BOOKS I READ THIS YEAR




  • Magic by William Goldman

    10/05/2024

    I haven’t really had much time to read or review things I’ve read recently which is why it’s taken me so long to get to this review.

    To begin, I saw the movie starring Anthony Hopkins a few years ago and as soon as the credits started and I saw it was based on a book written by THE William Goldman (author of The Princess Bride, Marathon Man, and sooooo much other stuff) I immediately had to put it on my list. The book was great, and after reading it I can say the movie was a good adaptation.

    I loved how much more we actually saw of Corky’s character in the book compared to the movie. I felt like I understood him so well since the book gave us everything there was to know about him- his upbringing, his insecurities as a child, his obsessions. The book was also tinged with just enough humor that made the other moments in the book unnerving. After reading Pin and this book, I’m suspecting I have a niche genre I’m into and it’s psychological drama featuring talking dolls.

    The story follows a man named Corky, an up and coming magician/ventriloquist right on the verge of making it big. Before he can get on television, though, he’ll have to take a comprehensive health exam. That’s not something Corky’s willing to do. He goes back to his hometown to escape everything, and while he’s there he runs into none other than his first crush, Peggy Ann Snow. They’re both happy to see each other, but as the story progresses it’s clear that something is off about Corky…

    Really off.

    Yeah, I’m really glad I finally got to read this! The book was great and not super long, either so that worked out for me. The movie was great, too, so I’m comfortable recommending that as well.





  • The Grip of It by Jac Jemc

    08/19/2024

    This is probably the last book I'll be able to read for fun this year since my classes are starting up on Monday. That being said, I am glad I was able to find and read this one!

    The book follows the story of a young couple who buy a house in a small town in order to get a fresh start, only to discover there was probably a reason the house was on the market for so long...

    The Grip of It is a haunted house novel in the same vein as I would say... The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Meaning that a lot happens and it's really freaky but it also defies explanation. You think you understand what's going on, but it's never made completely clear what is real and what isn't the result of the character's paranoia and unraveling psyche. Something about the style of it also reminded me a bit of Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offil, which was another book I read this year that I really loved.

    More than being a haunted house novel, I think The Grip of It functions as a novel about control and the feeling of strain and pressure from unexpected hardship.

    It was a great read, definitely more of an introspective take on the concept I think but still really enjoyable.




  • The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville

    08/07/2024

    A few months ago I got this app called Fable that my friend/twin recommended to me and I have made the unfortunate mistake of adding it to my daily idle scroll apps. This was where I learned Keanu Reeves (of Keanu Reeves fame) and China Miéville (an author I wanted to read more of after reading one of his short stories in my Prose class last semester) had collaborated on a book together with a plot that sounded straight out of a late 90s-early 2000s action sci-fi movie that would develop a cult following in the decades to come.

    And let me tell you… The Book of Elsewhere did not disappoint.

    The book follows a character called Unute or sometimes B, an immortal who was literally born to fight. B’s goal is to become mortal- to die and stay dead. In order to achieve that goal, he has aligned himself with a military force in the U.S. But then strange things that shouldn’t happen begin, and it feels like something is finally coming to a head…

    I really liked this book! B was such an interesting character both because of his status as a mysterious legendary figure but also because he was still pretty human. He had thoughts and a personality and emotions that made him compelling to read. There was a streak of compassion and loneliness in everything he did, especially in the parts taking place in the past. At the end of the day he really is just a person.

    I learned while I was reading the book that Keanu Reeves’s comic book series BRZRKR is also about B and the other characters in this book, and I’m excited to eventually read those and some of China Miéville’s other books as well!




  • Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

    07/22/2024

    A few days ago I finally finished reading a book that I’ve been curious about for a long time: Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite!

    It was amazing, I thought I knew what to expect but it exceeded it in every way possible. It was visceral, raw, bloody, gross, and all around awesome and beautiful. I’m a big fan of horror and gore so I was excited to read this, especially with the heavy focus on the 90s gay scene. Between the environment and the characters- all of whom were well rounded and fleshed out -it was an all around thrill of a read.

    The book centers on two serial murders- Andrew Compton who has escaped life imprisonment by faking his own death, and Jay Byrne whose inclinations tend towards the sadistic and gruesome. The two are drawn almost fatefully together once they meet. Then along comes Tran… young, beautiful, and with nowhere to go. A practically perfect victim.

