Top Books, 2024
Ten Things That Never Happened, Alexis Hall
I liked this one so much I’m reading it twice in one year.
Get the audiobook. I’m sure the book is delightful, but the narrator is an absolute joy.
It’s a fun gay male romance with a million delightful side characters and lots of stuff about what makes a bad boss bad, in case you want some management theory with your romance. And the northern English accents? Love ’em.
Blindsight, Peter Watts
This was one of those recommendations a friend made several times and I finally read it and am kicking myself for not reading it sooner. It’s horror/scifi, and yes there are lots of good skin-crawling moments out in space, but it’s mostly a meditation on human consciousness, both what it is and what it is good for. There are a number of good female characters, but the main character himself has some weird views about women, so I’ll caution you there.
That said, it’s brief and most of the story is space and vampires and aliens. A fun, propulsive read that will leave you thinking long after you’re done with the book.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, M.R. James
A serendipitous acquisition from the library book sale. Probably it would have gone in the extremely tall and dusty pile of impulse-purchase books, but my guitar teacher mentioned how much he loved this writer. These are old ghost stories, and I think they might be better read aloud, but they are a lovely amount of spooky.
You get the spine-tingles, but you don’t feel the need to wash your brain out of the gruesomeness afterward. So if you want a spooky but not terrifying read, I recommend this one.
Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon
This book is very long. I don’t agree with all of it. But I learned a lot about various uncommon situations, from musical prodigies to Deaf people.
It’s technically about parenting someone who is different from you, but as you read, it comes together as a series of questions about who we care for, why we care for them, and how we tolerate or dismiss difference.
Home Field Advantage, Dahlia Adler
Another sweet, fun romance — this one between the female high school quarterback and a cheerleader. Quick, delightful.
The romance between Jack and Amber is sweet, but I especially liked seeing them come into their own in a town that isn’t very supportive of queer folk or difference, in general.
Angel of Indian Lake, Stephen Graham Jones
This is the final book of the Indian Lake Trilogy. I love the progtagonist, Jade Daniels, and the trilogy offers the chance to watch her change from a traumatized, horror-loving teen to a competent and loving woman.
Warning: These books are horror, and they are bloody and graphic and honestly very gross.
Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury
I read this book in a feverish haze in a hotel room in Kansas City. I was supposed to be at the AWP conference, celebrating leaving my job to focus on writing, but instead I was sick. So that definitely colored my reading, but still-it was a good and useful meditation on writing from a guy who did SO MUCH OF IT. There are some poems in the back about writing that I also found insightful. Will be going back to this one for sure.
(And one that isn’t published yet you know who you are.)