Tag: Books

2024 Best Books of the Year

2024 Best Books of the Year

by akc

Best Book Club Book
Our Wives Under the Sea, by Julia Armfield

This is an atmospheric book that’s not really about the plot, it’s about processing grief and trauma. The mysteries are never resolved, but to me the ending fit well. We had a good discussion about this one and I’m so glad my friend B chose it for us.

Best Audacious Book Club Book
Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar

This was the January book for Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club. It’s a beautiful, reflective novel with some philosophical elements, but it stays grounded in the story and the characters. The perspective shifts back and forth between different characters, and you get to hear from them at different points in their lives. I think this worked really well to build a better sense of the main character’s development and to push the story along, but it also gives you more glimpses into some of the supporting characters, which I really appreciated.

Best Recommendation from TBR
The Force of Such Beauty, by Barbara Bourland

TBR is a paid service from Book Riot, where you get three book recommendations each quarter. I rarely read them right away, but I do keep track of them. This one started off slow for me but once it got going it grabbed my attention and did not let go. The protagonist is a difficult character, but still very sympathetic. I did not see the ending coming but it does fit with the story, and I thought the epilogue was a nice touch.

Best Book in a Series I’m Already Reading
The Women of Troy, by Pat Barker

This is #2 in a series by the same name. We read the first book for book club in 2019 and I loved it! But I somehow missed this when it came out in 2021. This picks back up with Briseis (former Trojan queen and also former mistress of Achilles) after Troy has fallen and the Greeks are waiting for a favorable wind to sail home. I know there was some detail I forgot from the first book, but I didn’t feel like I was missing a ton. Briseis has a lot of empathy for the women around her, despite having been through the same trauma as them, and it was really lovely to see her try to help them navigate the situation in the camp.

Best Book in a New-to-Me Series
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands, by Heather Fawcett

I read the first two books in this delightful series this year. It’s set in the in the Edwardian era (early 1900s) and features a strong, independent woman who is a scholar of faeries. In this second book she’s doing fieldwork to finish her map of faerie realms. I’m reading this series on audiobook and the narration, by Ell Potter with Michael Dodds, is wonderful. If you like fantasy and you enjoy books featuring anachronistic period women, this is for you.

Best Buzzy Book
The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore

This is admittedly a very subjective category, because what constitutes a “buzzy” book will depend on where you get your book news. But for me this year, it was The God of the Woods, which came out in the summer. I really enjoyed the setting and characters, especially once I settled in. There are quite a few threads to the story, but nothing that felt out of place. I also really liked the ending, it was sad but felt right.

Best Book I Bought
The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo

This was so immersive, with great characters. I do think that if you’re not typically into historical fiction you may not enjoy this, but if you do enjoy historical fiction, and you also like fantasy, this is worth your time. I particularly enjoyed the ending, I thought tied things up just enough. Also the hardcover of this is gorgeous, with edges sprayed black and a beautiful print on the endpapers.

Best Book I Read in Print
Orbital, by Samantha Harvey

This is all vibes, no plot, so it will not be for everyone. But I really enjoyed it. If you’re looking for something contemplative and atmospheric, this will fit the bill. Even if you’re not into sci-fi I think you’d still find something to enjoy, it’s a very reflective book.

Best 2024 Release
Bear, by Julia Phillips

I read 47 books published in 2024. I had a hard time picking for this category but this is the one I think you might not have heard about. This story is told from a single point of view, and I really liked how the character development was woven in, it slowly changed my opinion of the narrator. I did not expect the ending, but I don’t think any other ending would have worked. This was very immersive and moody and the tension that built was so subtle, it was really great.

Best Backlist Title (2022 or prior)
Fake Like Me, by Barbara Bourland

Every so often I go back through my highly-rated books to see if the author has published anything else. I found this one using this method late this year. This was so compelling and hard to put down, I was up late reading a couple of nights. The tension works perfectly and I thought the twist was clever (in a good way). I also really enjoyed the descriptions of the artwork in the book, and the process of making it.

