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The Year in Books
Dec. 28th, 2024 05:34 pmWhat’s the best book you read this year?
In fiction, it was A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland which is a kind of mashup of historical fiction, queer romance, and fantasy. Basically, what if we were lesbians, but it is the 1700s, and also you are a seal person. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
In non-fiction, it was Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight For the Truth by Dan McCrum. I read a lot of these financial malfeasance books this year, but even in the really egregious cases like Enron and Boeing there was a real business there that got fucked up by terrible management and greed and a perverse set of incentives; the Wirecard fraud was fascinating to read about, because there was never a real business, it was just crime from the ground up, and it still took years to uncover.
In comics, NK Jemisin wrote a queer, black, female Green Lantern. Run, don't walk to read Far Sector.
What’s the worst book you read this year?
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell.
The premise of this book is basically: wouldn't it be funny if a cannibalistic shape-shifting flash monster fell in love with a human girl? And the answer is a resounding: No, no, not really.
The book that disappointed you the most?
Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland, about the leader of wild hunt falling in love with the warrior Queen of Wessex, something something magic, something something the Welsh, was such a slog that it took the wind out of my reading sails for a solid month or three.
The hardest book you read this year (topic or writing style)?
It was well worth struggling to wrap my mind around Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler for her cutting takedown of the UK's terf industrial complex.
The funniest book you read this year?
Hype Machine: How Greed, Fraud, and Free Money Crashed Crypto by Joshua Oliver.
What? I find takedowns of financial scams laugh out loud delightful.
Alternatively, Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R Alban was like if an episode of Bridgerton and a Taylor Swift song had a little gay baby together.
The saddest book you read this year?
I read Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue, which is a fictionalised account of Anne Lister's relationship with her first lover Eliza Raine, which made me unbearably sad for Eliza.
A book that touched you?
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. I've never been an immigrant and I'm not religious (one day I will successfully get rid of that last bit of lingering Catholicism), but a lot of the author's thoughts on sexuality, and gender, and gender presentation resonated deeply with me.
A(nother) book you read this year you want to recommend (maybe one that you haven’t mentioned yet?)
Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens, a western about a woman who goes from being an orphan to a whore to gunslinger, was excellent. As was The Disenchantment by Celia Bell, a historical novel about an affair and a murder between two French noblewomen.
Were you part of a reading challenge? Did you meet it?
I was trying to read fifty-two books this year. I made forty-seven. Yes, a lot of them were novellas, comics, and audiobooks. And, yes, those all absolutely count.
Which authors featured most prominently for you in 2024?
I read the first three volumes of Nghi Vo's Singing Hills series of novellas, and the only reason that I'm not up to date with the series is that they are such perfect little morsels that I save them up to have as occasional wonderful little treats.
The book series you read the most volumes of this year?
The only ongoing comic series I'm keeping up with at the moment is G. Willow Wilson's Posion Ivy, which continues to be very good.
The last book you finish this year?
Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone, which was very good, and actually an excellent intro to the character if, like me, you've never read any of the comics.
The first book you will finish in the new year?
Probably one of the ones I got for Christmas, so either The Marble Queen, a f/f YA graphic novel, or that six hundred page doorstopper about the Challenger disaster, which were both from the same person.
The genre you read the most this year?
Lesbian romance. Comic books. Something something capitalism bad.
I contain multitudes.
Which books are you most looking forward to reading in 2025?
I don't know, I really don't, the best books are always the slightly unexpected ones.
And finally, make a New Year’s Resolution: How many books do you think you will read in the new year?
I am going to try for fifty-two again.
I try not to be too wistful for the time when I could read 100+ books in a year, just like I try not to be too mournful for my days of size twelve jeans.
Now is good too, and as long as I'm enjoying what I am reading that's what matters.
In fiction, it was A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland which is a kind of mashup of historical fiction, queer romance, and fantasy. Basically, what if we were lesbians, but it is the 1700s, and also you are a seal person. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
In non-fiction, it was Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight For the Truth by Dan McCrum. I read a lot of these financial malfeasance books this year, but even in the really egregious cases like Enron and Boeing there was a real business there that got fucked up by terrible management and greed and a perverse set of incentives; the Wirecard fraud was fascinating to read about, because there was never a real business, it was just crime from the ground up, and it still took years to uncover.
In comics, NK Jemisin wrote a queer, black, female Green Lantern. Run, don't walk to read Far Sector.
What’s the worst book you read this year?
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell.
The premise of this book is basically: wouldn't it be funny if a cannibalistic shape-shifting flash monster fell in love with a human girl? And the answer is a resounding: No, no, not really.
The book that disappointed you the most?
Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland, about the leader of wild hunt falling in love with the warrior Queen of Wessex, something something magic, something something the Welsh, was such a slog that it took the wind out of my reading sails for a solid month or three.
The hardest book you read this year (topic or writing style)?
It was well worth struggling to wrap my mind around Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler for her cutting takedown of the UK's terf industrial complex.
The funniest book you read this year?
Hype Machine: How Greed, Fraud, and Free Money Crashed Crypto by Joshua Oliver.
What? I find takedowns of financial scams laugh out loud delightful.
Alternatively, Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R Alban was like if an episode of Bridgerton and a Taylor Swift song had a little gay baby together.
The saddest book you read this year?
I read Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue, which is a fictionalised account of Anne Lister's relationship with her first lover Eliza Raine, which made me unbearably sad for Eliza.
A book that touched you?
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. I've never been an immigrant and I'm not religious (one day I will successfully get rid of that last bit of lingering Catholicism), but a lot of the author's thoughts on sexuality, and gender, and gender presentation resonated deeply with me.
A(nother) book you read this year you want to recommend (maybe one that you haven’t mentioned yet?)
Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens, a western about a woman who goes from being an orphan to a whore to gunslinger, was excellent. As was The Disenchantment by Celia Bell, a historical novel about an affair and a murder between two French noblewomen.
Were you part of a reading challenge? Did you meet it?
I was trying to read fifty-two books this year. I made forty-seven. Yes, a lot of them were novellas, comics, and audiobooks. And, yes, those all absolutely count.
Which authors featured most prominently for you in 2024?
I read the first three volumes of Nghi Vo's Singing Hills series of novellas, and the only reason that I'm not up to date with the series is that they are such perfect little morsels that I save them up to have as occasional wonderful little treats.
The book series you read the most volumes of this year?
The only ongoing comic series I'm keeping up with at the moment is G. Willow Wilson's Posion Ivy, which continues to be very good.
The last book you finish this year?
Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone, which was very good, and actually an excellent intro to the character if, like me, you've never read any of the comics.
The first book you will finish in the new year?
Probably one of the ones I got for Christmas, so either The Marble Queen, a f/f YA graphic novel, or that six hundred page doorstopper about the Challenger disaster, which were both from the same person.
The genre you read the most this year?
Lesbian romance. Comic books. Something something capitalism bad.
I contain multitudes.
Which books are you most looking forward to reading in 2025?
I don't know, I really don't, the best books are always the slightly unexpected ones.
And finally, make a New Year’s Resolution: How many books do you think you will read in the new year?
I am going to try for fifty-two again.
I try not to be too wistful for the time when I could read 100+ books in a year, just like I try not to be too mournful for my days of size twelve jeans.
Now is good too, and as long as I'm enjoying what I am reading that's what matters.