For 2017’s list, in order to spare my hands and fingers a bit, I’m no longer swapping the (primary) writer’s last name. Content remains in alphabetic order by creator last name, though.
In the future, however, I may discontinue listing DNF (did not finish) items, except for exceptions where I would want to revisit. With samples and previews readily available in ebook form, I’ve been able to whittle down my ginormous TBR (to be read; 1,000+ on Goodreads alone!) list but simply not continuing with those that don’t hold my interest.
As usual, 💡 (lightbulb icon) indicates a recommendation on my part, with the exception of the shorts section.
To jump to a section:
- Comics and Art Monographs. Again, for some of the comics I started in the past, I have gone back and adjusted recommendations in the older posts.
- Longer fiction
- Shorter fiction
- Non-fiction
- Unfinished books and comics
Film, television, and other video
Best music video of 2017: “Immigrants (We Get the Job Done),” from the Hamilton: Mix Tape.
Web series to check out: American Koko.
Best television series discovered, to carry me through the years with no more Orphan Black: The Expanse. In terms of movies, I was sadly not too impressed by Wonder Woman, but I found Logan superb, notably the black and white version (“Noir”). Additionally, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was enjoyable and subversive regarding the inheritance of the Force and arrogant flyboys.
Comics & Art Monographs
John Allison, Lissa Treiman, Max Sarin, Liz Fleming, and Whitney Cogar. Giant Days (ongoing).
💡 Lorena Alvarez. Nightlights.
Jean Barker, Joey Granger, and Luciana Maruca. Zana (ongoing).
Beholder (Dave Whiteland et al.). Dwindle: A Tapir’s Tale (complete).
💡 Gina Biggs. “Workbreak.”
💡 Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk. Mockingbird: I Can Explain (volume 1).
Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, and Joëlle Jones. Mockingbird, Vol. 2: My Feminist Agenda.
Margaret Chiavetta, Brooks Peck, Beth Morrell, and Autumn Haynes. The Unadoptables (ongoing).
Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro. Bitch Planet: President Bitch (volume 2).
Leila del Duca and Kit Seaton. Afar.
Damian Duffy. Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred.
Emet Comics (publisher). Fresh Romance anthology volume 2
Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and Matt Wilson. The Wicked + The Divine, volumes 3 and 4.
Eve Greenwood. Inhibit (ongoing).
Kristen Gudsnuk. Henchgirl.
Gene Ha. Mae, volume 1.
💡 Shannon Hale, LeUyen Pham, Jane Poole. Real Friends.
💡 Carrie Harris and Stipe Kalajžić. On the Wall (volume 1?).
💡 Faith Erin Hicks. The Stone Heart.
Ursula Murray Husted. Hidden Names (ongoing).
Amy King. The Muse Mentor (completed).
💡 Lucy Knisley. French Milk.
💡 Hope Larson and Madeleine L’Engle. A Wrinkle in Time.
💡 Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock. Knife’s Edge.
Hope Larson, Brittney Williams, Jackie Ball, Noah Hayes, et al. Goldie Vance (ongoing).
Finn Lucullan and Kate Larking. Crash and Burn (ongoing).
Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn. Alex + Ada, volumes 1, 2, and 3 (completed).
Aline Brosh McKenna and Ramón Pérez. Jane.
💡 Lora Merriman. The Otherknown (ongoing).
Molly Ostertag. Queen of the Steppe (completed).
💡 Nagata Kabi and Jocelyne Allen. My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness.
Dara Naraghi and Brent Bowman. Persia Blues: Leaving Home (volume 1).
💡 (re-read) Katie O’Neill. Princess Princess Ever After.
Philip Pullman. La Belle Sauvage.
Kristen Radtke. Imagine Wanting Only This.
Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare, Marco Failla, and Natacha Bustos. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, volumes 2 and 3.
💡 Natalie Riess. Space Battle Lunchtime, volumes 1 and 2.
Jamie Rich and Megan Levens. Ares & Aprodite, volume 1.
💡 Rokudenashiko. What Is Obscenity? The Story of a Good for Nothing Artist and Her Pussy.
💡 Caitlin Scannell. Between the Wind and Sea.
