One day this week, as I was idly gazing at my bookshelves (aka writing), I began to think about what moves me to buy or read a particular book. Of course, there can be any number of reasons, but as I considered it, several distinctive themes emerged.

Using a few examples from books I read in 2017-2018, here is my personal hierarchy of reads.

Books by writers I admire so much I will read whatever they write forever

(Authors in alphabetical order)

• White Houses by Amy Bloom
• The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
• LaRose by Louise Erdrich
• Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay 
• Pain Woman Takes Your Keys and Other Essays from a Nervous System by Sonya Huber
• Kingdom of Women by Rosalie Morales Kearns
• ‘Round Midnight by Laura McBride
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 

Books recommended by people I respect, and they were right

• The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon
• Sister Noon by Karen Joy Fowler
• Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

Books whose titles grabbed me and I’m glad they did

• Whatever Happened to Interracial Love by Kathleen Collins
• Where the Jews Aren’t by Masha Gessen
• No One is Going to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts

Books that happen to be about my weird interests

Totalitarian societies

• Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich
• Shadowland by Elizabeth Kostova

War and its impact 

• Wolf Season by Helen Benedict

Cold places

• The Big Bang Symphony by Lucy Jane Bledsoe 

Forthcoming books I can’t wait to read by former colleagues and constant comrades in activism

These books aren’t on my shelves yet, but you can be sure they will be.

Anarchy or hierarchy – what’s your book selection process? Do share.