Somehow it's already March, but here is my book summary for 2024.
69 books this year! Which is getting up towards the glory days of the late 2010s. In last year's summary I noted that the number of books I had read had dropped, possibly due to reading more news & articles. I went cold-turkey on the news for a good chunk of 2024, so perhaps that helped get my numbers back up.
My average rating is up to 3.6 stars, which is as amongst the highest since records began in 2009. This is due to an unusually high proportion of 4 star books (33%, compared to 20-25% typically), and low proportion of 3 stars books. This isn't explained by a shift in genre, so I've either made some good book choices or was feeling particularly generous.
In keeping with the zeitgeist, I partly fell off the DEI bandwagon by reading more male authors than I have been. But I maintained my level of non-White authors. I had thoughtlessly stopped explicitly selecting from my To Read list based on gender, but had continued to do so based on diversity. Just goes to show that it requires effort to push back against the systemic biases of society (did someone mention DEI?).
- Cosy fiction is a thing, and it's great: Try "A Prayer For The Crown-Shy" by Becky Chambers (5 stars) and "Legends & Lattes" by Travis Baldree.
- Fun Times in Hobart Town: "The Angry Women's Choir" by Meg Bignell (4.5 stars)
- Too Close to the Bone: "The Deluge" By Stephen Markley (4.5 stars)
- Traumatic Youth: "Lola In The Mirror" by Trent Dalton (5 stars), "Young Mungo" by Douglas Stuart (4.5 stars), "Jasper Jones" by Craig Silvey (4.5 stars)
- Horrifyingly Fascinating: "Plagues Upon The Earth" by Kyle Harper (4 stars) and "Nine Lives" by Aimen Dean (both 4 stars).
- Most Somnolent: "The Silmarillion" By JJR Tolkein (3.5 stars)
- Underwhelming: "Leviathan Wakes" by James Corey (first in The Expanse series, 3 stars)
- Formulaic Time-Suck: "An Ember In The Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir. As I finished it I really liked it, but as time passed I realised how empty my absorption had been.
- Most Controversial: "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (2 stars)
The full list of reviews:
| 5 stars (2 books, 3%) | ||
| A Prayer For The Crown-Shy | Becky Chambers | To be, together, and for each other, is enough. Soulfully therapeutic. Mosscap is gorgeous, charmingly thrilled with the world: 'my very own *satchel*!' |
| Lola In The Mirror | Trent Dalton | A homeless girl searches for identity while on the run from organised crime, expressing herself through art, finding solace in dreams of a glorious future, with support from Brisbane's idiosyncratic 'houseless' community. A rivetting, energetic story with a distinct & under-heard voice. |
| 4.5 stars (7 books, 10%) | ||
| Bloke | Bruce Pascoe | Easy money lands a fisherman in hot water off the coast of SE Aus. The love of a good woman and a the Indigenous community help him through. I loved the narrative voice: a distinctive gentle and self-aware masculinity. |
| The City We Became | NK Jemisin | New York becomes a sentient being, through six human avatars, but something in the multiverse isn't happy. Explosively creative & often funny. Shares a deep love for the city & its people. Clever use of identity politics and gentrification. |
| The Angry Women's Choir | Meg Bignell | What a riot! An underappreciated housewife/mother finds friendship, support & unbridled feminism in a Hobartian women's choir. The wanker men soon get their come-uppances. Not subtle but a rollicking good time. |
| Captain Corelli's Mandolin | Louis de Bernières | Life on a Greek Island during World War 2. Satirises the idiotic incompetence of the warmongers, while celebrating the quirky humanity of the rest. |
| The Deluge | Stephen Markley | A US-centric view of the coming two decades as the climate and social cohesion rapidly break down. Amplifies the worst of current political & economic trends to create a truly terrifying but not-impossible dystopia. Told from a rich variety of perspectives, though compresses the pace of climate change improbably (I hope!). Intense, scary & draining. |
| Young Mungo | Douglas Stuart | Similar premise to his first book: gay boy with alcoholic mother in Glasgow. But different enough and also superbly executed. Full of precisely drawn, skin-crawling characters & behaviour, from the psychopathic but protective brother, the deadly Protestant vs Catholic brawls, and the slimey alcoholic older male "role models". Such an unattractive cover! |
