BALIOC’S READING LIST, 2016 EDITION
This list counts only published books, consumed in published-book format, that I read for the first time and finished. No rereads, nothing abandoned halfway through, no Internet detritus of any kind, etc.
1. The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett
2. Why We Love Serial Killers, Scott Bonn
3. Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes, Cory O'Brien
4. The Instructions, Adam Levin
5. Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals, Hiroki Azuma
6. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Lois McMaster Bujold
7. The Bands of Mourning, Brandon Sanderson
8. Mistborn: The Secret History, Brandon Sanderson
9. The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics, Jefferson Cowie
10. Calamity, Brandon Sanderson
11. American Pastoral, Philip Roth
12. This Census-Taker, China Mieville
13. The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School, Kim Newman
14. Nations and Nationalism, Ernst Gellner
15. The Guns of Ivrea, Clifford Beal
16. Shadow’s Edge, Brent Weeks
17. The Library at Mount Char, Scott Hawkins
18. Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women, George MacDonald
19. The Book of the Beast, Tanith Lee
20. Beyond the Shadow, Brent Weeks
21. The Book of the Dead, Tanith Lee
22. The Book of the Mad, Tanith Lee
23. Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens, James N. Davidson
24. American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, Colin Woodard
25. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne Valente
26. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catherynne Valente
27. The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon In Two, Catherynne Valente
28. Children of Earth and Sky, Guy Gavriel Kay
29. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters In the End, Atul Gawande
30. A Voyage To Arcturus, David Lindsay
31. In the Labyrinth of Drakes, Marie Brennan
32. The Gun Seller, Hugh Laurie
33. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
34. The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
35. Penric and the Shaman, Lois McMaster Bujold
36. The Hallowed Hunt, Lois McMaster Bujold
37. The Great Ordeal, R. Scott Bakker
38. The Book of Heroes, Miyuki Miyabe
39. Psmith In the City, P. G. Wodehouse
40. Last First Snow, Max Gladstone
41. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jack Thorne
42. The Drug Wars in America, 1940-1973, Kathleen J. Fryol
43. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari
44. Four Roads Cross, Max Gladstone
45. Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland, Dave Barry
46. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
47. For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History, Sarah Rose
48. The Politeness of Princes and Other School Stories, P. G. Wodehouse
49. Tales of St. Austin’s, P. G. Wodehouse
50. When a Fan Hits the Shit: The Rise and Fall of a Phony Charity, Jeanine Renne
51. Killer of Men, Christian Cameron
52. Marathon, Christian Cameron
53. Poseidon’s Spear, Christian Cameron
54. Debt: The First 5,000 Years, David Graeber
55. The Great King, Christian Cameron
56. Salamis, Christian Cameron
57. The Ill-Made Knight, Christian Cameron
58. The Long Sword, Christian Cameron
59. Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, Arlie Russell Hochschild
60. Penric’s Mission, Lois McMaster Bujold
61. Mister Monkey, Francine Prose
62. Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga, Hunter S. Thompson
63. Decline and Fall: The End of Empire and the Future of Democracy in 21st Century America, John Michael Greer
64. Rage of Ares, Christian Cameron
65. The Dragon’s Path, Daniel Abraham
“Full-length” works consumed in 2016: 54
Works consumed in 2016 that are maybe too short to count (novellas, etc.): 11
Plausible works of improving nonfiction consumed in 2016: 14
Works consumed in 2016 written by women: 18
Works consumed in 2016 written by men: 47
Balioc’s Choice Award, fiction division: The Instructions
Balioc’s Choice Award, nonfiction division: Debt: The First 5,000 Years
…I feel like the takeaway here should be “less genre stuff and more Serious Books About the Real World.” Seeing my improving-nonfiction count sitting at 14 is painful. But, man, reading fantasy novels is great and it’s hard to feel too bad about doing a lot of it.