    I personally thought the book was really great and I think I’m going to look into more of the author’s works because the way he balanced humanity and the depraved was so well done that you could really feel immersed and emotionally invested in every character’s story. Wonderfully done but also definitely look into some of the triggers for this book before reading it because it has a bit of everything in there.

    While I was reading the book, I did some research about the author because while I had heard about this book and it was always referred to as written by Poppy Z. Brite (and it was) I'd heard different sets of pronouns used in discussion of the author. This was how I learned that he is a trans gay man who now writes under a different name (William Martin) Though this information isn't necessary to have to enjoy the book because even without it the book is well crafted and thoughtful all by itself, I thought it was good information to have especially since I want to look into more of his work in the future.




  • The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

    07/15/2024

    I’ve had The Man In the High Castle by Philip K Dick sitting on my bookshelf since the show came out (around 2016 I think?) and I ended up never watching the show or reading the book because it didn’t feel like the right time. Now, I finally rectified that!

    The Man In the High Castle is an alternate history scifi novel where the Nazis won WWII and took over the world. There are several plot threads that intertwine almost incidentally, and the book is full of politics and a look at society from different walks of life under the newer system. Throughout this, one of the things the majority of the characters have in common is interest in a book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy- an alternate history where the Nazis lost the war.

    The majority of the book was intriguing to me, but as I got to the last forty pages I felt I could no longer completely follow the track the story was taking and ended up both confused and uncertain about the fate that awaited the characters. That being said, I’m really glad I read it and I may even look at it again later to see if I can learn anything new from it that I missed before.




  • The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

    06/29/2024

    Last winter, my college’s English honors society hosted a little gathering that included a used book exchange. I gave away my copy of Felidae because it was a really great book but I couldn’t get anyone else to read it so I thought that would be a good way to coerce someone into it lol. I ended up taking The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. I finally got to it this week!

    What’s really cool about reading classics is that sometimes you can really feel the way it influenced future work in that genre or in literature as a whole. The story itself was also pretty interesting, part of me wishes it was longer and that other aspects were explored more in depth but I also know that it’s probably for the best that parts of it were still vague. The relationship of the Morlocks and the Eloi was also really interesting, especially given how the Time Traveler admitted that part of why he preferred the Eloi over the Morlocks was that they still looked human in comparison to the Morlocks. Given that the division in their evolution was social commentary, I wonder if that says something about how people would back then (and now) empathize more with people who looked like them over those that don’t, or about the preferential treatment of the rich over the working class.

    Anyway, it was good! I enjoyed it, I might read more classic science fiction in the future, who knows.




  • Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

    06/24/2024

    I think I found my favorite book of the year! Horror Movie was one of those books that feels like it was tailor made for me.

    As a big fan of horror movies, especially meta ones that are also about the creation of a movie in universe, this book really caught my interest immediately and I actually bought it on preorder, which isn’t something I do. The book more than exceeded my imagination, especially with the way it was structured jumping around from the past (1993 when the movie was originally being made) to 2023 (when the movie is getting considered for rebooting) interspersed with the scenes from the horror movie’s script. It was interesting to see how everything informed and built on each other!

    I don’t know what more I can really say about the book without spoiling too much, but I will say I loved the Thin Kid so much, one of my favorite protagonists I think. I’m also going to look for more of Paul Tremblay’s work in the future because between this book and last year when I read The Cabin at the End of the World, he might be becoming one of my favorite writers.




  • Wolfsong by TJ KLune

    06/20/2024

    I have been holding on to Wolfsong by TJ Klune for nearly a year now, waiting for what felt like the right time to read it. And let me tell you, with my most recent reads leaving me kind of in an emotionless void… gay werewolves was the palette cleanser I needed.

    But no actually I really enjoyed this book a lot. The balance of sweet, loving, even funny moments with the darker, traumatic, even gory parts was so well crafted that none of the emotional moments felt jarring or out of place. Everything felt natural for the story.

    I also really loved the characters (Gordo being my absolute favorite- the second book is from his perspective so I am very excited to read that one at some point). Ox was great because he was a good guy but he wasn’t perfect. Being so close to everyone in the story meant that he knew exactly how to hurt them when he wanted to, and there were several moments where he acted on his own hurt and did just that.




  • The Dead Zone by Stephen King

    06/03/2024

    It wasn’t my intention to read another Stephen King book so soon after finishing my other one, but I only brought two books with me on the road trip and I finished them both on the trip TO Dallas and brought nothing else for the way FROM Dallas. The Wal-Mart I was told to go buy a book had a limited selection (gasp!) so I ended up with a copy of The Dead Zone, which I’d been meaning to read sometime, it just wasn’t high on my priority list.

