Ah, here come the next 50, or rather, what takes us from April 14th through June 23rd. You'll notice that although I had several books I was supposed to read for my classes, they aren't listed anywhere in here.
The List Part C: Books 101-150
101. The sea detective by Mark Douglas-Home - this was fine. Read it if you like police procedurals, it's pretty well done. Trigger warning for plot lines related to sex trafficking and rape.
102. Labyrinth of Ice: The triumphant and tragic Greely polar exploration by Buddy Levy - If you're only going to read one Polar expedition disaster book, read this one! Fantastically written, and such an intense story.
103. The lost ones by Sheena Kamal - I think this is a really important book and if you like thrillers, you should absolutely read it. It's a totally standard thriller plot, but it really excels in the depiction of indigenous folks in Canada, and the racism against them still present today. Plus it's a #ownvoices read.
104. The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing by Rachel Polinquin - Huh. Weirdly philosophical taxidermy book. I liked this one, but curious if anyone else would?
105. The ruin by Dervla McTiernan - Read it if you like the Irish crime genre. I recommend print > audio as the story jumps back and forth in time and I didn't think they did a great job marking that in the audio version.
106. The body: a guide to occupants by Bill Bryson - OK, OK, I am starting to see why Bill Bryson is so popular. Totally decent pop sci book. But I would still recommend The Canon (see #48) over this one.
107. Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson - Dear Neil. I want to love your books, but despite your incredible voice, they are dry as fuck.
108. Rat Girl: A Memoir by Kristin Hersh - This goes in the "Books I Ignored For A Long Time Because Despite Being Recommended To Me They Didn't Look Like My Type, But Once I Started Reading I Was Blown Away." See also: The Hike. This is a memoir by the founder of Throwing Muses, about music, bipolar disorder and growing up.
109. A madness of sunshine by Nalini Singh - New Zealand is unjustifiably forgotten in the mystery/thriller genre. #ownvoices
110. “The Little Men” by Megan Abbott (from The Best American Mystery Stories 2016) - This is listed weird. It's a short story that was recommended to me years ago, not that I remember who recommended it. But being a completionist, that meant that I needed to track down and read the full anthology. Unfortunately it turns out that the person was right in recommending just the story to me, as it was the only good one in the batch.
111. The vanishing season by Joanna Schaffhausen - Pretty solid debut thriller of the "serial killer from the past comes back" genre.
112. The long way to a small, angry planet by Becky Chambers - EEEEE I really loved this book. It's basically Firefly, but queer-er.
113. The fever tree by Ruth Rendell - I really love Ruth Rendell. Not my favorite of her short story collections, but totally good (and the title story is especially good)
114. The blood doctor by Ruth Rendell (as Barbara Vine) - Whenever Rendell writes as Barbara Vine, it's when she moves more into psychological novel territory. But her "thrillers" are always extremely slow-paced character studies. I was totally absorbed by this book but I really couldn't tell you why, other than I just really like character studies.
115. Stranded by Bracken MacLeod - OK OK OK, this isn’t a good book, but I’m a sucker for anything related to “snow + disaster” so I liked it a lot.
116. His Hideous Heart by Dahlia Adler, Ed. - Great YA anthology of stories inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. I especially like how they did the audiobook, with multiple narrators. Includes stories by Rin Chupeco, Lamar Giles and Caleb Roehrig.
117. Don’t Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language by David Shariatmadari - This was really good! If you like words and etymology, you'll dig this book.
118. What you don't know by JoAnn Chaney - Ehhhh. Serial killer thriller, has potential (one part of the story is told from the perspective of the wife of the serial killer) but really didn't do it for me.
119. On cussing by Katherine Dunn - So good I read it twice (once to make Sawyer listen to it). See 63. Fuck.
120. Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi - This suffered because I was reading things fast, and is on my list of "reasons why I don't want to do the challenge again." It's a conversation between a male author and the female character he writes, and is all about sexism and how women are used and what even is the creative process. Savor this book, don't blast through the audiobook on double time like I did.
121. Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker - REALLY liked this one! I would say this + The Drunkard's Walk by Leonard Mlodinow are my two favorite math-y pop books.
122. L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton - What the L, I’ve made it this far, might as well finish the alphabet.
123. The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz - Ohh this book was fun. It's not incredible, but it's got a really fun plot and great characters. Basically, a totally messed up private eye family crashes their daughter's love life.
124. The twisted ones by T Kingfisher - Ahhh this book! So creepy. Did not go the direction I expected. If you like horror though, pick this one up.
125. Parasite by Mira Grant - This year's discovery is that I'm a huge Mira Grant fan. The premise of this one is "what if everyone has a tapeworm, and they take over your brain?!" It's totally ridiculous but it works.
126. Keep this to yourself by Tom Ryan - I really liked this YA thriller, which includes some queer representation.
127. The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie - Sherman Alexie: problematic person, excellent writer.
128. User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play by Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant - Really interesting pop-sci tech book
129. How Not to Kill Your Houseplant: Survival Tips for the Horticulturally Challenged by Veronica Peerless - Cute presentation, but not a lot of information in it.
130. The psychology of time travel by Kate Mascarenhas - Oooh I really loved this one. It's
131. Built by Roma Agrawal - This was awesome! All about the buildings we live in, written by an architect.
132. Kingdom of the blind by Louise Penny - Great series, don't start with this one.
133. Newcomer by Keigo Higashino - Whodunnit set in Japan, featuring a detective who only seems bumbling.
134. Becoming a visible man by Jamison Green - I was really looking forward to this book, but unfortunately it's less of his memoir and more of basic information about being FTM. And in that sense, it's actually quite dated.
135. A brief history of everyone who ever lived: the human story retold through our genes by Adam Rutherford - I have a really hard time with books on human genetics that completely skip over intersex and trans stories.
136. The darkling bride by Laura Andersen - Kind of a haunted house story, told across several generations.
137. 18 Tiny Deaths: The untold story of Frances Glessner Lee and the invention of modern forensics by Bruce Goldfarb - Really good biography, but also a thought-provoking history of forensics (and how little evidence there really is behind much of what we think of as 'science').
138. Sharky Malarkey: A Sketchshark Collection by Megan Nicole Dong - Cute and twisted and fun!
139. Let's pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson - Not as funny as I was told. I liked it. The audiobook read by the author is kind of jarring at times.
140. The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray-Browne - Ghost story with way too much puking for me.
141. Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis by Stephen Few - Oh hey look, I finally finished my required reading.
142. How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall Munroe - Definitely recommended.
143. Gallowglass by Ruth Rendell (as Barbara Vine) - Ooh this was a good one.
144. It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History by Jennifer Wright - FUCK Norman Mailer.
145. Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson - Highly recommend this, especially if you liked Mink River - really similar feel, but is #ownvoices
146. The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock by Lucy Worsley - History of the English murder novel
147. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano - I liked this a lot, but it felt like there was a lot of angst against nonbinary folks (quite possibly due to when this was written). Would really love to read this as part of a book group.
148. Tighter by Adele Griffin - Basically a YA retelling of The Turn of the Screw
149. The house of stairs by Ruth Rendell (as Barbara Vine) - Psychological thriller with lesbian undertones. I liked it!
150. The burning by Jane Casey - Female-lead police procedural set in London. I liked it enough that I added the rest in the series to my TBR.
Almost halfway there!
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