I don’t think I have much to say about my reading life this year that’s different from years past. I come to the same conclusions every turn around the sun: to have more fun with my reading; to not worry so much about always having something to say about what I read; to trust and welcome my whims and flights of fancy. And at the start of every year, I forget these lessons, and have to spend the following twelve months trying to learn them again. 

So I guess my only hope and resolution for my reading life the coming year would be this: to relearn my lessons early, so that I can better appreciate the stories to come.

Here are some of the stories I appreciated the most in 2023:

THESE FLEETING SHADOWS by Kate Alice Marshall

Read this with my friend Ally near the beginning of the year. It was an amusing experience in that we both went into it expecting wildly different things: a new adult mystery in my case, a middle grade affair in Ally’s. Neither of us expected a Young Adult horror story of madness, psychedelia, and eldritch oddities. But that was part of the fun. This is one of the few books I’ve ever read where the tone shifts suddenly and unexpectedly and instead of hurting the story it complements it. Great, delightfully chaotic read.

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING by Dan Santat

This was a painful read but only because author/artist Dan Santat portrays the middle school experience in such a brutally honest way that it managed to dredge up some painful memories from my own school days. (As one character points out: the best thing about being a teenager is that you only get to do it once.)

I have a tendency to romanticize the past, to wax nostalgic about the simplicity and innocence of childhood. This served as a good reminder that it’s necessary to confront and accept all the unsavory moments, too, because, for better or worse, they helped shape who I grew up to be.

Santat’s art is brilliant and bold and beautiful. His portrayals of awkward teenage interactions are as nuanced and detailed as his depictions of the intricate and lush landscapes of Europe. A wonderful, important work.

FOREVER AND A DAY by Anthony Horowitz
FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE / DR. NO by Ian Fleming

Every year, some time after the holiday season, I seem to hit a particularly bad reading slump that I only manage to break by picking up old school thrillers featuring outdated views and equally outdated, stereotypically masculine protagonists. Last year, it was the Parker books by Richard Stark a.k.a. Donald Westlake. This year, it was Bond. James Bond.  

I have no idea what this says about me, other than I enjoy reading about people doing their work in a ruthlessly efficient fashion. (I’m sure it was Westlake who said that all his novels were really about people going about their jobs, and it was only that their jobs involved committing crimes and pulling off capers.)

Probably the most fun I had reading all year. From Russia, with Love and Dr. No were my favorites from Fleming’s one golden typewriter (I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Fleming’s writing — the man could write a mean, muscular sentence), but Anthony Horowitz’s Forever and a Day (a prequel to Casino Royale) was a great standout.

I complemented my reading by watching a bunch of the films, too. I had never seen one all the way through before (indeed, before all this my only real experience with the character was through the GoldenEye 007 game which I spent many happy hours playing as a child). But I also had a tremendous amount of fun watching these preposterous movies and anyway I want to be Pierce Brosnan when I grow up and also marry Daniel Craig that is all thank you.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD by Quentin Tarantino

Essentially Quentin Tarantino’s overindulgent expansion of the already overindulgent world of his film and I ate absolutely every word of it. Tarantino’s dialogue is the main reason I’m a fan of his movies and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is just as sparkling in prose form.

Can’t really think of another way to describe this book/story other than as absolute vibe.

IN THE DREAM HOUSE by Carmen Maria Machado

I don’t think a book has ever left me as stunned and speechless as this one did. Which is actually appropriate considering its central conceit of trying to provide a language and a vocabulary with which to talk about harrowing, devastating experiences. Just an absolutely remarkable work that is just as much an academic dissertation of abuse in queer relationships as it is an intensely intimate and brutal piece of personal history and memoir. One of the most powerful things I’ve ever read and it will stay with me for a long time.

CACKLE by Rachel Harrison

Hallowe’en is, as it must be evident by now, my best reading season. I’m happy to say that this past one was among the best, with nearly every story picked up being an absolute banger, as the kids say. And it was kicked off by this absolutely delicious, cozy, spooky, heartwarming treasure of a book. A thoroughly modern fable of identity and independence, featuring two of the strangest protagonists I’ve come across recently. Loved every moment I spent in this world.

