Reading Stats, 2017

This is long overdue, since last year really got away from me, and the chaos of the last year is also reflected in the fact that I read a lot less this year, and didn’t make the same effort to seek out new authors. That’s played itself out in important ways in the data. The authors I read this year were overwhelmingly women–68%, in fact! I read about the same number of writers of color, but my stats for LGBT authors took a nosedive when I wasn’t actively seeking them out, which meant that only 32% of my reading this year was of non-white, non-straight folk. Clearly, I still need to put more active effort into broadening my horizons.

Some of my favorites from this year

Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures

Jenny Lawson, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Marika McCoola, Baba Yaga’s Assistant

Brennan Lee Muligan and Molly Ostertag, Strong Female Protagonist, Book 2

Shonda Rhimes, Year of Yes

Hillary Rodham Clinton, What Happened

James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

Final tally for 2017

16 male writers: 26%

43 female writers: 68%

4 mixed/anthologies: 6%

15 writers of color: 24%

4 LGBT writers: 6%

1 disabled writer: 2%

43 white, straight, cis: 68%