I like to read books, and not just fiction. (And thank goodness, since I'm a writer.) I'm not afraid of the news or current events--I feel safer knowing what's going on than wallowing in ignorance--but after the 2016 election, I realized how badly served all of us were by our news media. I've traded being able to win Breaking News-Offs for actually understanding things (well, better than I would if all I were doing was staying up on the headlines).
This list is evolving, and includes fiction as well as non-fiction. Links are to my reviews, most of which are on my library website, or my library's entry for them. I will only very rarely review on Goodreads, particularly if it's for an indie writer I can't get at my library. But aside from Goodreads being a subsidiary of Amazon, the culture there is unhelpful.
As with the blogroll, I'm alphabetizing but not otherwise sorting.
As of July 19, 2025, there's over 130 items on the list--as I said, I like to read--and you'll find something for everyone.
Of course, not all information in the 21st century is confined to books. This link will take you to an even longer list of online articles I thought worth saving.
*Abeni's Song* by P. Djèlí Clark
*The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi* by S.A. Chakraborty
*African Europeans: An Untold History* by Olivette Otele
*An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States* by Kyle Mays
*The Afrominimalist's Guide to Living With Less* by Christine A. Platt
*The Akata Series* by Nnedi Okorafor
*America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States* by Erika Lee
*Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business* by Neil Postman
*The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company* by William Dalrymple
*Apartment Women* by Ku Pyŏng-mo
*Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet* by Jennifer Homans
*The Ashfire King* by Chelsea Abdullah
*Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria* by Sam Dagher
*Beasts of a Little Land* by Juhea Kim
*Born in Blackness* by Howard W. French
*Breath of the Dragon* by Fonde Lee and Shannon Lee
*The Broken Earth trilogy* by N.K. Jemisin
*Central Asia in World History* by Peter B. Golden
*China in World History* by Paul S. Ropp
*Circus Mirandus* by Cassie Beasley
*City of Night Birds* by Juhea Kim
*The City We Became* by N.K. Jemisin
*Colonization and the Wampanoag Story* by Linda Coombs
*The Commissario Brunetti Series* by Donna Leon
*Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat* by Bee Wilson
*A Crane Among Wolves* by June Hur
*Culture and Imperialism* by Edward Said
*The Daevabad Trilogy* by S.A. Chakraborty
*The Dandelion Dynasty series* by Ken Liu
*The Dead Cat Tail Assassins* by P. Djèlí Clark
*The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became A National Catastrophe* by Josh Mitchell
*The Dragon and the Eagle: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese and Roman Empires* by Sunny Y. Auyang
*The Dragon's Promise* by Elizabeth Lim
*Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900* by Alfred W. Crosby
*Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding* by Daniel E. Lieberman
*Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia* bySabrina Strings
*The First Amerasians: Mixed Race Koreans From Camptowns to America* by Yuri W. Doolan
*Florence and Baghdad: Renaissance Art and Arab Science* by Hans Belting
*The Forest of Stolen Girls* by June Hur
*Future Yet to Come: Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Modern Korea*
*Galileo's Muse: Renaissance Mathematics and the Arts* by Mark A. Peterson
*Genocide: A World History* by Norman M. Naimark
*Ghetto Gastro Black Power Kitchen* by Jon Gray
*The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Seas* by Axie Oh
*The Green Bone Saga* by Fonda Lee
*Her Radiant Curse* by Elizabeth Lim
*Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets We Use Every Day* by Elise Hu
*How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World* by Deb Chachra
*In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century* by Sebastian Strangio
*In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa's Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World* by Judith Ann Carney
*An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States* by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
*Iran in World History* by Richard C. Foltz
*Iron Widow* by Xiran Jay Zhao
*Japan in Asia: Post-Cold-War Diplomacy* by Akihiko Tanaka
*Karma of the Sun* by Brandon Ying Kit Boey
*Lost Ark Dreaming* by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
*Made in Asian America: A History for Young People* by Erika Lee
*The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir* by EJ Koh
*The Making of Asian America: A History* by Erika Lee
*Maoism: A Global History* by Julia Lovell
*The Modern Myths: Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination* by Philip Ball
*Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power* by David Dayen
*The Mourning Road to Thanksgiving* by Larry Spotted Man Crow
*My Rice Bowl: Korean Cooking Outside the Lines* by Rachel Yang
*Native Nations: A Millenium in North America* by Kathleen DuVal
*The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative* by Florence Williams
*The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves* by W. Brian Arthur
*New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America* by Colin G. Calloway
*No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs* by Naomi Klein
*The Old Woman With the Knife* by Ku Pyŏng-mo
*The Olympians* by George O'Connor
*Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word* by Walter Ong
*Orientalism* by Edward W. Said
*Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise* by Susan L. Shirk
*Pauulu's Diaspora: Black Internationalism and Environmental Justice* by Quito Swan
*Phoenix Extravagant* by Yoon Ha Lee
*Plastic Capitalism: Banks, Credit Cards, and the End of Financial Control* by Sean H. Vanatta
*Pollution is Colonialism* by Max Liboiron
*Range: Why Generalists Triumph in A Specialized World* by David J. Epstein
*Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy* by Liu Cixin
*Revolutionary Power: An Activist's Guide to the Energy Transition* by Shalanda H. Baker
*Ring Shout, Or, Hunting Ku Kluxes in the End Times* by P. Djèlí Clark
*Riot Baby* by Tochi Onyebuchi
*The Round House* by Louise Erdrich
*The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World* by Lincoln P. Paine
*She Who Became The Sun* by Shelley Parker-Chan
*The Shoelace Magician* by Cassie Beasley
*A Short History of Boston* by Robert J. Allison
*The Silence of Bones* by June Hur
*Six Crimson Cranes* by Elizabeth Lim
*Slavery and the Culture of Taste* by Simon Gikandi
*Solitude: in Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World* by Michael Harris
*Stalin's War: a New History of World War II* by Sean McMeekin
*The Stardust Thief* by Chelsea Abdullah
*Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food Systems* by Raj Patel
*A Testament of Hope: the essential writings of Martin Luther King, Jr.* by Martin Luther King, Jr.
*Tea: Addiction, Exploitation, and Empire* by Roy Moxham
*Technology: A World History* by Daniel R. Headrick
*They Knew: How A Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent* by Sarah Kendzior
*This Is What I Know About Art* by Kimberly Drew
*Trans-Saharan Africa in World History* by Ralph A. Austen
*Ultra-processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn't Food* by Chris van Tulleken
*The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy* by Raj Patel
*Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on A Dead Man)* by Jesse Q. Sutanto
*Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers* by Jesse Q. Sutanto
*Violet Made of Thorns* by Gina Chen
*War Made New: Weapons, Warriors, and the Making of the Modern World* by Max Boot
*Water in Plain Sight: Hope for A Thirsty World* by Judith D. Schwartz
*We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State* by Kai Strittmatter
*Women in the Picture: What Culture Does With Female Bodies* by Catherine McCormack
*The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction* by Walter Benjamin