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mistressofmuses) wrote2023-12-28 06:57 pm
Books read and to be read...
I definitely didn't read nearly as much as I'd hoped to in 2023. I'd set what seemed like a fairly easy goal of reading 20 books for the year, and I read... 11. Ish. With a pretty big "ish" qualifier, because three of those I did not yet finish. So... 8 and three halves, lol.
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
I didn't love it quite the way I'd hoped to, but I did enjoy it! It started shakily for me, but then got better as it went on. However, the beginning was VERY rough for me, with a couple little continuity things that felt very nonsensical, and like the sort of thing an editor should have caught. Things like a character's internal narration not matching up with what they seemed to know the rest of the time. (Like... if you already explained xyz thing via your internal thoughts, then we probably don't need an exposition conversation with someone else where you ask them to explain xyz thing.) However, I ultimately did really like the main couple, and the main character grew on me after initially annoying me more than anything else.
City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer
I had an annoying experience reading this one, in which I discovered the omnibus edition I had purchased of the trilogy contained a very abridged version of this book, which was very bad, haha. This first book is a series of short stories and novellas exploring the fictional city of Ambergris. I really liked it. I dig the hell out of that type of storytelling, where many things are presented as in-universe documents and histories and such. There's one that's full of snarky academic footnotes, and it is just A+. There's another one that is ambiguous as to whether it's a true account or an in-universe horror story, and I love that one, too.
Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff Vandermeer
Book two of the Ambergris trilogy. This one was also good, though probably my least favorite of the trilogy. It's a slow set up, talking about the lives of a pair of siblings through a high point in culture within the city, and then their mutual falls from grace and the rising tensions within the city between the human inhabitants and the grey caps they displaced. The slow set up provides a pretty good slow burn, and I won't say it ever fully lost my attention, but it did drag on a bit longer than I feel like it needed to. But when it does get going at their sort of turning point, it picked up a lot, and I very much enjoyed that second half.
Finch by Jeff Vandermeer
The third book of the Ambergris trilogy. Kind of a noir detective story of a human officer investigating a murder, set in the apocalyptic "mushroompunk" city of Ambergris after the grey caps have taken it over. This one is real good, and a fascinating setting (the same place, but on a new point in the timeline) to explore.
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
Real good! Read it with Taylor. Love how many themes are hit on in so many different ways. A lot about language and how it's used, a lot about colonization and assimilation and what it means to belong within a particular group. Sci-fi explorations of different types of hive-mind or shared consciousness and different meanings that could have.
Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire*
This was a reread of a book I really like, but want to do a canon refresh in order to write a fic for. Unfortunately, I struggled badly with that... needing to take notes for myself slowed my reading down WAY too much, and I ended up just crapping out. One of the only easy places for me to get some reading in is in the bath, and that also wasn't conducive to note-taking. I still want to write that fic, so I still want to finish the reread. The note taking just kills me, ha.
Undersea short stories by Seanan McGuire
These are short stories set in the October Daye world. Some are from longer ago, but many are from Seanan's patreon. Put together it's probably a novel or two in length. Lots of them follow Patrick, Dianda, and Simon (and at the start of the series, I would have laughed at you if you said I'd be invested in Simon Torquil as one of my favorite characters), some are about August, some are about other characters within the undersea kingdoms. I really like the chance to see things that are happening away from the main cast.
Sleep No More by Seanan McGuire
This year's first of two October Daye books. It was good! It was emotionally devastating, especially seeing how so many other characters would be without our main's influence. Also to see her after some forced negative character development instead of her slow clawing forward of positive emotional growth. However, the ending felt a bit rushed to me (like we just sort of got a summary of "here's how everything shook out, okay bye" rather than seeing what happened.)
Kindred by Octavia Butler
This was one Alex and I read on our car trips. It still holds up and deserves its position as a classic. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.
The Infernal City by Gregory Keyes*
A less serious car trip read. This one is an Elder Scrolls tie-in novel, and it's been pretty fun so far. I like game lore, so explorations of that are fun to me. I'm an in-game book-reader, so now I can be an out-of-game lore-reader, too.
