books | Susan Taitel

Here we are again. Another year, another wrap-up post.

I’ll cut to the chase. Last year saw three new stories published and one reprint.

That is a new record for story sales for me. Fingers crossed I can beat it this year.

Other highlights for the year include: getting vaccinated, a promotion at work, getting to have in-person outdoor critique meetings with my awesome critique group. At least until the weather and Covid numbers sent us back to Zoom.

I also learned to crochet. You can see what I’ve been working on over at Instagram.

I also took part in the Codex Weekend Warrior Challenge for the first time. Every weekend January hundreds of members of the Codex Writer’s Forum participate in a challenge that requires writing a brand new 750-word maximum story based on a set of prompts that are released on Friday. By Sunday the story has to be uploaded. I found it a great motivator to crank out a story in a short amount of time. In the end I had five new flash stories. Some which stayed as flash and others that got expanded. Most are making the rounds with markets while others need some additional revising before I’m happy with them.While this wasn’t the only writing I did in 2021, it was definitely a highlight. I’m doing the challenge again this year.

Finally, this twitter thread might be my favorite bit of writing from the whole year, just because musical theater and the MCU are two of my happy places. So please enjoy (and please ignore the rampant typos).

I spent the morning figuring out the plot of Rogers: the Musical as seen in ep 1 of #HawkeyeSeries Enjoy!

Act 1 scene 1: We open on Early 20th New York. Ensemble sings about things that happened in this era: WW1, Babe Ruth, the Titanic. +
— AKA Susan Taitel (@SusanTaitel) December 19, 2021

On to the numbers!

Last year I read a total of 64 books. 29 print books, 25 ebooks, 10 audiobooks.

Of those:

45 were comics/graphic novels

4 Nonfiction or memoir

13 YA

7 Short Story Collections or Novella

8 borrowed from a friend

3 Borrowed from the library

Favorites!

How the King Of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black, Illustrated by

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

Oh Human Star Volume 3 by Blue Delliquanti

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey

Loki Agent of Asgard Vollumes 1,2,3 by Al Ewing

Favorite authers read by the numbers:

Niki Dolson1

Becky Chambers 1

Maggie Stiefvater 1

Karen Osborne 1

Rainbow Rowell 2

Alison Bechdel 1

Brian K. Vaughan 1

Matt Fraction 3

Kelly Thompson 3

Valerie Valdes 1

Blue Delliquanti 1

N.K. Jemisin 4

Holly Black 1

Neil Gaiman 1

Jane Yolen 1

Jason Aaron 10

Also John Wiswell doesn’t currently have a book in print but his short stories consistently surprise and delight.

2016. That was a year. A year of a few personal highs and so many communal lows.

Anyway as I’ve done for several years now, I kept a list of all the books, audiobooks, comics and so on that I read over the year. It’s my way of keeping a record of the year, based on the stories I’ve consumed.

Now on to the numbers.

I read:

111 books in total

63 print books

48 audiobooks

10 Ebooks

39 comic books (I count trade paperback collections and single issues read as a full arc together, but not single issues read month to month as they’re released)

11 short story collections or novellas (don’t count single short stories read outside of collections)

16 borrowed from the library

25 borrowed from friends

1 read for critique

37 YA

15 Middle Grade

Favorite reads:

Nimona, Noelle Stevenson

The Raven Cycle books 2 through 4, Maggie Stiefvater (I read book 1 in a previous year)

Kindred Spirits, Rainbow Rowell

The Girl With All the Gifts, M.R. Carey

Honorable mentions:

The New Moon’s Arms by Nalo Hopkinson

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

Rose Under Fire, Elizabeth Wein

Black Out and All Clear, Connie Willis

The Lunar Chronicles Books 2 through 4.5, Marissa Meyer

The Paradox Trilogy, Rachel Bach

Favorite author numbers:

Suzanna Clarke 1

Noelle Stevenson 5

Neil Gaiman 2

Jasper Fforde 1

Maggie Stiefvater 3

Gene Luen Yang 2

Rainbow Rowell 1

J.K Rowling 1

G. Willow Wilson 5

Marissa Meyer 5

Jonathan Carroll 1

Connie Willis 2

Sarah Vowell 2

Lish McBride 1

Carrie Fisher 2 (I’m still processing her loss)

Holly Black 2

Book related highlights:

Viable Paradise 20 was undoubtedly the best thing I did all year. It was incredible. I wish I could do it all over again. Thank you thank you to the instructors, staff, and fellow students for the amazing week.

There was also Wiscon. I participated in their one-day critique workshop. Went to panels, readings, and signings from the likes of Nalo Hopkinson, Charlie Jane Anders, and John Scalzi (who made a surprise appearance at the sign out). I ate breakfast for dinner with the Geek Girl Brunch Crew and geeked out about The Force Awakens.

Sadly I missed what was probably the last Nerdcon Stories because it conflicted with VP.

I read a story at the annual MinnSpec Reading.

And in March I went to London and Ireland for two weeks. It was a lovely trip. The book related highlights of the trip were taking a tour of the Globe Theatre, and the Harry Potter Studio tour. Though there were plenty of times where just walking the streets and riding the tube brought up associations with books. Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere and Connie Willis’s Oxford time Travel series in particular.

Hey look it’s the Sorting Hat!

Hey look it’s a phoenix.

Hey look it’s Shakespeare’s Globe.

Hey look it’s Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Mr. Dunworthy’s team must have figured out how to save it after all!

Finally, I’ll leave you with a picture of my to-read shelves. It’s kind of out of hand and doesn’t even include the audiobooks, ebooks, and comics.

So many books.

These are the ones I plan to read first.

2017 please be gentle with us.

Susan Taitel

Tag Archives: books

The Year in Books: 2021

The Year In Books: 2016