A Sense of Doubt blog post #3609 - 2024 - Year in Books

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3609 - 2024 - Year in Books

Sometime in early summer, I entered the Good Reads Reading Challenge with a 75 book goal, which I just met (exactly) and would not have met had graphic novels not counted.

My Good Reads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1554684-chris-tower

I do not write one of these book round-ups every year. I didn't report on 2023, though I think I planned to do so.

I did one for 2020:

Sunday, August 8, 2021

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2364 - Books Read 2020 - a year in reading in review

and for 2018-2019:

Saturday, May 16, 2020

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1915 - 2018-2019: Books Read

and 2017:

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #965 - 2017 - Books Read - a review

Perhaps I should do one soon for 2021 - 2023, and then I am complete at least consecutively to 2017, though I could go back farther at least to the start of HEY MOM (2015).

ON READING

Back in early 2023, I decided to save prose books for audio and read comics and graphic novels nightly with my precious and all too brief eyeball reading time as one cannot listen to graphic novels.

In late 2023, after buying Jagged Emerald City at a con and starting it and rather liking it, I took up reading prose books with my eyes as much as time allows.

In the summer, when I taking time out of my week to lie in the hammock on the porch, I read more, and so several of the books in my 2024 list were finished in the hammock.

Also, I was on a book buying freeze, which didn't last, especially if I take the time to read reviews in Locus, which is how I cam to acquire Mother Howl, Silver Nitrate, Tread of Angels, and Even Though I Knew The End. All of which were okay but none blew me away.

I read several books for our Northwest Voices visiting authors, including several by Rene Denfeld and the one novel by Kimberly King Parsons, which sadly I read AFTER she visited.

I spent a large chunk of the year on the SANDERSON book. August 8th - November 14th to be precise. This was during the time that my Dad passed away. I took the book with me to Michigan, where I spent two weeks saying goodbye and having the Memorial and all the things.

I rarely read books of poetry cover-to-cover in a short time span until I am done, but in 2024, I read two: Orlam by PJ Harvey and Elegy by Larry Levis. Both of which are now among my favorite books of poetry of all time.

There's textbooks in this list, too, because I am back at school.

After being gifted The Alchemist back in the '90s, I finally read it. Didn't really care for it.

I was also underwhelmed by The Way of Kings by Sanderson, though I am told that things get more exciting and enthralling in the next few books, so maybe, some day. Not now.

There's some re-reads in this list as well, beyond just the annual re-read of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." I re-read Child Finder by Denfeld, which was the whole reason we invited her, that book. I re-read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, which I adore. I re-read the first two volumes of Friday before reading the third and final volume. I read Dean Koontz's book on fiction a lot, so that one. I re-read Against Authority by John Twelve Hawks because I plan to write about it on this here blog. I re-read The Best We Could Do to teach it as well as Watchmen, which didn't even make the list, so actually 76 books, unless I didn't re-read Watchmen in the winter. Not sure. Finishing The Science Fiction Hall of Fame is in m any ways a re-read, though I had never read them cover-to-cover when I was younger.

I re-read Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes. Many re-reads are research for my own fiction writing.

Elektra Lives Again, Midnight Nation, and Nightwing: Leaping Into the Light were also all re-reads.

Best books of the year are as follows.

If you like the slow-burn, female-centered, first-person, fantasy romance, then I would list Jagged Emerald City as one of my favorite books of the year.

After that one, and not counting re-reads, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is one of the best books I have ever read.

Though I like the Lisbeth Salander books, and though I am a huge fan of Stephen King's character Holly Gibney, I would not place any of these as best books of the year. So, here's the top five (again without re-reads):

TOP FIVE BOOKS OF 2024

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Jagged Emerald City
Elegy

Orlam
Silhouettes and Shadows - the secret history of David Bowie's Scary Monsters and Super Creeps

Since I left out graphic novels, here's a second list of those as best books of the year, top five (including re-reads):

TOP FIVE GRAPHIC NOVELS

Friday (all three volumes)  _ Brubaker/Martin

My Favorite Thing is Monsters - Emil Ferris

Where the Body Was - Brubaker/Phillips

Nightwing: Leaping Into the Light - Taylor/Redondo

The Best We Could Do - Thi Bui

Now, granted, both lists feature bias. Nightwing is my favorite superhero, so his book makes the list, and I am teaching The Best We Could Do, so that surely should make the list.

Likewise, as a huge David Bowie fan, the book on Scary Monsters makes the list, which excludes other excellent books that could make the list, such as Sleeping Giants, Infomocracy, or even and especially my friend Sue's novel The Baseball Widow, which had been atop my to read with eyeballs stack going back to 2022 right before I started the graphic novels thing.

I surely could add more honorable mentions or exceptions, such as the beloved re-reads aforementioned or great reads like The Story of Pop Music, my adored books by A Year in the Country, and Mark Fisher's Ghosts of My Life, which is also fantastic.

Of course, also, not counted, is a manuscript I read for my friend Helene, which will be a book at some point in the future.

Perhaps, you find some interesting things in my book review.

By going to GOOD READS, you can read individual reviews of all these books, though some are very short.

Thanks for tuning in.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2501.04 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3473 days ago & DAD = 129 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.