System Collapse by Martha Wells*
The newest murderbot novella. I just got my copy for Christmas, but Taylor read me a couple chapters of theirs. Enjoying so far!
The three marked with * are ones that I haven't finished.
I did also read quite a bit of fic on and off. Mostly rereading ones I knew I liked, but some of which are definitely novel-length. So that was also more reading, but doesn't quite count for toward books read in the year.
Now the much scarier list... my To Be Read list.
This isn't even a complete list! There are plenty of other books I want to read but don't have listed for whatever reason. (There are quite a few that I only have in ebook format, and my struggle to read ebooks means they aren't imminently on the list, even though I still plan to try.) This also includes nothing that hasn't been released yet, and there are several books (especially in ongoing series) that will come out in 2024 that will definitely be added to the list.
These are listed in no order more specific than "what order I saw them when I looked at my piles and shelves of books."
The Eidolon by KD Edwards
A side-story novella to The Tarot Sequence. I have really liked The Tarot Sequence, but feel a bit weird reccing it, because book 1 was firmly... "just pretty decent." However, I really loved books 2 and 3. Some people don't care for the particular flavor of angsty backstory for the main, but it works for me, especially as it Keeps Getting Worse, ha. The sidestory is about a secondary character, and I seem to remember it being marketed as more of a YA sort of thing, which is... less appealing, tbh, but I do like the character in question.
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
I keep hearing good things about it, and it sounds like the kind of horror I like, so it's been on my list for a while.
Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Simms
I liked The Magnus Archives, and I like that approach to horror, so I also hope to like this one. I've mostly heard good things, but I've also heard there's an annoying error that an editor should have caught (a character's name changing part way through, apparently) and that sort of thing bugs me more than it probably should, and that literally did make me put off reading it.
The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin
I liked the first book, and while I didn't love it the way I loved The Broken Earth trilogy, I certainly want to read the sequel. (I also know that this was supposed to be a trilogy, and then the author didn't feel like she could do the planned-for arc considering the political landscape we actually have now, so this wasn't quite the original planned conclusion.)
Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer
Love the author, love his eco- sci-fi type stuff. Went to mildly excessive lengths to get a special indie book store edition of the book... and then didn't read it.
Hunger Pangs by Joy Demora
This should theoretically be 100% up my alley. Poly paranormal romance! I've followed the author for years, and she seems like a genuinely great person in a lot of ways. She's posted some stuff to AO3, including an AU for the three mains from this series, and I really enjoyed that. I tried to start reading it as an ebook (as I'd backed it on patreon, and the ebook was available before the paperback) and I could NOT get into it. I suspect that it's more my issue with ebooks than the book itself, so I do plan to try again.
Gallant by V.E. Schwab
I really liked the comp titles ("The Secret Garden" meets "Crimson Peak"), but then heard literally nothing else about this book after release. I like the author, and it again sounded like something that should be very much up my alley.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Like... I have to read Naomi Novik's stuff at some point, right? Like... I have to.
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
I have read shorter works by this author, and while I tended to enjoy them while reading, I also tended to like them less after finishing them. In part, I think the shorter formats of River of Teeth and Upright Women Wanted didn't allow for the development to hold the emotional weight that I wanted it to. (I liked River of Teeth and the sequel; Taylor HATED them, and pointed out a lot of things like continuity errors and stuff that hadn't bothered me at the time, but now I can't unsee. I still think that Big Dumb Action Story with a queer cast is a fair thing to enjoy and want... but I think I was a little too forgiving at the time because of that.) So anyway, I want to try a novel by the same author, because I think that maybe they need more room to let the plot do what they want it to, and to let the character arcs really have the impact they want. At the same time, I don't want to devote more time to something that will still be disappointing in the end!
The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab
I love the Shades of Magic trilogy, so I'm excited for a sequel series!
The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire
I love the October Daye series, and I'm still a bit shocked at getting TWO books for it this year. I'm also, of course, excited for Tybalt POV.
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
I've been excited for this one for a while. Chuck Tingle is always pretty delightful, and I'm excited for his first horror novel. (I didn't read "Straight", which I know was also horror, but a novella.) Even if it meant I have had to explain who Chuck Tingle is to my mother twice now.
