So, you know, this absolutely horrifying year of 2017 is soon ending. And New Years is, like, the time to reconsider, refocus & set some goals, right?
You see, there’s a certain irony about me: I’ve always loved books. I learned to read when I was three, and devoured all kinds of written word much faster than any kid my age had business doing. I’ve checked the most books out of my primary school’s library five years in a row. Mum routinely came to my room in the evenings to remind me about homework, food, and sleep.
And almost all of that I’ve lost in high school.
That’s when depression hit, and out of all the things I’ve missed out because of that, reading has been by far the worst loss. I couldn’t focus on a book to save my life. Something I’d have read in a few hours before now took weeks.
I never recovered from that. Reading is still hard for me, for reasons I don’t entirely understand. I’ve barely read anything in 2017.
And, frankly, this is unacceptable to me. I intend to spend my life reading and writing all kinds of words. So as of today, I’m saying “fuck this” to my mental illnesses and starting READING!
And to help me with that: 2018 Beat The Backlist. (basically, it’s a reading challenge that focuses on working on that TBR list. it is literally that simple.)
Seeing how little I’ve been reading in the recent years, I’m going to start small – for now, my goal is 3 books. If I can do that, I’m gonna slowly raise the bar, and see how much I can get done in the next year.
I’m gonna update this post with my team and a book list in the near future!
Good luck to all of you, guys, whatever you aim to accomplish in 2k18.
Stay determined!
I’m on the Dewey Dragons team! Reptiles represent 🐉
Also, here’s my current TBR:
Angela Carter’s short story collection (includes two pieces from Fireworks, five from The Bloody Chamber, six from Black Venus, and two from American Ghosts and Old World Wonders)
LIST OF THE WEEK: TEN NATIVE AMERICAN PROTAGONISTS We thought about what to put here, but these ten Native American protagonists speak for themselves. For more fun lists and all things YA lit, visit our website, follow us here and on Twitter, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter!
[EDIT] Thanks to Crystal Brunelle for pointing out that Dragon Castle has a Slovakian protaganist. Our bad! We’ve replaced it with The Lesser Blessed.
PLEASE DO NOT THROW THE YA GENRE UNDER THE BUS it is filled with diversity that goes far beyond whatever makes it to the movies! Please give it a chance!
When it comes to asexual representation in books, I’m most
interested in reading ace main characters written by ace authors. Ace side
characters are always great, but I really love getting the ace character’s
point of view, and I believe authors who are ace themselves are best equipped
to pull that off realistically. Thinking about this, I ended up making the
following list of all the books/series I could find that have an ace-spec MC
(or at least a point-of-view character) and were written by an ace-spec author.
Click the links for more info and discussion. If you know of any I missed, I’d
love to hear about them!
i used to be so into all these romance novels but now that i am more aware and i know more…… i fucking hate them like i really dont want to read about a white boy and a white girl falling in love in different circumstances again. unfortunately thats basically the entirety of the YA genre. i guess my point is that im so sick of heterosexuality being in every goddamn book i read.
You don’t like heterosexuality being the default? Me neither! Try a book from one of these lists:
Never feel guilty for reading fan fic at 3am. Everything is fanfic in the end. From fanfic you were made, to fanfic you shall return.
Read that which has been panned by literary snobs. Read novels churned out by the dozen by authors with a dozen pseudonyms.
Read your US and People. Flip through Popular Science just for the gadgets section. Read articles about the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
Read books outside your comfort zone. Don’t finish them if you don’t want. It’s the book’s fault, not yours.
Read in your comfort zone. Read a YA and romance and science if and fantasy.
Skip over the boring bits. Read it because you heard about it from Oprah or because everyone else is reading it.
Giggle yourself silly at something so poorly written and full of author wish fulfillment that you just can’t stop reading it.
Don’t listen to the keepers of taste and culture. Their reward comes every time they pat themselves on the back for their superior taste.
Don’t listen to the academics that bemoan the downfall of society and learning. They have been doing that since Socrates’ time.
Don’t listen to the tv presenters who insist you are not cultured if you haven’t read from this list of books.
Audio books count as reading. Ebooks count as reading. Fanfic of questionable quality counts as reading. Rereading books for the third time counts as reading. Reading to your child counts as reading. Reading from the back of the cereal box (and doing the puzzle) counts as reading.
TL;DR: read what you want. Don’t be ashamed. Never let someone try to make you feel bad for how or what you read and enjoy. Tell them that I, your Friendly Neighborhood Librarian have absolved you from your guilt and have given you special blessings. Go forth and read, my child.
Don’t listen to the keepers of taste and culture. Their reward comes every time they pat themselves on the back for their superior taste.
Consume art widely. Experiment with genres, markets, and forms might usually avoid. Build a rich internal life for yourself, one without borders or limits.
Courtney Alameda is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Shutter, and the forthcoming novel Pitch Dark (June 2017). A veteran bookseller and librarian, she now writes full-time and lives in Utah with her husband.
Too many good recommendations here to even single one or two out. We’ve been discussing how to read to become a better writer recently; now here’s a good, timely list to fit almost any need. Even poetry and comics.
starry-eyed 