A GUEST IN THE HOUSE by Emily Carroll

Simply: I adore Emily Carroll and will pick up anything and everything she puts out. Her work is obscenely good and this most atmospheric and visceral of graphic novels is no different. Glorious, stunning stuff.

THE SKULL by Jon Klassen

A work of pure story. Klassen doesn’t waste a single word or drawn line in this spooky, morbidly funny (it made me laugh several times out of sheer, shocked delight) little tale about loyalty, friendship, and affection. Lovely, lovely stuff.

(Also I love the titular Skull so much I kind of want to get a tattoo of him.)

THE HACIENDA by Isabel Cañas

Full of ominous atmosphere and surprisingly intense set pieces. This delivered the claustrophobic and menacing vibes I always look for in a haunted house tale. Another favorite read from the Hallowe’en season.

EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS by Peter Swanson

I read this one in a single day. It then made me read two other Swanson books that I finished just as fast and with equal gusto. Guess you could say it turned me into a fan. It’s exactly the sort of murder mystery I enjoy the most: self aware and slightly meta (again, Knives Out is my lode star), bookish, cozy but with more than a healthy dash of thriller elements. Absolutely great, gripping stuff.

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You know, if you were to ask me just a couple of weeks ago how my reading went this year I probably would have only said, “Fine.” It always takes doing this retrospective for me to realize and appreciate just how good it’s actually been. And it has.

Here’s to hopefully another year of excellent stories.

See you in the next one.

📖

2022 has truly been the definition of a roller coaster year. It began with the ending of a relationship and the beginning of a move to my own place. Halfway through the year I caught the dreaded Plague after avoiding it for so long. Then at the end I got sick with something the tests assure me wasn’t the Plague but it certainly knocked me out like it, making me miss a large part of the holidays with my friends and family. Add to that my general constant struggle with anxiety and… well, it’s been a lot. I don’t need to tell you it’s been a lot. You know it’s been a lot.

How I managed to read close to a hundred books along the way is honestly a mystery to me. I try to not put much stock in challenges or numbers. I use my Goodreads Challenge not as a challenge but, because I am a ridiculous person, as a memento mori instead, plugging into it whatever age I’m going to be that year. It’s not that hard to meet — I’m not that old yet. But I would be lying if I didn’t like looking at those large numbers. That I didn’t like feeling like I Read A Lot Of Books.

But the thing that I learned this reading year is that I really don’t. Yes, I read a lot of books, but I don’t feel like I have much to show for it. I didn’t read many books that blew me away, for one. Most that I read were just okay. Which is perfectly fine — not every book I pick up has to blow me away. I just wish to pick better choices.

It’s the pursuit of comfort, I suppose. I don’t blame myself for going for the familiar and the comfortable, especially not during fickle, precarious times. But a thought I kept coming back to as I reflected on my reading throughout the year was how I read a lot less when I was younger, but how so many of those books form an integral part of my soul now. And how that had less to do with the quality of the books themselves than it did with the quality of the time I spent with them. I didn’t finish a book and immediately jumped on to the next, on that neverending search for serotonin. I finished them, and dwelled on them. Sometimes I even read them again, which I scarcely do these days. I gave them time to become a part of me. This wasn’t a conscious choice on my part. I just didn’t have the resources that I do today, which I guess made me more deliberate with my reading. And much more adventurous, too, as I often went with books that seemed interesting and new and challenging.

Which is all to say that, as far as reading resolutions go for the coming year, this would be the main one: To find some of that magic younger me possessed. To be more deliberate and particular with my reading. To choose quality over quantity, always. 

I believe this in turn would result in better, more thoughtful reviews, too. My poor blog seems to be in a constant state of neglect — not to mention my bookstagram. I always make it a resolution to be better at both, but in particular my website, and that will remain the same for this next year.

Anyway.

I don’t want to give the impression that everything I read this year was a big pile of meh. I still had a lot of fun. Still managed to read some fine books that I hope will form part of my soul in their own way. Some that I have already revisited and plan to do so again. I always make it a point to say that books are my shining beacons of light in this tempestuous world. These were some of my lighthouses in 2022:

SECURITY by Gina Wohlsdorf

This one turned out to be a good argument for the importance of form in stories. I first tried reading it a couple years ago and found it boring and tedious. I got the paperback edition after coming across a handful of reviews saying that the physical version made for a better reading experience. 

