A reading list for January 2016 (and beyond)

I ended 2015 reading non-fiction.

And the first book I finished in 2016 was also non-fiction.

So, I thought I might run with the non-fiction theme in this first month of 2016. To that end, I created a January TBR of all non-fiction books.

Here are some more details and thoughts on these books:

• The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck (audiobook, library) — I started this audio book during our holiday travels, but didn’t get very far. It’s a LONG audio book. It’s entertaining, but dense with details on basically everything you never knew you wanted to know about the Oregon Trail: mules, wagons, people, routes, etc. And I’m only 25% done. Phew.
• The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer (hardcover, signed) — I’m already about half finished with this book. So far I think it has several things in common with Felicia Day’s book, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost), but I’m not enjoying it as much. Possibly it’s because I’m just more of a Felicia Day fan than an Amanda Palmer fan (even though I like both of them). Possibly it’s because I can relate more to Felicia Day. I don’t know. I may have more thoughts on this after I finish the book.
• The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (Kindle) — As I mentioned in a previous post, I purchased this book in July 2014 but still haven’t read it, and it was the book most recommended to me by friends and family in 2015. Time to get reading.
• Information Doesn’t Want To Be Free by Cory Doctorow (hardcover, signed) — This is a short book about copyright laws, a topic of great interest to me. I’ve listened to Cory Doctorow talk about these issues on several occasions, and if his book is anything like his talks, I think I’ll really enjoy this one.
• Deep by James Nestor (Kindle) — Ever since I watched The Big Blue in a high school French class (in French), I’ve loved the idea of free diving. Nestor’s book talks about the science behind this sport that fascinates me so much.
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandburg (Kindle) — This is the book I least want to read on this list. But, it’s short. Based on what I’ve read about this book, I’m not sure I buy into her advice, but I know a lot of people think highly of her and the advice she dispenses in this book. So, I’m going to read what she has to say.

And more about the one I finished:

• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling (Kindle) — I picked this up because it was on sale and I have a vague awareness of Mindy Kaling as someone I think is cool even though I’ve never seen The Office (yeah, I know…) or her show on NBC (It’s on NBC, right? I can only watch TV on my computer, so I don’t pay attention to networks these days.). In general, I don’t watch a lot of sit-coms anymore. But I enjoyed the book. It’s funny. In a few places it is even laugh-out-loud funny. It made me like her even more, and maybe want to watch her shows. Or at least read her latest book.

In general, my intention for 2016 is to read books I already own, since I own about 100 books that I haven’t read yet. If I really want to read something that I don’t own, I’m trying to get it from the library before I consider buying more books. The exception to this plan is going to be for 2016 new releases that I am super excited about. So excited that I can’t wait for them to go on sale or for a library hold, and must read them immediately upon release.

Some examples from my pre-orders shelf on Goodreads:

As you can see, several of these don’t even have titles and/or official covers yet… but they’re due out this year and I’m so excited to read them! About half of these are written by what I would consider to be my “auto-buy” authors (Alastair Reynolds, Sarah J Maas, Laini Taylor, Victoria Schwab, Curtis Sittenfeld). The rest are either the next in a series I enjoyed (Sabaa Tahir’s book), or debut novels by PitchWars mentors that sounded like books I would love. There’s one more that should be on this list, but Goodreads seems to think comes out in 2017, even though I’m pretty sure it’s a 2016 debut novel: The Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves.

I know I already said no book projects or challenges in 2016. I’m sticking to that. I reserve the right to change my mind at any time and not follow through with any of these plans. 😉