Jade City, Jade War, Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee
Taylor read these a couple years ago and enjoyed them. I think they liked the first two books more than the third, but they bought me a copy of the trilogy so I could read them, and I just haven't had a chance to. I've mostly tried to avoid any spoilers... but that meant I also wound up not really having much of an idea what they're even about.
The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien
It has been a LONG time since I read The Lord of the Rings, and I feel like I didn't really read it very well when I was in high school. My mom, fairly briefly, told me I wasn't allowed to read ANY fantasy stuff until I read LOTR so that I would understand where a lot of genre tropes and conventions came from (and because she wanted me to read the best, I know!) Except then it felt like I was being given homework, so I got stubborn and refused to read them at all, even though I'd read The Hobbit as a kid and enjoyed that quite a lot. When the Peter Jackson movies came out when I was in high school, I had friends who absolutely loved the books, and so I agreed that I really should read them. Buuuut, I was also super burned out on everything when I was in high school, including reading, and I struggled to get into the language and style. I know I DID read them... but there are huge bits I just don't remember at all, and I don't remember having a good time. They deserve another, better, fairer shot.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Another that I did technically read before, but when I was very young. This is one of those Very Important and Formative stories for Taylor, and it makes me want to reread it. I loved it when I was a kid, and still often love that sort of meta fantasy narrative (when done lovingly as opposed to an attempt to parody/mock), and I want to read it with a different perspective now.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Heard good things, like at least some stuff by the author, sounds like I'll like it.
Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat
The sequel to Dark Rise. I love the Captive Prince trilogy (#problematic as it is), and I know the author was very excited about this being the series she really, truly wanted to write. But honestly, I was a little meh on Dark Rise? I liked it, especially after the halfway point where it started to pick up. There are seeds of subplots that I'm really interested in, and there was a twist (one of two major ones) that I thought was very well executed. But overall it didn't grab me the way I'd hoped. However, I also think that Prince's Gambit is one of the best book twos I've ever read, so I'm hopeful that this book 2 is similarly great.
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
I really loved The House in the Cerulean Sea. Under the Whispering Door was also really good, even if I didn't love it to quite the same degree. But I'm glad for something else from an author I've enjoyed.
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Another one that I heard a lot of good things about, but then that was eclipsed by backlash about how it was overhyped and not good, so we'll see! But always into having more trans protags, so.
You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Janina Matthewson and Jeffrey Cranor
Within the Wires is another podcast I really enjoy... or should say I did enjoy what I heard of it, because I'm SO many seasons behind. I need to figure out podcasts again. But this is a story set in the same 'verse, by the same writers, so I'm interested to see how well it works in a written format. The meta aspect of how the recordings work for the podcast was part of the appeal. ("Relaxation Tapes" being provided to a patient that's being kept prisoner; self-guided tour tapes for art galleries; dictations by a beaurocrat...)
Witch King by Martha Wells
I haven't read Martha Wells' non murderbot books, but this one sounds good and I'm excited to read it.
In an Absent Dream, Come Tumbling Down, Across the Green Grass Fields, Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire
The Wayward Children series is, on paper, something I should absolutely LOVE. One of my favorite authors, plus I really do love the idea of exploring portal fantasy from the perspectives of the children who return to "real life" after having their magical time in another world. Yet for some reason I keep having a hard time getting into them. I made it halfway through In an Absent Dream and just didn't pick it up again. So now I'm MANY books behind, but I really do want to give it another go.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
A fucking doorstopper, but it sounds good!
Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire
The next Incryptid book. I've been wanting to read it for months and just kept not getting to it.
System Collapse by Martha Wells
I do love murderbot. Taylor read the first couple chapters to me while I was hanging out there, but I'm looking forward to reading the rest.
Wolfsong by TJ Klune
The first in an older TJ Klune series, getting rerelease now that he's more popular, ha. I do love werewolves, though, so another that I hope to enjoy.
