Head over to the Shepherd website to see why I chose the three authors/books that I did!

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There are new reading recs by yours truly up today on The Shepherd! This list is for all you parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and caregivers who need to have hard conversations with little ones about pets dying. I was inspired to pitch a list of my own after reading my friend Tove Danovich’s list of books about animals that help us understand ourselves better.

If you haven’t checked it out before, The Shepherd is a really cool website to find books to read! Authors recommend lists of their favorite based on different themes, and you can sort bookshelves based on topics such as “dog books” or “books about death.” Check it out!

The post Pet death picture book reading list up on The Shepherd! appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

I can’t believe it has been a month. It both flew by and also felt like the longest month of my life. More below on everything that has happened since 8/2! But thank you to everyone who preordered the book, purchased the book once it was out, showed up at an event either virtually or in-person, posted about Good Grief on social media, texted my mom when they heard me on NPR, snapped a photo when they spotted Good Grief  “in the wild” (please NEVER STOP sending me pictures when you see Good Grief in bookstores or libraries, it makes me so happy), and/or sent me an email, DM, text, or other kind of message about how much the book meant to them. All I can say is I have been completely overwhelmed in the best possible way. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So much has happened since Good Grief came out on 8/2. First, here is a list of all the wonderful interviews, essays, media coverage, reviews, etc. that have come out in the past month. Seriously, it has only been a month???? How????

• Good Grief has been reviewed favorably in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Shelf Awareness, The Wellesley News, Booklist, and The Washington Independent Review of Books.
• Good Grief was recommended in reading lists from Book Riot, Literary Hub, Wellesley Magazine, and the New Castle Public Library, plus veterinarian Karen Fine includes Good Grief in the list of pet loss resources on her website.
• You can read an excerpt of Good Grief on Literary Hub!
• The 8/2 Good Grief launch event got a shout-out in the Boston Globe!
• I got to speak about Good Grief on several different podcasts including Library Love Fest (in conversation with Ivy Givens), Writer’s Bone (in conversation with Daniel Ford and Kelly J. Ford, who are not related), Debut Spotlight (in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum), and Dog Talk (in conversation with Tracie Hotchner a.k.a. the Radio Pet Lady).
• My essay “The Heart of a Professor” (about the way one of my college professors showed me great empathy when I had to euthanize my childhood dog Gus)as the Endnotes essay in the summer 2022 issue of Wellesley Magazine.
• Good Grief got a write-up in my hometown local newspaper, The Lexington Minuteman!
• “Ashes to Ashes, Pet to Plant” is my essay for Slate’s Future Tense series about the new industry of pet composting. Thanks to editor Jaime Green for her wise feedback on that piece!
• I was interviewed by the great biologist Marc Bekoff for Psychology Today!
• I also did an interview for AKC.org! Thanks to journalist Ranny Green for taking the time to speak with me for it.
• My essay about #MassAveLola ran on Cognoscenti. Thank you to editor Sara Shukla for giving Lola a home on WBUR!
• I also had an essay about learning to love and let go when it comes to pet pigeons run on Salon!
• The legendary Chewy.com featured Good Grief on their blog Be.Chewy. Thanks to journalist Alyssa Sparacino for writing the piece, and to Lindsey Bluher for getting it set up in the first place, which is full of really helpful concrete tips if you are going through pet loss. It’s a great resource!
• Nicole Graev Lipson took the time to talk to me about Good Grief for the Chicago Review of Books! Thank you, Nicole!
• The Noble & Greenough School, my high school alma mater and former employer, featured Good Grief in the summer issue of their alumni magazine, complete with gorgeous illustrations by John Jay Cabuay.
• The tables turned and Fiction Advocate editor Brian Hurley interviewed me for the August installment of Non-Fiction by Non-Men!
• And Good Grief was featured on NPR’s Here & Now! I got to go into the WBUR studios for my interview with Peter O’Dowd (see above). It was like doing college radio on steroids. My years of WZLY prepared me for this!!!!

