End of Year: Books
Jan. 1st, 2025 07:25 pm
January
- Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher. A novella about war as experienced by goblins. As usual from a TK book, a little gory, a lot witty, with some fun characters.
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I’ve read so little of Neil Gaiman’s books and I really enjoyed this one. I thought it was quite inventive and I liked how the passing of time was framed.
- Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry. It’s an odd experience reading a book written by a person who has died. He had a lot of mental health problems, and I’m so sad that the medical world failed him so much.
- All Systems Red by Martha Wells (audiobook). I read the novella last year and have been wanting to read the whole series, but I had already forgotten details, hence the audiobook. It was a great way of seeing things through Murderbot’s eyes. I just got the next book from the library, so that will be my next listen, I think.
- Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson. A very charming book about a woman who scandalized her hometown by writing a book about them. Reminded me a lot of L.M. Montgomery’s short stories.
- Lord of the Butterflies by Andrea Gibson. A book of poetry exploring love and family and gender. So much emotion packed into every poem. Truly lovely.
- The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. I’ve also not read much of Sir Terry’s and everybody has recommended the Tiffany Aching series. It was a lot of fun and had some very unique characters.
- Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. This is not high fantasy, but when the frozen world was coming down around me, this was exactly the kind of escape fiction I needed.
- Weyward by Emilia Hart. Three stories woven into one about generations of women who are witches. There wasn’t anything that really unique about the book, but it had great atmosphere.
- An Unexpected Twist by Andy Borowitz. Not sure I should really count an 18 page essay as a book, but I enjoyed this perspective of the medical system from somebody experiencing complications.
- Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan. Okay, it mostly stretched credibility, but I enjoyed the banter between the love interests. And I especially liked the way the MC was dealing with her grandmother’s dementia.
- Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn. I enjoyed this one. I appreciated that while it was a “going home to the small town” trope, it also didn’t paint that as solving all of the problems.
- Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver. I started reading this last year and it took me a while to finish. Some of the essays were gorgeous, some felt unfinished, and others felt like book reports.
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Huang. I nearly DNF at 90% because I was so mad at the “chivalrous” macho possessive behavior of the male character. There was a lot of gender roles and conformity and casual (and not so casual) sexism throughout. Oh the other hand, the sex was plenty and pretty well described.

February
- Solito by Javier Zamora. A haunting, lyrical memoir about a young boy who migrated from Guatemala to California alone. It was a hard read but beautiful and important.
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. It took a little while for this story to develop, but I really loved the last few chapters.
- Cloud Cuckoo Land by Antony Doerr. Friend recommendation. Lots of interwoven stories from several different time periods - I loved reading as they all came together.
- The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush. I enjoyed learning about the different astronauts, but it also felt like Wikipedia articles in places.
- Poverty. by America by Matthew Desmond. Audiobook. Will break your heart, make you despondent about how poorly we are carrying for a significant portion of our society, but is also hopeful. Well worth listening to.
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman. Friend rec. A very different novel than Anxious People, but as a person who grew up in a struggling small town, it also felt very real.
- The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher. This may be one of my favorite fairy tale retellings of hers. It felt very much like a Robin McKinley book.
- Starter Villain by John Scazi. Friend rec. My first Scazi. It was a lot of fun and the unionized dolphins were the best.
- Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. Audiobook. The second Murderbot book. I enjoyed meeting ART (although I cannot picture what it looks like). Looking forward to continuing the series.
- Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett. I loved every minute of this book. Such an excellent sequel and I can’t wait for book 3.
- A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers. The second Monk and Robot book. Again, I really loved the last quarter of the book.

March
- The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. The latter half struggled a bit and lost a plot, but it was still good and the ending was lovely if a little wistful. I do feel like it’s one that would benefit from a rereading.
- Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey. It’s a short book. It could have been a New Yorker article and that would have been sufficient. One of the reviews suggested thinking of it as a sermon, which helps somewhat with the framing, but it still needed help.