💡 Sharon Shinn and Molly Ostertag. Shattered Warrior.
Elise Schuenke. Living Space.
💡 Allison Shaw. Persephone.
💡 Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun. The Sand Warrior volume 1.
💡 Kirsten Smith, Kurt Lustgarten, and Naomi Franquiz. Misfit City, volume 1 (ongoing).
Snowshadow. Tangled River (ongoing).
Arigon Starr. Super Indian Comics (ongoing).
Sam Sykes, Selina Espiritu, and Bridget Underwood. Brave Chef Brianna (ongoing).
💡 Meg Syverud and Jessica “Yoko” Weaver. Daughter of the Lilies (ongoing).
Tait. Pacifica (on hiatus).
💡 Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. Skim.
💡 Raina Telgemeier. Ghosts.
Paul Tobin, Colleen Coover, and Brendan Wright. Bandette, volumes 1, 2, and 3.
Anne Toole, Katie O’Neill, and Paulina Ganucheau. Crystal Cadets, volume 1.
Tsukiyono. Chosen (completed).
Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. Runaways: Pride and Joy (volume 1).
💡 Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matthew Wilson, and Jared K. Fletcher. Paper Girls volumes 1, 2, and 3 (ongoing).
💡 Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Saga (volume 7).
💡 Tillie Walden. On a Sunbeam (completed).
Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu. Mooncakes (ongoing).
💡 Kurtis J. Wiebe and Tess Fowler. Rat Queens: Demons volume 3.
Tim (Grim) Wilkins. Mirenda #1
G. Willow Wilson. Continued to read Ms. Marvel, up through volume 7 in 2017.
Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko. Avatar: The Airbender: The Rift.
Longer Fiction
Cassie Alexander. Nightshifted series, five books. I recommend the first three books, but the last two went on arcs that disappointed me.
💡 Charlie Jane Anders. All the Birds in the Sky.
Amy Andrews. Girl Least Likely to Marry.
Ilona Andrews. One Fell Sweep and 💡 Steel’s Edge.
Elizabeth Arden. The Bear and the Nightingale.
Amber A. Bardan. King’s Captive.
Elizabeth Bear. Karen Memory.
Jenna Black. The Devil Inside, The Devil You Know, The Devil’s Due, Speak of the Devil, and The Devil’s Playground.
Amanda Bouchet. 💡 A Promise of Fire and Breath of Fire.
Patricia Briggs. Mercy Thompson series, books 1 through 5.
Terri Brisbin. His Enemy’s Daughter.
💡 Maljean Brook. The Kraken King and Riveted.
Maljean Brook. Frozen and Wrecked.
Koko Brown and Taige Crenshaw. Forever, I Do.
Rachel Caine. Ill Wind.
Gail Carriger. Romancing the Inventor.
💡 Becky Chambers. Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit.
Geonn Cannon. Riley Parra: Better Angles (season 1).
💡 Kristin Cashore. Graceling and Bitterblue.
Kresley Cole. Wicked Abyss.
L.H. Cosway. Painted Faces, Killer Queen, and The Nature of Cruelty.
Jennifer Crusie. Anyone But You.
Olivia Dade. Broken Resolutions.
Tessa Dare. A Night to Surrender, A Lady by Midnight, 💡 Beauty and the Blacksmith, 💡 Any Duchess Will Do, 💡 Do You Want to Start a Scandal, and :idea The Duchess Deal.
Aliette de Bodard. Of Books, and Earth, and Courtship.
💡 Susan Ee. Penryn and the End of Days trilogy: Angelfall, World After, and End of Days.
💡 Kate Elliott. Spirit Walker trilogy: Cold Magic, Cold Fire, and Cold Steel.
Vicki Essex. Back to the Good Fortune Diner.
💡 Maggie Fenton. The Duke’s Holiday.
Sarah Fine. Sanctum.
Alex Flinn. Beastly.
Lee French. Shadow and Spice.
Laura Anne Gilman. The Cold Eye.
Barbara Hannay. Zoe’s Muster.
💡 Thea Harrison. Dragon Bound.
Larissa Ione. Pleasure Unbound.