They were entirely correct.

This time around, instead of finding it a slog to get through, I was fascinated from the word go and positively flew through the thing.

One of the most interesting thrillers I’ve read in a while. Also, if it wasn’t for the film Glass Onion, this book would have my favorite twist of the year.

THE HUNTER / THE MAN WITH THE GETAWAY FACE / THE SCORE by Richard Stark

I found myself in a slump earlier this year. So I did what I normally do and read all of the Parker graphic novel adaptations by the inimitable and sorely missed Darwyn Cooke again.  After I was done with those, I figured it’d be fun to finally pick up the original novels by Richard Stark, which I’ve been meaning to do since I first read these comics.

They definitely got me out of the rut, and I went through a handful of them in quick succession. Incredibly fun, incredibly fast reads that don’t demand much other than for you to sit back and enjoy the ride.

These three were my favorite of the ones I read, but I hope to continue with this series.

INTO THE DROWNING DEEP by Mira Grant

I read a handful of excellent horror titles this year. Indeed, I build my entire Hallowe’en around this premise. The one that ended up thrilling me the most wasn’t even read during the spooky season, though, but summer instead. Something that feels just a tiny bit sacrilegious. But Summer Spooks are a thing in my world, and this one is a prime example.

I’m a sucker for more grounded horror*, and this read very much like Jurassic Park-but-with-freaky-mermaids and I dug the hell out of every tense, gory moment of it.

* Nonsense but make it sciencey!

BATMAN: UNIVERSE by Brian Michael Bendis, Nick Derington, Dave Stewart

2022 turned out to be the year that stepped lightly off the superhero train, in a way.* It wasn’t a conscious choice. I just found myself not getting excited about anything that was coming out unless it felt fresh and new. 

That only really happened twice this year**, with The Batman pretty much being the Batman movie I’ve always dreamed of, and Universe by Bendis, Derington, and Stewart being the Batman comic I didn’t know I wanted and needed. The most fun I had reading all year.

* In film and television, anyway. I will probably always read superhero comics.
* The fact that both instances involved Batman shouldn’t be surprising, as Batman is the best.

PATINA by Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds is an author who never fails to impress me. His dowright poetic use of language. The way he manages to pack so much into such compact packages.

Patina is the second book in the Track series, which I’m going through slowly because it’s so obviously something special. The title character was one of my favorite protagonists this year.

THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY by Sulari Gentill

I do love when mysteries turn towards the meta. (Again, blame Rian Johnson.) Like Security, this one plays with tropes and conventions in a way that deeply satisfies me. I had an absolute blast reading it.

My third favorite twist of the year. (2022 was a good one for twisty fiction.)

THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE by Richard Osman

Murder mysteries still reign supreme in this household, although I read only a few of them this year. But the Thursday Murder Club continues to capture my heart. Osman has a wonderful knack for writing immediately engaging characters — especially so with his antagonists who, while not exactly lovable, are certainly charismatic. It’s really an enviable quality.

I didn’t like this one more than the first book, but only because nothing quite compares to meeting favorite characters for the first time. The central mystery here was much more up my alley, though. Magnificently twisty.

EXHALATION by Ted Chiang

This was also the year I rediscovered the joy of the short story. And Exhalation was the perfect book with which to do so.

Chiang’s work astounds me, and this brief collection easily has a couple of stories I would now consider all-time favorites. “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” is a perfect, precious pearl of a story, and one of the absolute best things I’ve read in years.

LEGENDS & LATTES by Travis Baldree 

Another entry into the “low stakes stories about people just hanging out” genre that I find myself gravitating towards more and more the older I get.

Went into this one without any great expectations, but it ended up becoming one of my favorite reads of the year.

Cozy, clever, and heartwarming. I loved the world of this book and see myself coming back to it often.

A PRAYER FOR THE CROWN-SHY by Becky Chambers

My most anticipated book of the year and it did not disappoint. Chambers has turned into a favorite author in just a scant handful of years.

Like its predecessor, I read it twice in as many days. Illuminating, soul-enriching, life-affirming. I love this world and the characters of Sibling Dex and Mosscap like I’ve loved precious few others.

