DEVOLUTION. IT'S A THRILLER ABOUT RICH TECH BROS GETTING TERRORIZED BY SASQUATCH AFTER A VOLCANO ERUPTS, IT'S THE PERFECT BOOK. Also written by Max Brooks, so talented.
The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins. Incredible book about climate change activists and about how we got to climate change emergency in the first place. Full of surprises and righteous anger at "the destroying class" - the people who set the planet on fire for profit.
Favorites this year:
The Stationary Shop: by Marjan Kamali, Tell Me Who I Am: by Julia Navarro, Nightbloom: by Peace Adzo Medie, The Minotaur at Calle Lanza: by @zeets.bsky.social
It’s a toss up but I just finished The Collector in Daniel Silva’s series of spy novels featuring Gabriel Allon last night and it was really good. A page turner…available at my local library.
My favorite reads of the year:
Light from Uncommon Stars by @rykaaoki.bsky.social
The Broken Earth Trilogy by @nkjemisin.bsky.social
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
At 54, I finally read The Picture of Dorian Gray—utterly spellbinding. Its literary perfection floored me. The twists, the love, the sadness—it changed me. I wish I’d read it when I was younger; maybe I’d have learned sooner what it means to strive to be a better man. A masterpiece.
One of my favorite books, I’m due for a second read. After I do that, I plan to watch the few film adaptations that exist. The 1945 film is said to be great
(been a challenging year of reading for me, but) some favorite new-to-me books this year:
- Fire on the Mountain, Terry Bisson
- City & the City, China Miéville
- Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata
- Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel
Sandra Newman's "Julia," a retelling of Orwell's "1984" from the point of view of his lover.
Or, because I like Orwell so much, "Burma Sahib," by Paul Theroux. It tells the story of young Eric Blair (who later became Orwell) as an Imperial policeman in Burma.
Recursion by Blake Crouch & I haven’t finished yet but Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby will probably be a high contender the pacing and writing style is crazy good.
My daughter is a writer so it's hard for me to share impressions with her sometimes but i did tell her that i felt like when O'farwell uses a period to close a sentence she's not punctuating the end of it, she's providing the key to it.
Her writing is magical. Her sentences are spells.
I think that peeking at the Cliffnotes would be okay to get the gist of the background would be okay. Reading Huckleberry Finn first isn’t a bad idea, though.
This is too hard! The Personal Librarian by Heather Terrell and Victoria Christopher Murray or There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (after reading this book I want to make a lapis & quartz type of bracelet)
If your not caught up, you should do that. Lightbringer is the 7th book and it's being adapted into a TV show with Pierce Brown co-writing the script for season 1.
'Best' is weird to think about since they were so different in style and theme and genre. My favorite book I read this year was _The Good Part_ by Sophie Cousens.
Comments
Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao
My Work by Olga Ravn
James by Percival Everett
The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk
I didn’t sleep for like two days and kept going back to re-read chapters.
My copy of the book looks like it’s been through a horrific experience with me.
Amen 🙏
Lawrence Block
The Stationary Shop: by Marjan Kamali, Tell Me Who I Am: by Julia Navarro, Nightbloom: by Peace Adzo Medie, The Minotaur at Calle Lanza: by @zeets.bsky.social
My favorite reads of the year:
Light from Uncommon Stars by @rykaaoki.bsky.social
The Broken Earth Trilogy by @nkjemisin.bsky.social
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
Also the Poppy War series by RF Kuang
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
- Fire on the Mountain, Terry Bisson
- City & the City, China Miéville
- Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata
- Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel
Or, because I like Orwell so much, "Burma Sahib," by Paul Theroux. It tells the story of young Eric Blair (who later became Orwell) as an Imperial policeman in Burma.
I read it last year but if we are just talking U.S. release this year maybe Haruki Murakami’s The City and its Uncertain Walls.
Just read another from same Booker prize shortlist: Orbital, by Samantha Harvey - can highly recommended that
I'm actually in the middle of it right now but I'm already certain that it is the most beatiful book I've ever read!
Her writing is magical. Her sentences are spells.
(It's too late for my eyes!)
Demon Copperhead
Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang
(I'm allowed to say this right?...)
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
O…M…G.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
And The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
Special shout out to The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (another completely different lane 😂)
I started reading again after stopping in college. Had to get some all timers out of the way.