💡 Beverly Jenkins. Forbidden.
Iris Johansen. The Lady and the Unicorn.
💡 Kij Johnson. The Dream-Quest of Vellitte Boe.
💡 Jeffe Kennedy. Pages of the Mind.
T. Kingfisher. Summer in Orcus.
Roni Loren. 💡 Off the Clock, Not Until You, and Nothing Between Us.
Shannon Mayer. The Venom Trilogy: Venom and Vanilla, Fangs and Fennel, and Hisses and Honey.
💡 Seanan McGuire. Every Heart a Doorway.
💡 Jodi Meadows. Before She Ignites.
💡 Courtney Milan. Go read the entire Brothers Sinister series! Also check out Hold Me (part of the Cyclone series), the Worth Saga (series), as well as Unlocked.
Amber Lynn Natusch. From the Ashes and 💡 Live Wire.
💡 Molly O’Keefe. Everything I Left Unsaid, The Truth About Him, Bad Neighbor, We Are All Found Things, and Wait for It.
Nnedi Okorafor. Binti: Home, Zahrah the Windseeker, and Akata Witch.
Pepper Pace. Beast.
Alisha Rai. Cabin Fever and Glutton for Pleasure.
Zenobia Renquist. Alien Mate Experiment.
Kit Rocha. Ashwin.
Georgette St. Clair. Bride of the Dragon.
Elise Sax. Man Candy.
💡 Sharon Shinn. Archangel.
Nalini Singh. Archangel’s Viper.
R. Lee Smith. Land of the Beautiful Dead.
Meagan Spooner. Hunted.
Jennifer Stevenson. The Hinky Brass Bed, The Velvet Chair, The Bearskin Rug, The Hinky Genie Lamp, and A Taste of You.
💡 Sabaa Tahir. An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night.
Tiffany Snow. Follow Me and Break Me. I swear, reading these books was like watching an accident occur: How many things can this author break? Let me enumerate: An obviously near-atypical protagonist who, being female, is referred to as “quirky,” rather than honestly and respectfully describing her limitations; Chinese-Americans will always be loyal to China (WTF racism and ethnocentrism); I can’t recall other POC who aren’t otherwise villainous or at least untrustworthy; alpha males are alpha, except when they fall hard for the quirky, femme protagonist (not that that’s always bad — it’s just done badly here); and the brilliant female engineer is eventually outdone by a male mystery man.
💡 Sherry Thomas. Delicious.
Sara O. Thompson. Muddy Waters.
Holley Trent (as H.E. Trent). The Jekh Saga: Erstwhile, Crux, and Salvo (first three volumes).
Jeff VanderMeer. Annihilation: Southern Reach volume 1.
💡 Elizabeth Vaughan. Warprize.
💡 Ursula Vernon. The Tomato Thief.
Rebekah Weatherspoon. Fit, So for Real, So Right, and So Sweet
💡 C.L. Wilson. The Winter King.
Joanna Wylde. Reaper’s Property and Devil’s Game.
Shorter Fiction
Again, I typically listen (or read) shorts from the following:
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Web and podcast content.
- Cast of Wonders podcast — young adult (YA) speculative fiction.
- Clarkesworld Magazine: Web and podcast content.
- Escape Pod: Web and podcast content.
- Lightspeed Magazine: Web and podcast content.
- PodCastle: Web and podcast content.
- Strange Horizons: Web and podcast content.
- Welcome to Night Vale: Podcast content. ALL HAIL.
- Tor.com: Web content.
- Uncanny Magazine: Podcasts.
A new discovery for me is the horror serial podcast, The Lift, a.k.a., Victoria’s Lift.
Edward Ahern. “The Feathered Cloak.”
Saladin Ahmed. “Clay and Smokeless Fire.”
J.W. Alden. “The Tentacles Never Lie.”
S.R. Algernon. “The Eye of Reason.”
Charlie Allison. “In Mixcoatl’s Net.”
Madeline Alvey. “Honey and Bone.”
Joe Ambercrombie. “Two’s Company.”
Charlie Jane Anders. “Clover,” a followup story to one of the characters from All the Birds in the Sky.
