The Maid, by Nita Prose
Interesting mystery with a neurodivergent narrator/heroine. Molly is a 25-year-old maid at a fancy hotel. She loves her job and takes pride in doing it precisely. At a loss since her Gran died a few months before, she puts her faith in people who are nice to her, but not the nicest people. When she finds a wealthy businessman dead in his bed, her life is turned upside down as she becomes the primary suspect. This was a fun mystery, not the greatest, but a good read.
 
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, by Lulu Miller
This was a runaway bestseller and I very much understand why. Ostensibly an examination of taxonomist David Starr Jordan, who was also the first president of Stanford University, it is also an examination of what gives life meaning in its undeniable chaos. This is an outstanding book that I tore through. (Nonfiction generally takes me ages to read.) I can’t recommend this book enough. I will definitely be rereading it too.
 
Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells
Reread, of course. Murderbot forever!
 
Hunt the Stars, by Jessie Mihalik
The human/volaff war is over, but for ex-soldier Tavi and her crew, it’s not that far off. When she accepts a job from notorious volaff general, Torran, to find a stolen item in enemy territory, she plans to get the job done and move on much richer. Except they find a plot that may lead to a renewed war. Not to mention that the heat between Tavi and Torran is too hard to ignore. I loved Mihalik’s Consortium Rebellion series and was about to reread that series when I came across this new title. Lots of fun. Looking forward to the next in this series.
 
The Ex Hex, by Erin Sterling
A fun, magical romance that I listened to. Vivian is a reluctant witch in Penhallow—a city founded for those with magic. After nine years, her first love, Rhys, returns to the town and the curse she laid on him by accident all those years ago activates. As the magic in the town goes crazy, Rhys and Vivian have to work together to break the curse. This was a genuinely fun read. Nothing heavy or untoward, just silly romance.
 
Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor
A reread in prep for the third and final book in Okorafor’s Nsibidi Scripts series. Sunny faces more advanced juju and more dangerous adventures in northern Nigeria. It’s hard to talk about this book because so much is going on. Its setting is so foreign to me that I feel like once I start trying to describe the story, I won’t know where to stop. That said, anything by Okorafor is worth reading and this series is at the top.
 
The Aquanaut, by Dan Santat
Newbery Award winning illustrator Santat’s first graphic novel since Sidekicks, which I loved. In this story, an oceanography ship goes down. The creatures at the bottom of the ocean create a land suit out of the wreckage in order to escape the dangers of the sea for Aqualand—a Sea World-like place that they believe is paradise. Sophia, whose father was lost on that ship and whose uncle runs Aqualand, finds the “aquanaut’ and befriends the creatures within. This is a surprisingly emotional story, even while the concept is silly in the best way possible.
 
Winterkeep, by Kristin Cashore
Another reread (lots of those last month). No one writes YA political fantasy thrillers like Cashore. Returning are beloved characters Bitterblue, her sister Hava, and Giddon from the Seven Kingdoms as they travel to newly discovered country, Winterkeep. In Winterkeep, we follow Lovisa, a teenager who is uniquely situated to investigate the mystery surrounding her disappeared uncle and a sunk ship. Always happy to return to the Graceling world.
 
The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi
I think this is the first full-length Scalzi I’ve read. I found this book a quick, enjoyable read, but also a bit shallow. I’ve liked his short stories and commentary that I’ve read, but this was a little meh, though the premise is super fun. When Jamie, a gig worker in food delivery, gets the opportunity to join an organization that works in animal conservation for a huge amount of money, he takes it of course. When he finds out that the animals aren’t polar bears but gigantic monsters in a different dimension, he adapts with speed to the new world.

Natsume Book of Friends, vol. 23-26
Caught up on this long-running manga that I’ve been reading for 10+ years (!) It’s still delightful. If you haven’t heard of it and enjoy supernatural characters, this is a great manga. Plus Nyanko-sensei.
 
Yes & I Love You, by Roni Loren
This the first in Loren’s Say Everything series. I listened to the second one last year and really enjoyed it, so I thought I’d catch up. I also listened to this one. A lovely romance between a ne’er do well improv comedian and an insecure woman with Tourette’s. When writer, Hollyn, finds out that she needs to do videos in order to keep her job, she accepts help from improv genus, Jasper. They get together, trouble separates them, and then a big romantic gesture. You get the idea. Still a nice read. 
 
The Resting Place, by Camilla Sten
This is the second thriller by this Swedish author. I read The Lost Village last year and while I had some issue with the plotting, it stayed with me due to its eerie-ness. This was a much better plotted mystery, but didn’t quite have the same spookiness. Eleanor has face blindness so she can't recognize her grandmother’s murderer. Then she finds out she has inherited a rural estate, but when she, her boyfriend, her aunt, and a lawyer go visit it, they discover a dark mystery surrounding the house and her grandmother.
 