A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland
Another that I've heard is very good, and has been on my list a long time at this point.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
I keep hearing amazing things about this one, and then shying away from it a bit, and then hearing all over again how great it is. I know it has a pretty thriving fandom, and I think I've been worried that so much of the enthusiasm for it came across as only hinging on the "lesbian necromancers in space" tagline. As cool a tagline as that is, that felt like the ONLY thing fans could say about it. Then literally today I read an author's "top books I read this year" that said she'd initially been a little reluctant to read it for the same reasons, but it was one of her faves of the year, so it's made it back to my list again, haha.
All the things on my TBR list don't account for much in the way of rereading. A couple are technically rereads, but they're things read so long ago that it might as well be the first time I've read it. This list does not include anything in the "I love this and want to read it again" category. And that is a bummer, because there's actually quite a bit I would really like to reread!
There are some faves that I just want to read again because. (The Broken Earth trilogy, the Captive Prince trilogy, the Newsflesh trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the Shades of Magic trilogy, The Southern Reach trilogy... And actually, that last one I really extra want to, because a fourth book is allegedly coming out in late 2024!)
I also often really want to reread the previous books in a series before reading a new one, because I'd hate to have forgotten some detail that adds to it! So I have to resist the urge to reread all the Murderbot books, Dark Heir, the Shades of Magic trilogy, The City We Became, the earlier Wayward Children books...
I keep trying to remind myself that rereading things I loved is doing myself a disservice if it prevents me from finding the new things that I will love just as much. At the same time, it's frustrating to read new things that I don't enjoy as much as I would enjoy rereading a favorite series, ha.
IF I could manage 3 books per month, that'd knock out my list, but I don't think that's even CLOSE to a realistic goal for me. I also really don't want to focus so heavily on quantity. I know there are a shitton of "50 books in a year!" or "100 books in a year!" or "A book-a-day for a year!" types of challenges out there, and that is pretty emphatically NOT what I want to do. I want to have the room to really enjoy the books I read, I want to enjoy the writing itself, and I want to appreciate the books as a whole, rather than just feeling like I have to race to the end.
So... I'll probably aim for 20 books again, which feels like a more reasonable pace. I'll try to stick to books that ARE on this list (minus any new releases that cut the line), rather than rereads, though if I get a really strong urge to reread something specific, I'll probably give in, haha. (And if Absolution does get a definite release date for Fall 2024, then the Southern Reach trilogy gets bumped up for sure.)
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The last thing I read to pieces was the Scholomance novels by Naomi Novik. For some reason, they just worked for me. I also really enjoyed The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard and The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. Lately I've been reading a lot of KU slush, which, eh. They're books? They're (on the whole) mediocre, frequently unmemorable books. Sometimes I can't sleep and so free-ish mediocre books is what I do. There are occasionally brief or unexpected delights in the mediocre books, so it's not entirely a loss... but it's definitely a lot of mediocre per unexpected delight.
According to the Kindle app, I've read 110 books in 2023. In 2022 it was 135. So, I guess I read... kind of a lot? It's definitely gotten worse since I have the books on my phone because they're always with me and I can just open one up and read it when I have a few minutes. I love the portability enough to tolerate the amazon.
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I will forever love Captive Prince, and all those "problematic" elements are also a lot of what makes it so damn good and compelling!
I've heard great things about the Scholomance novels! I've got "Uprooted" as the first thing by her on my list, but I know she's got a lot to enjoy. My mom really liked the Temeraire series, so I've thought about diving in to those as well.
I'll have to add The Hands of the Emperor and The Traitor Baru Cormorant to a wishlist so I don't forget them!
Lol, last night I read the first chapter of some trashy (affectionate) kindle slash that I got as a free download, lmao. I tend to struggle with ebooks, because as much as I like them in theory, I tend to completely forget about them (like... forget I'm in the middle of reading them) very quickly. I can read a chapter of something, enjoy it, be excited to read more... and then forget to open my kindle app back up for the next six months, lol. But sometimes trashy brain candy is what you want! (And I DO say that affectionately - I love stories that stick with me and rewire my brain, but sometimes I really do just want something fun that doesn't make me think too hard, and that is an important part of my reading ecosystem!)
110 books is a lot!
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