I read 30 books this year — a significant dip from prior years. I watched a bit of TV and in particular I watched a lot of hurling from the spring through the summer. I also focused more on playing hurling than I have in previous years. I don’t remember what else I did, really. I tuned into local politics some and did some COVID-related data/coding projects. I had a concussion in early October that really slowed me down. Surely there was other stuff. Some of the books I read took me a while to get through, and several I read slowly and carefully with a group online, which was both rewarding and time-consuming. Here’s what I did manage to read this year, grouped by star rating (I’m stingy with 5-star reviews) and then by some other categories I tend to track.

Four-Star Books

• Deacon King Kong (James McBride)
• The Book of Night Women (Marlon James)
• Matrix (Lauren Groff)
• Lost Empress (Sergio de la Pava)
• Dune (Frank Herbert)
• The Line (Olga Grushin)
• Libertie (Kaitlyn Greenidge)
• Milk Blood Heat (Dantiel Moniz)
• The Removed (Brandon Hobson)
• In the Dream House (Carmen Maria Machado)
• The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller)
• The Selected Works of Audre Lorde (Audre Lorde)
• Black Futures (Kimberly Drew, editor)
• Every Bone a Prayer (Ashley Blooms)
• The Renunciations: Poems (Donika Kelly)

Three-Star Books

• The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time #3) (Robert Jordan)
• The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time #2) (Robert Jordan)
• The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time #1) (Robert Jordan)
• The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry (Wendell Berry)
• The Five Wounds (Kirstin Valdez Quade)
• Shadow and Bone #1 (Leigh Bardugo)
• Of Women and Salt (Gabriela Garcia)
• Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler)
• Kindred (Octavia Butler)
• Detransition, Baby (Torrey Peters)
• Grand Union: Stories (Zadie Smith)
• Quichotte (Salman Rushdie)

Two-Star Books

• The Overstory (Richard Powers)
• Hummingbird Salamander (Jeff VanderMeer)
• Parable of the Talents (Octavia Butler)

Fantasy

• The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time #3) (Robert Jordan)
• The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time #2) (Robert Jordan)
• The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time #1) (Robert Jordan)
• Shadow and Bone #1 (Leigh Bardugo)
• Hummingbird Salamander (Jeff VanderMeer)
• Dune (Frank Herbert)

Nonfiction

• The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry (Wendell Berry)
• In the Dream House (Carmen Maria Machado)
• The Selected Works of Audre Lorde (Audre Lorde)
• Black Futures (Kimberly Drew, editor)
• The Renunciations: Poems (Donika Kelly)

LGBTQIA+

• In the Dream House (Carmen Maria Machado)
• Detransition, Baby (Torrey Peters)
• The Selected Works of Audre Lorde (Audre Lorde)

Young Adult

• Shadow and Bone #1 (Leigh Bardugo)

Authors of Color

• Deacon King Kong (James McBride)
• The Book of Night Women (Marlon James)
• The Five Wounds (Kirstin Valdez Quade)
• Libertie (Kaitlyn Greenidge)
• Parable of the Talents (Octavia Butler)
• Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler)
• Kindred (Octavia Butler)
• Milk Blood Heat (Dantiel Moniz)
• The Removed (Brandon Hobson)
• The Selected Works of Audre Lorde (Audre Lorde)
• Grand Union: Stories (Zadie Smith)
• Black Futures (Kimberly Drew, editor)
• The Renunciations: Poems (Donika Kelly)

Authors Who Are Not Men

• Matrix (Lauren Groff)
• The Five Wounds (Kirstin Valdez Quade)
• Of Women and Salt (Gabriela Garcia)
• The Line (Olga Grushin)
• Libertie (Kaitlyn Greenidge)
• Parable of the Talents (Octavia Butler)
• Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler)
• Kindred (Octavia Butler)
• Milk Blood Heat (Dantiel Moniz)
• In the Dream House (Carmen Maria Machado)
• Detransition, Baby (Torrey Peters)
• The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller)
• The Selected Works of Audre Lorde (Audre Lorde)
• Grand Union: Stories (Zadie Smith)
• Black Futures (Kimberly Drew, editor)
• Every Bone a Prayer (Ashley Blooms)
• The Renunciations: Poems (Donika Kelly)