What I Read in 2016

I'm glad I keep track of what I read; by the end of a year, there are things I forget. I leave 2016 concerned about many things, but in particular: my participation in echo-chambers, my use of entertainment as escapism, and my obligation to seek out facts, reliable news sources, and the truth (above all).

My 2017 New Years Resolution, in part, is to read 50/50 fiction/nonfiction for fun, especially books about science. The resolution stands, and yet. I forgot how much nonfiction I read this year! And poetry, I read great poetry. And lush,beautiful graphic novels. Yum.

I also had Ferrante Fever and read all four of the Neapolitan Novels. (I had one dose of Knausgaard and it was ENOUGH.)

A Matthea Harvey image, corresponding to a poem

Top 10 of 2016
The Argonauts — Maggie Nelson
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek — Annie Dillard
If the Tabloids Are True What Are You? — Matthea Harvey
At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom — Amy Hempel
The Vegetarian — Han Kang
The Girls — Emma Cline
Here — Richard McGuire
Bright Dead Things — Ada Limon
Station Eleven — Emily St. John Mandel
The Neapolitan Novels — Elena Ferrante

1. Garments Against Women — Anne Boyer (poetry)
2. Bad Feminist — Roxane Gay (essay collection)
3. Citizen — Claudia Rankine (poetry)
4. Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse) —  James S.A. Correy (Sci-Fi)
5. Cibola Burn (The Expanse) — James S.A. Correy (Sci-Fi)
6. Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom — John O'Donohue (Spiritual... Essay? ...By a poet?)
7. Dune — Frank Herbert (Sci-Fi)
8. Boy, Snow, Bird: A Novel — Helen Oyeyemi (fiction)
9. In the American Grain — William Carlos Williams (essay? cultural... something)
10. The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted — Elizabeth Berg (mehhhh short story collection)
11. Junky — William S. Burroughs (fiction)
12. The Argonauts — Maggie Nelson (nonfiction/essay)
13. We Should All Be Feminists — Chimaamanda Ngozi Adiche (a speech transcript / essay)
14. Fire: From "A Journal of Love" The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1934-1937 — Anais Nin (diary)
15. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek — Annie Dillard (nonfiction/essay)
16. My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One — Elena Ferrante (fiction)
17. My Struggle: Book 1 — Karl Ove Knausgaard (fiction?)
18. The Traitor Baru Cormorant — Seth Dickinson (fantasy)
19. If the Tabloids Are True What Are You?: Poems and Artwork — Matthea Harvey (poetry)
20. Faithful and Virtuous Night: Poems — Louise Gluck (poetry)
21. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City — Matthew Desmond (nonfiction / investigative journalism)
22. Nanjing Requiem: A Novel — Ha Jin (fiction)
23. The Story of a New Name: Neapolitan Novels, Book Two — Elena Ferrante (fiction)
24. The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial — Maggie Nelson (nonfiction/essay)
25. The Rules of Life: A Novella — Faye Weldon (fiction)
26.Reasons to Live — Amy Hempel (short story collection)
27. At The Gates Of The Animal Kingdom: Stories — Amy Hempel (short story collection)
28. The Walls They Left Us — M.J. Gette (poetry chapbook)
29. Autobiography of Red — Anne Carson (poetry)
30. Autobiography of Red — Chinua Achebe (essay collection)
31. Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman — Lindy West (memoir)
32. Underworld — Don DeLillo ("epic" novel, I don't get it)
33. The Girls — Emma Cline (fiction)
34. Lake Wobegon Days — Garrison Keillor (fiction)
35. Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul — James McBride (biography)
36. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay: Neapolitan Novels, Book Three — Elena Ferrante (fiction)
37. Saga Volume 6 — Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples (graphic novel)
38. Anil's Ghost — Michael Ondaatje (fiction)
39. The Vegetarian — Han Kang (fiction)
40. Heartbreaker: Stories — Maryse Meijer (short story collection)
41. Summer Blonde — Adrian Tomine (graphic novel short story collection)
42. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany (screenplay)
43. The Ugly Side of Beautiful: Rethinking Race and Prison in America — Bryonn Bain (essay/nonfiction)
44. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay — Michael Chabon (fiction)
45. The Story of the Lost Child: Neapolitan Novels, Book Four  — Elena Ferrante (fiction)
46. Memnoch the Devil — Anne Rice (horror/fantasy)
47. Land of Enchantment — Leigh Stein
48. Prince Lestat — Anne Rice (horror/fantasy)
49. The Shipping News — Annie Proulx (fiction)
50. The Last Thing He Wanted — Joan Didion (fiction)
51. and then we became — devorah major (poetry)
52. Here — Richard McGuire (graphic novel)
53. The Lonely Hearts Club — Elizabeth Eulberg (YA Fiction)
54. Gorilla, My Love — Toni Cade Bambara (short story collection)
55. Bright Dead Things — Ada Limon (poetry)
56. The Vampire Armand — Anne Rice (horror/fantasy)
57. 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East — Naomi Shihab Nye (poetry)
58. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis — Anne Rice (horror/fantasy)
59. Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind — Richard Fortey (nonfiction)
60. Station Eleven — Emily St. John Mandel (fiction)
61. Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet — Oliver Morton (nonfiction)
62. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis - J.D. Vance