Book 1: “The Famous Magician” by #CésarAira.
Originally written in 2013, this meta novella asks the author to choose between Magic and Literature. Are the two, in fact, the same? Or is Magic a transcendence of Literature? A quick, fun read that’s sitting with me the more I turn it over in my head.
Book 2: “Burma Chronicles” by #GuyDelisle.
This one felt different from Delisle’s other work: more episodic, more editorial commentary, more dad jokes. I didn’t like those bits as much, but as ever, his drawing is wonderful. A little comics journalism and memoir gives us his particular experience in this country where his wife is in Medecins Sans Frontieres. The silent stretches were often my fave, as well as the Water Festival and Buddhist retreat.
Book 3: “Lost in the Moment and Found” by #SeananMcGuire.
The Author’s Note broke my heart. I’m finding it difficult now to talk about this book and what it reveals about this series and the world(s) McGuire’s created.
I always loved that this series was fantasy with an edge. But the realization of the cost of all that wonder, for both the characters and us readers, cuts deeper this time. Book 8 and my favorite of The Wayward Children series.
Book 4: “Eastbound” by #MaylisDeKerangal.
I read the Archipelago edition which was very pleasing to hold and touch. Its physicality really influenced my good opinion. A simple story contained inside a small book, set on the cramped spaces of a train on the Trans-Siberian railway.
Book 5: “Early Light” by #OsamuDazai.
Three short stories, all featuring a drunk, somewhat useless man. I liked the second and third, about a writer’s ambivalence towards Mt. Fuji and a woman who ends up happily working at a bar to get away from her broke, no-good husband, respectively.
Book 6: “System Collapse” by #MarthaWells.
It’s been long enough between books that I looked up a recap of where we last left Murberbot. Glad I did, because then I was able to just enjoy this one. It’s more of the same, which is what it’s felt like for a while with Murderbot, but that’s OK! Very incremental character development on their part, but the character is interesting enough that I’m happy to spend more time with them.
Book 7: “The Road to the City” by #NataliaGinzburg.
Such histrionics! " ‘You're playing at being sick. I'm the one who is going to get sick, working as I do morning and night, busting my arms for you all. When I pick up my plate I can't even eat I'm so tired. And you enjoy watching me die.’ ” Or,
" ‘Are you in such a hurry to see me die? I'll live to ninety just to spite you,’ shouted my aunt, hitting her on the head with her rosary.” 👀🍿 Cackling.
Book 8: “The Tusks of Extinction” by #RayNayler.
“The Mountain in the Sea” was my favorite novel of 2023, so I jumped on this. A novella this time—of course I wanted more. Still, Nayler is able to tell a compelling story involving animals, technology, and humanity’s immense capacity for destruction and cruelty. For all the book’s brevity, or maybe because of it, the betrayals are deeper between these characters. The ending is not without hope though.
Book 9: “What We See When We Read” by #PeterMendelsund.
Girl, look: I have an MA in literature. I did not plod through tons of literary theory including French deconstructionists—who here understands Derrida? La ferme! Stop your lying!—for some book jacket illustrator to repackage reader-response criticism and tell me it’s new … Oh! Look at all the pretty pictures!
Book 10: “In the Act” by #RachelIngalls.
The tiny annoyances that accumulate in a marriage erupt into a delightful what’s-good-for-the-goose-is-good-for-the-gander story. Wonderfully petty. A quick read that could easily work on stage, as a Black Mirror episode, or a movie. Eat it up. I need to look up more of Ingalls’ work.
Book 11: “A Trick of the Light” by #LouisePenny.
This mystery series is starting to feel predictable, which can be a comfort and largely why I read one every winter. But I’m tired of the bitchy exchanges with Ruth (they’re not even funny or endearing), the constant need to refer to Myrna by her size and Blackness … The addiction angle in this one was shallow, but at least there’s developments with Jean-Guy, Clara, and Peter.
