In 2024 I finished 34 books, generously surpassing my goal of 18. This averages out to about a book every week and a half, though my actual reading effort wasn’t distributed so neatly. Like last year, much of my reading this year happened while I was traveling for work. I got a new job in October that will require much less travel—time will tell if this impacts my reading habits.
| Title | Author | Started | Finished |
|---|---|---|---|
| Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End open_in_new | Atul Gawande | Jan. 13 | Jan. 13 |
| Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law open_in_new | Mary Roach | Jan. 14 | Jan. 16 |
| The Stars Undying open_in_new (Empire Without End #1) | Emery Robin | Jan. 17 | Jan. 18 |
| Spear open_in_new | Nicola Griffith | Jan. 18 | Jan. 18 |
| Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age in Five Extraordinary Hacks open_in_new | Scott J. Shapiro | Jan. 20 | Jan. 28 |
| Sisters of the Vast Black open_in_new (Our Lady of Endless Worlds #1) | Lina Rather | Jan. 28 | Jan. 28 |
| Sisters of the Forsaken Stars open_in_new (Our Lady of Endless Worlds #2) | Lina Rather | Jan. 28 | Jan. 28 |
| The Goblin Emperor open_in_new (The Goblin Emperor #1) | Katherine Addison | Jan. 28 | Jan. 29 |
| Blindsight open_in_new (Firefall #1) | Peter Watts | Jan. 30 | Jan. 31 |
| Dune open_in_new (Dune #1) | Frank Herbert | Mar. 9 | Mar. 10 |
| Cold Storage open_in_new | David Koepp | Mar. 16 | Mar. 17 |
| Zero Sum Game open_in_new (Cas Russell #1) | S. L. Huang | Mar. 18 | Mar. 18 |
| Null Set open_in_new (Cas Russell #2) | S. L. Huang | Mar. 18 | Mar. 19 |
| Translation State open_in_new | Ann Leckie | 3/29/2024 | Abandoned |
| The Unspoken Name open_in_new (The Serpent Gates #1) | A.K. Larkwood | Apr. 26 | Apr. 28 |
| The Thousand Eyes open_in_new (The Serpent Gates #2) | A.K. Larkwood | Apr. 29 | May. 9 |
| Ten Planets: Stories open_in_new | Yuri Herrera, Lisa Dillman | May. 10 | May. 10 |
| What Moves the Dead open_in_new (Sworn Soldier #1) | T. Kingfisher | Jul. 12 | Jul. 12 |
| In Ascension open_in_new | Martin MacInnes | Jul. 15 | Jul. 16 |
| Briardark open_in_new (Briardark #1) | S.A. Harian | Jul. 16 | Jul. 16 |
| The Mountain in the Sea open_in_new | Ray Nayler | Jul. 16 | Jul. 17 |
| Hollow open_in_new | Brian Catling | 7/18/2024 | Abandoned |
| Leech open_in_new | Hiron Ennes | Jul. 18 | Jul. 19 |
| The 99% Invisible City open_in_new | Kurt Kohlstedt, Roman Mars | 7/19/2024 | Abandoned |
| Paladin’s Grace open_in_new (The Saint of Steel #1) | T. Kingfisher | Jul. 23 | Jul. 23 |
| Swordheart open_in_new (The World of the White Rat) | T. Kingfisher | Jul. 24 | Jul. 25 |
| Our Wives Under the Sea open_in_new | Julia Armfield | Jul. 25 | Jul. 26 |
| The Tainted Cup open_in_new (Shadow of the Leviathan #1) | Robert Jackson Bennett | Aug. 2 | Sep. 23 |
| This is How You Lose the Time War open_in_new | Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone | Aug. 31 | Aug. 31 |
| Redacted | Redacted | Sep. ?? | Oct. ?? |
| Deep Survival open_in_new | Laurence Gonzalez | 9/23/2024 | Abandoned |
| Starfish open_in_new (Rifters #1) | Peter Watts | Oct. 22 | Oct. 23 |
| Maelstrom open_in_new (Rifters #2) | Peter Watts | Oct. 23 | Oct. 25 |
| Behemoth open_in_new (Rifters #3) | Peter Watts | 10/25/2024 | Abandoned |
| Gideon the Ninth open_in_new (The Locked Tomb #1) | Tamsyn Muir | Nov. 10 | Nov. 10 |
| Harrow the Ninth open_in_new (The Locked Tomb #2) | Tamsyn Muir | Nov. 10 | Nov. 19 |
| Nona the Ninth open_in_new (The Locked Tomb #3) | Tamsyn Muir | Nov. 19 | Nov. 30 |
| Lagoonfire open_in_new (Tales of the Polity #2) | Francesca Forrest | 12/1/2024 | Abandoned |
| Metal From Heaven open_in_new | August Clarke | Dec. 16 | Dec. 23 |
| Time to Orbit: Unknown open_in_new | Derin Edala | ??? | ??? |
I went on a literary eco-horror bender through the middle of the year, leaning oceanic (In Ascension, The Mountain in the Sea, Our Wives Under the Sea), parasitic (Cold Storage, What Moves the Dead, Leech), and wild (Briardark) in turn.
