It's time to quantify and analyze the year's reading
As of 5 pm or so on New Year's eve, I've read 92 books for the year. Here's what I read in the various overlapping categories.
In 2016, I read 29 books for research (not teaching), and 30 academic books in total, counting books read for teaching, research, book reviews, and reading challenges. I read 44 books for either teaching, reviews or research this year. My 29456 pages of reading (according to goodreads) meant reading about 80 pages per day, though with footnotes, I think this really means about 60 pages per day, which is what I strive for in daily reading on week days, going to 90 per day on Friday and Saturday. This does not count books I re-read for teaching. I did two reading challenges, my own academic reading challenge and Book Riot's Read Harder, for a total of 40 books.
I wound up doing less reading for work than I did in 2015, when I read 36 research-related books. Of course, I only count books I read completely, so many of the other reading-for-work that I did meant books I didn't read in their entirety, such as the big chunks of Ernst Bloch I read, which were probably the books that had the most impact on my thinking about my project. I've been working on an essay that's given me trouble because it's new disciplinary territory for me, and it's been slowing me down. Also, with all the drama of the election year, I spent more time reading the news than I had done in 2015, and felt more urgency about reading about contemporary politics than I did about the reading challenge, especially this fall.
In 2016, listened to 15 audio books, mostly while driving to and from work. Regardless of format, I read 9 mysteries and 10 works of literary fiction, as well as much more non-mystery genre fiction than I've read in the past, including horror and science-fiction. I also read 6 graphic novels or comics, 6 books by friends and acquaintances, 8 general non-fiction books and 5 memoirs. I reviewed 4 books this year for academic and /or political journals. As in 2012 and 2015 most of the books I read were by white people (80 out of 92). These don't count, but I also read 7 dissertations - some of which will make excellent books. The split between men (54) and women (38) was the same as in 2015. I read 12 academic books that I would likely have not read when I did because I read them for one of the two challenges. Most of these were books that I will wind up using for teaching, or possibly in future research, if in an unexpected way. For example, Bethany Moreton's book on Walmart wound up helping me with the article I'm still working on because of what it says about populism, AND, I'm using it in my research methods class this coming Spring.
Other than the revelation of Ernst Bloch, I'd say that my baker's dozen favorite books of the year, in no particular order were:
The aforementioned, To Serve God and Walmart by Bethany Moreton. (Book Riot's Read Harder challenge - book about religion) I had seen Moreton give a talk on this project when she was a graduate student, and was already blown away. I also recommended this book to a student in my undergrad class who was writing her term paper about her job at Walmart, where she is a third-generation employee from the same store. She loved it!
Sarah Haley's No Mercy Here (book bought in the last 6 months - bought at a the OAH conference in April 16) - which I plan to teach in the fall in my seminar on prison studies. This book about Black women prisoners on chain gangs in GA is simply amazing for unearthing an untold story, as well as for the force of its analysis.
Viet Than Nguyen's The Sympathizer (for Read Harder - book by author from Southeast Asia) - I taught this in my undergrad class last fall as an illustration of transnationalism. It brought a couple of the undergraduates to wake up a bit, but I think I loved it much more than they did.
Dan Berger's Captive Nation (book by a friend) - which I'll teach part of next fall. This is another book that brings forward an untold story from a place where such stories seem hard to access.
Eric Tang's Unsettled, (as a teaching possibility). I didn't wind up using it myself, but recommended to a friend who did use it. This short little book about Cambodian refugees in the Bronx is both great as a narrative and for analytical contributions that are already having an impact on many scholars.
David McNally's Global Slump ,(book bought over a year ago - at the Left Forum in 2012) I've imagined an entire class around it for Spring 2018. A succinct and careful analysis of both the causes of the 2008 financial collapse and the resistance it is still inspiring. Essential reading in the years to come.
Lucia Trimbur's Come Out Swinging (sports ethnography) I used a chapter from in my undergrad class this fall. I really enjoyed reading books about sports this year. This one brings together analysis of class, race ,and gender in the context of gentrification, incarceration, and unemployment and also includes great commentary on social theory and ethnographic practice more generally.