Book 12: “We Could Be Heroes” by #MikeChen.
This just made me sad. Sad that I fell for yet another poorly written superhero story. The premise is so good! A hero and a villain with amnesia run into each other at a support group and decide to help each other. But all the tension and unexpected places this could’ve gone are wasted almost at the start. I skimmed the final battle. Not even worth commenting on the problematic “inclusion” of gayness. 🙄
Book 13: “Wrong Place Wrong Time” by #GillianMcAllister.
I like when stories employ sci-fi elements while remaining otherwise ordinary. Here, a mother keeps traveling backwards in time, trying to prevent her son from murdering. Her identity as a mother anchors the narrative, giving it an emotional heft, albeit, sometimes cloyingly. But I skimmed it immediately after to admire the craft of cause & effect. The explanation at the end for time travel was 🌽
Book 14: “A Little Life” by #HanyaYanagihara.
Challenging in every sense of the word. The unrelenting abuse inflicted on Jude felt like torture porn. I threw my hands up repeatedly wondering if such extremes were an intentional choice. Alternately exploitative and compelling to explore the mindset of someone so mistreated as well as those around him. Goes on too long. A genuine art experience from a book. I’m grateful for it but don’t need to repeat.
Book 15: "The Woman Who Killed The Fish" by #ClariceLispector
Four (mostly) charming animal stories written for bedtime for her own children. Expected to enjoy them more than I did. A quick read at least.
Book 16: “Ocean’s Echo” by #EverinaMaxwell.
I liked the first book better. For some reason, I couldn’t wrap my head around how “reading” and “writing” minds worked—and I read lots of comics with telepathy power sets. Also had a hard time following the story, which makes me think I was distracted since Maxwell’s other Gays-In-Space book didn’t carry such issues. I wanted more from the central relationship here. Still a fan of Maxwell though.
Book 17: “Mrs. Calliban “ by #RachelIngalls.
Much preferred her other novella, “In the Act” which is Book 10 in this thread. This has many of the same building blocks, primarily a woman in a loveless marriage and a dated setting (1960s?). This time, the love interest is a “frog man”, and like “The Shape of Water”, they get it on: all over the house! Some lovely stretches of writing, but the ending was disappointing.
Book 18: “Palestine” by #JoeSacco.
Felt I needed to read this with everything going on. Also took a workshop on #ComicsJournalism, which apparently Sacco pioneered? One of the conventions is that the author inserts themself into both the narrative and the drawings—there’s no pretense of objectivity or an attempt at invisibility. I didn’t like Sacco’s unvarnished sexism and Western bias. But even 40 years from publication, this taught me a lot.
Book 19: “Silver in the Wood” by #EmilyTesh.
A lovely novella about The Green Man, who lives with his cat, mends clothes, hangs with dryads, and tends to the forest. Tesh does a lot of worldbuilding in a short number of pages, throwing in twists, a sweet queer romance, and a sense of danger for the characters we love. Part 1 of a duology, looking forward to the next.
Book 20: “The Book of Doors” by #GarethBrown.
That there are books of and for just about everything is a neat conceit. On the one hand, of course. On the other, The Book of Pain, Luck, Illusions, etc. grant you control over these things. This relatively simple premise becomes quite complicated, overly so: time-travel, Books for anything the plot requires (Speed, Memories, Joy), ignored the constraints that every magical system needs. Entertaining though.
Book 21: “The Underground Railroad” by #ColsonWhitehead.
When I was young, I understood this term literally. Whitehead’s alternate history does the same intentionally. The point of view alternates between Cora and other characters she encounters on her journey from the Georgia plantation she escaped. Whitehead creates harrowing and fascinating scenarios at each of the stops, illuminating the cruelty and contradictions at the heart of the United States.
Book 22: “Strangers” by #TaichiYamada.