Joanne Anderton. “Bullets.”
Natalia Antonova. “The Fox Head Barks Facing Seaward.”
Therese Arkenberg. “Godfather” and “The Void Test.”
Charlotte Ashley. “Sigrid Under the Mountain.”
Danielle Atkinson. “Bibliopothecary.”
Bo Balder. “The Bridgegroom.”
Kathleen Baldwin. “Dragons of Tomorrow.”
K.C. Ball. “Stay.”
Tony Ballantyne. “A Pound of Darkness, a Quarter of Dreams.”
Ashok K. Banker. “A Vortal in Midtown.”
Jess-Barber. “Maybe Look Up.”
Barbara A. Barnett. “Seer’s Salad.”
Kelly Barnhill. “Probably Still the Chosen One.”
J.E. Bates. “Beetle-Cleaned Skulls.”
Peter S. Beagle. “The Story of Kao Yu.”
J.S. Bell. “Mr. Scampers War.”
Susan Jane Bigelow. “The Heart’s Cartography.”
Ashley Blooms. “The Dead Father Cookbook.”
Wendy Bradley. “Mrs. Jai.”
Jennifer Marie Brissett. “A Song for You.”
Laurence Raphael Brothers. “Thirteen Bullets.”
Stephanie Burgis. “A Cup of Comfort.”
Octavia Cade. “The Stone Weta.”
Christopher Caldwell. “Serving Fish.”
Cecil Castellucci. “The Sound of Useless Wings.”
Beth Cato. “Reading Time” and “With Cardamom I’ll Bind Their Lips.”
Vajra Chandrasekera. “Perihelion” and “Left of Bang: Preemptive Self-Actualization for Autonomous Systems.”
Andrea Chapela. “The Person You Are Trying To Reach Is Not Available.”
Zen Cho. “Monkey King, Faerie Queen.”
Nino Cipri. “The Shape of My Name.”
P. Djeli Clark. “A Dead Djinn in Cairo.”
Dhonielle Clayton. “Hearts Turned to Ash.”
Marcelo Cohen. “A Mortal Legend.”
Tina Connolly. “Selling Home.”
Fei Dao. “The Robot Who Liked to Tell Tall Tales.”
Karl Dandenell. “We Who Stay Behind” https://firesidefiction.com/we-who-stay-behind
Rowena Cory Daniells. “The Giant’s Lady.”
Scott Dalrymple. “Marcel Proust, Incorporated.”
Indrapramit Das. “The Worldless.”
Amanda C. Davis. “Shimmer.”
J.R. Dawson. “Nozizwe and Almahdi.”
Kelsey Dean. “Below the Serapeum.”
Aliette de Bodard. “The Waiting Stars” and “The Shipmaker.”
Marion Deeds. “Never Truly Yours.”
Giovanni De Feo. “Ugo.”
Preston Dennett. “The Phobos Monolith.”
Seth Dickinson. “Please Undo This Hurt.”
A.S. Diev. “Sacred Cows: Death and Squalor on the Rio Grande.”
S.B. Divya. “The Boy Who Made Flowers” and “Microbiota and Masses: A Love Story.”
Sarina Dorie. “Princesses Do Not Breathe Fire.”
Matt Dovey. “The Ghosts of Europa Will Keep You Trapped in a Prison You Make for Yourself.”
Arthur Doweyko. “Nothing to See Here.”
Aidan Doyle. “Inksucker.”
Laura Duerr. “Unit Two Does Her Makeup.”
Christopher East. “An Inflexible Truth.”
Spencer Ellsworth. “Blade and Branch and Stone.”
Amal El-Mohtar. “Seasons of Glass and Iron.”
Ruthanna Emrys. “The Deepest Rift.”
Angela and Joel Enos. “Terminals.”
Francesca Forrest. “The Oulough.”
Eugie Foster. “Running on Two Legs.”
Rebecca Fraimow. “Further Arguments in Support of Yudah Cohen’s Proposal to Bluma Zilberman” and “Shaina Rubin Keeps Her Head Under Circumstances Nobody Could Have Expected.”
Nancy Fulda. “Planetbound.”
