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LAST READS OF 2024
Jan. 2nd, 2025 06:13 pmAlso the Rom-Commers which I read in November and forgot to track.
According to Storygraph I've read 170 books this year which is a normal amount probably. I didn't track every manga volume I read though so it's technically probably higher. Anyway, let's go!
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
I don't like it when authors use words in a foreign language that have a direct english translation to make the thing seem More Foreign, and I didn't like it in this either. "Dochka" THAT'S JUST DAUGHTER COME ONNNNN Really good overall though, the building tension felt legitimately scary and it felt believably of the time period it was supposed to be set in.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
This worked well for me. The leads have a Book!Howl/Sophie, Maomao/Jinshi, Grumpy Nerd Girl/Magical Prettyboy Who's Super Into Her dynamic I always love, and the footnoted historical fantasy worldbuilding wasn't quite up to the JSMN bar but did get closer to it than some other contenders. I choose to believe the fairies cancelled homophobia in this AU and that's why the major side couple was butchfem lesbians. Unfortunately their existence did make me wish the main couple was also butchfem lesbians. It was fun!
I think my biggest quibble with it is the journal entries did not feel like journal entries, especially not like journal entries a person like Emily would ever write. Leon's POV in Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare is the kind of writing style I'd expect someone as no-nonsense as Emily to journal in. I enjoyed it, but I did not immediately rush to check out the second book.
Help Wanted: A Novel by Adelle Waldman
As a current retail-adjacent customer service employee and former retail worker, parts of this book felt so real they hurt. A lot of it was very funny, and the end result was honestly kind of a relief. I liked it.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
I feel like this book spent the most time on things I wasn't interested in and the least time on the parts I was interested in. As a result, kind of a slog. I
understand they were only in magic school for half the book bc we're being subversive Harry Potter for Grownups here but I wanted to like, experience magic school more than post-magic school ennui. I think the speed at which this book passed through a fairly long timespan made the character relationships feel less developed to me.
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
This was funny and I liked it! I like Davi and her various entanglements. Overall kind of felt like a web serial I'd read chapter by chapter with my friends in a discord server. Not surprised OP cited So I'm A Spider So What as a major influence, I could feel the spider aura. I will probably seek out the sequel when it drops.
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
Nonfiction! I think I liked it overall. Klein uses the framework of "I get confused with another person named Naomi online" to explore a lot of different dichotomies and dualities. Easier to read than I was fearing.
You Belong with Me by Mhairi McFarlane
Nowhere on the cover or introduction to this book did it mention that this was in fact a sequel to another book from a decade ago, not until the afterword. So I found myself wondering "why does this feel like the sequel to a book about these two characters get together" the whole time I was reading it. I did like it, but I probably would've liked the first book more. Get-together stories have more built-in tension than staying-together stories, where the tensions usually end up feeling more manufactured, I think. But McFarlane is really good at developing characters that feel real and specific and interesting, and I generally like her work.
Not in the Plan by Dana Hawkins
UGH it was so bland and forgettable I can't believe I wasted five bucks on this ebook. The author was doing a storygraph giveaway for the third book in this series that sounds more up my alley dynamic-wise, but this was so..... It's just not very good. Also at one point a character describes bubble tea as "creamed" which I think should be a crime maybe.
Vita Nostra and Vita Nostra 2: Работа над ошибками by Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko
Twitter mutual pressured me into reading the sequel right after the first book but I did them BOTH IN RUSSIAN SO HUGE W FOR ME! I liked it. I really felt for Sashka and her relationship with her mom was the most interesting part for me. I really liked Lisa in book two, but liked the sequel less overall because I missed that mother-daughter dynamic. It was surprisingly easy to read in Russian for me. Apparently the English translation Jelly-Donuts's pirozhki and kefir, which is kind of funny to me.
As far as the magic school books this month go, I understood The Magicians better, but I felt more emotions, was more attached to the characters, and wanted to keep reading Vita Nostra more.
Murder Falcon by Daniel Warren Johnson
This RULED. I tweeted about it when I finished. This is a graphic novel that operates on "what is the maximum coolest thing that can happen next" and just does it every single time. Really fun ride. Great reading experience.
Worry by Alexandra Tanner
I do not understand or see the necessity of this ending. Kind of refreshing to read a Bleak 20-something Sadgirl book focused on a toxic sister relationship instead of a boring man obsession for once, but otherwise, I dunno. Didn't really vibe.
Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath
This was also very fun! Beautiful watercolor, creepy serial killer story. I liked it. So did, apparently, everyone else I know who also read it!
Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin
I wanted to try one of the DC compact graphic novels because I don't really read big 2 comics much, so I asked my comic shop guys which of them's the best to start with and they suggested this one. It was okay I guess. I don't think superheroes are really my thing. I liked the meme people.
*The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
I mixed this book up with How To End A Love Story bc they're both about screenwriters and honestly they're both kind of eh but in different ways. HTEALS I think is more ambitious. This one is very weird in that it does not show a single word from the screenplay the two characters write together, which I don't think I've ever seen in a Book About A Character Writing Something before. Not In The Plan showed Mack's novel in progress! Why can't we see the rom-com!
