Year End Wrap Up 1: Books
Dec. 5th, 2022 06:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kpopwinemomI know the year isn't over yet, and I do intend to read more books before the year ends, but as I am leaving the country in a week and a half, and won't have my computer on me, I wanted to do all my year-end posting now.
I read a lot more books then I intended this year! Some were...not good. Some were the book equivalent of potato chips. But a few were really really good, and I wanted to share this year's recs.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
2022
I know this is on everyone's lists for this year, and for good reason: it's insanely compelling. Lessons in Chemistry tells the story of a female chemist in the 50s, who while being incredibly capable, isn't taken seriously by any of her male coworkers. After her boyfriend dies, leaving her a single mother, she ends up becoming America's most watched television cook.
I could not put this book down. I only picked it up because it was in arms reach when no other books were (I did not even read the summary) and then I read nonstop until I finished it. Elizabeth Zott is both incredibly relatable in her struggles, and incredibly strange at the same time. I found this book to be hilarious and vindicating, and of course, extremely compelling.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
2020
This! Book!
If you have ever looked at superhero movies and wondered how everyone functioned, this book is for you. If you love supervillain origin stories, this book is also for you. Hench is about a woman who is a temp office worker for supervillains. However - at a job gone wrong, she gets horribly injured not by the villian, but by the hero. While she's at home convalescing, she pulls up the damage reports: and more people are injured by heroes every day than anyone they save.
I loved this book so much, when I finished it I immediately woke up Ace just to scream about it. I want a sequel so badly it hurts. This book is a bit gruesome at times, and honestly the ethics of the book are pretty grim, but it's so. freaking. good. Exactly what superhero/supervillain stories SHOULD be. (Please take notes, MCU.)
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
2022
This was a book I thought could go either way: it was either gonna be not good at all, or it was gonna be excellent. And honestly, it was excellent. I think it was actually the best book I read all year.
The Book Eaters is about a race of people who eat books. They don't consume human food, but get their physical and mental nourishment from eating books. But some of them are born with a rare genetic twist in which instead, they consume human minds. Devon's son is a mindeater: and she would do anything to keep him safe.
This book is absolutely a modern fairytale about family, love and the lengths we are willing to go to for the people we care about. It also has some of the best prose I have read this year.
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
2021
Light From Uncommon Stars is a weird book. It's about a trans violinist just trying to make it, her violin teacher who sold her soul to the devil, a donut shop owner who happens to be an alien refugee and a single mother, and all the ways their lives cross.
But it's also a profoundly human story: this is why we make music, eat good food, read books. These are the things that make life worth living. All the characters in this book are so wonderfully fleshed out, even the most minor characters are worth rooting for. It's also incredibly rewarding to see this story come together. I loved it, and I recommend it to anyone who loves science fiction with a heart.
If I had Your Face by Frances Cha
2020
If I Had Your Face tells the story of five South Korean women and their experiences: a room salon girl, an artist, a hair stylist and her roomate, and a newlywed. Each woman is experiencing the country's misogyny, class hierarchy, and expectations for women differently, and this colors how they interact with each other.
I found Suyrin's (Ara's roommate, and the girl who wants to get plastic surgery to become a salon girl) story to be the most compelling, because of something revealed on essentially the last page, so I won't share it here. All five women are fascinating, and it's really interesting to read their thought processes, and why they make the choices they did. The thing that I found most compelling about the book was the women's relationships to each other: Wonna likes to watch the younger women, who she lives through vicariously. Kyuri helps Suyrin to get a good plastic surgeon, even though she doesn't support Suyrin's dream of becoming a salon girl. Miho looks after Kyuri when she drinks too much at work. The care and compassion the women have for each other, even when they don't like each other, was for me, the most important aspect of the book.
I read two books on South Korean women and their experiences this year (the other was Kim Jiyoung, born 1982) and while both books were specifically and clearly about South Korean women and their experiences, one thing that stood out to me was how similar they are in many ways to the American woman's experience right now. While there are many cultural differences between both countries, there are a lot of similarities too, such as Wonna and Jiyoung's debate on if they will be able to afford childcare, or be able to quit work to stay at home with their child.
