Why I Only Read Science Fiction!

This is not true. And if it were, that headline would read: Why I Only Read Science Fiction and by Women Authors. However, I don't only read science fiction. I read a lot of science fiction, but not exclusively. 

But recently, I was wrapping up a conversation with my mom and as usual I had to tell her about what I was reading (The Book of the Unnamed Midwife). Afterwards, she asked, "Do you only read science fiction?"

It's not the first time she's asked/said something like this and I always hear it as criticism.

"No, Moooom," I replied using a tone of voice that should have been abandoned in my teen years, but which resurrects zombie-style whenever I am talking to my mom about certain triggering subjects. "I don't only read science fiction."

Then, as usual, I wracked my brain to come up with a book that I had recently read that wasn't science fiction. This time it was easy, The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller is a YA LGBT novel out of my wheelhouse.

(OK, there are some superpowers in the book and the only reason I heard about it is because the author also writes short stories for some of my favorite science fiction magazines. I've also added his forthcoming science fiction novel, Blackfish City, to my TBR list).

"I'll read anything good," I told Mom.

The Art of Starving is really, really good.

After we ended the call, I began to wonder: Why was I so defensive? So adamant? (Let's leave aside the question of why a 45-year-old woman feels the need to explain her reading habits to her mother. The Heroine's Journey covers this pretty well).

Now, I have put a lot of thought into the reasons why I write science fiction (to imagine the future) and fantasy (to talk about sensitive current topics in an approachable way that reframes perspectives). But what about my reading habits?

Being a science fiction reader, I asked, "What if?"

What if I did read only science fiction?  

• Would a white supremacist, misogynist, dog-hating, non-reader become president? 
• Would children die every day in school shootings? 
• Would the sea level rise drowning people on islands? 

Could things get worse? Not likely!

For one thing, this category of "science fiction" is huge! Only reading science fiction would include space exploration, space opera, steampunk, solarpunk, clones, climate fiction, dystopias, utopias etc. etc. It covers a lot of ground.

For another, it's not like anyone is making a list of what Shel Graves' reads and demanding parity!

Now, it might be an interesting experiment to only read science fiction, but I'm not going to do it.

While I've overcome some of my mysticism about books and authors (I can write in my books if I want to. I can tear out pages. I can write books. I can talk to authors. Writing isn't so much spell-casting as it is hard work.); I remain superstitious about reading.

Magic draws me to read certain books at certain times. The universe sends me secret messages via books. One day, the door to Narnia could still open (if I remain hopeful and filled with desire and do not succumb to cynicism and despair).

If I did decide to read only science fiction, I would take the limitation further and read only science fiction by women. Still, everything would be fine.

This year, I'm having an amazing run of wonderful reading of science fiction books by women: so far, An Oath of Dogs, Wendy Wagner; The Book of the Unnamed Midwife and The Book of Etta, Meg Elison; A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers; The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander; and Amatka, Karen Tidbeck.

Out of curiosity though, what if there was a list of Shel Graves' top reading recommendations? Is it all science fiction?

Here's my list of top books from 2017-2010 — books that had enough of an impact on me for one reason or another that I took the time to write about them on my blog and which still captured my attention at the end of the year. My book of the year pick in bold.

2017 - nonfiction and a contes cruel

The New Jim Crow, nonfiction, Michelle Alexander
"The Elixir of Youth," story, Brian Stableford

2016 - assorted fiction (horror, weird, realism, sci-fi) and nonfiction/memoir

Lovecraft Country, Matt Ruff
Arcadia, Lauren Groff
Hag-Seed and The Heart Goes Last, Margaret Atwood
Memoirs of a Polar Bear, Yoko Tawada
Too Like the Lightening, Ada Palmer

Nonfiction 

How Not to Die, Dr. Michael Greger

Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey, Jane Goodall

Her Beautiful Brain, Ann Hedreen
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Nicholas D. Kristof
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities, Rebecca Solnit 

2015 - OK, this is all science fiction

Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy
Memoirs of a Space Woman, Naomi Mitchison
Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle
Doctor Rat, William Kotzwinkle
The Martian, Andy Weir
"Gestella," story, Susan Palwick
"Torching the Dusties," story, Margaret Atwood

2014 - nonfiction, stories and poetry

The Faraway Nearby, Wanderlust: A History of Walking, Men Explain Things to Me, and A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit

Stories

"Lady Astronaut of Mars," Mary Robinette Kowal 

 "Fox 8," George Saunders 

Poetry

The Cupboard Artist, Molly Tenenbaum

2013 - damn good fiction, and nonfiction

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler
MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood

Nonfiction

Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition, T. Colin Campbell
My Beef With Meat, Rip Esselstyn

2012 - science fiction, poetry and nonfiction

Cloud Atlas, fiction, David Mitchell 

Plume, poetry, Kathleen Flenniken 

The Sexual Politics of Meat, nonfiction, Carol J. Adams 

A Paradise Built in Hell, nonfiction, Rebecca Solnit 

2011 - yes, a lot of science fiction

The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller, The Mount, Carmen Dog, Carol Emshwiller

Sourland stories, A Widow's Story: A Memoir, and Zombie, Joyce Carol Oates

Islands, Marta Randall

Air, Geoff Ryman

Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls, Matt Ruff

The Blazing World,  Margaret Cavendish

The Secret Feminist Cabal, nonfiction,  Helen Merrick

2010 - classic fiction, nonfiction, and, yes, a lot more science fiction

Middlemarch, George Elliot
The City, Not Long After, Pat Murphy
Gazelle, Rikki Ducornet
Lavinia, Ursula K. LeGuin
The Unit, Ninni Holmqvist
Island, Aldous Huxley

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
Freefall, by Mindi Scott

Nonfiction

Simple Plan, Mother Teresa

The Faber Book of Utopias, Ed. John Carey
The Case for God, Karen Armstrong
In Defense of Dolphins, Thomas White