2009: Summary

In 2009, I read 104 books, 93 fiction and 11 non-fiction; 12 of these were re-reads (11.5%). A total of seven of these were anthologies, and so have been excluded from the demographic analysis of authorship.

By gender:
Books written by women: 64.9%
Books written by men: 34.0%

By nationality:
American: 70.1%
British: 3.1%
Canadian: 17.5%
Other: 9.3%

Book by writers of colour: 26.8%

I am pleased to see that the percentage of books written by writers of colour and the percentage of books written by writers from countries other than the U.S./Britain & Ireland/Canada/Australia and New Zealand increased from 2008.

And now, for my list of the best books I read in 2009:

Green Grass, Running Water, Thomas King
The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill
Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatje
Unquenchable Fire, Rachel Pollack
De Secretis Mulierum, L. Timmel Duchamp
Distances, Vandana Singh
Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
The Gameplayers of Zan, M. A. Foster
How to Rent a Negro, damali ayo
The Terror Dream: Myth and Misogyny in an Unsecure America, Susan Faludi

2010: Science Fiction Re-reads

In 2010, I was in an odd mood, and ended up reading an awful lot of older science fiction I had read years before, perhaps as a kind of comfort reading.

The science fiction re-reads (with a couple of new reads I'm including here because they were recent books in a series I had first read ages ago) include a number of books by F. M. Busby and Steve Perry. One thing that ties these two authors together in my mind is that both of them wrote, as part of a longer series, a book focused on a kick-ass black woman, and that the original editions of both of these books had covers in which their black, female protagonist was prominently featured - fully dressed and looking like the professional warrior she was. And I've never forgotten either cover.

So here are my SF re-reads of 2010:

Frederick Pohl & C.M. Korncbuth, The Space Merchants

Mack Reynolds, Mercenary from Tomorrow

John Wyndham, Chocky

Alexei Panshin, Rite of Passage

James Schmitz, Telzey Amberdon

Henry Kuttner, Mutant

F. M. Busby, Rebel’s Quest
F. M. Busby, Star Rebel
F. M. Busby, Zelde M’tana
F. M. Busby, Young Rissa
F. M. Busby, Rissa and Tregare
F. M. Busby, The Long View
F. M. Busby, Alien Debt
F. M. Busby, Rebel Seed

Steve Perry, The Man Who Never Missed
Steve Perry, Matadora
Steve Perry, The Machiavelli Interface
Steve Perry, The 97th Step
Steve Perry, The Albino Knife
Steve Perry, Black Steel
Steve Perry, Brother Death
Steve Perry, The Omega Cage