| Jasper Jones | Craig Silvey | A murder mystery & coming-of-age story, with hefty lashes of abuse & racism, set in a small country town, 1960s Australia. Dark stuff, but leavened with teen romance and hilariously on-point best-mate banter (Jeffrey Lu is a legit superhero). |
| 4 stars (23 books, 33%) | ||
| The Past Is Red | Catherynne M Valente | The last remnants of humanity are adrift on a flooded earth, clinging to a giant life raft built from the refuse of the 'fuckwits' who destroyed it. Morbid & irreverent, with everything taken to extremes. |
| The Body Keeps The Score | Bessel van der Kolk | Trauma is a major unrecognised public health issue. Talk therapy and drugs are not effective; emotional & social engagement has to be revived. Not as useful as I hoped for my own issues, but neurofeedback and EMDR are intriguing. |
| Coraline | Neil Gaiman | A girl is trapped in a mirror world inhabited by doppelgangers with black buttons for eyes. Can she escape becoming a meal for its architect? Creepy! But excellent. Too much tension for a sleep story. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yYoEeGYxCzQ |
| Tress of the Emerald Sea | Brandon Sanderson | A girl with guts goes off to rescue her one true love, finding a crew of supportive friends along the way. Crazy setting with magic spores. Author let his hair down and it feels fresh & joyful. |
| Abolish the Family | Sophie Lewis | The nuclear family is a patriarchal institution of oppression & capital, and yet remains unquestioned. Thought-provoking & disruptive but short on constructive ideas. Heavy on the lib arts jargon. |
| Flowers for Algernon | Daniel Keyes | An intellectually disabled man undergoes a procedure that makes him a genius, but the cost of intelligence and self-knowledge is high. Heart-rending & sensitively done. |
| The Winter King | Bernard Cornwell | A realist telling of the Arthurian legend. With the Romans gone, Britain is failing: its gods weak, its kingdoms squabbling, beset on both side by the conquering Irish and Saxons. Life is squalid & brutal, with Arthur a shining hope, but neither he, nor anyone else, is as perfect as he seems. |
| Free and Equal | Daniel Chandler | Presents Rawls' philosphical framework for a better & more robust liberal democracy, and real-world policies for bringing it to life. A valuable foundation for considered & effective progressive politics. Convincing & hopeful. |
| Plagues Upon The Earth | Kyle Harper | A fascinating history of infectious disease, from the paleolithic to covid, and how it has evolved to suit the developing human environment. Gave me a much better understanding of the disease burden & character of hunter-gatherers and how different it is today. And made me incredibly thankful for public health & hygiene infrastructure! |
| My Family and Other Animals | Gerald Durrell | An English family decamps to the Greek island of Corfu, and manages to make the place madder than it was already. Hilarious vignettes of the family's exploits interspersed with stunning descriptions of the author's observations of the natural world. The encounter between the gecko and the mantis is unparalleled. |
| Small Things Like These | Claire Keegan | A penetrating snapshot of Irish life under the suffocating weight of Catholic dominance. But true moral strength cannot be suppressed, and every small act erodes that edifice. Beautifully crafted. |
| Foundryside | Robert Jackson Bennett | Crafts a novel world from steampunkish magic controlled by an oligarchy of aristocratic families. Pleasing allegory for capitalism and AI. |
| Nine Lives | Aimen Dean | Traces the evolution of a (very) young jihadi from the Bosnian front, to bomb-maker for al-Quada, to (still young) spy for MI6. A lot of extreme living! Valuable insight into motivations & rationalisations of jihadism. |
| Isaac and the Egg | Bobby Palmer | The mind goes to extreme lengths to protect itself from sudden loss & crippling grief. Everyone needs a good egg to help put the pieces back together again. Touching & distinctive. |
| Technofeudalism | Yanis Varoufakis | Late-stage capitalism has given way to cloud-based fiefs, and we are the serfs. I need convincing on some of the detail (e.g. how effective are they at manipulating our desires?), but mostly agree with his main argument. Pairs well with Cory Doctorow's #enshittification ideas. |