Sarah Gailey. “The Art of Asterculture.”
Shaenon Garrity. “Bonsai” and “Red Kelly Owns the Moon.”
Adam Gaylord. “The There-It-Is Store.”
Austin H. Gilkeson. “The Ghost of Grammy Goneril.”
Beth Goder. “When All the Clocks Are Wrong.”
Ari Goelman. “Origin.”
Jaymee Goh. “The Last Cheng Beng Gift.”
Sarah Goldman. “Islands in the Dark .”
Eduardo Goligorsky. “The Last Refuge.”
A.T. Greenblatt. “Tell Them of the Sky.”
J.W. Halicks. “Nightshade.”
Emmalia Harrington. “The Secret Ingredient.”
Nin Harris. “Reversion.”
Maria Dahvana Headley. “Some Gods of El Paso.”
Simone Heller. “How Bees Fly.”
Amanda Helms. “Mr. Quacky in Space.”
Joseph Allen Hill. “Infinite Love Engine” and “The Venus Effect.”
Abigail Hilton. “A Suitable Pet.”
Rosamund Hodge. “Textual Variants.”
C.R. Hodges. “Run.”
Cecelia Holland. “Dragon’s Deep.”
Celeste Hollister. “Cherry Squid.”
Jessica Holscher. “The Hero.”
Tom Howard. “The Long Cut.”
G. Scott Huggins. “What Good is a Glass Warrior?”
Chi Hui. “Rain Ship.”
Kameron Hurley. “Elephants and Corpses” and “Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Are Full of Light!”
M.K. Hutchins. “Bricks and Sunlight.”
C.E. Hyun. “Pluto.”
Jordan Ifueko. “Oshun, Inc.”
James Isaac. “Empty Pockets.”
N.K. Jemisin. “The City Born Great” and “The Evaluators: To Trade with Aliens, You Must Adapt.”
Xia Jia. “The Psychology Game” and “Goodnight, Melancholy.”
J.R. Johnson. “Taxidermy and Other Dangerous Professions.”
Rachel K. Jones. “Dinosaur Dreams in Infinite Measure,” “This Story Begins with You,” and “More than Machines Will Fall to Rust.”
Eric Juneau. “Influx Capacitor.”
Joseph L. Kellogg. “The Middle Rages.”
Rick Kennett. “Thirty Minutes for New Hell.”
Cassandra Khaw. “In the Rustle of Pages.”
Chris Kluwe. “Dinosaur Killers.”
Alethea Kontis. “Small Magics.”
Nancy Kress. “The Most Famous Little Girl in the World.”
Naomi Kritzer. “Paradox” and “Waiting Out the End of the World in Patty’s Place Cafe.”
Greg Kurzawa. “Soccer Fields and Frozen Lakes.”
Spencer Joelle. “Lizzy Viscer and the Quest for the Perfect Sandwich.”
Rachael K. Jones. “Traveling Mercies.”
Jamie Lackey. “The Immobile God of Secrets.”
Nathaniel Lee. “The Alchemist’s Children.”
Yoon Ha Lee. “Extracurricular Activities.”
David D. Levine. “Discards.”
Anica Lewis. “Multiple Choice.”
Ken Liu. “Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon.”
S. Qiouyi Lu. “A Complex Filament of Light.”
Ian R. MacLeod. “The Discovered Country.”
Usman T. Malik. “The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” and “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family.”
Paul Steven Marino. “The Fountain and the Shoe Store.”
August Marion. “Vegetablemen in Peanut Town.”
Jamie Mason. “Flowers for the Dead.”
Harley May. “My Boogie Man.”
Jaime O. Mayer. “Contractual Obligations.”
Paul McAuley. “Reef.”
Seanan McGuire. “Fiber” and “How the Maine Coon Cat Learned to Love the Sea.”
Claire McKenna. “The Marriage of the Corn King.”
D.S. McNab. “Yosemite.
Sam J. Miller. “Bodies Stacked Like Firewood.”
Allison Mills. “If a Bird Can Be a Ghost”: https://www.apex-magazine.com/if-a-bird-can-be-a-ghost/
Terry L. Miril. “Some Assembly Required.”