Towards the end of the year I reread the Locked Tomb series for an astonishing third time. Astonishing, because when I first read this series in 2020 I thought it was fine, but certainly not enjoyable enough to warrant an almost yearly reread. Though I still wouldn’t consider it one of my favorites, I’ve come to appreciate the depth of the worldbuilding and characterization. I feel like I pick up on new aspects of the narrative each time I read it, which makes it more rewarding to revisit than some other series that I objectively like “more”.
Chasing the disaster lesbians high, I finished out the year with the Reddit-suggested Metal from Heaven. I can see why this would be recommended to fans of the Locked Tomb series, though I felt a bit like it went through the same motions without ever quite hitting that depth of characterization that makes the Locked Tomb so compelling.
Also, at some point a friend recommended Time to Orbit: Unknown and I tore through it. In my head it didn’t count as “reading a book” because it’s hosted online, so I didn’t track it and very nearly forgot to add it, but you know what? It’s 414,057 words long, which is longer than some other books I read this year.
Highlights
I enjoyed Peter Watts’ take on bioengineering and alien psychology in Blindsight, so I picked up Starfish, which did not disappoint. Rather than an isolated spaceship, we’re in an isolated power facility on the deep seafloor, populated by a cast of unsympathetic but compelling weirdos. This felt to me like a meditation on how humans, and humanity as a system, can be just as alien to each other as any deep-space or deep-sea organism. The plot points around artificial intelligence seem very topical despite the book’s release in 1999—the denouement is almost laughably stupid in a way that feels uncomfortably realistic when we consider the overzealous and ham-fisted adoption of “AI” technology over the past years. Unfortunately, the sequels lose the tight focus that makes the first book so compelling, but the narrative arc and ending of Starfish are satisfying enough that it does just fine as a stand-alone.
Now that I think about it, In Ascension was also one of my highlights of the year. Do you think it says something about my mental state that my two favorite stories featured women who feel so deeply detached from the world and people around them that they retreat into obsession to the point where they become almost alien themselves? It’s probably fine.
Despite reading more this year than I did last year, I have fewer highlights. I liked most of the books I read just fine, but not many of them really stand out in hindsight. One final highlight would be the redacted self-help book, which shall remain a mystery as it’s on a pretty personal topic. As a long-time therapy goer I find most self-help books trite or clumsy, but this one actually felt useful, validating, and approachable.
Disappointments
Like last year, I really tried to abandon books I wasn’t feeling excited about, but there were two books this year that I was especially disappointed to give up on.
I’m a sucker for cover art—it’s how I choose wine, too—and the promise of a delirious trip through a Bosch-inspired world in Hollow sounded like a perfect match for my love of lushly descriptive weird fiction like Annihilation open_in_new and Piranesi open_in_new . It delivered on delirious, but I was never really able to find the narrative hook that would motivate me to keep working through the dense, twisting prose.
If you’ve read some of my other blog posts about finding hidden urban staircases or noticing details on my adventures, you can see why The 99% Invisible City should be a slam dunk for me. I did make it about halfway through, but I think it was really harmed by the “episodic” format of the chapters. It felt like a collection of articles rather than an overarching narrative, which made it easy to put down and never pick up again. I wonder if this is a side effect of being produced in association with a podcast? I’ll admit I’m not very familiar with the 99& Invisible podcast, because I really struggle to get into podcasts—perhaps for the same reasons I struggled to get into this book.
Looking Forward
Seeing as I pretty significantly overshot last year’s goal of 18 books, I’ll set my goal for 2025 at 26 books; or, one book every two weeks. I’m still looking forward to Alecto the Ninth open_in_new , the next installment in the Locked Tomb series, and I’m also planning to pick up A Drop of Corruption open_in_new , the next entry in the Shadow of the Leviathan series.
I was also pleasantly shocked to learn that Jeff VanderMeer released a new book in the Southern Reach series, ten years after it was ostensibly completed. This is one of my favorite series of all time, the one that got me into the eco-horror genre, but I haven’t picked up the new book yet for a very silly reason; Absolution open_in_new is only available with the (absolutely gorgeous) new edition cover, so it won’t match the copies of the original trilogy that I already have. The original trilogy has been released with (breathtakingly beautiful) new covers to match, and I want them very very badly, but can’t yet justify dropping $75 to pick up all four. A stalemate I hope to break in 2025!