The news that Chambers would not be revisiting this series any time soon pretty much devastated me, but as it stands, it is a perfect duology.

My favorite read of the year, to the surprise of literally no one.

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Once again, I hope you had a wonderful year, in both your reading life as well as your personal one. Always look towards the light. See you next year.

The best I can say for 2021 is that it was certainly A Year. Entirely too much turmoil for my liking, but we made it through, and that’s not nothing. 

I read a great many books in 2021. More than I ever have previously in my life, in fact. A response, I suppose,  to all the rocky happenings in both the world and my own personal life. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: stories are my bright, shining beacons in the dark. The warm,  safe spaces I seek out when life, the universe, and everything get to be too much. In 2021, things got much too much, and so, naturally, as often as I could, I headed towards the light.

THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin

This story wrecked me, plain and simple. Which is infuriating because in some ways it’s so full of clichés and well-trodden tropes that it shouldn’t have worked on me. It shouldn’t have been able to manipulate my feelings. But it did, and welcomed it. A beautiful story.

THE REMARKABLE JOURNEY OF COYOTE SUNRISE by Dan Gemeinhart

This middle grade novel dealt with death and grief better than most adult fiction I’ve read. A heavy book, full of wonderfully realized characters that are designed to break your heart — and they most certainly will. I will miss reading about all of them.

The title of this book is totally accurate.

MAGPIE MURDERS by Anthony Horowitz

Went full in with murder mysteries this year. It’s a genre I’ve always enjoyed in some form or another, but it’s become a favorite and a safe space in the last couple of years. Knives Out has a lot to do with it, yes, as the film has basically become my lodestar in terms of what I look for in these stories. This delightfully twist, heavily meta story comes closer to that ideal than pretty much any other thriller I’ve read so far. So much fun.

THE TRULY DEVIOUS SERIES by Maureen Johnson

The first half of my summer this year was spent reading this series, an event that was well-documented in my Instagram page.

I thoroughly dug all the mystery and atmosphere conjured up in these books, but I loved them because of all the amazing characters. Stevie, in all her anxious, stubborn glory, has definitely become one of my all-time favorite sleuths.

THE BOX IN THE WOODS by Maureen Johnson

I finished the Truly Devious books thinking that Johnson could write mysteries indefinitely and I would well and truly be on board. It seems we’re getting exactly that, and I was elated to find that this book was even better than those that preceded it. Johnson injects the story with a higher dose of horror that serves the story remarkably well, setting it apart from the cozyesque feeling of Stevie’s first case. I had a blast reading this, and I can’t wait for the further adventures of Stevie Bell and her gang.

THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman

The murder mysteries continue! I read this at the close of the year, but I finished it thinking it was a definite favorite. Just a lovely, whimsical, funny story — a bright light in the darker half of the year.

I grew up loving The Golden Girls, so I have a soft spot for quirky groups of charming older folks, and I loved the members of the Thursday Murder Club so much that I wished they were real.

MALIBU RISING by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I’ve read three novels by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and I have loved — and been destroyed by — every single one of them. An amazing author who writes some of the most complex, realistic characters I’ve ever come across in fiction. The Rivas family continue this tradition by being messy and ugly and glorious and captivating like a wildfire.

THE GALAXY, AND THE GROUND WITHIN by Becky Chambers

Another author whose work I’ve deeply fallen in love with these last couple of years. Ground Within serves as the finale for her much-beloved Wayfarers series, a set of interconnected stories set in space that are less about shiny spaceships and more about relationships and perseverance. It’s a series that features more alien species than it does humans but still manage to be some of the most humany-wumany stories I’ve ever read. I will miss this universe, and will gladly and eagerly travel with Chambers to any other corner of space she might explore.

SUPERMAN SMASHES THE KLAN by Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru

In a year where I consumed a lot of great comic book-related content, it was this small story of Superman fighting against a hate group targeting a family of immigrants that stuck with me the most. It’s just such a quintessential Superman story.

Gene Luen Yang has long been a favorite storyteller, but his more recent work continues to be on another level entirely. I will read whatever he writes.

A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT by Becky Chambers

Chambers again, exploring another corner of space. The first book in a new series centering around the travels of a monk trying to find their purpose in life and a robot wishing to understand humanity. It’s a story of feeling drained and burned-out and trying to find stillness in the world.