Chandan Reddy's Freedom with Violence (book of theory) - I used a chapter in my grad class this fall, It was way over my students' heads. Next year, I will likely use the Youtube of his talk on Gay marriage at ASA. This book also brings together a number of important threads - intersections between Gay Rights, immigrant political strategy, foreign policy, and legal history. It's made a massive impact on the field of American Studies.
Audra Simpson's Mohawk Interruptus (indigenous studies) which I used a chapter from in my undergrad class this fall. This book contains one of the best discussions of the biases of anthropology that I have read yet, along with amazing discussions of the place of Native people between the US and Canadian border, as they travel from place to place.
Laurent Binet's HHhH, (novel about your research subject). This is an unusual novel about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich that doubles back to comment on the nature of representation of reality as soon as images are created in the reader's mind. I I'd love to teach in a historical methods course.
David Roediger's short summation of most of his academic work: How Race Survived U.S. History I used it as a core text in my undergrad class, and it worked very well to inspire discussion. It brings together a lot of this great scholar's recent thinking about the intertwined relationships of race and class.
Calavita and Jenness, Appealing to Justice. I'll probably use a chapter from in my class in fall 2017. This book about the internal prison appeals system is another one that shows how much can be done to include voices of prisoners in scholarship on prison, and it includes some excellent comments about why this is not done more, including references to articles about how the IRB is used to make it difficult to do research on prisons. It also includes fascinating analysis of guards' views of prisoners. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in looking at how bureaucracies work.
Janice Radway's Reading the Romance (classic in your field that you haven't read) which I read only part of in graduate school in a seminar when it was assigned, but which I devoured this summer. This book is, as many reviewers note, pretty dated, but it combines a sharp textual analysis of romances with the analysis of a small community of readers. It is much less populist than I had originally thought when I first read it.
and with that, friends. I'll stop. It's time to start reading for 2017. Happy New Year's Reading to You!
If you did the challenge and want to talk about it - please make a comment!
As of 5 pm or so on New Year's eve, I've read 92 books for the year. Here's what I read in the various overlapping categories.
In 2016, I read 29 books for research (not teaching), and 30 academic books in total, counting books read for teaching, research, book reviews, and reading challenges. I read 44 books for either teaching, reviews or research this year. My 29456 pages of reading (according to goodreads) meant reading about 80 pages per day, though with footnotes, I think this really means about 60 pages per day, which is what I strive for in daily reading on week days, going to 90 per day on Friday and Saturday. This does not count books I re-read for teaching. I did two reading challenges, my own academic reading challenge and Book Riot's Read Harder, for a total of 40 books.
I wound up doing less reading for work than I did in 2015, when I read 36 research-related books. Of course, I only count books I read completely, so many of the other reading-for-work that I did meant books I didn't read in their entirety, such as the big chunks of Ernst Bloch I read, which were probably the books that had the most impact on my thinking about my project. I've been working on an essay that's given me trouble because it's new disciplinary territory for me, and it's been slowing me down. Also, with all the drama of the election year, I spent more time reading the news than I had done in 2015, and felt more urgency about reading about contemporary politics than I did about the reading challenge, especially this fall.
In 2016, listened to 15 audio books, mostly while driving to and from work. Regardless of format, I read 9 mysteries and 10 works of literary fiction, as well as much more non-mystery genre fiction than I've read in the past, including horror and science-fiction. I also read 6 graphic novels or comics, 6 books by friends and acquaintances, 8 general non-fiction books and 5 memoirs. I reviewed 4 books this year for academic and /or political journals. As in 2012 and 2015 most of the books I read were by white people (80 out of 92). These don't count, but I also read 7 dissertations - some of which will make excellent books. The split between men (54) and women (38) was the same as in 2015. I read 12 academic books that I would likely have not read when I did because I read them for one of the two challenges. Most of these were books that I will wind up using for teaching, or possibly in future research, if in an unexpected way. For example, Bethany Moreton's book on Walmart wound up helping me with the article I'm still working on because of what it says about populism, AND, I'm using it in my research methods class this coming Spring.
