I was only 4 short this year, but it was full of bangers!
* = recommend
** = highly recommend
1 -
The Center of the Universe by Nancy Bachrach
2/13/24
I read this for the 2023 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge and just didn't finish in time. It's a very interesting story, and at points, I really liked the book. The tough part is that I found the narrator pretentious--and it's a memoir, so I guess I found the author pretentions, like she was leaning too hard into poetic language, using the story to show off, rather than letting the writing flow through. So, it was okay.
2 - The Vegetarian by Han Kang
2/26/24, audiobook
I read The Vegetarian for the Book Riot 2023 Read Harder Challenge item read a book in translation from a country you’ve never visited. I found the premise interesting, but I didn't love the story overall. It just felt like so much hating on this woman for becoming a vegetarian, and then it seemed like she lost her mind. It was just meh.
**3 - What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
2/27/24
I regularly read short stories, all because my undergrad creative writing professor used the Best American Short Stories series as our "textbook." Each year, a new anthology comes out, and I probably have 10 or so from the last 20 years. I rarely, however, read short stories outside of this series, so I'm so so thankful for this recommendation from one of my classmates in the short story writing class I'm taking right now. She was raving so much about it, I just ordered it, and I'd finished it within two weeks. While there are some themes throughout the collection, each story was so unique and packed a punch of emotion. Truly fantastic collection that I highly recommend.
*4 - Asylum: A Memoir and Manifesto by Edafe Okporo
4/3/24
I read this for the Book Riot 2023 Read Harder Challenge Item... but I can't remember which one. Okporo tells the story of how he migrated to the United States as a refugee, as his life was in danger in his home country of Nigeria due to his sexual orientation. While the writing itself is dry and lacks some flow, I am really glad I read his story. There is so much talk about the "issue" of migration, but we so seldom hear people's real life stories and how our systems truly dehumanize people who are simply fleeing harm. Reading Okporo's story and his commitment to activism made me want to learn more and to see what influence I have in my community.
5 - Noor by Nnedi Okorafor
4/14/25, audiobook
Book Riot listed this book as being under the radar in 2023. The premise was great: technology versus analog. In this world, some people, like Noor, have been able to overcome barriers due to their physical body through body modifications. Noor feels like she has the body she wants, but there are others, whom she eventually meets, who believe it's wrong to have body modifications. But then, she's on the run and is somehow the main target of a war? I had trouble following all of that, even though there weren't a lot of characters. The enemy was so faceless that it was hard to be invested, as the story felt so one sided. I know I just missed or forgot some things, but I didn't enjoy the story enough to go back and figure out what I missed.
6 - Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
5/7/24
This was a lovely collection of poems that I started for the Book Riot 2023 Read Harder Challenge Item... but I, again, can't remember which one. Some of the lines really hit hard, and the poetry was beautifully lyrical.
**7 - The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S. A. Chakraborty
5/8/24
I'm so thankful for the Bingo Book Club for getting me out of my comfort zone in reading! Marissa picked The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, and I got to go on a super fun middle-aged pirate adventure. The characters were so unique, and I especially loved cheering for heroes (anti-heroes?) who were my own age: totally capable but maybe have a knee injury or aren't as flexible as they used to be. The story itself had twists and turns and magic and delight. Highly recommend.
8 - The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
5/12/24, audiobook
I read this for the Book Riot 2024 Read Harder Challenge. I did not enjoy it. Like, the twist worked okay. But it would have worked for maybe a short story. It just dragged on and on. Just this detective and his weird friend being like, I think these two people who don't know each other well killed this guy. But we can't prove it. Huh. Weird. Talk to him. Talk to her. Still think that. Talk some more. I'm glad it's over.
9 - The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike and Katrina Kenison
5/19/24
The Best American Short Stories series is a favorite of mine. I was introduced to the series in my undergraduate creative writing classes. My fav professor, Tish O'Dowd, chose the most recent edition as the "textbook" for her classes. Since then, I have kept at it and currently have read 10 editions from the last 20 years--the most recent, 2023, edited by Min Jin Lee, being my favorite.
When I saw there was an OF THE CENTURY edition, for all of the 1900s, I thought that would be a perfect pick for the Book Riot 2023 Read Harder Challenge Item Read a Book of Short Stories. So, I ordered it. And when it arrived, I was like, welp, this isn't going to get done this year. I just assumed it would be a regular book of short stories, maybe 10-15 stories. Oh. No. this is OF THE CENTURY, so it has 56 stories. It is 788 pages long. So, yeah, it took awhile to finish.
There were some really lovely stories in the collection, some of which I've read before (e.g., "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien). I have to say though, I much prefer the later editions because of the diversity of authors, leading to really rich selected narratives. Because this one stopped at 1999, I missed that element that's present in the more recent editions. So, while I highly recommend the Best American series, I would recommend other editions before I would this one.