In the past month, I did eleven Good Grief events: nine were in person, two were virtual, five were in Massachusetts, one was in New Hampshire, and three were in California. They were hosted by six different indie bookstores (Porter Square Books, Once Upon A Time Bookstore, Toadstool Bookshop, Newtonville Books, Tatnuck Bookseller, and An Unlikely Story), one library (Tewksbury Public), two organizations (The Order of the Good Death and the Wellesley College Club of Los Angeles), one book club (People Who Read Darkness!), and one oddities shop (Memento Mori Los Angeles). I got to be in conversation with Kelly J. Ford, Cat Warren, Sy Montgomery, Chloe Shaw, and Karen Fine. I got to see SO many people I love who came out to support me — far too many to name here, though special shout-outs go to Rachel Barenbaum (for the beautiful introduction at my launch), Erin Greene (who traveled up from NYC to be there on 8/2), Lee Ung (for attending every single one of my West Coast events), Karen and Rich Bartels (for attending almost every single one of my East Coast events, and, in their defense, they would have been at every one but I told them to skip 8/24 because they were tired), and the great Richie Corrado (for his toast at my launch that made everyone cry). If you missed any of these events and are bummed about it, don’t worry! There are recordings of several of them:

• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/2 launch at GrubStreet / Porter Square Books: Boston Edition, in conversation with Kelly J. Ford.
• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/17 virtual event with the Tewksbury Public Library, in conversation Chloe Shaw.
• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/24 event at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA.
• Plus a recording of my 8/3 conversation with Cat Warren is available to members of The Order of the Good Death, so become a member today to watch!

But don’t worry!!! I am totally exhausted but that doesn’t mean I don’t have MORE great things planned for September, October, and beyond! Below is a list of all my upcoming events, and be sure to keep checking the events page on my website for the most up-to-date into. (I promise the page will load now! I know there was a bug before, sorry!) All of the below events are in-person unless they are labeled ***VIRTUAL***.

SEPTEMBER:

• TOMORROW!!!!!! Saturday 9/3, 3:00pm EDT: Homecoming event at the Fishers Island Library on Fishers Island, NY!
• Wednesday 9/7, 7:00pm EDT: I get to be in conversation with Kelly J. Ford for the launch of her second novel Real Bad Things at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA!
• Tuesday 9/13, 6:30pm EDT: Author event at Gibson’s in Concord, NH! (Thank you to Sue Smith for setting that one up!)
• Thursday 9/15, 5:00pm EDT: Local Author Book Fair at new indie bookstore Hummingbird Books in Chestnut Hill, MA!
• Sunday 9/18, 4:00pm EDT: ***VIRTUAL*** author talk with the Perfect Paws Pet Ministry!
• Tuesday 9/20, 7:00pm EDT: Author event at Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, NH! (Thank you to Sue Smith for setting that one up!)
• Wednesday 9/21, 7:00pm EDT: Atomic Anna x Good Grief event at Belmont Books in Belmont, MA, where I’ll be in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum!
• Monday 9/26, 7:00pm EDT: ***VIRTUAL*** event with Morbid Anatomy, in conversation with Annie Hartnett! Click here to register.
• Wednesday 9/28, 8:00am EDT: Presentation in assembly at the Noble & Greenough School, followed by a guided tour of the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery!
• Thursday 9/29, 7:00pm EDT: Part of the Books and Buzz series at Brewster Book Store on the Cape (fundraiser for the Animal Rescue League of Boston)!

OCTOBER:

• Tuesday 10/4, 7:00pm EDT: I get to be in conversation with Rita Zoey Chin for the launch of her debut novel The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern at Wellesley Books in Wellesley, MA!
• Thursday 10/6, 12:30pm EDT: Visit to professor Christine Carpenter‘s class “The Power of Pets” at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire!
• Thursday 10/20, 8:00pm EDT: “Burgers & Books” party at Tasty Burger in Harvard Square celebrating four GrubStreet authors with 2022 books: Neema Avashia, Rachel Barenbaum, Kelly J. Ford, and me!
• Thursday 10/27, 6:00pm EDT: I’m honored to share that I’ve been chosen to be the Roslindale Book Ambassador for September + October 2022! On this Thursday, I will have a “Conversation with the Author” event from 6:00pm-7:00pm, followed by a book signing from 7:00pm-7:30pm, at the Roslindale Branch of the Boston Public Library.
• Sunday 10/30, 1:00pm EDT: Session on “Writing Collections: Short Stories and Essays” with Thomas McNeely as part of the Concord Festival of Authors, at the Concord Free Public Library.