Best Audiobook
All Our Yesterdays, by Joel H. Morris

I got back in to audiobooks this year when I started to lose interest in podcasts. I loved this imagining of how Lady Macbeth came to be the woman we know so well from the play. We see her steeliness develop as well as her superstition, and her struggles to not be seen as too soft. And it was likewise interesting to see another side of Macbeth and Macduff. The story here has some parallels to the play, which worked well and felt natural. I listened to this on audio as it’s narrated by Ell Potter, who also does the Emily Wilde books and who is a lovely narrator.

Best Shortlisted Book
Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh

This year I started reading awards shortlists. Over the course of the year I read the full shortlists for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the National Book Award for Fiction, and all but one of the books (the one that’s not out in the US until February) on the shortlist for the Booker Prize. It’s been fun and interesting to do this, and I think I’ll continue doing it, though perhaps not with the same shortlists every year.

I finished the shortlist for the Hugo before that winner was announced, and for the other two I was about halfway through before the announcements and as it turned out had already read the winners. I was thrilled with all three winning novels. Some Desperate Glory won the Hugo, Orbital took the Booker, and James won the National Book Award.

But picking my favorite of all the books on the shortlist is hard! I’m not counting any that I’d read before the shortlists were announced, so I think I have to go with Some Desperate Glory. The main character goes on an incredible journey of personal development and de-programming, going from almost comically unlikeable at the start to a much more nuanced point of view at the end. I also appreciated that the reader goes along with her on this journey, so my opinion of her changed over time as I learned about her world alongside her. That said this book takes on a lot of big topics and can’t really explore all of them. If you can deal with some threads that aren’t pulled, you’ll be fine.

Other Books I Want You to Know About

  • James, Percival Everett: Another buzzy book and an award winner to boot. This was really good, and I think as long as you have a vague memory of Huck Finn you’ll be fine.
  • Drunk on All Your Strange New Words, Eddie Robson: I picked this off the shelf at random at my local indie bookstore, Loyalty. It’s got a very cool concept: in the world of this book, there are aliens that speak by placing thoughts in the heads of their translators. As a translator is working, they slowly start to develop symptoms similar to being drunk and have to sleep it off.
  • The Rich People Have Gone Away, Regina Porter: I wasn’t super interested in this at first, but there was one storyline in particular that I found really compelling, which warmed me up to the whole thing as I went along.
  • North Woods, Daniel Mason: A very cool story focusing around a single plot of land. Sounds weird but it works.
  • The Stardust Grail, Yume Kitasei: A space romp involving an archive and a fun group of characters.
  • Lost Ark Dreaming, Suyi Davies Okungbowa: This recommendation from TBR is somewhere between a novel and a novella, and it was so good. It left me wanting more but was also perfectly self-contained.
  • Weyward, Emilia Hart: I listened to this on audio and the voice actors were great, one in particular. While there wasn’t much character development I liked the parallel threads to the story. Be aware that there are some graphic descriptions of domestic abuse, though.
  • Starter Villain, John Scalzi: This was hilarious and I would love to see it adapted into a movie.
  • The Vaster Wilds, Lauren Groff: This won’t be for everyone but I really enjoyed it. Some reviewers said they found it repetitive but when you are alone and on the run in the winter in the 1600s life is going to be pretty repetitive.

What I read on my February vacation

What I read on my February vacation

by akc

Once again, we went to a place that looks like this, and for some reason we came back.

Two palm trees are flanked by two large beach umbrellas made of natural palm leaves (or something like that). There are several beige beach loungers in view. The ocean beyond is a faded teal and teh sky is a beautiful blue with wispy clouds.
View from the back row of the beach chairs (El Carmen, Dominican Republic).
A view of the sand, the waves, and the sky is framed by fronds froma. beach umbrella.
View from the front row of the beach chairs (El Carmen, Dominican Republic).

This year we took a shorter trip, but spent more time on the beach reading. I read 8 books, plus about a quarter of one that I decided not to finish.

The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler: This ratio of plot to monologues about the concept being explored in the story was off for me, but this was still enjoyable.

