Closing out the year, I read 19 books or 6883 pages this final quarter, bringing my annual total to 111 books or 34036 pages, of which 83% were by women authors and 67% by authors of colour. Surprisingly, I didn’t read too much in December. I thought I might inhale books once I hit winter break like I did over summer break, but nothing was sticking.
Nevertheless, I joined two virtual book clubs because their picks just happened to align with my TBR. In December, I knocked Vicious by VE Schwab off my TBR with Litulla Book Club and revisited The Secret History by Donna Tartt with Jaime’s Patreon Book Club. I won’t hold myself to participating every month, but January’s picks happened to align as well — Bliss Montage by Ling Ma and Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree — and although February’s picks haven’t been officially chosen yet, the way the votes are going, it seems like they’ll be ones I’ve already read — Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and Babel by RF Kuang — so that’ll be a chill month.
I’ve really been enjoying Jaime‘s booktube content, so much so that I made a Patreon account just to subscribe to her Patreon. She’s been pumping out videos for both booktube and Patreon, is very engaged with her online community (though I’m more of a silent supporter), energetic, enthusiastic and thoughtful about reading, but also doesn’t take herself too seriously and won’t shy from a frivolous book. So that’s been good company over winter break.
And a last word: RIP z-lib. Curse you Colleen Hoover fans.