- The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory. The last ¼ of the book infuriated me so much I nearly DNF, even though I had enjoyed the first ¾. The MC completely and totally pushes on FC’s established boundaries and then throws an absolute fit when she doesn’t give into him.
- Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa. A sweet trans retelling of Pride and Prejudice. A few minor quibbles: the author aged Oliver/Elizabeth down to 17 which was not needed and was annoying and the setting was moved to London, which did not work with the scene where Oliver tramps across mud to take care of Jane.
- The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older. The second book of the Mossa and Pleiti murder mystery series that takes place on Jupiter. Overall, I enjoyed the story a lot; I have issues with “does she really like me or is she just spending time with me” internal diatribes with adults.
- Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn. I’ve enjoyed the Netflix Bridgerton series as the smutty cotton candy that they are and the ebook was on sale. It was fluffy and light (and light on the smut too, hurumph) and I didn’t appreciate that the plump herione slimmed down before she was attractive.
- How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith. Audiobook. He’s a sociology professor and a poet, which made for a wonderful combination in this exploration of how slavery is written into our foundation and our current mindset. Excellent book.
- At First Spite by Olivia Dade. The story was a touch unbelievable, but it’s a romance so that’s forgivable. There were some really lovely scenes in this book as the protagonist battles depression. The medical stuff was almost believable. But. I’m not sure if describing plump female characters as “lush” is any better than “voluptuous.”
- A Short Stay in Hell by Steven Peck. The author is LDS and I’m not sure that he really realized that his version of Hell (that we are all young and white and delightful and the same) is what the church has taught as what eternal life with God would be like and why I had nightmares at 12 about dying.
- The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. Such beautiful prose. There were some descriptions that will linger with me for a long time, I think.

April
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones (audiobook). I had forgotten how hysterical Howl is as a character. A fun story, but. Even with me trying actively to be less judgemental about the ending… the ending still doesn’t make sense and was the weakest part of the story.
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Book club book and friend recommendation. Overall enjoyed it, certainly more than
ckerouac did (you’re more than welcome to go off if you like!). The dog and kid were too precocious to be believable.
- Bride by Ali Hazelwood. Who knew that you could write mainstream novels and still bring in your knotting kinks from your fanfic days? Again, I liked it more than
darriness did, but it was far from my favorite.
- The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. I have this one and Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, both written about the women in the Appalacian mountains who delivered books in the 1940s, both published around the same time (apparently there’s controversy). It felt very light on tone for the seriousness of the issues (such as racism, sexism, rape, alcohol use, murder). The friendships were the best part.
- The Bodyguard by Katherine Center. I could have used a little less of the infantilizing of the main female character (she’s a bodyguard – she can take you down) and I didn’t really like the coded “change from a hardened city girl to a sweet country lass” but they were minor quibbles.
- Funny Story by Emily Henry. So much better than Happy Place and full of her witty humor. I consumed it in a day. It unfortunately was released when I was in the middle of the Bodyguard so the two books are blended together in my head.
- How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang. It was fine. I liked the first half better than the second, both of the protagonists definitely need a therapist and I’m really not sure I like this trend of trauma bonding romances. Also the unemotional Asian woman. And how everybody has panic attacks. And what is with men carrying women everywhere??
- Counting Descent by Clint Smith. I realized yesterday that I hadn’t read any poetry to National Poetry month. Luckily my library had this one available. It’s my 3rd book of his and his writing is so so good – I promptly listened to the audiobook as well.

May
- Fangs by Sarah Andersen – a cute little collection of comics about a vampire and her werewolf boyfriend.
- Tom Lake by Ann Pratchett (audiobook). The audiobook was read by Meryl Streep, so it sounded like a one woman play. And made me want to go pick cherries.
- Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana. It was such a debut book. She needed tighter editing, somebody to help her with all of the dangling plots. There’s supposed to be a sequel (definitely ended on a cliffhanger), but I’m not sure I’ll be picking it up.
- Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun. So much better than Kiss Her Once for Me. I love me a good road-trip self-discovery story and this was just the escape that I needed.
- Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. Really enjoyed this look at what William Shakespeare’s domestic life might have looked like. I loved that while he was a character in the story, he was never referred to by name.
- Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar. I’ll admit to watching the train wreck that was the Duggar reality series occasionally. This was a fast read and it was great seeing her stand up for herself more. But so many of her emotions remained on the surface level, and she never quite got to the level of deconstruction that I was hoping for.
- Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (audiobook). MIKI was the bestest and Murderbot is starting to recognize its feelings. Very much enjoying this series.
- Night by Elie Wiesel. Always hard to rate autobiographies, particularly ones dealing with atrocities, but his writing was haunting.

June
- Bunt! Striking Out on Financial Aid by Ngozi Ukazu. A cute comic, if a litttttle heavyhanded.
- The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence. This took me forever to read. It picked up the second half, but it still felt like a slog – maybe because most of it featuring a huge library that the protagonist just ran down endlessly. It ended on a cliffhanger of course and it’s a to-be-published trilogy, but I’m not sure I’ll finish the series.
- Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (audiobook). The fourth Murderbot story. I enjoyed seeing all of our friends from the first book, even if I couldn’t figure out why the villain would have taken one of the characters captive.
- The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley. I loved The Guncle, it was such an unexpected emotional exploration about family and grief. This was not as good, a little more mean and a lot more superficial.
- The Museum of Rain by Dave Eggers. My favorite musician wrote a beautiful song based around this story. There are some absolutely lovely sentences packed in this story and it’s left me mediating on memory and finding beauty and the legacy we leave.
- Wolfsong by TJ Klune. It’s a gay werewolf series, which thankfully, did not feature knotting, but did feature TJ’s brand of found family and emotions.
July
- All Systems Red by Martha Wells (audiobook) – I drove down to Yosemite with my sister for a vacation and suggested that we listen to the Murderbot Diaries on our trip. So yes, this is the third time I’ve read this book in the last year. Still a lot of fun.
- Artificial Conditions by Martha Wells (audiobook). When listening to them back to back (rather than with a couple of months in between, it does help to see it as one big arching story. I still love ART and hope to see it again.
- Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (audiobook). I must say, I still struggle to completely understand the intricacies of the plot on this one. But I do love MIKI.
- The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner. A random pickup at the library – magical realism and some oblivious pining, a favorite combination. I liked the characters and their growth.
- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. It’s been a long time since I was a teenager, but this was a great book in the form of poems. Would have been great as an audiobook, as the author is a beat poet.
- Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell (audiobook). I thought Euan Morton’s voice was great the first book (Carry On), and just not as consistent with this one. I do love a road trip across America though.
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai – a novel about the AIDS epidemic in Chicago alternating with one of the characters dealing with the aftermath 30 years later. I have some quibbles about the structure of the novel, but it was engrossing and well written.
- Half A Soul by Olivia Atwater. A regency fairy tale. I would have liked a little more motivation of the fairies, but I did enjoy the exploration of social justice from a magical perspective.
- The Lord Sorcier by Olivia Atwater. Short story prequel. Added some nice character development.
- Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater. Sequel to above. I liked this one even better than the first one – the main fairy MC was endearing and I loved the romance, as well as the twisting of fairy tale motifs. It was fun.
- Longshadow by Olivia Atwater. The last book so far in this series. I felt it was a touch heavy on the preachiness and I didn’t really buy the romance, but I still enjoyed it. Also, I love how nerdy the author gets in her author notes at the end.
August
- The Will of the Many by James Islington. Excellent world building and an interesting magical premise. I didn’t understand the ending at all.
- Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (Murderbot #4), audiobook. Listened to this one on a trip to the beach. Ah, Murderbot and its feelings.
- Possession by A.S. Byatt. Book club books. Took me over 2 months to read this one. There were parts I enjoyed and then other parts that were slogs. I didn’t really like either of the main couples, which really made it hard to connect to the story.
- A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. The Goose Girl is a favorite fairy tale and TK definitely increased the creepiness factor here. The horse will give me nightmares for weeks.
- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Lots of fun characters and twists.
- The Year Without Sunshine by Naomi Kritzer. A post on Tumblr recommended her short stories as dystopias with hope and community. They’re well worth it to track them down.
- Compulsory by Martha Wells. Before going on to the next book in the series I tracked down some of the short stories in the verse. I like early Murderbot where it’s figuring out its morals.
- Home by Martha Wells. Another short story this one from Mensha’s perspective.
- The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by Victoria Schwab. I really loved this book, I loved Addie’s character throughout the years, and I loved the ending.
- Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell, audiobook. There were definitely flaws to this last book. The motivations of the villain character were never fully fleshed out and I really missed the Trio’s friendship.
- A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I started reading A Short History About Nearly Everything which was great for a couple of chapters and just turned into a name dropping essay. This was much funnier and more engaging, but holy hell fatphobia.
- A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab. Again, excellent world building and fascinating magic world. There’s another two books in the series that I hope to read soon.
- Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. I started reading this back in February while I was also reading Rest is Resistance and I just wasn’t feeling it. It resonated more now and I thought it was a lovely book about allowing yourself to experience the hard times.
September
- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. I really liked the focus on the three individuals, which created a narrative to follow the central premises.
- Buffalo Flats by Martine Leavitt. My teenage self would have eaten this book up with a spoon, because I read a lot of historical Christian/LDS fiction back then. Adult!Me saw many more flaws with the story and pacing.
- The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I liked the different mysteries that the book had, although the resolution of the main mystery was a let down. The structure of the book was unique – the flashbacks of events were incorporated into the different cases the protagonist was investigating.
- A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings. Engrossing, horrifying, and very much not surprising.
- The Pairing by Casey McQuinton. I’m starting to think that my love of Red, White, and Royal Blue was a one time win for this author. The premise was supposed to be lightly based on A Room With A View, which I love, and this was not that. Felt pretentious.
- Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper (audiobook). The little recordings of birds were delightful. It was a lovely memoir (not a birding book although it made me want to go birding), but it felt a little long in places.
- Marlow Banks, Redesigned by Jacqueline Firkins. There was a lot that was enjoyable, but I didn’t relate to the heroine at all. Also, I thought I understood the difference between a “closed door-fade to black” and an “open door” love scene, but being explicit in the details to just prior to orgasm and then fading away is a new one for me.
- The Turner Series by Courtney Milan (3 books: Unveiled, Unclaimed, Unraveled; 1 novella: Unlocked; and 2 short stories: Birthday Gift and Out of the Frying Pan). A friend recommended these books as romance books without toxic masculinity – I thought there was still some throughout the books (some brawls, a lot of temper tantrums), but the men do apologize and work through their feelings. I also feel that I have been completely spoiled by fanfic, where after the love declaration, there is lots of intimate scenes afterwards. And all of these seem to be 1-2 scenes prior to the wedding/HEA and that’s it. Overall, I read them in a weekend back to back.
- I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. You know, I have never read (or watched) The Last Unicorn, so I have no idea how this compares. It was cute and a fast read, but it took until halfway through before there was any plot and the villain wasn’t introduced or even hinted at until 3/4th through, so pacing was definitely odd.

October
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (friend recommodation). Some absolutely incredible world building here; I was completely absorbed in the story, but I’m also not sure if I want to read the sequels?
- The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (friend recommendation). At one point, I had to go find the summary to make sure the kid made it through the story alive and unhurt (he does). The villain was a little too cartoonish, but it was a really creepy, haunting story.
- Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell. Slow burn second chance romance. I liked alternating between the different time periods, the romance was definitely real and messy and I had serious issues with the proposal. The part that intrigued me the most: the call out to Stephenie Meyer in the acknowledgements. Maybe Corienne was written by them both?
- Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune. The House in the Cerulean Sea is what got me into reading and I really enjoyed going back to this universe. Did we need a sequel? No. Did it get awfully preachy in places? Yes. Were the kids the best and did we need even more of them? Absolutely.