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms, Charlie N. Holmberg: An absolutely delightful read involving a haunted house and a housekeeper who can deal with such things.

Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal: What if one of the womanly arts that women learned in the Regency period was how to use magic to make their house look nicer?

A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas: I’ve seen a lot of buzz about this author lately, which got me curious. When a friend said it would be a great beach read I decided to give it a try. For me it didn’t live up to the hype.

Come Closer, Sara Gran: A wonderfully dark novella.

Smoke, Dan Vyleta: There is a great story in this novel, but it’s drowning in all the ruminating and philosophizing.

A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, Kate Khavari: A plucky botanist in the ’20s decides to investigate a poisoning in the botany department because the cops have pinned it on her mentor, who’s basically been the only person to actually support her studies.

Your Driver Is Waiting, Priya Guns: Or, “unhinged rideshare” as we’re calling this in bookclub. This was very fun and kind of wild. The ending let me down but don’t let that dissuade you.

Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (unfinished): One too many conversations that were just a lot of exposition about stuff that may or may not have been related to whatever was trying to happen in the plot.

2023 Best Books of the Year

2023 Best Books of the Year

by akc

This year I read 120 books, which is an all-time high. I didn’t realize I was on track to do that until a couple of weeks ago, at which point I was close enough that I knew I’d make it. So that was kind of fun to see! I wanted to share a few of my favorites (OK, maybe more than a few). I hope you find a couple of things to add to your TBR list.

Best Book Club Book
Land of Milk and Honey, by C. Pam Zhang

On the surface this seems like it’s probably climate fiction, and it is. But the focus is on just a couple of characters, and there are a lot of themes (grief, isolation, loneliness) interwoven that elevate it into something else. You may have seen or heard a lot about this book this fall, and it’s definitely worth the read. Don’t let the hype scare you off.

Best Audacious Book Club Book
Chain-Gang All-Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Roxane Gay runs The Audacious Book Club. Each month, paid subscribers can access asynchronous chats about the book, and can watch an interview she conducts with the author. This introduced me to several great books I didn’t hear about otherwise. Chain-Gang All-Stars has a lot of characters to keep track of, and the perspective shifts between them, but for the most part those shifts serve the story well. While this was a little hard to read at times, it was also completely gripping and had a lot of heart.

Best Recommendation from TBR
Symphony of Secrets, by Brendan Slocumb

TBR is a paid service from Book Riot, where you get three book recommendations each quarter. I’ve been a subscriber since 2018. One thing I really like about it is that I tend to get recommendations for books I haven’t heard about otherwise, which I really appreciate. I don’t always read all three recommendations right away, but I keep track of which books come to me through TBR. Symphony of Secrets was a recommendation from this year and was just a delight to read. There are two stories running in parallel, and the themes that connect them worked really well. I’m not musial, so I was a little concerned that I might miss out on important aspects of the story. But I did not at all. I suspect that if you do an additional layer will be unlocked, though.

Best Book in a Series I’m Already Reading
Grave Importance, by Vivian Shaw

This is #3 in the Dr. Greta Helsing series. This book was so chaotic but in the best possible way. Also, a decent portion of this installment is spent in the back offices of Hell, and I just find that kind of thing so delightful. Bureaucracy! In Hell! (Yes, this is one of the things I like about Good Omens as well.)

Best Book in a New Series
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty

This is the first book in a new series about a retired female pirate who is blackmailed into coming out of retirement for a job. I loved Amina, the protagonist, for how pragmatic she was. And it was really fun to see a creaky old band of pirates reassembling themselves and getting back into the groove of things.

Best Entry in the Austen Extended Universe
The Heiress, by Molly Greeley

There are so many books out there inspired by Jane Austen’s writings, but I particularly enjoy those that are set amongst her locations and characters. The best is still The Other Bennet Sister, but of those I read this year The Heiress was my favorite. This novel answers the question “Why is Anne de Bourgh so sickly?” in a very intriguing way.