| Taming Toxic People | David Gillespie | A notable proportional of people are psychopaths (aka malignant narcissists, sociopaths) and they cause havoc because they have limited empathy and care nothing for social norms. Has given me a valuable appreciation for this form of neurodiversity to help understand and manage those fraught situations that are otherwise inexplicable. The science is interesting - it's more likely neurological than upbringing or trauma. Ironically, the author doesn't show much empathy for the psychopaths! |
| Black and Blue | Veronica Gorrie | The life & career of an Indigenous police woman. Her upbringing is burdened by no end of horrific substance-fuelled abuse - it's a wonder she came out so functional. Time in Queensland police force in the 2000s is less devastating, but affects her more, with the institutionalised racism and corruption* on top of the job's nature giving her PTSD. (*refer Peter Dutton) |
| The First Woman | Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi | A teenage girl in 1970s Uganda comes to terms with patriarchy, family & sisterhood. A bit slow without much emotional connection, but the detailed dive into Ugandan culture & history is fascinating. |
| Wormwood Abbey | Christina Baehr | A period fantasy set in Victorian England - with dragons! Excellent characters who are all very nice to each other and share some fine adventures. A good easy comfort read. |
| The Trouble With Peace | Joe Abercrombie | A cynical take on the deep power of finance & capitalism in an age of rapid industrialisation. Numerous players (pawns) strive for 'power' with varying degrees of cunning & strategy. Provides his usual hefty dose of backstabbing and dry wit, and a touch less graphic violence. |
| Ocean's Echo | Everine Maxwell | A queer romance set in a space-faring future where humans have developed telepathic abilities. Two telepaths are thrown together by political expediency, and despite initial incompatibility (they are both very different sorts of neurodiverse) they build a strong partnership, and eventually love. The two protagonists are well portrayed, and very likeable despite their foibles. |
| Legends & Lattes | Travis Baldree | A lovely little story about an ex-adventurer who turns her orcish hand to opening a coffee shop. Everyone is nice except for the odd dickhead who provides narrative tension. Imagine the Discworld with hygge instead of satire. |
| Living Democracy | Tim Hollo | "It's the end of the world as we know it, but it doesn't have to be the end of the world." Provides an overview of the roots of the polycrisis (mostly separation & domination) and sketches out the shape of what must replace it: a grassroots democracy inspired by the systemic interdependency of ecology. Both reformism & revolution will just support the current, malignant system. Not much of it was new to me, but it provides a solid framework for many disparate ideas. Take the power back! (Disclaimers: I read this while low on brain juice, and Millie is thanked for her feedback in the acknowledgements.) |
| 3.5 stars (2 books, 29%) | ||
| Holding The Man | Tim Conigrave | Growing up gay in an all-boys Catholic school in 70s Australia, then straight into the horrific tragedy of the AIDS epidemic. Lots of explicit sex. Jesuit priests surprisingly supportive. Lost my attention part way through - got a bit then-this-happened. Thankful we provided a supportive medical system for AIDS victims. |
| Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve | Stanley Rosenberg | Using manual therapy to regulate the nervous system based on polyvagal theory. Worthwhile, but repetitive and long-winded. But most importantly, the self-help exercises actually seem to work, giving me that post-osteo chill. |
| 100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze | Clayton Zane Comber | A dying grandmother gets her autistic grandson to write & complete a list of difficult but everyday challenges. In the process, he engages with a cruel & scary world and finds it full of love & connection. Sweet & reaffirming. |
| Unbranded | Herb Wharton | Fictionalised autobiography of an Aboriginal stockman in the pastoral outback. Despite simple prose, it absorbingly evokes that long gone world with its tall stories, colourful characters (so much grog!) and damages of colonisation. |