D.K. Mok. “Almost Days.”
Jenny Moore. “Once There Was a Hero…”
Sunny Moraine. “eyes I dare not meet in dreams.”
Faith Mudge. “Blueblood.”
Remy Nakamura. “Impossibility Crow.”
Shweta Narayan. “World of the Three.”
Nevertheless, She Persisted, a flash fiction celebration of International Women’s Day. Of note: “Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Are Full of Light!” by Kameron Hurley; “The Jump Rope Rhyme” by Jo Walton; and “The Ordinary Woman and the Unquiet Emperor” by Catherynne M. Valente.
Kurt Newton. “The Surfacing.”
Brandon O’Brien. “They Will Take You From You”
Sandra M. Odell. “For” and “A Troll’s Trade.”
Yukimi Ogawa. “Blue Grey Blue.”
Aimee Ogden. “The Forty Gardens of Calliope Grey” and “Seb Dreams of Reincarnation.”
Daniel José Older. “Victory Music.”
Kat Otis. “The Perfect Prom.”
Kelli Owen and Alethea Kontis. “Black Hole Sun.”
Susan Palwick. “Remote Presence.”
Richard Parks. “In Memory of Jianhong, Snake-Devil.”
Julia K. Patt. “My Dear, Like the Sky and Stars and Sun” and “Whatever Tower, However High.”
Irette Y. Patterson. “Legacy.”
Jez Patterson. “Pignus.”
Laurie Penny. “Your Orisons May Be Recorded.”
Kristene Perron. “Safe Harbour.”
Aisha Phoenix. “Airswimming.”
Tony Pi. “A Spirited Education” and “That Lingering Sweetness.”
Sarah Pinsker. “Our Lady of the Open Road” and “Remember Day.”
Brittany Pladek. “Andromache and the Dragon.”
Bethany Powell. “Color Contacts.”
Jessie Bishop Powell. “Loma’ai.”
Vina Jie-Min Prasad. “A Series of Steaks.”
Lettie Prell. “Crossing LaSalle.”
Tim Pratt. “Six Jobs.”
Zhang Ran. “An Age of Ice.”
Lina Rather. “Seven Permutations of My Daughter.”
Jamieson Ridenhour. “Captain Cleveland Grackle’s Galactic Cabaret vs. The Goblins of Vishnu 6.”
Christopher Mark Rose. “Monstrance of Sky.”
Eden Royce. “Crickets Sing for Naomi.”
A. Merc Rustad. “The Android’s Prehistoric Menagerie” and “Later, Let’s Tear Up the Inner Sanctum.”
Carlie St. George. “Every Day Is the Full Moon.”
Sofia Samatar. “The Closest Thing to Animals.”
Victoria Sandbrook. “Phalium Arium Ssp Amans.”
Holly Schofield. “Hard Passage,” “Old People Rules,” “The Jungle Between,” and “The Scent That Treason Brings.”
Eric Schwitzgebel. “Little /^^^\&-“
Effie Seiberg. “RedChip BlueChip” and “The Thirty-Seven Faces of Tokh-Bathon.”
Nibedita Sen. “Never Yawn Under a Banyan Tree.”
Ramsey Shehadeh. “Jimmy’s Roadside Cafe.”
Trevor Shikaze. “A Windowless Kitchen.”
Amy Sisson and Kate Suratt. Captain Drake Learns His Lines.”
K.B. Sluss. “Not-So-Stock Photos.”
Caighlan Smith. “A Pest Most Fiendish.”
Sherwood Smith. “Zapped.”
Katherine Sparrow. “Alienation.”
D.A. Xiaolin Spires. “Twisted Knots.”
Benjanun Sriduangkaew. “The Universe As Vast As Our Longings.”
David Steffen. “This Is Your Problem Right Here.”
Guy Stewart. “Fairy Bones.”
Philip A. Suggars. “London Calling”
Bobby Sun. “The Awakening of Insects.”
Michael Swanwick. “The Night of the Salamander.”
Charity Tahmaseb. “In a Manner of Speaking.”
Axel Taiari. “Beyond the Visible Spectrum.”
