murakami. Actually I read half of Blind Willow Sleeping Woman the month before, but gave up because all the stories seemed pointless. I'd be interested in hearing from a Murakami fan why they like him so much.)
24. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
25. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (this was a reread. I rarely reread books, but I wanted to get to the next book on the list.)
26. The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta (the characters from Saving Francesca came back)
27. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (I read this in an afternoon.)
28. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
29. The Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra
30. Prison Writings: My Life is My Sundance by Leonard Peltier
31. War Dances by Sherman Alexie
32. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
33. Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon
34. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (I kind of read this in a day. I think that I started it in the afternoon, and ended the next morning. Definitely within a 24 hour period.)
35. Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele (sociology book about stereotype threat. Was informative but also boring, repetitive, and I really hated how he acted as though white men were in the same boat as minorities. God, the pain of being "stereotyped" as racist must be so much worse than actual racism! The horror!)
36. Champion by Marie Lu (I enjoyed this trilogy, but I really hated that last chapter. Or was it the last two chapters? That plot twist was so unnecessary.)
37. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
38. Everything Asian by Sung J. Woo
39. Flight by Sherman Alexie (it's entirely possible that I read this one in a day. I definitely remember reading this at a page a minute, so it could have happened.)
40. Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros (the year was winding down, and I remembered how quickly I read Mango Street, so I picked up this book so that I could say that I had read 40 books that year. Yet another book that I regret rushing through.)