10 - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
5/26/24
I reread the series in anticipation of a Hunger Games-themed trivia night around my birthday. I only got halfway through the third book (and really, really needed a few answers from the second half), so I tok a few months to finish it up again. I have to say, this volume is much more violent and much more satisfying than I remembered!
11 - The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation's upheaval and Racial Reckoning by Resmaa Menakem
*5/26/24, with Hilary Montgomery, Missy Jensen, Laura Masters, and Molly Stafford
Menakem offers a lot in this book, and I learned a ton. I'm especially thankful for the practices offered and the additional resources. Because of this book, I've been actively thinking about the visibility of my own activism and how I want to engage in activism. I've also taken steps to protect myself, in general and when in tense situations, including protests. While I was a bit timid and skeptical at the start, by the end of the book I felt more present with the tensions in this country and confident that I will continue to learn and practice, so I can be ready for those tensions to increase into the election season.
12 - When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
5/27/24, loaned to me by Mom & Dad
I read this for the Book Riot 2024 Read Harder Challenge: Read a social horror, mystery, or thriller novel. My dad loaned me the book and said he liked it okay. I liked it okay too. I really, really liked the premise, and the tension and mystery both build nicely. There is a fantastic sense of place and community. I wanted a little more roundness to the main characters--especially because things get really violent really quickly at the end, and I didn't really buy it. But I did enjoy how Cole resolves everything. So, yeah. It was okay.
13 - A Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
6/5/24
This was a lovely collection of poems that I started for the Book Riot 2023 Read Harder Challenge Item... but I, again, can't remember which one. I'm not sure how I feel about it, to be honest. It felt more like a really long poem than a book of... historical fiction? There were really beautiful and haunting lines and images. Otsuka really stabs at the heart, sometimes with just one beautifully crafted sentence. But overall, I really don't like books where the characters don't have names. It bothered me even more that some of them did, but only in the second half, and I'm pretty sure any name was only mentioned once. I understand it's a tool to show the universality of the experience--while also highlighting that no experience was the same. I think that's why it felt like poetry, rather than a novel/novella. So, yeah. I'm not sure.
**14 - Palestine: A Socialist Introduction edited by Edited by Sumaya Awad and Brian Bean
6/17/24
This book was incredibly helpful in gaining a historical understanding of current-day Palestine from a Palestinian and socialist perspective. I got a ton of historical background, mixed in with philosophical frameworks, applied to the real-world setting. I also gained some understanding into the connections between movements all around the world. I highly recommend this book.
15 - Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
6/30/24, read for Bingo Book Club
I was so skeptical about this book because I really did not like Little Fires Everywhere. I thought it was just gossipy. (But I also finished it, wanting to know what happened, so maybe I should write gossipy books.) This book, however, was totally different. It felt literary. Poetic. There were high stakes. And then... meh. It was fine.
16 - Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
7/1/24, audiobook
Were there useful insights and practices in this book? Sure. I took some things away. Plus, it's super short. And. It is clear to me that the author is a well-educated, white, cisman who is likely also pretty wealthy and seems not to have interrogated this whole system we call capitalism, nor his role in it and in our colonialist, white supremacist country. So much of it is like, just cut down on social media (which he has never used) and go for a walk! Walk every day! Maybe for four hours, like this famous (old, white, wealthy) man who is famous for his deep thoughts! While surely, hours spent scrolling social media (a low-impact activity) could be traded for better uses of our time. And also. There's SO much privilege in being able to engage regularly in "high-impact" activities, especially time alone doing things that are good for us. Also, he seemed to advocate for "productive" uses of our time, even spending a little time shaming just resting, if it's passive resting, like watching TV. While this book might be helpful to some, those shortcomings were irksome to me. I also don't spend a ton of time on social media and even have some specialized accounts to engage with content that I find truly joyful, rather than just mindless scrolling. So. If you feel like you're super super into social media in an unhealthy way, this book could be helpful. He gives actual practices, with rationale, to declutter that part of your life and engage in things that you actually want to engage in and give you the energy you want and need.
*17 - The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
7/3/24
I picked up The Naked and the Dead because it's on the Modern Library's Top 100 of the 20th century, and it's been a long-term goal of mine to read all of the books on that list. I was not looking forward to this one, especially because of the length. But honestly? It was really, really good. The way the current action is intertwined with flashbacks to really flush out the characters and explain their choices was really beautifully done. The characters were so round, so unique, and there is enough substance that I didn't like or dislike any of them because they were too human to simplify like that. I also can't think of another book since Lonesome Dove that I physically felt the tension and the overwhelm at the end. Unlike Lonesome Dove though, I did want it to end because there was such a torturous climb (literally), and like the characters, I wanted a respite. Really surprised at this one!
