Year End Reading Roundup!
Dec. 11th, 2023 08:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kpopwinemomI read A LOT this year, and it's not over yet, so I could finish a few more books before January 1, but as always, December is a void, and those will simply be Lost To The Abyss. This is a continuation of my June Reading Roundup, with a list of all the books I read, finished, and abandoned. I didn't pick favorites because I simply have never been good at operating that way!
Actual Books
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
This book is fine. I liked reading it because my coworker adored it, and yelled at me until I read it. I like being a part of the buzz and fervor surrounding it - I went to a bookclub meeting for this book, and there were over 30 women there, and all of them read the book and raved about it. That being said, I think the world building is pretty inconsistent, and Violet annoyed me at first. I might need to reread this to get a better idea, but honestly I don't think I will.
Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng
This book is wild. I ADORED it. I do not think it is good. I do think it is a good time. I have bullied the k-pop bookclub I am in into reading this book, and so far the reviews have boiled down to "it's not good but I am having fun", which is basically what everyone who has read it has said! It is balls to the wall bananacrackers, I read it in two hours in the pool, you should also read it in the pool if you want a stupid, insane, sapphic kpop fantasy horror. Yes, I know that is oddly specific.
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
This is another booktok rec from my coworker! I thought it was a lot of fun, I really love dark academia apparently. I need to pick up book 2, which has been sitting on my coffee table since I finished this in June. Book 3 comes out in January, and I want to be ready for it.
Super Boba Cafe by Nidhi Chanani
Kids' graphic novel. Very cute, had a good, age appropriate lesson on sharing pics with friends (crushes). My friends' 8 year old likes it.
The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon
Thriller. Fun! Less fucked up than it sounds, about a woman who has been kept by a serial killer in a shed for several years. When he has to move after his wife dies, she is forced to move into the house with him and his daughter. About the bonds women form with each other, and endurance. Really good.
Witch King by Martha Wells
CLASSIC fantasy. SO delicious, rich worldbuilding, interesting characters. I loved this started AFTER the adventure that brought the team together, with flashbacks to when they were Forming A Nation.
The Old Place by Bobby Finger
This book was fine. I liked the premise but the novel its self is a bit lacking. It needed to be longer and it needed a better editor.
The Fraud by Zadie Smith
This book got shafted (by me). I loved it a lot at first, because it was very interesting to read what is essentially a modern novel in the style of a Victorian novel. Unfortunately, the book I read overlapping this (the next one on this list) was also set in Victorian England, and grabbed me so much more. It's hard to tell if this book just fell apart at the end, or if the other book was just so much better. I kind of feel like it was a combo of both.
The Spirit Bares its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
Sustained screaming. This is one of my FAVORITE books this year. Oh my God. I didn't even intend to pick it up, but I had seen Andrew tweeting about it, and then it came in the store, and I picked it up to flip through idly. And then I did not put it down. I read straight through my shift. I went home. I came back to work, and I just kept reading. This book is deeply, deeply fucked up. It was also just SO FUCKING GOOD. Just! Wow. Trigger warnings for a lot of shit!
Sleep No More by Seanan McGuire
This was this year's FIRST installment of McGuire's Toby Daye series. I love this series. This book was interesting! I have bought the second book that came out this year, which is this book from Toby's husband's POV, but I haven't read it because currently I Don't Care. Both books come with novellas in the back. I generally read these eventually. Not my fav installment in the series, but a good story all the same.
The Comeback by Lily Chu
Ariadne annoyed me, and the fact the book wanted to keep the fact that it's a kpop romance secret ALSO annoyed me, because it had the side effect of making Ariadne, who we are told but never shown is very good at her job, very stupid! Also when certain plot points occur, she's not nearly mad enough for the implications that this has on her job, and how it's legal malpractice. It would have been good had she had literally any other job at all. This book made me livid.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I feel like I was the last person to read this book. What a flipping blast. Ten stars, no notes. I did have a great time. We love a bi celebrity novel. Immaculate.
From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper
Book 2 in the Witches of Thistle Grove Series. This is so fun. Unlike another romance/fantasy I ditched this year, the magic in this series makes sense, and is an important and a coherent part of the novel. This book is steamy, sexy, fun and interesting. Love this series! The rare romance series that must be read in order.
The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey
I don't know that all the elements of this book fully coalesced but I had a great time with it all the same. The concepts were so interesting, I loved the idea of magic Wall Street with eldritch gods and contained blood and gore. So much fun, and so interesting!