- Swordcrossed by Freya Marske. There was a little too much focus on world-building here and the story got lost, but still, it’s a romance novel, and that romance was smoking.
- The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Bloom (friend recommendation, audiobook). Fascinating history (man, what old medical examiners had to do to get answers on toxins!), lots of science that was easy to understand, and dramatic cases. The narrator had a weird voice and rhythm though and there were parts that dragged.

November
- The Ex-Hex by Erin Sterling: I wanted to read a low intensity Halloween story and didn’t quite finish it in time for Halloween. Cute story with Gilmore Girls small-town vibes.
- North Woods by Daniel Mason. Friend recommendation. There was a lot that I really really loved, particularly discussing how the forest has changed over time with humans and climate change. But it was obviously written by a man and his descriptions of nearly every woman in the story bugged me.
- Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw. Friend recommendation. Mostly accurate medicine featuring vampires and demons with some fun characters. It’s a series, so I’m sure I’ll be coming back.
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. Friend recommendation. A very fast read (I read it in one sitting flying back from Thailand) which was a completely inaccurate portrayal of psychologists, and a stupid twist at the end. Also obviously written by a man. Still, it was an engaging mystery.
- Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat. Friend recommendation. I admit that I did not include the recipes as part of reading the book, although I did skim them. I loved the easy to understand science behind the flavor explanations and chemical changes. She does do a lot of name dropping, which if you’re an amateur cook as I am, mean absolutely nothing.

December
- The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. Friend recommendation. I loved this book. I loved the historical aspect and I loved the characters.
- The Wedding People by Alison Espach. I had seen this floating around and picked it up on a whim. One, do not date your patients and two, do not date your doctor. I loved the premise – I’m digging this “middle-age reexamination of the life you thought you had, but I wish that the bride character had just been a touch more developed.
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. I mean, I’ve already been against the death penalty, but this certainly gave even more light to innocent people caught up in the system. Highly recommended.
- Finding Me by Viola Davis. Friend recommendation. Audiobook. I knew very little about Viola Davis before reading this book, just that she was in a TV show that I hadn’t watched. Boy did she have a rough life. Her voice was awesome to listen to.
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Friend recommendation. I don’t think it knew what kind of story it was supposed to be – as an obvious parable, it overall works, but I can’t say that it was my favorite.
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. Friend recommendation. I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know how it relates. I think the author could have used a Native editor or coauthor, as there were some stereotypical depictions, but it really was an engrossing read.
- The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke. It was lovely to get a glimpse back into the Jonathan Strange world and the illustrations were lovely but I needed more – I needed a stronger tie in to the universe and it could have been longer. Still, I’m glad to see that she’s still percolating on the ‘verse and I hope that means eventually we might get the Raven King prequel I’m dying for.
- The Carrying by Ada Limon. She was the 24th Poet Laureate and it’s a well deserved award because her poetry is stunning.
- The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina. A beautiful book exploring and living through unimaginable grief.
- The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner. Audiobook. A slow blossoming book (it took until half way through before you were introduced to all of the characters). I loved all of characters, although I wish the book had focused on all of them more equally. And RIchard Armitage’s voice is so sexy.
- What Walks These Halls by Amy Clarkin. Friend recommendation. A pretty solid YA debut book – there were definitely scenes that were intense.
- You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, compiled by Ada Limon. Overall, a really solid collection of verse – there were poems that grabbed me more than others. It also isn’t a comforting book of poems – these were verses that examined climate change and neglect, as well as beauty and rebirth.
- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Friend recommendation. Honestly, this may be my biggest disappointment of the year as I have been wanting to read this series for years. I couldn’t keep any of the characters apart and I couldn’t visualize the setting at all. About 30% in, I went searching for a summary because I was getting so frustrated (when the secondary characters have at least 4 different names and honorifics it gets pretty challenging), and even reading the spoilers didn’t help. It got a little better around the 60% mark, but I was still dragging to finish it. I’ve been so looking forward to the second book because I heard it was in second person, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to read more.