Andrea Tang. “Cassandra Writes Out of Order.”
Drew Hayden Taylor. “Take Us To Your Chief.”
Shveta Thakrar. “Songbird.”
Natalia Theodoridou. “On Post-Mortem Birds.”
Lavie Tidhar. “Shira,” “Terminal,” and “The Oracle.”
E. Catherine Tobler. “Baroness.”
David Tallerman. “My Friend Fishfinger by Daisy, Age 7.”
J.R. Troughton. “The Mothgate.”
Catherynne M. Valente. “The Ordinary Woman and the Unquiet Emperor”
Carrie Vaughn. “That Game We Played During the War” and “The Thing About Growing up in Jokertown.”
Eliza Victoria. “Fortitude.”
Sabrina Vourvoulias. “The Ways of Walls and Words.”
Kevin Wabaunsee. “Trusted Messenger.”
Jamie Wahls. “Utopia, LOL?”
Jo Walton. “The Jump Rope Rhyme.”
M. Darusha Wehm. “War Profiteering.”
Alex Wells. “Angel of the Blockade.”
Shannon M. Wendt. “Off Button.”
“Jay Werkheiser. “One Giant Leap.”
Nick Wolven. “Streams and Mountains.”
Anna Yeatts. “When I Had Eyes, I Didn’t See.”
Caroline M. Yoachim. “Carnival Nine.”
E. Lily Yu. “Darkout” and “The Witch of Orion Waste and The Boy Knight.”
Alex Yuschik. “Texts from the Ghost War.”
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro and Adam-Troy Castro. “A Touch of Heart.”
Non-fiction
Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Flatbreads and Flavors: A Baker’s Atlas and Seductions of Rice.
America’s Test Kitchen. The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies, and Bars.
💡 Matthew Amster-Burton. Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo.
Rolando Beramendi. utentico: Cooking Italian, the Authentic Way.
John Hart Benson. Eyewitness Japan.
Chris Bianco. Bianco: Pizza, Pasta, and Other Food I Like.
Massimo Bottura. Bread Is Gold.
Jon Burbank. Eyewitness Travel Tokyo.
Floyd Cardoz and Marah Stets. Flavorwalla: Big Flavor. Bold Spices. A New Way to Cook the Foods You Love.
Melissa Clark and Eric Wolfinger. Dinner: Changing the Game.
Clotilde Dusoulier. The French Market Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes from My Parisian Kitchen.
Robyn Eckhardt and David Hagerman. Istanbul and Beyond: Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey.
Caroline Eden and Eleanor Ford. Samarkand: Recipes and Stories from Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Fany Gerson. Mexican Ice Cream: Beloved Recipes and Stories.
💡 Sabrina Ghayour. Sirocco: Fabulous Flavors from the East.
💡 Asha Gomez and Martha Hall Foose. My Two Souths: Blending the Flavors of India into a Southern Kitchen.
💡 Dorie Greenspan. Dorie’s Cookies.
Amy Guittard. Guittard Chocolate Cookbook: Decadent Recipes from San Francisco’s Premium Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Company.
💡 Colu Henry. Back Pocket Pasta: Inspired Dinners to Cook on the Fly.
💡 Diana Henry. Salt Sugar Smoke.
💡 Leila Jeffreys. Bird Love.
💡 Joudie Kalla. Palestine on a Plate: Memories From My Mother’s Kitchen.
David Kaplan. Death & Co.: Modern Classic Cocktails.
💡 Reem Kassis. The Palestinian Table.
Niloufer Ichaporia King. My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking.
Tessa Kiros. Provence to Pondicherry.
Joel MacCharles and Dana Harrison. Batch: Over 200 Recipes, Tips and Techniques for a Well Preserved Kitchen.
💡 Gill Meller. Gather: Simple, Seasonal Recipes from Gill Meller, Head Chef at River Cottage.
Shane Mitchell. Far Afield: Rare Food Encounters from Around the World.
💡 Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh. Sweet.
💡 Deb Perelman. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites .
Sasha Petraske and Georgette Moger-Petraske. Regarding Cocktails.
