Ariel’s Books of 2019

As 2019 draws to an end, I feel this need to discuss books with any and every book lover who is willing to discuss books with me. So I reached out to the community and am thrilled to have found some like-minded folks who would love to discuss what they read in 2019. At least that’s the plan but, as with all things bookish, let’s see where this goes! Today, I’m hosting Ariel about her books of 2019. Since we connected on twitter, we chat books and our fur babies everyday!

Like from Zenobia’s post, remember that Ariel’s words are in italics and since this is a bookish discussion, all book links open in a new tab so that you can refer to them afterwards.

Hey Ariel! Welcome to Armed with A Book. 🙂 Tell me a little bit about your love for books.

Yay! Thanks 🙂 Ever since I was a child I was obsessed with picking up every single book I could get my hands on. I would check out my limit at the library and return a week later to check out another stack. That love of books has been a consistent passion my entire life, and now that I am an adult, I find it extremely beneficial to my wellbeing to become lost in a book for a few hours. It’s basically my self care!

That is great to hear! I see reading as self-care for myself too. What else do you do for self-care?

I go for a walk at a park or spend a large portion of the day going on a hike (with a book in tow, of course!).

Do you participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge? How do you usually choose this goal and what was your goal for this year?

I do! I like to undercut my numbers so I don’t feel any stress or rush around the numbers of books that I read. I started the challenge in 2018 and my goal was 75 books (I ended up reading 110 books) and so this year I upped my book goal to 85, but quickly surpassed that number by mid September of 2019. So, I’ll probably put my 2020 goal at about 100 books since that’s clearly doable 🙂

I really only utilize the Reading Challenge to keep track of all the books I’ve read and I really enjoy looking back at the end of December to reminisce on all that I’ve read that year.

That’s a good way to use it. This year, I started with 50 as my goal but changed it to 75 which I reached this morning. Now I have reached my 75 books, every book on top (and there will probably be another 20), is going to be a bonus read.

Yay, congrats! That’s exciting.

Thanks! 85 by mid-September is impressive! How many do you think you will have by the end of the year?

Well I hope to beat my 110 book amount from last year, and beyond that will be like you, bonus reads!

How do you choose which books to read? 110 selections this year haha!

I always have a rotating list of books that I put on hold from my TBR pile, and sometimes if someone recommends a book I’ll start reading that (like our buddy read). Since I read so much for graduate school, any books I read outside of academia are purely whatever I feel like reading at the moment. That usually lands me somewhere in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy realm.

What about you?

Too many sources, for me! Since becoming a bookblogger, I choose books from what’s up for review on NetGalley and BookSirens. I am also part of some publishers’ bookblogger programs and request books from their upcoming catalogs. Recommendations from twitter, instagram and the authors interviews add to the TBR pile even more. For review copies, I schedule them in my calendar, usually in order of receiving them or their publication date. For my own TBR, I pick and choose for the month. Interesting books do push some off the reading list. 🙂

You mentioned the library earlier – is that where you get most of your books from?

Yes, definitely! I am slowly building up my own library but between working and school and normal adulthood living expenses, it’s much more cost-efficient to take advantage of the free books, ebooks, and audiobooks that my local library provides.

I refer to the library a bit myself too. Do you like getting hardcopies/digital copies of books or audiobooks? I always get ebooks or audiobooks because they save me the trip!

I typically get an electronic version of an audiobook, and by default I’ll look at the ebooks first because, like you, it’ll save me the trip to the library. However, I’ll look at the wait times for a particular book in both the print and the digital version and see which one I can have access to first.

That makes sense! As readers, we are always optimizing for time. 🙂

I noticed that I read a bunch of dystopia this year and literary fiction has always been a top genre for me. Are there particular genres that you read more of, Ariel?

I love dystopia and literary fiction, but I would say my preference is Sci-Fi and Fantasy. I love original ideas, and I love seeing what the authors’ commentary on real life is through the lens of other universes. Plus, being able to be lost in a completely different world for a few hours at a time is the perfect escape that I need at the end of a stressful day.

I love how you describe the draw for Sci-Fi. I totally get it. I got an email about an upcoming book that you might like – The Last Human by Zack Jordan. It is out in January.

Thanks for the rec!

About the books this year

Related to sci-fic and dystopia, another person I was talking to as part of this series mentioned how they have found such genres to be thoughtful and powerful. I believe that every story has something to offer and changes me in ways. Was there such an impactful read for you this year? Where there any books that challenged your thinking and you learned a lot from?

I totally agree with your belief. It’s honestly so hard to pick one so, I’ll just go with the first 5-star rating of 2019: a nonfiction book called From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty. This book is about an American who observes various death-rituals throughout the non-Western world to see how various countries address existential questions such as “What’s the meaning of life?” and “What happens after death?”

Coming from my Western worldview, I had to really stop and think about why I would think that a various death-practice was off-putting in comparison to what’s normalized in the US. So, it was really a good exercise in broadening my worldview and addressing various unconscious biases I have. Overall, this book is an excellent tool to challenge one’s reflexive thinking and promote open-mindedness.

I’ll be sure to check it out. Did you read any books that had practical strategies to apply to life?

Basically any of my graduate school books! In addition to normal course reading, I read sixteen books in assistance to my advisor’s research publication on decolonization and conflict analysis. Some notable titles from that are: Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Indian America from 1890 to Present by David Treuer, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition by Glen Sean Coulthard, and As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Feel free to reach out to me if this topic is of interest and you want to know more!)

These are interesting topics, indeed! You should check out my thoughts on Crow Winter. I would love to hear what you think of it!

Oh it looks really good! I’m glad it was such a good read for you!

Thanks! Coming back to more books, I know it is hard to give recommendations, especially when we read so many books in a year! If you had to choose, tell me about four books that I should check out and why.

The most common genres I read are poetry, YA, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi; so I’ll pick one from each genre that I read this year.

Poetry: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You by Lin-Manuel Miranda — this small book is full of inspirational poems and doodles that are both heart-warming and meditative. This is one of the most authentic collections of motivational poetry I’ve ever read. Definitely a read, reread, and reread some more type of book.

Young Adult: Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay— Partially a mystery, partially a coming-of-age story, all around a really good realistic fiction read that addresses worldview, culture, and the ways we humanize and dehumanize each other.

Fantasy: The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin— I love N.K. Jemisin as an author to begin with because she does such an excellent job of writing fantasy from a non-western standpoint. Her world in The Fifth Season are so completely original that it takes a little time for her to set up the universe in the first parts of her book, but once you get your bearings it’s totally worth it.

Sci-Fi: All Systems Red by Martha Wells— this book is very short: less than 150 pages. If you love sci-fi and robots, and snarky ones at that, this book is for you. This book follows Murderbot, a self-named security AI who would prefer to watch television series and figure out their purpose in life rather than the job they were programed to do.

The Year Ahead

Would you change anything, whether it is your reading habits, review routine or reading goal, for 2020?

This year I really tried to focus my reading on inclusively: selecting reads that were written by women, people of color, or those who identify as queer. I want that goal to carry over into next year as well!

Ariel’s Little Book Bingo

I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Ariel! Please let us know what you think and share with your circles! Our handles will be tagged if you use the tweet below.

Next up, on the 20th, I’ll have Ash over to learn about her year in books.

Thanks for reading! ❤️