    It took me nearly the whole return trip to read the book (roughly 13 hours) but it was definitely a good choice because not only did the length of the book fill the hours easily, but it was also an engaging read. Johnny Smith cuts a devastating figure as someone who’s had a sort of greatness thrust upon him, a God given curse to be able to have visions or flashes of things to come just by touching someone or something that was fully awakened after spending four and a half years in a coma. In that span, the world and everyone he’s loved has changed, and John has to adapt as best he can. While he’s trying to gain his bearings and return to a normal life, there is darkness playing politics that if left unchecked could spell disaster…

    All in all, a pretty good book! Definitely more melancholy and tragic than straight horror in my opinion.




  • The Trial by Franz Kafka

    05/30/2024

    Another long day in the car, but we finally reached our destination and I finished the other book I brought for the trip. It was really great but also devastating in a way.

    Today I finished reading The Trial by Franz Kafka, it’s not the first of his works I’ve read but it IS thevfirst of his books I’ve read. I don’t know what I expected going into it but it definitely surpassed all of my expectations regardless. The entire story was colored with a sense of futility that was only amplified by the strangeness in the situation. During the story I often wondered with a sense of paranoia WHY so many people offered to help K., but as it continued I really wanted to help him, too, even though I knew I couldn’t.

    And that ending… wow. Honestly what more could I say?




  • Psycho by Robert Bloch

    05/29/2024

    Today is the first day of our family trip driving from Minnesota to Texas, and I sat in the back of the car and read a book.

    The book I chose for this part of the trip was Psycho by Robert Bloch, the one the Alfred Hitchcock movie is based on. I’ve seen the movie a couple times, so there were no surprises in the majority of the plot in that regard. I do feel that was unfortunate, because reading the book I think the twist would have hit so much harder that way, especially with the amount of foreshadowing I was able to pinpoint. I did really love getting so deep into Norman Bates’s head as well. It was a pretty immersive experience for me, and I loved getting such a close look at his psychological makeup.

    That being said, the book was definitely a product of its time in some places. I did enjoy reading it, but I don’t think it’s for everyone.




  • The Stand by Stephen King

    05/27/2024

    My plan was to try and get through The Stand throughout the summer since this is when I have the most time off. Obviously the amount of pages alone was daunting (a little over 1,100) but the way the story flowed made it easy to get through them.

    The story was about an incurable superflu that killed most of the Earth’s population, leaving only a scattered handful of humanity in its wake. But as the story progressed there was also a mystical element to it- a cosmic battle of good and evil where the surviving remnants played key parts in the fight. There was also some social commentary that still felt relevant even today. That being said, there were moments where you could really tell when this book was written.

    I did have a great love for all of the characters, or not love but interest and understanding in their parts of the story. It really did feel like they were all the protagonists of their own story. It would have been so much easier and so much shorter to pick one character and only follow them and their journey throughout the story, but I think if that had happened we would have a book that was all around a lesser experience.

    It’s definitely worth the read if you have the time for it!




  • Sula by Toni Morrison

    04/24/2024

    The last book we read in my Form and Technique in Prose class this semester was Sula by Toni Morrison. This was really exciting for me, because last semester was the first time I’d read a book by her (Beloved) and it was awesome getting the opportunity to read her work again so soon!

    Sula was an amazing read, I don’t know how she was able to make something so rich in such a small volume- the book is less than 200 pages but there was so much happening that it felt so much longer just from the emotional depth of the characters. Nel and Sula’s relationship is of course the heart of the story, but there are so many other relationships and mysteries in the book that were explored in a way that made it feel like reading about real people struggling in a real town.

    I’m really glad I not only got to read this, but that we had so many in depth conversations about it in my class. I’m sure if left to my own thoughts I wouldn’t have noticed half the things my classmates brought up. Not only do I think this book is brilliant and should be read, but I think it would be a great one if you wanted to do a book discussion with other people.




  • The Auctioneer by Joan Samson

    03/31/2024

    The story revolves around a tiny rural town in the 70s (when the book was written) that has recently gotten a new resident: Perly Dunsmore, the auctioneer. He arrived at a great time, because the local police are planning an auction to raise funds to get more deputies, and it would be really helpful to have someone who knows what they’re doing there :) what could go wrong?

    Slowly, things in the town begin to shift. There are new auctions every week, and something has to be given. There are strange, unexplained accidents happening all over the place. And new people keep coming into town from the big cities to buy up the things in the auction and consume the town for themselves.