Runners Up
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin by Caitlin Starling
Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
I read a lot more books then I intended this year! Some were...not good. Some were the book equivalent of potato chips. But a few were really really good, and I wanted to share this year's recs.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
2022
I know this is on everyone's lists for this year, and for good reason: it's insanely compelling. Lessons in Chemistry tells the story of a female chemist in the 50s, who while being incredibly capable, isn't taken seriously by any of her male coworkers. After her boyfriend dies, leaving her a single mother, she ends up becoming America's most watched television cook.
I could not put this book down. I only picked it up because it was in arms reach when no other books were (I did not even read the summary) and then I read nonstop until I finished it. Elizabeth Zott is both incredibly relatable in her struggles, and incredibly strange at the same time. I found this book to be hilarious and vindicating, and of course, extremely compelling.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
2020
This! Book!
If you have ever looked at superhero movies and wondered how everyone functioned, this book is for you. If you love supervillain origin stories, this book is also for you. Hench is about a woman who is a temp office worker for supervillains. However - at a job gone wrong, she gets horribly injured not by the villian, but by the hero. While she's at home convalescing, she pulls up the damage reports: and more people are injured by heroes every day than anyone they save.
I loved this book so much, when I finished it I immediately woke up Ace just to scream about it. I want a sequel so badly it hurts. This book is a bit gruesome at times, and honestly the ethics of the book are pretty grim, but it's so. freaking. good. Exactly what superhero/supervillain stories SHOULD be. (Please take notes, MCU.)
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
2022
This was a book I thought could go either way: it was either gonna be not good at all, or it was gonna be excellent. And honestly, it was excellent. I think it was actually the best book I read all year.
The Book Eaters is about a race of people who eat books. They don't consume human food, but get their physical and mental nourishment from eating books. But some of them are born with a rare genetic twist in which instead, they consume human minds. Devon's son is a mindeater: and she would do anything to keep him safe.
This book is absolutely a modern fairytale about family, love and the lengths we are willing to go to for the people we care about. It also has some of the best prose I have read this year.
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
2021
Light From Uncommon Stars is a weird book. It's about a trans violinist just trying to make it, her violin teacher who sold her soul to the devil, a donut shop owner who happens to be an alien refugee and a single mother, and all the ways their lives cross.
But it's also a profoundly human story: this is why we make music, eat good food, read books. These are the things that make life worth living. All the characters in this book are so wonderfully fleshed out, even the most minor characters are worth rooting for. It's also incredibly rewarding to see this story come together. I loved it, and I recommend it to anyone who loves science fiction with a heart.
If I had Your Face by Frances Cha
2020
If I Had Your Face tells the story of five South Korean women and their experiences: a room salon girl, an artist, a hair stylist and her roomate, and a newlywed. Each woman is experiencing the country's misogyny, class hierarchy, and expectations for women differently, and this colors how they interact with each other.
I found Suyrin's (Ara's roommate, and the girl who wants to get plastic surgery to become a salon girl) story to be the most compelling, because of something revealed on essentially the last page, so I won't share it here. All five women are fascinating, and it's really interesting to read their thought processes, and why they make the choices they did. The thing that I found most compelling about the book was the women's relationships to each other: Wonna likes to watch the younger women, who she lives through vicariously. Kyuri helps Suyrin to get a good plastic surgeon, even though she doesn't support Suyrin's dream of becoming a salon girl. Miho looks after Kyuri when she drinks too much at work. The care and compassion the women have for each other, even when they don't like each other, was for me, the most important aspect of the book.
I read two books on South Korean women and their experiences this year (the other was Kim Jiyoung, born 1982) and while both books were specifically and clearly about South Korean women and their experiences, one thing that stood out to me was how similar they are in many ways to the American woman's experience right now. While there are many cultural differences between both countries, there are a lot of similarities too, such as Wonna and Jiyoung's debate on if they will be able to afford childcare, or be able to quit work to stay at home with their child.
Runners Up
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin by Caitlin Starling
Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