I wanted to read the book before watching “All of Us Strangers”. The protagonist is straight and it’s set in Japan. The dialogue and dynamic with his parents was old-timey; not in a good way. But I suppose this was the author’s way of telegraphing the difference between past/present/the amorphous events of this story. Had to read the ending a few times to get it. The movie is an improvement, which is a rare thing.
Book 23: “Project Hail Mary” by #AndyWeir.
I enjoyed “The Martian” and this is more of the same, which is a good thing. Ryland, the protagonist, is a golden retriever of a narrator: super ENTHUSIASTIC! which surprisingly, didn’t grate (too much). Because it’s science and problem-solving, and Weir does a good job of keeping it interesting without dumbing things down. Really fascinating stuff. The stakes are much higher this time too. Very enjoyable.
Book 24: “Spadework for a Palace” by #LaszloKrasznahorkai.
A grumpy librarian named herman melvill, who’s bound in other ways to that other Melville, wants to hide books away from people.
Wonderfully misanthropic. But the final two-thirds of this 80-page, single long sentence don’t bear out the promise of its quietly weary start. Big points for the premise though; I can definitely identify with it.
Book 25: “Record of a Spaceborn Few” by #BeckyChambers.
Love this author and this series, but this is the least successful so far. We’re moving further away from the original characters and follow five new (mostly) unrelated characters. It just felt disjointed. And I cared more about some vs. others, e.g. Eyas the caretaker who does funeral rites. Learning more about Exodans and the culture of humans who left earth was really interesting though.
Book 26: “Witch King” by #MarthaWells.
What a beginning. Unfortunately, the rest doesn’t quite gel. A standalone fantasy novel that throws you into its world building without any handholding. There’s a way to do this that’s successful, and normally Wells has no problem with it. Not here. The things she focused on were not what I wanted to read more about. Kinda frustrating!
Book 27: “The Sympathizer” by #VietThanhNguyen.
Came to this one late: I remember when everybody seemed to be reading or talking about it. Really enjoyed Nguyen’s immigrant short stories in “The Refugees”. This is much more politically sophisticated as the title says, but not what I expected. Nor did it go where I thought it would—more espionage than I normally like. While the sequel is also on my list, the TV show isn’t anymore. Too dude-focused.
Book 28: “Unraveller” by #FrancesHardinge.
Billed as YA, which I’ve grown tired of, this didn’t come off that way at all. Except for a lot of yelling, there’s nothing significant that marks the two protagonists as young. One can unravel curses, the other is formerly cursed. And their world sits uneasily but peaceably next to The Wilds. Found this on a list of recommended books from 2023—I can only do the same. A new favorite author.
Book 29: “Wait” by #GabriellaBurnham.
A novel about issues that doesn’t hit you over the head with them: undocumented workers, “nice” white people and the harm they blithely cause, Nantucket’s tourist economy and the income inequality of the island’s locals. But it’s mainly about two sisters and the eldest’s rich friend.
Another contemporary book that disposes of quotation marks and indenting paragraphs for new speakers. WHY. Enjoyed it nonetheless.
Book 30: “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” by #PatrickSüskind.
Set in 18th Century Paris, a man with no scent possesses an incredible sense of smell. If it were written today, it could easily be a super-villain story: scent is the key to power and control here. It avoids those tropes, but gets mired in others that are unfortunately very gendered and tired. Interesting details on perfumery though, and the language can be entertaining in its hyperbole.
Book 31: “3 Streets” by #YokoTawada.
Three short stories named after streets, which themselves are named after famous people, in East Berlin. Surreal things happen. Tawanda’s writing was slippery for me and I ended up glazing over and skimming. There’s more there for people who know what to look for, but I wasn’t one of them. Finished only because it was so brief.
Book 32: “Queen of America” by #LuisAlbertoUrrea.
Went to a reading and Urrea clearly delighted in his own writing. He convinced me to buy a copy even though I hadn’t read the prior book in this duology. It’s about his great aunt, Teresita, The Saint of Cabora, who either has healing powers or is a dangerous revolutionary, depending on who’s asked. An immigrant story that started in 19th Century Mexico in the first book—I plan on reading it soon.
