This year I set myself a target of reading a book a week, and at the halfway point I’m right on schedule with 26 books in 26 weeks. 16 were non-fiction, 14 were by women, 6 were translated, and 4 were over 1,000 years old (The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon is in all four categories). The complete list:
1. The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore
2. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
3. Holloway by Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood, and Dan Richards
4. Now Go by Karl Thomas Smith
5. How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra
6. Ness by Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood
7. Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
8. H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald
9. Rose/House by Arkady Martine
10. Tarka The Otter by Henry Williamson
11. The Iliad by Homer, translated by Martin Hammond
12. Ring Of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell
13. The Lass And The Quine by Ashley Douglas
14. Hekate by Nikita Gill
15. Enemy Feminisms by Sophie Lewis
16. A Simpler Life by The School Of Life
17. Underground Maps Unravelled by Maxwell J Roberts
18. The Little Book Of Humanism by Andrew Copson and Alice Roberts
19. Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit
20. Essays In Idleness and Hōjōki by Kenkō and Chōmei, translated by Meredith McKinney
21. Death In Ten Minutes by Fern Riddell
22. The Epic Of Gilgamesh, translated by Andrew George
23. I Hope We Choose Love by Kai Cheng Thom
24. The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, translated by Meredith McKinney
25. The Book Of Birds by Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane
26. Whose Story Is This? By Rebecca Solnit
