I read 33 books this year! highlights include:
For the past month I've been listening to the little house on the prairie audiobooks. I love the descriptions of life, chores, how they made stuff, what they cooked... interesting, too, to see how Laura & her family participate in history in the making (tragedies and disasters) without realizing it. A perfect audiobook, since they are short, informational, sometimes cozy, and the reader has a great voice.
Wingfeather Saga has been a real nice audiobook series (though I think the books have illustrations that I was missing out on...? unfair!) and my favorite of all of them has been number 3, the Monster in the Hollows. Even though it's the third of a four-part series, it's got its own standalone plot that still contributes to the overall series plot. Like, the kids know they need to go reclaim their kingdom eventually, but... why not take a year off to go to school? It had some great twists at the end too that had me gasping out loud and going "Dammit, no!!" and "Hands off my boy!!!"
Clearing out my bookshelf:
I finally got around to finishing New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, which I've been "reading" since 2022. In the book Thomas says, "you're wasting your time if you read this book just to read it." Well, I finished this book just to finish it. Take that, Thomas! Some of it is really nice commentary on living a humble life of faith, and how we relate rightly to God. Some of it is kinda like, hmmmm, I really don't know about that. But I'm proud of myself for finishing this one, since it is quite dense.
Confessions of a Union Buster was one of my favorite books I read this year. I got it several years ago for Nanowrimo research, and just now got around to it. It's this guy's memoir from the 70s & 80s of being hired as a "management consultant" - a professional bully who sabotages unionizing efforts. He talks a lot about mental and emotional impact of his work, and how it tore him and his family apart. Very fascinating, and a conversation with a friend who works in modern unionizing efforts confirmed that not much has changed.
Most days over the summer, when I was done with work, I would go sit on my porch and read a short story from a collection of the complete works of Flannery O'connor. I don't think anyone needs to read all her short stories - they get repetitive, every single one ends in some awful tragic death - but I loved having a special little summertime reading routine, and slowly chipping away at this giant book.
Water Outlaws was a super fun read. It's a martial arts-focused fantasy with a terrific ensemble cast of rogues and outlaws. It's also a standalone!
Into Thin Air is a journalist's recounting of a disastrous Mt Everest expedition. Super gripping and informative, I was telling all my friends facts about Mt Everest for weeks. Super fascinating, too, to hear the author's perspective as someone who was there and feels somewhat responsible for the tragedies that occurred.
Books under unusual circumstances:
I did successfully finish Les Mis through Les Mis Letters! This was a chapter of les mis sent out per day (365 chapters = one year of reading). I stayed pretty consistent - reading it almost daily the first half of the year, then catching up in batches the second half of the year. This is such a sweet, sad, and inspirational book. I think I will read it again in a few years, but definitely with some sort of guide or commentary.
My brother wrote a book that he is querying for publishing, so I read and gave him feedback on his draft. It was extremely good. It's hard to look past my own projecting of what I know of my siblings onto their writing and work, but I really enjoyed Age of Wrath and seriously would have recommended it to many folks if I could have. It's about a fictional-fantasy industrial disaster and the legal fallout from it, and has some great taking of responsibility, doomed decision making, and descriptions of disasters.
Thankfully, I didn't read many books this year that I didn't like at all. One that I really struggled with was His Master's Voice. I love this take on first contact and want to see more like it, but I hardly understood a word of this book! I had no idea what anyone was saying at any time! I read Solaris by the same author afterwards and liked that one a lot better.
I wouldn't say that I disliked Way of Kings, but rereading it for perhaps the third time, I found the reread value way low. You already know all the information that's getting dished out and all the surprises along the way, so it feels... flat? When I reread other books, different phrases stand out, I engage with themes in different ways, or I savor wonderful character moments. There's a lot of fun character moments in the stormlight archives but they're a bit diluted by the rest of the text. Plus, nothing happens in way of kings until page 600. Really. that being said, I'm having a great time on my SA reread.