    The book was really well done, super unsettling but in a tense, quiet way that I think is really hard to accomplish. It was a really hard one to put down, because as the story went on I could see the thread of where it was going and how things would escalate, but then I also had no idea how they could get out of it. I can honestly say it ended differently than I thought it would, but it still wasn’t a happy ending.

    Definitely worth the read!




  • Department of Speculation by Jenny Offil

    03/20/2024

    Department of Speculation was so good and unique in structure that I was about halfway through it when I decided I needed to recommend it to others. One of those books that will be good no matter what the ending is.

    And I was right to feel that way, though the ending left me a bit…

    Anguished?

    The entire situation sucked for the wife, but I understand her actions.

    I also learned a lot of fun facts! Or not fun… interesting. Like how the Manicheans believed the world was filled with imprisoned light that were the fragments of a God who destroyed himself because he no longer wished to exist, and their mission was to release it from the plants, animals, and people keeping it trapped. (Paraphrasing from page 23).

    Really great book! Definitely one I’ll look at again someday, I think.




  • The Devil's Advocate by Andrew Neiderman

    03/07/2024

    Before reading this book, I was only familiar with one other of Neiderman's books and it was such a delight for me that I had to check out some of his other works. That's when I found out he'd also written the book that the movie The Devil's Advocate (starring Keanu Reeves) was based on.

    I watched the movie before I read the book, so there was a lot of stuff that happened in it that didn’t happen in the movie and vice versa. The ending was the most different, but not in a bad way. It was really fitting for the book! I do wish I hadn’t watched the movie first, though, just to see if I could figure everything out on my own or if I would just be super shocked when the reveal happened.

    I’m definitely still interested in reading more of Neiderman’s books, but Pin is still my favorite of the two I’ve read so far.




  • Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

    02/28/2024

    I just finished reading Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin for a class I’m in (it was on my wishlist of things I wanted to read so that was such a great coincidence) and I know the year is still only in the beginning stages but this is my favorite book I read this year and is in my top 5 of all time now.

    The characters were all so real and vibrant and alive, which makes everything in it that happened all the more heartachingly tragic. David was such an amazing protagonist, it was so easy to feel both empathy and frustration over his position and his outright refusal to be vulnerable with another person and be happy, and how whenever he has to make a decision his instinct is to run.

    And Giovanni, Giovanni who is the heart and soul of the book, is also beautifully flawed and human. He just wants connection and love and companionship and then he falls for David who isn’t someone who can provide him with anything for long. And by the time we meet Giovanni in the novel, we already know he’s been doomed from the start.

    I could say so much more about it but this is one of those books where my thoughts and opinions are so hard to articulate into words. Like this is a work of pure art. A journey of self discovery, but at the end of the journey you discover that all you have left is yourself.

    This book is just completely fantastic in ways I’ve never read before. It’s introspective, romantic, and awful all at the same time. A book doesn’t get better than this.




  • Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

    01/24/2024

    This semester I am taking a class called “Form and Technique in Prose” and we have four books we’ll be reading during it.

    The first book for the class that I just finished reading (which I have read before but long enough ago that I forgot a lot lol) and the second book I read this year so far was Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

    Honestly, I’ve been meaning to read this one again for awhile so I’m glad school gave me the opportunity to do it. The style of the book is so interesting and pretty unique- with the first person narration in the first chapter that occasionally pops itself back in throughout different parts of the story, the constant jumping around Billy Pilgrim’s life, the way that small, seemingly unimportant details are constantly mentioned throughout until they gain meaning through the repetition, the ambiguous nature of the sci-fi elements mixed with the harsh and detailed reality of war… the book is a 10/10, definitely one that people should read at least once in their life I think.




  • The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey

    1/16/2024

    A few years ago I saw the movie The Girl with all The Gifts and I remembered really enjoying it. Then I found out it was based on a book, so I added the book to my reading list. It was one I wasn’t sure I would ever get to but then as fate would have it I found it at a thrift store for less than $2 so obviously I had to buy it.

    The book had such a unique and interesting take on the zombie concept, especially in the use of a real life fungus as the vector. I think there was also something to be taken from the story reading it now during a plague of our own as well, of course. It was also really cool getting to jump around into all the other character’s perspectives and see how they viewed themselves and the world around them. The book also didn’t shy away from tragedy or brutality, either.

    The movie was great and the book? Also great. I think I might have to watch the movie again before I recommend it but I give the book a full 10/10 do read this.