18 - When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
7/4/24, finally finished from the Camp Michigania Book Club 2023
It was interesting to read this book alongside The Naked and the Dead because The Naked and the Dead is a story of U.S. soldiers in Japan during World War II, while When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of Japanese Americans in the United States at that same time. While I feel like Americans learn a lot about World War II and have countless popular books and films set in that time, it's usually about U.S. soldiers in Europe, sometimes their families back home. But these two books, while fiction, talk about other stories and suffering during that war. Just interesting to focus on the Japan aspect of the situation for once, rather than the German or "generic" American soldier.
I feel similarly about this book as I did A Buddha in the Attic. I think I liked it even less because we have actual main characters--without names. At least in A Buddha in the Attic we heard dozens and dozens of stories, a swirl of stories in seas of people. But this was mainly a family of four, who had unique characteristics. I get that in not naming them, they could be any Japanese family at that time, but also, in this tory, they were a very specific family. It felt like I couldn't fully invest in them as characters because the author didn't think they deserved names. I also wanted more details. Like, what was the girl getting up to? I didn't see enough of the camp and her peers to really know, other than she was probably getting into some trouble. Anyway, not my favorite, even tough I wanted to learn more about this event in our history.
**19 - Best American Short Stories 2023, edited by Min Jin Lee
7/5/24
This is one of the best volumes of this series, and I love this series. It might have helped that I read it for a short story writing class that I really loved, but I think I would have loved them anyway. It's an incredibly eclectic collection, and so many of the stories were laugh-out-loud funny and very memorable. I highly recommend it.
*20 - Night by Elie Wiesel
8/8/24
Just an important read.
*21 - Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
8/11/24
I read this based on a recommendation from someone in my book club who said that this book is one that changed her life. I wouldn't say it was life changing, but I learned a LOT and it reconnected me with some of the reasons I like to be in nature regularly. It's a really important book.
*22 - The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
8/19/24, audiobook
I low key loved this book. It reminded me of The Night Circus with its sweet magic and underlying (very adult) love story. I didn't see the twist(s) or the ending coming. It held my interest, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a light, sweet read that still has some depth.
23 - Anarchism and Education: A Philosophical Perspective by Judith Suissa
8/21/24
I learned a few helpful philosophical distinctions from this book, which does help me think through how I articulate my approach to teaching, but, even though I shouldn't because the title includes "a philosophical perspective," I really expected some applications to practice. There were a few examples of schools with some interesting practices, but there wasn't really much about what this philosophical approach means and looks like in practice. But, it was short and an interesting read!
24 - Body Trauma: A Writer's Guide to Wounds and Injuries by David W. Page
I picked this up upon recommendation from the professor in my horror writing course this spring. While the formatting and proofreading are really poorly done, this book is an incredible resource for anyone trying to write about bad things happening to a human body.
*25 - American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
9/22/24
Whoa. What a ride. I mean, I watched the film years back, so I thought I knew what I was getting into. But... no, no I did not. The book is SO much more gruesome. It felt like the violence in the film was campy and almost playful. That is not at all the case in the book. There are details that made me squirm and then shut the book to stare off in space for a bit, trying to wrap my brain around what I'd just read. And I have a pretty high tolerance for horror-y stuff. I mean, I loved the book, but some chapters were really, really hard to read. But then how he then flips to a diatribe on something completely innocuous, it was really brilliantly done. The changes in voice are so intentional and communicate so much about what the main character is experiencing. Brilliant book, but also, proceed with ample caution.
26 - We Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue
9/30/24
I really wanted to like this, but I was honestly just confused most of the time. Characters and groups of characters had so many interchangeable names and nicknames that I just couldn't keep everyone straight. There were some really beautiful moments and language.
27 - A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan
I was a bit skeptical with someone picked this for book club... and then I was right to be. I wasn't aware of the story and the impact of this one event, but also... It's a white man writing a story about how a white woman "took down" the very powerful KKK in Indiana. Really (trigger warning): A very powerful member of the KKK / politician who had a lot of support brutally raped and tortured a wealthy white woman, who then took steps to die by suicide (while still in his custody) and then eventually did die. So. People only cared because a wealthy white woman was hurt, and she was forced into a situation where she had to endure sexual assault and torture for anything to be done. Like, this wasn't a hero story. This was a tragedy on many levels.
**28 - A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
10/2/24, for Bingo Book Club
I had high expectations and then was kinda disappointed when I started because this horror subgenre is not one of my favorites, and I don't like it when men write from the perspective of women. But then... Tremblay really amped up the creepiness and did a great job narrating from the voice of a very weird kid (as all kids are weird) to a seemingly less weird adult woman. While many people feel like they know exactly what happened, I love that he had little drops of doubt that led to a fun book club discussion.