| The Silmarillion | JRR Tolkien | Biblically dull in parts, making for a perfect sleep story. But some chapters were great standalone stories full of action & high drama. Otherwise, only for world-building nerds. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ-yRQ8_dw8&list=PLp6dwtXsi8Ps6A3vWuaOA9JFOULn-WLzI&index=3&pp=iAQB |
| Millefiori | Omar Musa | Poetry with a hiphop steetwise feel. On prejudice, a broken world, and lost love. A few were great, but a bunch missed me. 'We know that the world is a horror story, but we also know it's got love notes at the margins.' |
| The Lincoln Highway | Amor Towles | A road trip novel where the desire for a fresh start gets hijacked by lost boys with wild schemes. Fairly enjoyable. Tragicomic. |
| Song of the Crocodile | Nardi Simpson | Indigenous life on the edge of a deeply racist outback town. Plot is unremarkable but intriguingly entwines with ancestors and Dreaming to a resounding crescendo which ... hangs, leaving much unclear and unresolved. |
| Time of Contempt | Andrzej Sapkowski | Much improved on the first book, though still too much banter and an obfuscating flood of names & places. |
| Radicalized | Cory Doctorow | Four dystopian novellas about the worst parts of Western society: enshittification, systemic racism, dysfunctional healthcare and sociopathic preppers. Gets increasingly dark. |
| The Thursday Murder Club | Richard Osman | Residents of an old folks home solve crimes with relish. A charming take on the crime fiction formula. Some memorable characters, nearly all of them lovely. |
| Far Sector | NK Jemisin & Jamal Campbell | An interstellar justice-bringer (a Green Lantern) is called to help a planet that hasn't seen crime in generations due to the use of an emotion-suppressing gene therapy. But that order starts to unravel as she tries to get a handle on the situation, her own emotionality proving invaluable. Brilliant dynamic artwork. |
| Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 | Cho Nam-Joo | A straightforward but damning account of the patriarchy in modern Korea. An unusual mix of fictionalised autobiography and footnoted essay. |
| Ancillary Mercy | Ann Leckie | More with our other favourite (but much less violent) rogue AI. Perhaps too much time spent on emotional intricacies rather than plot. The alien Translator and the Ship/Station AIs are quite pleasing though. |
| Fathoms | Rebecca Giggs | The extraordinariness of whales, what they mean to us, and their immense connections across the globe and beyond. Beautifully written, but occasionally lapses into flowery waffle and an overload of metaphor. Chapter on plastic is particularly painful. |
| Weyward | Emilia Hart | A line of women connected by their suffering at the hands of psychopathic men, and their uncanny affinity for the natural world. Witchcraft wins. |
| The Kiss Quotient | Helen Hoang | An autistic woman decides she needs to learn how to have good sex, and falls big time for the escort she arranges to teach her. All a bit silly & obvious but reasonably well done, and the sex is explicit & steamy without being ridiculous. I do wonder if autistic traits can be magically turned off by Mr Right, though .... |
| The Island of Missing Trees | Elif Shafak | Through the tragedy of Cyprus, explores the intergenerational trauma of civil war & exile. How the opportunity for a new life is unmoored from culture and weighed down by grief & guilt. I liked the fig tree as narrator. |
| Resurrection in a Bucket | Margaret Simons | An enthusiastic dive into the compost pile. The history of the organic movement was particularly interesting, while the anecdotes of compost in social life were well-chosen and quite funny. As Danny Rojas would say, "Compost is life!" |
| When the Pelican Laughed | Alice Nannup | Autobiography of an Indigenous woman who was taken from her family & country as a teenager and 'cared for' (i.e. exploited) by the Aborigines Department. She lived a life full of hard work and undeserved prejudice with grace & strength. Simply told but surprisingly engaging. |
| 3 stars (11 books, 16%) | ||
| A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning | Lemony Snicket | A dark children's story about three orphans who get farmed out to their evil & conniving relative, who has eyes only for their fortune. The baddies are over-the-top, and the good adults frustratingly disregard the children's inadequate cries for help. Some questionable plot points. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eosuq1lqrg4 |