This Is Not A Book About Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carvan
This was another book for k-pop book club, and it was really good. It's about discovering fandom, and in particular transformative fandom, later in life, and about being a woman and all that women are expected to be. It's not perfect, but it is a good thoughtful exploration of fandom, womanhood, and motherhood, and we generally liked it a lot.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Another one I feel late to! I read this book for my city's new Queer Womens Book Club, and adored it! It was conveniently already on my bookshelf, and I loved it lots. So interesting to read a thoughtful and well researched sapphic historical fiction novel that isn't just misery.
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
This is my first book by Hazelwood and I had SUCH a good time. A vampyre bride is in a diplomatic marriage with an alpha were. The tropes are ALL there and deliciously employed, and there is fun and weird worldbuilding. You could tell Hazelwood reads fanfic in ALL the best ways. I yelled and kicked my feet and had a marvelous time.
Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
Again, I liked it a lot but I am meh on the end. I loved the concept of the darker nutcracker, but elements just didn't hold up for me. Very fun and enjoyable holiday read, though.
Time to Shine by Rachel Reid
Another hockey romance. So much better than I thought it would be. It deals with grief, and mourning, and letting yourself have good things. Not super Christmassy, but set in the season. I liked it a lot!
Manga
Oshi no Ko 1-4 Loving this weird, quirky idol series!
Tokyo Ghoul
In Progress
Obviously some of these are on here from last time. I swear I'll get back to them. One day.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Clever Creatures of the Night by Samanta Mabry
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Heaven Official's Blessing #5 by MXTX
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Barbarian Lover by Ruby Dixon
D.N.F
Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr
I loved this book so much at first and then it started making less and less sense.
The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan
Again, loved so much at first and then it just lost me. Got very deranged. I don't know.
Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go by Cleo Qian
Love it, but never picked it back up. Collection of short stories, so will probably read randomly - I rarely read these cover to cover anyway.
At The End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche
Didn't go anywhere! I want INFO!
The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore
Got boring, might finish later. Beautifully written but dragged on, very slowly paced.
Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park
Just not for me. 40 pages in it included a long extended exerpt from a fictional text book. I'm not reading a fictional text book, I'm just not.
Actual Books
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
This book is fine. I liked reading it because my coworker adored it, and yelled at me until I read it. I like being a part of the buzz and fervor surrounding it - I went to a bookclub meeting for this book, and there were over 30 women there, and all of them read the book and raved about it. That being said, I think the world building is pretty inconsistent, and Violet annoyed me at first. I might need to reread this to get a better idea, but honestly I don't think I will.
Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng
This book is wild. I ADORED it. I do not think it is good. I do think it is a good time. I have bullied the k-pop bookclub I am in into reading this book, and so far the reviews have boiled down to "it's not good but I am having fun", which is basically what everyone who has read it has said! It is balls to the wall bananacrackers, I read it in two hours in the pool, you should also read it in the pool if you want a stupid, insane, sapphic kpop fantasy horror. Yes, I know that is oddly specific.
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
This is another booktok rec from my coworker! I thought it was a lot of fun, I really love dark academia apparently. I need to pick up book 2, which has been sitting on my coffee table since I finished this in June. Book 3 comes out in January, and I want to be ready for it.
Super Boba Cafe by Nidhi Chanani
Kids' graphic novel. Very cute, had a good, age appropriate lesson on sharing pics with friends (crushes). My friends' 8 year old likes it.
The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon
Thriller. Fun! Less fucked up than it sounds, about a woman who has been kept by a serial killer in a shed for several years. When he has to move after his wife dies, she is forced to move into the house with him and his daughter. About the bonds women form with each other, and endurance. Really good.
Witch King by Martha Wells
CLASSIC fantasy. SO delicious, rich worldbuilding, interesting characters. I loved this started AFTER the adventure that brought the team together, with flashbacks to when they were Forming A Nation.
The Old Place by Bobby Finger
This book was fine. I liked the premise but the novel its self is a bit lacking. It needed to be longer and it needed a better editor.
The Fraud by Zadie Smith
This book got shafted (by me). I loved it a lot at first, because it was very interesting to read what is essentially a modern novel in the style of a Victorian novel. Unfortunately, the book I read overlapping this (the next one on this list) was also set in Victorian England, and grabbed me so much more. It's hard to tell if this book just fell apart at the end, or if the other book was just so much better. I kind of feel like it was a combo of both.