*29 - Writer's Market
11/18/24, assigned in my horror writing class
While I'm still skeptical that this book will maintain its value because of how quickly things change these days, it has SO much valuable information for writers, including so many ideas of where to submit writing of any genre, length, or type. I will definitely be going back through it to decide where to submit my writing.
*30 - The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon
11/22/24
I read this for the Book Riot challenge of reading a YA novel by a trans author. This book started slow but then amped up in pace and stakes really fast. I also really appreciated something that my friend Allison once pointed out to me: YA really spells things out. You don't have to figure things out on your own. In the case of this book, that meant learning a lot about the teen trans experience and ways to be kind to people. I loved that the main character (Wyatt) was so complicated and was seemingly surrounded by simpler characters... until he wasn't. Everyone was complicated and was working through complicated situations. It really made for a compelling story, and I'm considering reading the rest of the books in the series.
*31 - American War by Omar El Akkad
11/22/24, for Bingo Book Club
Only Teesha and I showed up for this book club, and then only reason I'm bummed about that is this book was good. It was challenging and had such unique characters. I really loved the way El Akkad twisted a very American-style viewing of the world and put the power in another, very distant country's hands. It was so fascinating to think about how a very strange but also likeable and relatable character could be living her life as best she could in the middle of actors who acted like she didn't matter... and yet she really did. Finishing this after the 2024 election has me really reflecting on what people might feel pulled to do.
32 - Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
12/13/24, for Bingo Book Club, chosen by Deanna Benson
I think this was my first romance novel. I'm feeling kind of... neutral to warm about it. I liked the characters. I liked the HEA vibe, knowing I wasn't going to be disappointed, even if I didn't know how things were going to get resolved--and, more particularly, resolved in a way I could be at peace with. I wasn't absorbed by it though. I also tend to dislike stories where the main characters are writers... especially when some of the writing pieces aren't believable. I mean, clearly, most of them are, as Williams knows the writing/publishing industry. But others were a bit too romanticized for my taste. It's just so hard to do writer main characters well because writers are so close to it and have insider knowledge that many of us don't. And also, I liked how the two (fictional) book series tied together. That was nice. So, yeah. It was my first (I think) romance novel, so I can't judge all romance by this one. So, I'll probably try another and would love some recs!
**33 - Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
12/13/24
I decided it was time to revisit some Vonnegut, and since I'm rewatching Criminal Minds, which has an episode where two characters discuss Vonnegut and specifically Mother Night, I decided on that one. And... oof. I forgot what this book is about: A Nazi war criminal who is actually an American spy tasked with spreading propaganda, and he does it so well, they put him on trial for war crimes in Israel at the end of the war. While Slaughterhouse-Five is certainly an incredible commentary on war and how humans treat each other, Mother Night is a commentary on the hypocrisy of the roles we assign in war and how we artificially amp up the stakes. It was quite a story to read the month after the 2024 election.
*34 - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
12/15/24, for Bingo Book Club, chosen by Selina Uringa
I'm so pleased Selina chose this for our book club pic for January. I've been meaning to read it, especially since I've been writing horror, and Frankenstein is so iconic. It's also sparked my interest more knowing that it was written by a woman in the 1800s. I mean, sure, Shelley was a very wealthy, very well connected woman (as evidenced by the author's note, where she discusses being inspired while visiting Lord Byron in Geneva), but still, there aren't a lot of well-known works of fiction (or any genre) written by women in the 1800s.
I was surprised at how little I knew of this story. I mean, yes, Dr. Frankenstein creates a monster. But in the book, there are so few details about how the monster is created, and that's generally what I think of when I think of this story: a doctor painstakingly putting together body parts and trying to animate them. Frankenstein certainly goes through a painstaking process, even more so than I would have ever guessed, but we know far more about the exhaustion he experienced as a result of his work that we do about the process itself. And then, the monster... teaches himself French and then English? Through observation? And then is just kinda pissed and vengeful because everyone hates him because he's a monster? And he's super duper articulate? I had no idea. Super fun little read.
35 - Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
12/20/24
This kind of book isn't really my cup of tea, but it was a very sweet story with some compelling characters. I didn't expect the octopus on the cover to be a central figure in the story, but that was kind of a fun twist on advancing and solving some mysteries.
36 - Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell
12/28/24, recommended to me by Tori Carl
I'm so pleased that some of my (writing) grad school friends took a course on teaching creative writing this fall and that their instructor assigned so many fantastic books to support writing a novel AND that these friends recommended the books to me! Refuse to Be Done is an incredible resource for strengthening a novel. I've already started paying attention to some of the advice around language, and I can't wait to go back and try some of the exercises on the novel I'm working on. Thank you, Tori!
