2024 Booklist

In 2023 I watched more TV and I read lots of comics, but I did finish a respectable 42 actual books, generally in the 140,000-word range. (Moby-Dick is 214,000 words, but of course feels at least twice that.) Let’s see how we do.

1. Eversion - Alastair Reynolds. At 97,000 words, about half as long as his usual. I got the impression he was just having fun, toying with ideas both original and not.
2. Winter’s Gifts - Ben Aaronovitch. One of the Rivers of London spinoff novellas.
3. Fourth Wing
4. Iron Flame - Rebecca Yarros. Holy shit, I tore through these very long books in a few days. So, so good.
5. The Android’s Dream - John Scalzi. Ah, the man loves his work.
6. Machine Vendetta - Alastair Reynolds. He’s committed the rare authorial sin of basing the plot on events that happened in between this and the previous book, without really explaining them. And his books are so long—at 149,000 words this is a svelte 0.7 mobydicks—that it’s entirely possible I could have just forgotten stuff from a book I read a year or two ago. That said, it’s a great read.
7. A Thousand Recipes For Revenge - Beth Cato.
8. Heir of Uncertain Magic - Charlie N. Holmberg.
9. Galactic North - Alastair Reynolds. Not usually a fan of short stories in English, but this was very good.
10. Swords Against Deviltry
11. Swords Against Death - Fritz Leiber. He and Michael Moorcock defined modern fantasy writing.
12. The Librarian of Crooked Lane - C.J. Archer.
13. The Hydrogen Sonata [audio] - Iain M. Banks. I think of this book constantly since I took up the violin.
14. The Wee Free Men [audio]
15. A Hat Full of Sky [audio]
16. Wintersmith [audio] - Terry Pratchett. Och! Crivens!
17. The Shadow Wing [audio] - Sarah Painter. Catching up on this series.
18. I Shall Wear Midnight - Terry Pratchett.
19. Night of Knives - Ian C. Esslemont. Nice to return to the world of The Malazan Book of the Fallen.