Kaibyō: The Supernatural Cats of Japan, by Zack Davisson
My brother gave me this book (among many!) for Christmas and I am shocked I didn’t know about it before. Absolutely in my wheelhouse. Chapter by chapter Davisson explains the role of cats in everyday Japanese life and their more sinister personalities as monsters. Filled with original Japanese art this book was fascinating. (Also, a reviewer said that Davisson is the new Lafcadio Hearn, so of course I was going to love it.)
 
The Christmas Bookshop, by Jenny Colgan
Due to shipping issues, we didn’t get this book in stock at my store until after Christmas. But I love Jenny Colgan’s other bookshop-oriented stories, so it didn’t matter what time of year I was reading it. Unambitious Carmen loses her job and her very ambitious sister finds her a job. There is a lot of resentment between the sisters, and the job is a lot more than she thought it would be, but Carmen finds a place for herself in the bookstore and friends in its customers. This is my favorite Colgan that I’ve read and it might go into rotation as a favorite Christmas read.
 
Tidesong, by Wendy Xu
Sophie is determined to get into magic academy, going so far as to try magic that is way beyond her. That causes trouble when she summons a young dragon from the sea who can’t remember who he is. Gorgeous art and interesting characters make this a fun, lovely read.
 
The Missing of Clairedelune, by Christelle Dabos
This is the second of the Mirror Visitor series. I loved the world-building of the first one and this one goes so much deeper into the world. Ophelia becomes a much stronger character and the danger is omnipresent and very real. My complaint is that both books are more than 500 pages and so much could have been cut out, large swaths are pretty dull. I did enjoy the first two books, but I’m going to take a pass on the final two. Good, but not worth that much investment. I have a lot of other books to read.
 
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, by Aubrey Gordon
My second nonfiction title of the month! Go me. I’ve been wanting to read this for a while. I’ve long been a fan of Gordon’s advocacy work and I love her podcast, Maintenance Phase. This book lays bare how bias and prejudice against overweight people causes harm, from early childhood through their whole lives. From loss of job opportunities and income to healthcare, to diet culture, and more. Insightful and kind of depressing, Gordon takes on the last acceptable form of bigotry—dunking on fat people. Absolutely eye and mind opening.
 
Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I’ve heard a lot of good things about this author and this book. It very much reminded me of some late sixties sci-fi that combines with fantasy. For Lynelle, fourth daughter, her moral code means she must use her sword to protect others. For Nyr, an anthropologist from a far future earth who has been stranded on Lynelle’s planet, is bound not to interfere in the subjects of his study, but he can’t help but try to help. It’s an interesting book, with alternating POVs between Lynelle and Nyr, but I feel like it’s ground that has been covered before.
 
A Psalm for the Wild Built, by Becky Chambers
A comfort reread. Just another science fiction cozy from Becky. I read this last summer, so I’ll refer you to that review.
 
The Cat Who Saved Books, by Sosuke Natsukawa
The grandfather of high school student, Rintaro, has just died, leaving the boy in charge of his old bookstore. Rintaro is pulling inside himself after his loss, but when a talking cat appears in the store requiring Rintaro’s help defeating three labyrinths, he follows him to a different world coming to terms with his loss and his place in the world
​. This was an odd, fairytale sort of book. Rintaro is a deeply read, true book lover and uses that to defeat his enemies. I’m not sure if I liked it or not.
 
Aria’s Travelling Book shop, by Rebecca Raisin
Of course I was going to buy this one when I came across it. Unfortunately, it was pretty awful. I really hate saying that about any book, but the characters had no dimension (widowed book nerd is not a personality). The love interest wasn’t even two dimensional. The plot was not really there either. I enjoyed the comradery of the travelers. Yeah.

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts, by Joshua Hammer
Another nonfiction! Yay me! Another book I was reading intermittently for months. This is a really interesting history of Timbuktu as a North African cultural center, of Abdel Kader Haidara’s efforts to collect ancient manuscripts from the desert, and the efforts he went to in 2011/2012 to keep the manuscripts from the invading Al Qaeda guerilla army. Tightly written and action-packed read about saving the books! Also, a really good description of Al Qaeda’s activity during that time.
 
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson
I had a taped from TV movie version of this book that I watched a lot as a kid. I don’t think I read the book version, but I was in the mood. It’s a quick, delightful story about a church Christmas Pageant that seems to be going all wrong, until it goes beautifully right.
 
Hens Dancing, by Raffaella Barker
I had to hunt down this book after hearing about it in a Georgette Heyer facebook discussion. In diary format, a woman recounts a year as a newly single mom living on a rural homestead. From her disgust at her ex to her wacky mother to a blossoming romance with a local builder, Venetia (yes, named after the Heyer heroine) gives us the highs and lows in one of the lowest years of her life. A delight.
 
I Hope You’re Listening, by Tom Ryan
When Dee was seven, her best friend was kidnapped in front of her. Now 17, she’s still struggling with that trauma, running a successful podcast about other missing people. When another girl is kidnapped from her old home, new information about her friend’s kidnapping comes to light. This leads her to hunt down the people who might have taken her and to finally get the answers she has always been seeking. Really good YA mystery. I enjoyed the audio.
 
Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty
Unlike Stephen King, I get why Liane Moriarty is so popular. Her stories are seemingly straightforward, but stick with you for awhile afterwards. She writes people—their thoughts and underlying feelings—really well.
 
Merry Inkmas, by Talia Hibbert
A (guilty) pleasure. I do like Hibbert’s romances, even though they are a little too steamy for me. When Bailey loses her job because she’s kind to a homeless man. Cash steps in and hires her as the receptionist at his tattoo parlor. They had the hots for each other before they start to see each other every day and now the thermometer is maxing out. 

​Cackle, by Rachel Harrison
Devastated from being dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start in a small village in Upstate New York. The town is almost too good to be true. When Annie meets Sophie, an ageless beauty with a strange hold over the townspeople, she immediately wants to become her best friend. As they grow closer, Annie begins to realize that Sophie might be more than she could imagine. This is a great story about owning oneself even if it means incurring the wrath of others. Watching Annie go from a depressed nothing to a self-confident woman is a delight. The only scary thing in the book is the spiders, but they are really friendly.
 
The Best Man, by Richard Peck
I’ve been wanting to read this ever since I heard it had been banned because two men marry each other in it. This is such a heart-warming story. Archer tells the story about two weddings. The first when he meets his best friend when he’s six and the second when his uncle marries his former student teacher. In between we get to read about Archer’s experience at school, with other kids, and with his beloved grandfather. I really liked how the idea of gay marriage is introduced—Archer is a little dense when it comes to other’s feelings—it never occurring to him that his uncle and teacher have feelings for each other. A really great story.
 
The Great Bear, by David O. Robertson
I read the first book in this series, The Barren Ground, last year and really enjoyed it. I listened to this book and, I have to say, this is an excellent series so far. Eli and Morgan have spent every night of the last few weeks visiting Misewa, the magical otherworld of Cree folklore. But when their foster parents forbid them from going to the attic at night they are bereft. So they sneak into the attic during the day, wind up going to Misewa in the past, and helping to subdue the Great Bear that wants to destroy their village. [Side note: at the bookstore a girl was asking for books by indigenous authors in YA. I showed her Darcie Little Badger’s books, but seeing that she was about 12, I took her to the middle grade section to show her these books. When I described the books, she beamed. She too had been a foster kid and is native American. Made my heart grow.]
 
Confessions of a Bookseller, by Shaun Blythell
This was my bedtime read for awhile. Shuan runs a bookstore in Wigtown, Scotland. The book is a diary of a year of running his store. It was good, but not great. Shaun himself is a bit of a curmudgeon and not always that interesting. But his interactions with customers—both sellers and buyers—is where the story is great.
 
Murder Under Her Skin, by Stephen Spotswood
Another audio book. This is the second in a mystery series and follows two lady detectives in 1946 as they travel to North Carolina to help solve a murder of a circus’s tattooed lady. Willowjean Parker had been a part of the circus before joining Lilian Pentecost in New York as a detective, so this case is personal to her. Nicely written mystery and the two leads were compelling, so much so that I might read the first book in the series. (Though there were some anachronisms that were tough to ignore. Such as using the phone to dial direct to New York. Exchanges were still very much in use in 1946.)
 
‘Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King
I just don’t get why Stephen King is so famous. I’ve read three and half of his books now and while they’re good, they’re not great. I don’t think they are terribly scary either. I supposed this version of vampires in the mid 1970s was new for its time, but I just wasn’t scared. It was fine, except for all the references to women’s jahoobies. Maybe I’ll try reading something newer next time. 

I didn't quite meet my 2020 numbers (121 to 125) and I didn't read at least one nonfiction book a month. I got fairly close, nine nonfiction books. For 2022, I'm going to again try for one nonfiction a month as well as trying to read more marginal authors and more translated works. I only read 44 works by POC, LGBTQA+, or disabled authors. Only five translated works--that's a poor showing. However, three-quarters of the books I read were written by women. 

Here's a breakdown of my reading by genre:

I'm surprised I read so much fantasy. I mean, I've actively been trying to read other genres. Although, I am pleased with how many horror I read last year.

My top 5 Kids/YA books of the year are:
Game Changer, by Neal Shusterman
The Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao 
The Ghost Road, by Charis Cotter
The Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher
The Insiders, by Mark Oshiro

My top 10 Adult books of the year are:
Motorcyles & Sweetgrass, by Drew Hayden Taylor     My Brilliant Life, by Kim Ae-ran
A Head Full of Ghosts, by Paul Tremblay                  The Last House on Needless Street, by Catriona Ward
Mirrorland, by Carole Johnstone                              The Lost Village, by Camilla Sten 
The Death of Mrs. Westaway, by Ruth Ware             Miss Buncle's Book, by D.E. Stevenson
The Fisherman, by John Langan                              One Last Stop, by Casey McQuiston