Book 33: “Witchmark” by #CLPolk.
‘Bout to start some shit: getting tired of non-gay men writing gay male characters. True: there’s a long history of slash, fan-fiction, yaoi, and really great gay stories written by non-gay men. True: not every gay man is hypersexual. But it’s starting to feel sanitized, even tokenizing, to have two hot men who are clearly interested in each other not get it on. Or fantasize, masturbate, get hard, or anything embodied. /1
Yes, we fought hard to not be defined by the sex we have. But many also fought hard to not be shamed for it either: the sluts, people living with HIV, and other “non-respectable” gays. I’m not asking for non-stop fucking (just this once)—it’s not a binary. Rather, more thinking around gay inclusion. What purpose does it serve, you as a non-gay man, writing these characters? What does the presence/absence of sex mean? Otherwise, it feels exploitative. /2
Book 34: “Storm of Locusts” by #RebeccaRoanhorse.
Picks up after the first book and does everything a sequel’s supposed to: we go outside the walls of Dinétah, Maggie gets a bad-ass lightning sword, encounters more tricksy gods and a more powerful adversary. Everything feels bigger. But it’s not as good as the first book. Still, a fascinating world with some good character progression.
Book 35:”Unflattening” by #NickSousanis.
Similar to Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics” in its examination of visual thinking, what you can do by combining words and images. Sousanis’ panel structure is amazing. As a cartoonist, I learned a lot from that alone. A bit repetitive in places, and maybe longer than it should be, but an enjoyable example of what one can do with this medium.
Book 36: “All This & More” by #PengShepherd.
Terrible. I made myself finish. When I play videogames, I like to find the seams, explore, and test boundaries narratively and programmatically. That’s what kept me reading: to see how this choose-your-adventure format operated in terms of story and reader experience. There’s nothing but this gimmick. And a lead who’s obsessed with editing her life over and over until it’s perfect. Girl, go back to Instagram.
Book 37: “The Storyteller’s Death” by #AnnDávilaCardinal.
Set between Puerto Rico and New Jersey, Isla, our half-Boricua protagonist inherits a gift (or a curse?) from the cuentistas in her family: their stories play themselves out in front of her. Naturally, family secrets are unearthed. Lots and lots of them. Dávila Cardinal’s first adult novel, but it read like YA. There’s a flicker of something meaningful near the end, but it feels a little late.
Book 38: “The Saint of Bright Doors” by #VajraChandrasekera.
What an arresting premise. The opening is great too. And it goes in all sorts of unexpected directions. It drags a bit in places while operating in a context I know very little about: Sri Lankan history and Buddhism, by way of fantasy. I still found much of it engaging and learned of the author’s blog post on “Unbuddhism”that should be read once you’re done with this: https://vajra.me/2021/10/27/%e0%b6%85%e0%b6%b6%e0%b7%9e%e0%b6%af%e0%b7%8a%e0%b6%b0%e0%b6%9a%e0%b6%b8-unbuddhism/
And that’s the end of my book thread for 2024. Didn’t read as much because of being exhausted from work, which is pitiful when I think about what matters. Also did poorly on posting about them soon after I finished each one. Sorry for spamming the Bookstodon group on NYE (again!). Here’s the full list on #Bookwyrm:
http://books.theunseen.city/user/otts/2024-in-the-books?key=4221c38361ae4f80b896dc9e436e734f
@ottsatwork thanks for sharing that blog post, it’s a powerful pushback on the “atheist Buddhism” that has a lot of readers in the West.
His more recent book, Rake’s Progress, is amazing and well worth a read if you enjoyed Bright Doors — IMHO it has the consistency and through-line that Bright Doors almost had but fell frustratingly short of.
Hoochie Daddy
Luis Villa
Lisa
John McChesney-Young
Demian