Naomi Pomeroy. Taste & Technique: Recipes to Elevate Your Home Cooking.
Maricel E. Presilla. The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes.
💡 Jessica Reed. The Baker’s Appendix.
💡 Becky Selengut, Matthew Amster-Burton, and Denise Sakaki. Not One Shrine: Two Food Writers Devour Tokyo.
💡 Lior Lev Sercarz. The Spice Companion: A Guide to the World of Spices
💡 Meera Sodha. Made in India: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen.
Michael Solomonov. Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking.
💡 Lesley Téllez. Eat Mexico: Recipes from Mexico City’s Streets, Markets & Fondas.
Cyrus Todiwala. Mr Todiwala’s Spice Box: 120 Recipes with Just 10 Spices.
Julia Turshen, and Gentyl & Hyers. Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs.
💡 Luisa Weiss. Classic German Baking: The Very Best Recipes for Traditional Favorites, from Pfeffernüsse to Streuselkuchen.
Eric Werner, Mya Henry, Mulke Christine, and Oliver Strand. Hartwood: Between the Land and the Sea.
Reiko Yamada. Everyday Onigiri: 101 Healthy, Easy Japanese Riceball Recipes.
Unfinished
Over the last couple years I’ve learned to better appreciate the romance genre. However, most of the alpha male trope, (especially combined with) women with no or little agency, and HEA (happily ever after) ending with pregnancy — those themes sometimes feel lazy, unsatisfying, or aggravating. Pregnancy can definitely be an intrinsic part of plot, but equating it to HEA rankles me. There are many kinds of good endings, as their are diverse forms of happiness, conclusion, and the two combined (or not). Glad I feel little (or no) compunction about not finishing such works — the to-read list is long, after all! Not all of the following fall under that sub[-sub?]-genre, of course; some books I simply did not get into, or have time to finish (notably non-fiction).
As in previous annual reading posts, the lightbulb icon ( 💡 ) means that while I didn’t finish the book, what little I’d read of it impressed me (in a good way!) to return to it in the future, if (when?) time allows.
Cassie Alexander. Bloodshifted.
The Alexandria Archives podcast.
Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas, and Tamra Bonvillain. Angel Catbird.
Amir Avitzur. The Legend of Novo.
Mikaela B. Brain Damage (ongoing).
Michele Tracy Berger. Reenu-You.
Marc Bernardin. Genius (volume 1).
Patricia Briggs. River Marked, although I should’ve saved myself time and stopped at Bone Crossed or Silver Borne.
Stephanie Burgis. The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart.
Coreene Callahan. Fury of Fire.
Geonn Cannon. Riley Parra (season 2).
Kristin Cashore. Fire.
Cecil Castellucci e al. Shade, the Changing Girl.
💡 Zen Cho. Sorcerer to the Crown.
Sarah ‘Neila’ Elkins. Magic Remains (ongoing).
Alesha L. Escobar. The Gray Tower Trilogy.
💡 Max Gladstone. Three Parts Dead.
M.J. Haag and Becca Vincenza. Demon Flames.
Tanya Huff. The Enchantment Emporium.
💡 Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot. Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work.
Kevin Kwan. Crazy Rich Asians.
Laura Lam. The Snake Charm.
Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. Monstress: The Blood (volume 2).
Laurie Marks. Fire Logic.
💡 Samin Nosrat. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking.
Bryan Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung. Snotgirl.
Pepper Pace. Stranded!
Ada Palmer. Too Like the Lightning.
💡 Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel. The Art of Flavor: Practices and Principles for Creating Delicious Food.
Caridad Piñeiro. Sins of the Flesh.
Tara Sivec. Seduction and Snacks.
Tiffany Snow. Find Me. See amy rant bove in the longford section.
Jennifer Stevenson. Beth (Coed Demon Sluts #1).
Taneka Stotts. Déjà Brew. I wanted to continue reading this comic, but I got a bit frustrated trying to use the required Stela app (and website). Perhaps once a copy of DB is available for purchase…
Holley Trent. Shrew & Company.
Mathew Van Dinner. Unearth (ongoing).
Carrie Vaughn. Kitty and the Midnight Hour.
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