NOVEMBER:

• Thursday 11/3, 7:00pm EDT: Book event in New York City at McNally Jackson’s Seaport location (4 Fulton Street)! I will be in conversation with the artist Heide Hatry, and a reception will follow at McNally Jackson Seaport’s new snazzy cocktail bar!

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Happy 2020, my bookish friends!

First off, let me say right away that I will NOT be doing a favorite books of the past decade post. Sorry, but also I am not sorry, because I would actually drive myself insane trying to figure out my favorite books from the PAST TEN YEARS. That is so many years! So many books! How is that even possible? Also, it seems unfair? Ten years ago, I was 22, and the books that hit me hard at 22, I may roll my eyes at now at 32, but I don’t think that diminishes the impact they had on me a decade ago, so, yeah, I’m not touching that.

If you want recaps of my past reading habits, check out my 2018 Reading Round-Up and 2017 Reading Round-Up posts and this piece I wrote for Wellesley Underground about spending 2015 only reading books by women. (2010 to 2012 I was pretty much reading only YA and middle grade books because I was teaching at a middle school in Dorchester, and 2012 to 2014 I was in grad school and was reading whatever my MFA professors were telling me to read, and then I guess I was too much of an empty shell in 2016 to write anything about what I read that year?) You can also browse my GoodReads profile which I have been updating regularly since January 2012, and see my GoodReads reading challenges from 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.

I would only read 568 pages for Alexander Chee and no one else.

But! As promised, even if I can’t handle recapping the whole past decade, I present to you my annual reading tally for the past year. So, as is tradition, here is the breakdown of what I read in 2019, my top 19 books that were published 2019, plus my reading resolutions for the upcoming decade and some of the books I am looking forward to in 2020.

WHAT I READ:

• I read 122 books, by 107 writers.

THE GENRE BREAKDOWN:

• Fiction: 24
• Nonfiction: 39
• Graphic novels/comics: 3
• Graphic memoirs/nonfiction: 14
• Poetry: 9
• Drama: 1
• Young adult/middle grade: 10
• Picture/art books: 22*
• Books that I had already previously read: 6**

*Again, many of these were dead-pet-related picture books for research.

**Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty, Jane: A Murder and The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, and How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee.

THE DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN:

• Books by women of color: 29
• Books by white women: 55
• Books by men of color: 15
• Books by white men: 22
• Books by non-binary people of color: 1
• Books by non-binary white people: 0
• Books by LGBTQ folks: ~23

THE REASON-FOR-READING BREAKDOWN:

• Books for dead pets research: 48
• Books for Non-Fiction by Non-Men/other interviews/essays/reviews: 19
• Books for my People Who Read Darkness book club: 12
• Books for teaching: 4 (though every book I read is for teaching, in a way)
• Books for fun/other reasons/just for the hell of it: 39

E.B.’s TOP 19 BOOKS PUBLISHED in 2019:

As I’ve said in past years, I am really glad that I am doing this tradition of my top [xx] books published in 20[xx] because it means I get to add one more book to my list each year. I am also glad that in this list I focus on only books that were published in 2019 because that helps me further narrow down my choices, though it does mean that some of my favorite books I read this year may not make the cut, just because they weren’t published in 2019, such as Cottonmouths by Kelly J. Ford (2017) or Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (2001) or Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (2011) or The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery (2015) or The Reckonings by Lacy M. Johnson (2018) or Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala (2013). So, it’s an imperfect art, but it makes my life a little easier, so here I present to you: my 19 favorite books that came out in 2019, organized chronologically by their publication date.

1. The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang (February 5)
2. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden (March 5)
3. Good Talk by Mira Jacob (March 26)
4. The Body Papers by Grace Talusan (April 9)
5. I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib (April 30)
6. Allowed to Grow Old by Isa Leshko (May 10)
7. Ugly Music by Diannely Antigua (May 15)
8. The Edge of Every Day: Sketches in Schizophrenia by Marin Sardy (May 21)
9. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (June 4)
10. Bunny by Mona Awad (June 11)
11. With a Polaroid Camera by Sarah Dickenson Snyder (June 25)
12. Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton (August 6)
13. Mitz by Sigrid Nunez (August 6)
14. Malaya: Essays on Freedom by Cinelle Barnes (October 8)
15. Holding On To Nothing by Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne (October 22)
16. This is My Body by Cameron Dezen Hammon (October 22)
17. In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (November 5)
18. The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West (November 5)
19. Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina MacLaughlin (November 12)

E.B.’s READING RESOLUTIONS for 2020 (& the rest of the decade):

• Last year I said I wanted the majority of the books I read in 2019 to be by people of color. I did not achieve that goal: of 122 books, 78 were by white people and 44 were by people of color. So, once again, my goal for the upcoming year is to read a majority of books by people of color.
• Also as I said last year, I want to keep reading more and more books by nonbinary people and LGBTQ folks. I am embarrassed that I only read one nonbinary author this year and that this year only 18% (down from 20% in 2018) of the authors I read identify openly as LGBTQ. I can do better.
• I want to continue to make sure my People Who Read Darkness book club reads diverse writers. (This year we only read one book by a person of color, My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, so we really need to work on that.)
• And also, like in past years, I need to keep paying attention to who is writing the books I am reading for research and diversify the voices I am quoting in my own writing.
• And, finally, as always, I want to continue to remind myself that if I don’t love something I am reading… I don’t have to finish it!!!! This is a reminder for you, too!

E.B.’s LIST OF BOOKS SHE IS ANTICIPATING in 2020:

There are many, many, MANY books to look forward in 2020, but here are just a few I am especially excited about, that you should put on your radar:

• I Know You Know Who I Am by Peter Kispert (February 11 from Penguin Books)
• Thin Places by Jordan Kisner (March 3 from FSG)
• Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby (March 31 from Vintage)
• Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan (April 21 from Celadon Books)
• Summer Solstice by Nina MacLaughlin (April 27 from Black Sparrow Press)
• Fairest by Meredith Talusan (May 26 from Viking)
• Let’s Never Talk About This Again by Sara Faith Alterman (June 6 from Grand Central Publishing)
• The Names of All the Flowers by Melissa Valentine (July 14 from Feminist Press)
• Big Friendship by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman (July 14 from Simon & Schuster)
• A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens (July 28 from Razorbill)
• Tomboyland: Essays by Melissa Faliveno (August 4 from Topple Books)
• Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine (sometime in September from Graywolf)
• I also heard a rumor that Eula Biss has a new book coming out in fall 2020!

Here’s to reading all the books in 2020!

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This past month I’ve been reading a lot about the small businesses closing in and around Harvard Square, such as Black Ink, as outside developers drive up rent to unsustainable rates. Therefore, this month, I’d like to take a moment to remind you all to support small and local businesses as you do your gift shopping this holiday season (F*CK AM*ZON). Some of my favorite places, in addition to Black Ink, for unique and whimsical gifts are Ward Maps, Nomad, Joie de Vivre, Magpie, and Loyal Supply Co. Rebekah Brooks is magnificent for vintage jewelry, and I love Raspberry Beret and The Garment District for vintage clothing. For delicious edible gifts, check out Honeycomb Creamery and Curio Spice Co., for all your toy and game needs go to Henry Bear’s Park, Comicazi, and Pandemonium, and if you want to paint your own gifts, go to Made By Me.

