I haven’t done one of these in a while! Here are some books I’ve read so far this year that I enjoyed. I don’t think I have especially wild or interesting taste in books and mostly read science fiction and fantasy, but maybe you’ll discover something new to read at your local library or indie bookstore. Links usually go to Bookshop.org, which directs a little bit of revenue to your local bookstore of choice and not Amazon. Sorry this is so long, I’ll do these on a more quarterly basis in the future. You can always see what else I’ve read on Storygraph.
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett – I had started this one in December of course but didn’t finish it until the beginning of the year. I have to imagine that everyone reading this knows about Discworld and folks know if they like it or not but I’ll be another person recommending it. I keep meaning to read the entire series.
The Skull by Jon Klassen – I’m going to include some kids books in this post as well. I have been a fan of Jon Klassen’s for a while and this is a good one. It’s a bit longer than your typical picture book and has lots of lovely art. It’s also fun reading something to the kids that feels a little darker and creepier but really isn’t actually dark. This one is about a little girl and a talking skull getting in and out of trouble and my kids liked it too.
To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth – The second novella in the Curse Bearer series. Veronica Roth is most known for the Divergent series, which I’ve never read, but I liked the two novellas in this series. They’re pretty dark fantasy stories based on Slavic folklore but set in the modern day and queer. I suspect the Divergent books are maybe not really in my age range but if she writes more in this series I’ll read them.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – Reread this one after I originally read it 20 years ago and I still like it. I think I’ve heard the sequel isn’t great so I probably won’t bother with that one.
A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo – The 6th novella in the Singing Hills cycle about a wandering cleric. I’ve been a fan of all of these and this latest one was great too. The novellas are written so they can be read in any order so you can just grab whatever one you see first at the library.
Doctor Who: Scratchman by Tom Baker and James Goss – Yeah that’s right, a Doctor Who novel. This one is an adaptation of a Doctor Who movie script that Tom Baker wrote in the 70s and never got produced. It’s just a fun Doctor Who story with the 4th Doctor, nothing mind blowing or any weird lore stuff getting made up here. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Tom Baker and from reading the Storygraph reviews and Doctor Who wiki, he ad-libbed a line or two, continuing the theory that he really just is The Doctor in real life.
Disability Visibility, edited by Alice Wong – This is a collection of essays from folks writing about their experiences being disabled and living in the United States. Can’t recommend this one enough to people (like me) who need to see the world from the perspective of folks living with disabilities.
Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: The Guide to Beat-Em-Ups Volume 1, edited by Kurt Kalata – Do you like games such as Double Dragon and River City Rampage? Good news, this is a book about a ton of those types of games. I got a DRM-free copy of this through an eBook bundle that isn’t available.
She Who Knows by Nnedi Okorafor – Africanfuturist novella coming of age story about a teenage girl. I guess this one is set in a previously established universe but I didn’t know that before reading this and I enjoyed it.
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older – Basically if Holmes and Watson were lesbians in space solving mysteries. It’s the third novella in the series and my favorite so far. In fact, I want to reread the first two now because while I did like those, I enjoyed this one much more and I don’t know if I was just in a bad mood reading those or what.
John Candy: A Life in Comedy by Paul Myers – Recommended if you’re interested in actor John Candy or SCTV. It dives deeply into that comedy scene and even with it being about an actor that everyone seemed to love working with it still had a lot of interesting things to explore. This was written by the brother of actor Mike Myers, who also wrote a good book about The Kids in the Hall.
Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler – Turns out that beloved author Octavia E. Butler was also very good at writing short stories.
The Deep by Rivers Solomon – Novella about mermaid descendants of African slave women. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Daveed Diggs and music by Clipping and felt that it elevated an already great story.
Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith – Just a really nice slice of life graphic novel about four women that was on the recommendation shelf at my local library.
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers – a novella about a crew in space looking for habitable worlds. I think this is only the second or third thing I’ve read by Becky but I loved it.
Fresh Start by Gale Galligan – Lovely graphic novel for kids about a kid who has moved to a new area and is starting over at a new school. I think a lot of kids (or I did anyway) will relate to being kind of a dork trying to fit in somewhere new. There’s so many great graphic novels for kids being made these days.
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi – Poetry collection by an author I’ve been a longtime fan of, with most of the poems being focused on the ends of worlds and apocalypses. I actually did the audiobook for this one and I would recommend it if you’re someone who wants to read more poetry but maybe struggles with how to read them.
Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw – Well written and lots of good info. I thought some sections like the history were more interesting than others. It being on the shorter side prevents it from delving deeper into other topics and a lot won’t be new info to bi/pan folks but I think it’s still nice to read and validating
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie – The second Poirot book. I actually read the first book in the series this year as well and liked it but I think this is when the series starts to figure out the form more and really takes off. We all love a man with a funny mustache who solves mysteries. This one is actually public domain now.
Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems by June Jordan – She’s so good. I don’t think you should really just sit down and read a collection of a poet’s works in the order of release like I did but occasionally reading a poem here in there by someone this good is lovely.
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – You’d think I would have read this by now given how much I love the film Stalker and wrote a ttrpg inspired by it but no. Of course I loved it! I listened to an audiobook narrated by Robert Forster and he had the perfect voice for this story too.
Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk – Just a very good supernatural noir novella with lesbians.
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa – Saw it in a list of reads a book club in a discord I’m in is doing and holy shit. I feel like I should be over Orwellian novels at this point but this had such a dreamlike logic to it that I found it to be very compelling. Will be thinking about it for a while.
Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite – Second book in the Dorothy Gentlemen series, a sci-fi mystery series of novellas. It’s just a nice, breezy mystery about a baby that is suddenly found on a ship and the series does some interesting stuff in its sci-fi setting.
Well, that’s all for this post. I realize that’s a ton of books but when you account for it being half a year of reads and so many of these being novellas, I don’t think it’s as bonkers as it looks. I hope you find something good to read!