After two years of both physical and mental exhaustion this book spoke to me more than any other I read this year. I loved it, utterly and completely. So much so that I started reading it again immediately after finishing it, which I have never done before. I finished yet another re-read just before I started working on this post.

My favorite book of the year, needless to say.

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Have a safe and happy New Year. Remember to always seek out the light. See you on the other side.

So 2020 was a year that certainly happened.

I don’t want to write much about the year on a personal level. I used to do that with these reflections, but the last couple of years have been rough, to say the least, both on a personal scale and, you know, a global one, and I find myself with little energy to expound much on the hardships of life at the close of it all. I doubt there’s much I can say that hasn’t already been said by thousands of others, anyway. We’re all passengers on Spaceship Earth after all; we’re all going through the same kind of bedlam.

So I talk about books and stories. It’s the best I can do.

Books are — and they always have been — the beams of light that break through the darkness of any given time period, after all. I can’t think of a better, more appropriate way of saying good riddance to this plague year than by putting forth a small selection of these bright, shining beacons. These talismans against despair.

THE SECRET COMMONWEALTH by Philip Pullman

The world of His Dark Materials has long been a safe space for me. Every visit is a pleasure and a privilege, and I return home feeling comforted and fulfilled.

My dæmon would totally be a grackle, by the by.

SEVERANCE by Ling Ma

I read this unconventional zombie apocalypse novel shortly before our own brush with a plague. I was already impacted by just how relevant this satirical story seemed to be (we’re all sort of zombies shambling through life already), but I certainly didn’t expect it to become even more relevant as the year went on.

We can be more than zombies, y’all.

DAISY JONES & THE SIX by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was the best book I read last year. I didn’t love this one as much, but it still managed to jam its way into my soul.

Taylor Jenkins Reid writes beautifully flawed and human characters that you can’t help but fall in love with.

I listened to the audiobook for this and it really did enhance the experience.

DEAR MARTIN by Nic Stone

A tragic, hopeful, painfully relevant story about a young Black man trying to grow in a society that constantly tries to stamp him back down.

In a world that is tragically full of stories like that of this book’s protagonist, author Nic Stone urges to bear witness and be better.

THE CARDBOARD KINGDOM by Chad Sell, Various

Nostalgia was another recurrent theme in the media I consumed this year. It’s what initially led me to this graphic novel.

That it turned out to be far more progressive, optimistic, and kind than any story I grew up with can only be, I believe, a good thing.

Today’s kids get a bad rap, but they’re going to save the world.

DRAGON HOOPS by Gene Luen Yang

I may have stopped caring about basketball a short while after Space Jam came out, but I’ve long been a fan of Gene Luen Yang and will read anything he puts out.

Just as well this turned out to be his best, most compelling work yet.

The Last Dance documentary came out right after I read this and I loved noticing how well the two different pieces of media complemented one another.

STAMPED by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

The Jason Reynolds remix of Ibram X. Kendi’s primer on racism and antiracism is, quite simply, an essential read.

Ostensibly written for younger audiences, it can make an excellent entry point for adults (like me) who may find Kendi’s weighty tome a little intimidating. Reynolds has a casual writing style that flows effortlessly while still packing quite the emotional punch.

HER RIGHT FOOT by Dave Eggers, Shawn Harris

A sort of thematic companion to Stamped. Dave Eggers’ lyrical deep dive into the history and symbolism of the Statue of Liberty is another perfect thing to read in these cruel, fractured times.

We have to do better, y’all.

DEVOLUTION by Max Brooks

My favorite Hallowe’en read this spooky season. A story about humanity’s futile attempt to gain mastery over nature just hits different in these times of viral and climatic upheaval, you know?

But also this book about people versus bigfoot is just a hell of a lot of gory fun.

PIRANESI by Susanna Clarke

This was the last book I read this year. It seemed fitting to end this dreary period characterized by lockdown and isolation with a story about a man trapped inside his home and his head.

It might just also be the best book I read this year. I need more time to dwell on it. But suffice it to say Susanna Clarke is a mage and anything she writes is a gift to the world.

This story ends on a note of hope. I can only wish our story this year does, as well.

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I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year. ⠀
⠀
I’ll see you on the other  side.