And, obviously, I am obsessed with independent bookstores. This past month I went to so many fantastic author events, all courtesy of your favorite local bookstores. So please, please, PLEASE consider ordering your book presents (because books make the best presents, right?) this holiday season from your local independent bookstores as opposed to the evil empire (F*CK AM*ZON). Some of my favorite bookstores include:

• Newtonville Books in Newton, MA
• Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA
• Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA
• Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, MA
• Papercuts J.P. in Boston, MA
• Book Ends in Winchester, MA
• Trident Booksellers in Boston, MA
• More Than Words in Boston, MA
• Blue Bunny Books in Dedham, MA
• The Silver Unicorn Bookstore in Acton, MA
• Wellesley Books in Wellesley, MA
• The Concord Bookshop in Concord, MA
• Belmont Books in Belmont, MA
• I AM Books in Boston, MA
• McNally Jackson in Manhattan & Brooklyn, NY
• Astoria Bookshop in Queens, NY
• Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY
• The Strand in Manhattan, NY
• Barrett Bookstore in Darien, CT
• Elliott Bay Books in Seattle, WA
• Powell’s in Portland, OR
• Book & Bar in Portsmouth, NH
• Green Hand Bookshop in Portland, ME
• Hello Hello Books in Rockland, ME

Please tell me some of your favorite independent bookstores and/or other favorite small businesses in the comments below. And happy holiday shopping!

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November has been a kickass month of author events, thanks to several amazing indie bookstores. THIS is the stuff you can’t get from that giant online retailer. THIS is why we need local bookstores!!!

On 11/6, I heard Carmen Maria Machado in conversation with Kelly Link at the Brattle Theatre, discussing Carmen’s new memoir In The Dream House, courtesy of Harvard Book Store.

On 11/8, I laughed with Lindy West about her new book The Witches Are Coming at the First Parish Church in Cambridge, also courtesy of Harvard Book Store.

On 11/18, I listened to Ta-Nehisi Coates talk about his debut novel The Water Dancer with Meghna Chakrabarti at the Chevalier Theatre, courtesy of Brookline Booksmith.

On 11/20, I celebrated Nina MacLaughlin‘s fiction debut Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung at Harvard Book Store.

And on 11/22, I enjoyed Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne and Kelly J. Ford in conversation about Elizabeth’s debut novel Holding On To Nothing at Newtonville Books.

Seriously, what a great month. Thank you to the independent bookstores who made this possible! Remember these places when you start your holiday shopping in the next few weeks.

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This week marks five years that I have been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. To celebrate, I spent the better part of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday tweeting about some of my favorite things about this city. Click here to see the thread on Twitter or here to see a more-easily-readable version of the thread.

I’d love to hear what some of your favorite Cambridge spots are — leave a comment below or @ me on Twitter!

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Thanks for the graphics and stats, GoodReads. Shocking that no one else has read “My Pet Died” by Rachel Biale.

WHAT I READ:

• I read 137 books, by 131 writers.

THE GENRE BREAKDOWN:

• Fiction: 19
• Nonfiction: 43
• Graphic novels/comics: 9
• Graphic memoirs/nonfiction: 7
• Poetry: 15
• Drama: 1
• Young adult/middle grade: 6
• Picture books: 37*
• Books that I had already previously read: 6**

*Most of these were for research. I swear.

**Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, Playing Dead by Elizabeth Greenwood, Black Mass by Dick Lehr & Gerard O’Neill, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

THE DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN:

• Books by women of color: 39
• Books by white women: 50
• Books by men of color: 14
• Books by white men: 26
• Books by non-binary people of color: 1
• Books by non-binary white people: 1
• Books by LGBTQ folks: ~26

THE REASON-FOR-READING BREAKDOWN:

• Books for research purposes: 30
• Books by Non-Fiction by Non-Men authors: 14
• Books for the Nobles English curriculum: 9
• Books for my true crime book club: 10
• Books for fun/other reasons/just for the hell of it: 74

E.B.’s TOP 18 BOOKS PUBLISHED in 2018:

I am really glad that I am doing this tradition of my top [xx] books published in 20[xx] because it means I get to add one more book to my list each year. HOWEVER: narrowing my list of books read this year down to only 18 was still brutal, so please appreciate the pain I went through to bring you this blog post. Now, without further ado, my top 18 books published in 2018, organized alphabetically by author’s last name.

1. Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (October 23, 2018)
2. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee (April 17, 2018)
3. All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung (October 2, 2018)
4. How To Sit by Tyrese Coleman (September 1, 2018)
5. My Own Devices by Dessa (September 8, 2018)
6. Freshwater by Awaeke Emezi (February 13, 2018)
7. Movers and Shakers by Hope Ewing (October 9, 2018)
8. Tango Lessons by Meghan Flaherty (June 19, 2018)
9. This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins (January 30, 2018)
10. Sick by Porochista Khakpour (June 5, 2018)
11. If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim (August 7, 2018)
12. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara (February 27, 2018)
13. How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery (September 25, 2018)
14. Open Mic Night in Moscow by Audrey Murray (July 24, 2018)
15. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez (February 6, 2018)
16. There There by Tommy Orange (June 5, 2018)
17. Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister (October 2, 2018)
18. My Dead Parents by Anya Yurchyshyn (March 27, 2018)

E.B.’s READING RESOLUTIONS for 2018:

• I want to continue reading more and more books by people of color, and my goal for 2019 is to read a majority books by people of color. (This year, of 137 books, 80 were by white people and 57 were by people of color.)
• I also want to keep reading more and more books by nonbinary people and LGBTQ folks. This year I read work by two nonbinary individuals and 20% of the authors I read were LGBTQ, which is okay, I guess, but could definitely be better.
• I want to make sure my true crime book club reads more diverse writers as well! (So many white people love to write about true crime.)
• Like last year, I need to keep paying attention to who is writing the books I am reading for research and diversify the voices I am quoting in my own writing.
• And, as always, I want to continue to remind myself that if I don’t love something I am reading… I don’t have to finish it!!!! This is a reminder for you, too!

Here’s to more amazing books in 2019!

The post 2018 Reading Round-Up appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

WHAT I READ:

• I read 110 books, by 96 writers.

THE GENRE BREAKDOWN:

• Fiction: 11
• Nonfiction: 29
• Graphic novels/comics: 5
• Graphic memoirs: 9
• Poetry: 8
• Drama: 2
• Young adult/middle grade: 6
• Picture books: 40*

*Most of these were for research purposes. There are a lot of kids’ books out there about how to cope with pet death, FYI.

THE DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN:

• Books by women of color: 22
• Books by white women: 56
• Books by men of color: 4
• Books by white men: 28
• Books by LGBTQ folks: 18

THE REASON-FOR-READING BREAKDOWN:

• Books for research purposes: 52
• Books for the Nobles 9th grade English curriculum: 4
• Books for fun: 54

E.B.’s TOP 17 BOOKS PUBLISHED in 2017:

I would just like to say that a lot of really great books were published in 2017. Narrowing it down to 17 was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. This list could have easily been twice as long, but “34 books published in 2017” didn’t have quite the same ring to it. But, ugh! Making choices is so hard! Sigh. Anyway, let me present to you, my top 17 books published in 2017, in alphabetical order by author’s last name.

1. The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
2. How To Fall in Love with Anyone by Mandy Len Catron
3. From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty
4. Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly
5. Hunger by Roxane Gay
6. Fetch by Nicole J. Georges
7. Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
8. Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
9. Alfie (The Turtle that Disappeared) by Thyra Heder
10. We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby
11. One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul
12. Reading with Patrick by Michelle Kuo
13. Yawn: Adventures in Boredom by Mary Mann
14. A Surprise for Mrs. Tortoise by Paula Merlán
15. Animals Strike Curious Poses by Elena Passarello
16. A Girl Walks into a Book by Miranda K. Pennington
17. After the Eclipse by Sarah Perry

E.B.’s READING RESOLUTIONS for 2018:

• I need to pay more attention to who is writing the books I am reading for research and try to diversify the voices I am quoting in my own writing. (Turns out there are a lot of white ladies who like to write picture books about pets dying.)
• I need to continue to read more books by people of color and LGBTQ folks. (Especially men of color. That 2017 statistic was shameful.)
• I didn’t tally the exact numbers, but I know that most of the books I read this year were by American writers (Scaachi Koul was one of the most “exotic” as she is, gasp, Canadian) and I want to try to read more work by international authors.
• And I want to continue to remind myself that if I don’t love something I am reading… I don’t have to finish it. I’m going to die before I get to read everything on my To Read list on GoodReads, so, live it up. Life is short. Read what you want to be reading.

Here’s to a 2018 full of even more great books!

The post 2017 Reading Round-Up appeared first on E.B. Bartels.