Anyway, happy new year! My New Year's Resolution is to stop watching/reading negative reviews about books I don't like/have not read.
According to Storygraph I've read 170 books this year which is a normal amount probably. I didn't track every manga volume I read though so it's technically probably higher. Anyway, let's go!
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
I don't like it when authors use words in a foreign language that have a direct english translation to make the thing seem More Foreign, and I didn't like it in this either. "Dochka" THAT'S JUST DAUGHTER COME ONNNNN Really good overall though, the building tension felt legitimately scary and it felt believably of the time period it was supposed to be set in.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
This worked well for me. The leads have a Book!Howl/Sophie, Maomao/Jinshi, Grumpy Nerd Girl/Magical Prettyboy Who's Super Into Her dynamic I always love, and the footnoted historical fantasy worldbuilding wasn't quite up to the JSMN bar but did get closer to it than some other contenders. I choose to believe the fairies cancelled homophobia in this AU and that's why the major side couple was butchfem lesbians. Unfortunately their existence did make me wish the main couple was also butchfem lesbians. It was fun!
I think my biggest quibble with it is the journal entries did not feel like journal entries, especially not like journal entries a person like Emily would ever write. Leon's POV in Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare is the kind of writing style I'd expect someone as no-nonsense as Emily to journal in. I enjoyed it, but I did not immediately rush to check out the second book.
Help Wanted: A Novel by Adelle Waldman
As a current retail-adjacent customer service employee and former retail worker, parts of this book felt so real they hurt. A lot of it was very funny, and the end result was honestly kind of a relief. I liked it.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
I feel like this book spent the most time on things I wasn't interested in and the least time on the parts I was interested in. As a result, kind of a slog. I
understand they were only in magic school for half the book bc we're being subversive Harry Potter for Grownups here but I wanted to like, experience magic school more than post-magic school ennui. I think the speed at which this book passed through a fairly long timespan made the character relationships feel less developed to me.
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
This was funny and I liked it! I like Davi and her various entanglements. Overall kind of felt like a web serial I'd read chapter by chapter with my friends in a discord server. Not surprised OP cited So I'm A Spider So What as a major influence, I could feel the spider aura. I will probably seek out the sequel when it drops.
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
Nonfiction! I think I liked it overall. Klein uses the framework of "I get confused with another person named Naomi online" to explore a lot of different dichotomies and dualities. Easier to read than I was fearing.
You Belong with Me by Mhairi McFarlane
Nowhere on the cover or introduction to this book did it mention that this was in fact a sequel to another book from a decade ago, not until the afterword. So I found myself wondering "why does this feel like the sequel to a book about these two characters get together" the whole time I was reading it. I did like it, but I probably would've liked the first book more. Get-together stories have more built-in tension than staying-together stories, where the tensions usually end up feeling more manufactured, I think. But McFarlane is really good at developing characters that feel real and specific and interesting, and I generally like her work.
Not in the Plan by Dana Hawkins
UGH it was so bland and forgettable I can't believe I wasted five bucks on this ebook. The author was doing a storygraph giveaway for the third book in this series that sounds more up my alley dynamic-wise, but this was so..... It's just not very good. Also at one point a character describes bubble tea as "creamed" which I think should be a crime maybe.
Vita Nostra and Vita Nostra 2: Работа над ошибками by Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko
Twitter mutual pressured me into reading the sequel right after the first book but I did them BOTH IN RUSSIAN SO HUGE W FOR ME! I liked it. I really felt for Sashka and her relationship with her mom was the most interesting part for me. I really liked Lisa in book two, but liked the sequel less overall because I missed that mother-daughter dynamic. It was surprisingly easy to read in Russian for me. Apparently the English translation Jelly-Donuts's pirozhki and kefir, which is kind of funny to me.
As far as the magic school books this month go, I understood The Magicians better, but I felt more emotions, was more attached to the characters, and wanted to keep reading Vita Nostra more.
Murder Falcon by Daniel Warren Johnson
This RULED. I tweeted about it when I finished. This is a graphic novel that operates on "what is the maximum coolest thing that can happen next" and just does it every single time. Really fun ride. Great reading experience.
Worry by Alexandra Tanner
I do not understand or see the necessity of this ending. Kind of refreshing to read a Bleak 20-something Sadgirl book focused on a toxic sister relationship instead of a boring man obsession for once, but otherwise, I dunno. Didn't really vibe.
Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath
This was also very fun! Beautiful watercolor, creepy serial killer story. I liked it. So did, apparently, everyone else I know who also read it!
Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin
I wanted to try one of the DC compact graphic novels because I don't really read big 2 comics much, so I asked my comic shop guys which of them's the best to start with and they suggested this one. It was okay I guess. I don't think superheroes are really my thing. I liked the meme people.
*The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
I mixed this book up with How To End A Love Story bc they're both about screenwriters and honestly they're both kind of eh but in different ways. HTEALS I think is more ambitious. This one is very weird in that it does not show a single word from the screenplay the two characters write together, which I don't think I've ever seen in a Book About A Character Writing Something before. Not In The Plan showed Mack's novel in progress! Why can't we see the rom-com!
Anyway, happy new year! My New Year's Resolution is to stop watching/reading negative reviews about books I don't like/have not read.