I wanted to do my informal yearly round-up of what books I read this year, and realized that I never did one for last year! So here’s a double header, 2023 and 2024. This year, I’m not including movies—I’ll hopefully put that together sometime soon. I watched an unusually large number of movies this year (I think…we’ll see if the numbers agree).

2023 Books

It’s interesting how relatively many books I read in the first three months of 2023, and how relatively few I read the rest of the year. I can attribute the stoppage at the end of March to a particular reason, but I wonder why I stopped for so long and so completely. I guess I was busy with moving and decluttering the second half of that year…maybe I was just unusually brain-busy. A lot was happening at work at the time as well. I read almost nothing for a whole calendar year—weird to think about in retrospect.

Liberation Day by George Saunders, 1-30-23, USA

My dad bought me this book for Christmas. He’s the one who introduced me to George Saunders with Tenth of December. Saunders is actually my most-read author, only after Mercedes Lackey. I liked this, but I started to feel like he was retreading old ground after three (four?) other short story collections.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King, 2-1-23, USA

My mom recommended this to me and let me borrow her copy. I really enjoyed it and think about it often. I could have sworn I wrote about it here, but I just scoured my blog and couldn’t find anything. Maybe I’m thinking about something else. I really recommend this book.

The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders, 2-4-23, USA

Saunders makes another appearance already. This is a book of essays and other non-fiction pieces that Saunders has done. I enjoyed it, but I preferred his fiction.

Jolene by Mercedes Lackey, 2-9-23, USA

I really didn’t like this very much. As I mentioned earlier, Mercedes Lackey is my most-read author (for number of volumes) so I clearly love her, but the lows are really low. Brightly Burning is the other novel of hers I’ve read that I couldn’t enjoy.

Atomic Habits by James Clear, 2-11-23, USA (audiobook)

I have a huge chip on my shoulder about this book XD I felt like it was everything wrong with “self-help” books. Clear isn’t an expert, and he uses very few concrete examples which makes the advice practically useless. Read Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg if you’re interested in the concept—BSOD has a great post on that book.

The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis, 2-23-23, USA

I’m a big Walter Tevis fan via my father, who loves his novel Mockingbird. I’ve always been intrigued by Tevis because he has zero name recognition, but a majority of his published novels have a well known film adaptation—The Man Who Fell to Earth starring David Bowie, The Hustler and The Color of Money with Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, and recently The Queen’s Gambit, the Netflix chess miniseries. This book is so achingly sad, thoughtful…a great reflection on the human condition. Highly recommended.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, 3-5-23, USA

I should write a full reflection on this novel because I have so many thoughts about it. It’s really interesting.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, 3-7-23, USA

I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time but didn’t get around to it until now. It’s really representative of the Bush era, which gave it this kind of hyper-real quality. The story is about Billy, a soldier fighting in the Iraq war whose squad is honored by an appearance at the Dallas Cowboy’s halftime show alongside Destiny’s Child. The book takes place entirely within this one day. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was adapted into a weird movie by Ang Lee, starring Joe Alwyn—who I’m just now realizing is the guy who dated Taylor Swift for all those years.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, 3-11-23, Canada, USA

I basically liked Time War, but way less than everyone else did. I felt like the first half was really…random…? I liked the second half.

Dark Horse by Frances Lucas, 3-14-23, USA

This book is from a small Lesbian publisher, and it’s about a privileged woman who gains an interest in politics along with a burgeoning relationship with a woman running for local office. I liked it!

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler, 3-27-23, USA

This is my first Butler novel, and I loved it. Highly, highly recommended. I think about it constantly.

A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart, 7-8-23, USA

blueshiftofdeath recommended this to me and let me read her copy. I liked it!

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, 8-1-23, England

This might be my favorite book of all time.

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun 2 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou, 10-15-23, China

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun 3 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou, 10-29-23, China

I don’t have much to say about these except I really enjoy them.

2024 Books

I didn’t read a huge amount this year either, but it was a more normal year as far as that goes. This is also when I began my Sovereign State Novel Challenge, so I tried to read a bit more internationally.

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun 4 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou, 2-14-24, China

Again, not much to say except these are really fun. (I mean, I have a lot to say about them but nothing that can fit in a few sentences, hahaha.)

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, 2-17-24, USA

I had been meaning to read this for a long time. I liked it. My review.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo, 2-24-24, Korea

I read this because RM of BTS recommended it. I liked it. My review.

Demian by Hermann Hesse, 3-15-24, Germany

Loved this, I want to reread. I’m also in the mood to read more Hesse. My review.

Ubik by Philip K. Dick, 4-6-24, USA

This isn’t a work of art, but there’s something about it I really enjoyed. My review.

Woodcutters by Thomas Bernhard, 4-13-24, Austria

This was a really unusual book which I enjoyed. My review.

Magic by William Goldman, 5-12-24, USA

Another book I’d been meaning to read for a long time. My review.

Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier, 5-20-24, USA (audiobook)

My personal favorite anti-social media non-fiction book. My review.

The Evening of the Holiday by Shirley Hazzard, 5-25-24, Australia

I loved this. My review.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 5-31-24, Russia (audiobook)

This was a really unusual book, good, though I thought it was a little long. My review.

The Actual True Story of Ahmed & Zarga by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, 6-29-24, Mauritania

I liked it. My first book that I chose specifically for my sovereign state reading challenge. My review.

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, 7-1-24, Japan

This was a very classic murder mystery. My review.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, 7-10-24, USA

Not my usual fare, but I ended up enjoying it. My review.

The Comfort of Strangers by Alan McEwan, 7-16-24, England

I think I read this because I randomly came across it while searching for some other book on my library catalog website. I liked it—it was very uncomfortable. I heard it was made into a movie which I’m curious about.

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun 5 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou, 8-1-24, China

And Erha makes its last appearance for the year. I liked this one a lot.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, 9-19-24, England (audiobook)

This was blueshiftofdeath and my shared read for a few months. I really liked it! I think it was super long though.

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells, 9-27-24, USA

predelection suggested we read this together. I enjoyed it! I thought it was a little, uh, not “repetitive” but I wanted more to happen maybe. I’m curious to read more from Wells.

Riambel by Priya Hein, 10-4-24, Mauritius

I really, really liked this short novel. It’s the story of a girl living on Mauritius and the racial and social tensions that she comes up against. Interspersed through the novel are recipes that she and her family make.

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, 10-18-24, USA

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked it, but I felt like by the end I didn’t really get my time’s worth based on how long the book was. I think partially this has to do with how relatively unrelatable I found most of the characters and their issues.

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji, 11-11-24, Japan

This was my second honkaku novel I’ve read after The Honjin Murders. I liked this one more, I think, because it was more of a story (The Honjin Murders is very dry). This is another one where you should try and solve it—all the clues are available to you.