The Spirit Bares its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
Sustained screaming. This is one of my FAVORITE books this year. Oh my God. I didn't even intend to pick it up, but I had seen Andrew tweeting about it, and then it came in the store, and I picked it up to flip through idly. And then I did not put it down. I read straight through my shift. I went home. I came back to work, and I just kept reading. This book is deeply, deeply fucked up. It was also just SO FUCKING GOOD. Just! Wow. Trigger warnings for a lot of shit!
Sleep No More by Seanan McGuire
This was this year's FIRST installment of McGuire's Toby Daye series. I love this series. This book was interesting! I have bought the second book that came out this year, which is this book from Toby's husband's POV, but I haven't read it because currently I Don't Care. Both books come with novellas in the back. I generally read these eventually. Not my fav installment in the series, but a good story all the same.
The Comeback by Lily Chu
Ariadne annoyed me, and the fact the book wanted to keep the fact that it's a kpop romance secret ALSO annoyed me, because it had the side effect of making Ariadne, who we are told but never shown is very good at her job, very stupid! Also when certain plot points occur, she's not nearly mad enough for the implications that this has on her job, and how it's legal malpractice. It would have been good had she had literally any other job at all. This book made me livid.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I feel like I was the last person to read this book. What a flipping blast. Ten stars, no notes. I did have a great time. We love a bi celebrity novel. Immaculate.
From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper
Book 2 in the Witches of Thistle Grove Series. This is so fun. Unlike another romance/fantasy I ditched this year, the magic in this series makes sense, and is an important and a coherent part of the novel. This book is steamy, sexy, fun and interesting. Love this series! The rare romance series that must be read in order.
The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey
I don't know that all the elements of this book fully coalesced but I had a great time with it all the same. The concepts were so interesting, I loved the idea of magic Wall Street with eldritch gods and contained blood and gore. So much fun, and so interesting!
This Is Not A Book About Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carvan
This was another book for k-pop book club, and it was really good. It's about discovering fandom, and in particular transformative fandom, later in life, and about being a woman and all that women are expected to be. It's not perfect, but it is a good thoughtful exploration of fandom, womanhood, and motherhood, and we generally liked it a lot.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Another one I feel late to! I read this book for my city's new Queer Womens Book Club, and adored it! It was conveniently already on my bookshelf, and I loved it lots. So interesting to read a thoughtful and well researched sapphic historical fiction novel that isn't just misery.
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
This is my first book by Hazelwood and I had SUCH a good time. A vampyre bride is in a diplomatic marriage with an alpha were. The tropes are ALL there and deliciously employed, and there is fun and weird worldbuilding. You could tell Hazelwood reads fanfic in ALL the best ways. I yelled and kicked my feet and had a marvelous time.
Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
Again, I liked it a lot but I am meh on the end. I loved the concept of the darker nutcracker, but elements just didn't hold up for me. Very fun and enjoyable holiday read, though.
Time to Shine by Rachel Reid
Another hockey romance. So much better than I thought it would be. It deals with grief, and mourning, and letting yourself have good things. Not super Christmassy, but set in the season. I liked it a lot!
Manga
Oshi no Ko 1-4 Loving this weird, quirky idol series!
Tokyo Ghoul
In Progress
Obviously some of these are on here from last time. I swear I'll get back to them. One day.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Clever Creatures of the Night by Samanta Mabry
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Heaven Official's Blessing #5 by MXTX
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Barbarian Lover by Ruby Dixon
D.N.F
Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr
I loved this book so much at first and then it started making less and less sense.
The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan
Again, loved so much at first and then it just lost me. Got very deranged. I don't know.
Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go by Cleo Qian
Love it, but never picked it back up. Collection of short stories, so will probably read randomly - I rarely read these cover to cover anyway.
At The End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche
Didn't go anywhere! I want INFO!
The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore
Got boring, might finish later. Beautifully written but dragged on, very slowly paced.
Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park
Just not for me. 40 pages in it included a long extended exerpt from a fictional text book. I'm not reading a fictional text book, I'm just not.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-12 12:23 pm (UTC)I cracked up at your description of Gorgeous Gruesome Faces. I will consider this one also LOL.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-12 09:32 pm (UTC)LOL there truly is no better way to describe it! It's just one of those books you hop on and strap in, because it takes off! If you read it let me know xD
no subject
Date: 2023-12-14 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-15 01:12 am (UTC)I thought I would really like the manga, but that hasn't hooked me much, either. But I have to admit, I'm not a big manga reader in general, and there are really very few long series that I'm interesting in sitting down and plowing through. (What Did You Eat Yesterday)