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A year. In books.
31 Dec 2023 17:36I read 89 books this year. My goal was 79, but I snuck a few extra in.
Here's my Year in Books. I love those, but I loved the old metric goodreads used to give at the end of the year better. Ah well.
Some good books, some disappointing, some bad. My awards...
Best book of the year, non-fiction This one is easy: Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking by Mehdi Hasan. Bonus, we listened to the audiobook read by the author. Truly a good book. It may not have been the most profound book I read this year (_Prequel_ by Rachel Maddow) but it was a good book, interesting, full of good information, and just overall the kind of non-fiction book that is really hard to find.
Best books of the year, fiction This is my hardest category and this year was really hard. My favorite book isn't like any of the ones I usually read, so it feels very out of place.
Runners up:
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec. Compelling story, beautifully written, grounded enough in reality that it felt solid, but also, magic. I also loved her other book The Witch's Heart. I listened to these on audio and the reader was excellent.
A series on this one, though if I had to say, I liked book 1 better than book 2. Book 3, after a delay, is due out next Autumn and both Linnea and I are looking forward to it, despite some reservations (white fonted) about how book 2 ended, sob!. The Shadow of the Gods and The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne.
Best book: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. It was lovely and immersive, and I adored it.
Worst book of the year, non-fiction Two in this category. One because it annoyed me, the other not because it was bad-terrible, but because it was boring and mediocre.
The boring and mediocre one, from a physician that I know from twitter is brilliant. How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't: Learning Who to Trust to Get and Stay Healthy by F. Perry Wilson. It felt like neither fish nor fowl, not in depth enough scientifically/biomedically to be captivating but not enough anecdotes to be an interesting romp into people and medicine. I felt a bit condescended to, in some way. Disappointing.
The one that annoyed me: Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream by David Leonhardt. Part of this book -Part One, The Rise- was brilliant. Part Two, The Fall? Less so. Author fell into that NYTimes pitfall of both-siderism and never really admitted that while Dems/liberals/progressives aren't always right or always perfect, they are not equal-but-opposite to the crazies of the Republican wingnuts. He did say that it would be hard to ally with them to make this better for all of us because they can be meaner than Dems but hello? These people don't acknowledge my bodily autonomy, they are following a leader who has admitted he wants to be a dictator and who has promised to be their "retribution". There is no common cause possible. Next idea?
Worst book of the year, fiction Tough category this year, but two books stand out as a tie, with another not far behind, and a fourth is listed because it was the worst disappointment of the year.
Runner up for worst book: The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. It was just... stupid, or maybe stupidly pretentious. I spent the whole book wanting to drop kick the stupid dog. At least it was short.
Worst books, tie:
-- The Sacrifice by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. An overly long -omg long!- dreadful spewing of drivel on page.
-- The Atlas Six. First book I read in 2023 and even back then I knew it was bad enough that it would be in contention for this category. So bad. I reviewed it on goodreads.
Worst disappointment: this broke my heart. I love her other series so much that this book felt even more awful as a result. Rubicon by J.S. Dewes. See my review over there.
Here's my Year in Books. I love those, but I loved the old metric goodreads used to give at the end of the year better. Ah well.
Some good books, some disappointing, some bad. My awards...
Best book of the year, non-fiction This one is easy: Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking by Mehdi Hasan. Bonus, we listened to the audiobook read by the author. Truly a good book. It may not have been the most profound book I read this year (_Prequel_ by Rachel Maddow) but it was a good book, interesting, full of good information, and just overall the kind of non-fiction book that is really hard to find.
Best books of the year, fiction This is my hardest category and this year was really hard. My favorite book isn't like any of the ones I usually read, so it feels very out of place.
Runners up:
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec. Compelling story, beautifully written, grounded enough in reality that it felt solid, but also, magic. I also loved her other book The Witch's Heart. I listened to these on audio and the reader was excellent.
A series on this one, though if I had to say, I liked book 1 better than book 2. Book 3, after a delay, is due out next Autumn and both Linnea and I are looking forward to it, despite some reservations (white fonted) about how book 2 ended, sob!. The Shadow of the Gods and The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne.
Best book: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. It was lovely and immersive, and I adored it.
Worst book of the year, non-fiction Two in this category. One because it annoyed me, the other not because it was bad-terrible, but because it was boring and mediocre.
The boring and mediocre one, from a physician that I know from twitter is brilliant. How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't: Learning Who to Trust to Get and Stay Healthy by F. Perry Wilson. It felt like neither fish nor fowl, not in depth enough scientifically/biomedically to be captivating but not enough anecdotes to be an interesting romp into people and medicine. I felt a bit condescended to, in some way. Disappointing.
The one that annoyed me: Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream by David Leonhardt. Part of this book -Part One, The Rise- was brilliant. Part Two, The Fall? Less so. Author fell into that NYTimes pitfall of both-siderism and never really admitted that while Dems/liberals/progressives aren't always right or always perfect, they are not equal-but-opposite to the crazies of the Republican wingnuts. He did say that it would be hard to ally with them to make this better for all of us because they can be meaner than Dems but hello? These people don't acknowledge my bodily autonomy, they are following a leader who has admitted he wants to be a dictator and who has promised to be their "retribution". There is no common cause possible. Next idea?
Worst book of the year, fiction Tough category this year, but two books stand out as a tie, with another not far behind, and a fourth is listed because it was the worst disappointment of the year.
Runner up for worst book: The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal. It was just... stupid, or maybe stupidly pretentious. I spent the whole book wanting to drop kick the stupid dog. At least it was short.
Worst books, tie:
-- The Sacrifice by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. An overly long -omg long!- dreadful spewing of drivel on page.
-- The Atlas Six. First book I read in 2023 and even back then I knew it was bad enough that it would be in contention for this category. So bad. I reviewed it on goodreads.
Worst disappointment: this broke my heart. I love her other series so much that this book felt even more awful as a result. Rubicon by J.S. Dewes. See my review over there.
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