| The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz | L Frank Baum | A colourful little jaunt consisting of a series of slightly ludicrous and easily overcome obstacles. https://downtosleep.podbean.com/e/the-wizard-of-oz-complete-audiobook-down-to-sleep-51/ |
| Purple Hibiscus | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Religiosity, colonial worship & domestic violence make for a sparse & traumatic family life. |
| The Book of Longings | Sue Monk Kidd | What if Jesus had a wife? Great premise and recreation of that world, but the characters didn't draw me in, nor did it explore the theological ramifications his marriage would have had. |
| Frederica | Georgette Heyer | An aromantic period romance. Not a lot of plot, but a lot of sometimes impenetrable banter. Disappointingly, the strong capable female protagonist gradually becomes more & more dependent on the rich & unflappable lord. |
| Spinning Silver | Naomi Novik | In medieval Russia, three young women, a Jew, a peasant & a noble, harden their hearts and rely on their wits to save themselves & the ones they love. Made much more difficult by the fairy king of winter and a firey demon. |
| Leviathan Wakes | James Corey | What's all the fuss? Just a space thriller with so-so characters. A gritty future where humanity has colonised the solar system, but it's as corporate, politically riven & prejudiced as today. Some intrigue and a fair bit of action, but to what end? |
| Harrow the Ninth | Tamsyn Muir | Our favourite necromancer has risen to the ranks of the most powerful, who are rather Machiavellian but disconcertingly human. In the process though, she has lost her marbles, and we are left without any certainty as to what the hell is going on, and doubts undermine our memory of the first book. Which is mostly bearable because it eventually unravels, only to be frustrated by an unwelcome dumping of unresolved head-scratchers which demands some re-reading. More serious than the first book, without the swagger. |
| The Shadow King | Maaza Mengiste | The invasion of Ethiopia by Italy under Mussolini. Brutal violence and horrific use of modern weaponry against poorly armed but committed defenders. Operatic & impressionist, oft-times too much. |
| The Labyrinth | Amanda Lohrey | A woman struggles for wholeness after her son commits an unspeakable crime. She finds it through building a labyrinth, and relationships with those that help. Very readable and engaging, but its deeper purpose evaded me. |
| Scythe | Neal Shusterman | A future where AI has created the perfect world without war, illness or death, and a select group keeps the population in check via 'gleaning'. Great premise but occasionally feels like a parody of itself and missed the opportunity for thought-provoking world building. Not much characterisation. |
| 2.5 stars (3 books, 4%) | ||
| An Ember In The Ashes | Sabaa Tahir | Well done, but lacking in originality. All the YA fantasy tropes are there: training school, underground resistance, trials, dark magic, love triangle, disturbing violence. Sucked me in but left me with nothing. |
| Purple Threads | Jeanine Leane | A fictionalised autobiography of growing up Indigenous on the outskirts of Gundagai. A tribute to her Aunties & Nan, strong & colourful independent women, but otherwise lacks purpose. Telling family stories through dialogue gets a bit boring. |
| Little Men | Louisa May Alcott | A series of cloyingly moralistic tales from Jo's school of wayward boys, where love & kindness are all that's needed to create fine upstanding gentlemen. |
| 2 stars (2 books, 3%) | ||
| Transcendent Kingdom | Yaa Gyasi | Can science and God be reconciled? Why are some people prone to addiction? How not to deal with trauma. Struggled to hold my attention or interest. |
| The Little Prince | Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | I don't get it. Too obscure for a #SleepStory. https://downtosleep.podbean.com/e/the-little-prince-audiobook-part-1-down-to-sleep-64/ |
| 1.5 stars (1 book, 1%) | ||
| The Wake | Tom Murphy | An Irish play about a woman's homecoming and family conflict over inheritance. Lots of drinking & moaning, unclear what's actually going on. Not sure how this got on my to read list. Maybe it works on the stage? |