Other than the revelation of Ernst Bloch, I'd say that my baker's dozen favorite books of the year, in no particular order were:
The aforementioned, To Serve God and Walmart by Bethany Moreton. (Book Riot's Read Harder challenge - book about religion) I had seen Moreton give a talk on this project when she was a graduate student, and was already blown away. I also recommended this book to a student in my undergrad class who was writing her term paper about her job at Walmart, where she is a third-generation employee from the same store. She loved it!
Sarah Haley's No Mercy Here (book bought in the last 6 months - bought at a the OAH conference in April 16) - which I plan to teach in the fall in my seminar on prison studies. This book about Black women prisoners on chain gangs in GA is simply amazing for unearthing an untold story, as well as for the force of its analysis.
Viet Than Nguyen's The Sympathizer (for Read Harder - book by author from Southeast Asia) - I taught this in my undergrad class last fall as an illustration of transnationalism. It brought a couple of the undergraduates to wake up a bit, but I think I loved it much more than they did.
Dan Berger's Captive Nation (book by a friend) - which I'll teach part of next fall. This is another book that brings forward an untold story from a place where such stories seem hard to access.
Eric Tang's Unsettled, (as a teaching possibility). I didn't wind up using it myself, but recommended to a friend who did use it. This short little book about Cambodian refugees in the Bronx is both great as a narrative and for analytical contributions that are already having an impact on many scholars.
David McNally's Global Slump ,(book bought over a year ago - at the Left Forum in 2012) I've imagined an entire class around it for Spring 2018. A succinct and careful analysis of both the causes of the 2008 financial collapse and the resistance it is still inspiring. Essential reading in the years to come.
Lucia Trimbur's Come Out Swinging (sports ethnography) I used a chapter from in my undergrad class this fall. I really enjoyed reading books about sports this year. This one brings together analysis of class, race ,and gender in the context of gentrification, incarceration, and unemployment and also includes great commentary on social theory and ethnographic practice more generally.
Chandan Reddy's Freedom with Violence (book of theory) - I used a chapter in my grad class this fall, It was way over my students' heads. Next year, I will likely use the Youtube of his talk on Gay marriage at ASA. This book also brings together a number of important threads - intersections between Gay Rights, immigrant political strategy, foreign policy, and legal history. It's made a massive impact on the field of American Studies.
Audra Simpson's Mohawk Interruptus (indigenous studies) which I used a chapter from in my undergrad class this fall. This book contains one of the best discussions of the biases of anthropology that I have read yet, along with amazing discussions of the place of Native people between the US and Canadian border, as they travel from place to place.
Laurent Binet's HHhH, (novel about your research subject). This is an unusual novel about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich that doubles back to comment on the nature of representation of reality as soon as images are created in the reader's mind. I I'd love to teach in a historical methods course.
David Roediger's short summation of most of his academic work: How Race Survived U.S. History I used it as a core text in my undergrad class, and it worked very well to inspire discussion. It brings together a lot of this great scholar's recent thinking about the intertwined relationships of race and class.
Calavita and Jenness, Appealing to Justice. I'll probably use a chapter from in my class in fall 2017. This book about the internal prison appeals system is another one that shows how much can be done to include voices of prisoners in scholarship on prison, and it includes some excellent comments about why this is not done more, including references to articles about how the IRB is used to make it difficult to do research on prisons. It also includes fascinating analysis of guards' views of prisoners. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in looking at how bureaucracies work.
Janice Radway's Reading the Romance (classic in your field that you haven't read) which I read only part of in graduate school in a seminar when it was assigned, but which I devoured this summer. This book is, as many reviewers note, pretty dated, but it combines a sharp textual analysis of romances with the analysis of a small community of readers. It is much less populist than I had originally thought when I first read it.
and with that, friends. I'll stop. It's time to start reading for 2017. Happy New Year's Reading to You!
If you did the challenge and want to talk about it - please make a comment!
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