Best Book I Bought
Starling House, Alix E. Harrow

This did not unseat The Once and Future Witches as my favorite by this author, but that’s a tall order. This was fast-paced and had a really interesting concept involving a sentient house and “a lonely pining man with tattoos and a sword.” (Yes, please.) The main character makes a mix of good and bad choices, but they all add up to a very believable and well-developed protagonist.

Best Book I Read in Print
Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

The vast majority of my reading is ebooks borrowed from DCPL, but I read 11 print books this year, including a re-read of Matrix for book club. For reasons I can’t articulate, I was sort of avoiding reading Demon Copperhead. But this spring it won the Pulitzer, and then the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and I finally put it on hold. Naturally the hold list was enormous so I ended up buying the hardcover, and I’m so glad I did. This is a book that rewards the time you spend sinking into the language, and demands your attention as you’re reading. It’s heartbreaking and full of difficult moments, but it was wonderful. And don’t worry if you don’t remember David Copperfield, you won’t miss anything.

Best 2023 Release
Prophet, by Sin Blache and Helen Macdonald

I read 46 books published in 2023, which was more than I would have guessed, and made it a little hard to pick. But I chose this one because it surprised me. The description focuses more on the plot and makes it sound like a rather sterile sci-fi story. But I thought about H is for Hawk and I figured there must be more to it. And there is. The premise is wild, the writing was gorgeous, and there’s scads of witty banter that made me laugh aloud more than once. However, there is not nearly enough worldbuilding, the wild premise is rickety, and the ending made no sense. But it was also satisfying? I don’t know. Read it or not.

Best Backlist Title (2021 or prior)
The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern

I absolutely loved this. It was so immersive, and had wonderful characters. The plot was perhaps a bit predictable at times, but I was so charmed I didn’t care. It’s a book about storytellers, and it was big and enveloping, as it should be.

Other Books I Want You to Know About

Witchy Reads

Witchy Reads

by akc

It’s that time of year! If you want to get into the Halloween spirit, here are a few great witchy reads for you, listed by vibe. Obviously there are so many more that I haven’t included here, these are just a few I’ve enjoyed and could remember the titles of off the top of my head.

And lastly, an earworm for you:

The Unfinished

The Unfinished

by akc

Lately it seems like I’ve been abandoning books at a higher rate. It’s hard to tell exactly as marking a book “unfinished” on Goodreads clears out the date started, and I got out of the habit of resetting it. But it’s at least 5 since the beginning of the year, plus I have a 6th in a time out (and honestly, books rarely come out of time out).

Abandoning a book is a part of being a reader, whether you’re someone who reads a book or more a week, or someone who’s lucky to finish a couple in a year. Either way, your reading time is precious and you shouldn’t spend it on books you’re not into. I always think of the third law of library science, “Every book its reader.” Every book is for someone, but no book is for everyone. You’re bound to encounter books that aren’t for you. This can mean a lot of different things:

  • Sometimes the story is too complex and you Cannot Even, no matter how much you want to: Nona the Ninth
  • Other times you just bounce right off: Witches
  • Maybe you’re sick, or it’s allergy season: The Employees
  • Or some quirk of the writing jumps out at you, and maybe you just can’t unsee it: Point Roberts

There are also circumstantial reasons that you might not finish a book:

So why do we sometimes feel like we should finish a book we’re not enjoying?

There are also aspirational reads:

Just stop! Don’t get too wrapped up in reading at least a certain amount before abandoning something: Infinite Jest (20% of this one is itself a short novel! Spare yourself the attempt and read one of these instead.)

If you’re not ready to commit to abandoning it, put it in a time out. I’ve paused books I wasn’t enjoying to see what my book club thought, and then decided whether to finish based on the discussion. I’ve also paused books to see if I feel compelled to pick them back up after I read something else.

As you abandon and pause books, try to form a sense of why, as it’ll help you avoid books you’re unlikely to be into. It could be something stylistic, or it could be situational. Understanding that can also help you figure out if it’s something to come back to in the future.

You can of course decide to plow through anyway, skimming your way through the remainder. But before you do that with an ebook, check the page count first. It could be 800+ pages: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars