Reading in 2024

This year there were two things playing on my mind that shaped what I read. First, that my shelf of unread books was getting unreasonably large. Second, a brief stint using StoryGraph made it painfully obvious that I read almost exclusively male authors.

I ended up reading a lot more in 2025 than any previous year, maybe in my whole life. Not only did I read in quantity but I felt like I kept reading absolute bangers. Therefore I've got quite a bit more to say in this year's write-up and a good few more thumbs-ups.

👍 David Graeber

Somehow I've been a big fan of Graeber for years without ever actually reading his work. I liked both of these books a lot, especially Bullshit Jobs which I continue to think about in the context of my own work life... The Dawn of Everything is staring at me from my shelf so I'd better get it read soon as well.

👍 Alasdair Gray — Lanark

This is a bloody good book. I love this kind of novel; something that is hard to talk about or categorise because its so much just itself. I want to read more Gray and more Scottish fiction in general. Poor Things is on my list for next year.

Poetry

I decided to make an active effort to be less of a philistine when it comes to poetry. It's not something I've generally enjoyed but knew that I was being a bit silly by writing the entire art form off as not for me. I cracked it this year. The secret? I realised that, for me at least, poetry must be read aloud to be enjoyed.

I really wanted to like Deep Wheel Orcadia. The concept drew me in: science fiction as poetic verse in the Orcadian dialect. I have to admit thought that I found it a slog with only a smattering of bright spots where I felt something in the words.

Anxiety Music, however, was a delight. I laughed out loud, sometimes just at the recognition in Kevin's writing of another human being and our shared plight. Some poems and passages demanded to be shared with friends.

🙁 Interzone 295 (Edited by Gareth Jelley)

Another fantastic issue, but sadly the last one I ended up reading. Although I received several more as EPUB files as a part of my subscription I've found that I simply have no interest in reading this sort of thing on an e-reader.

To be honest, I'm no great fan of reading off of a screen in general. But a magazine in particular does not translate well. Much of the craft is in layout and colour which does not translate to my e-reader's monochromatic screen. The physical issues I had were works of art and the EPUBs cannot compare.

interzone.press/iz-295/

😬 Dan Simmons — Ilium/Olympos

The things that Dan chooses to write make me uncomfortable. I won't be reading any more of his work. As far as big space operas go his writing is excellent and I devoured them. But Jesus Christ, mate. Are you trying to confess to something?

👎 Peter F. Hamilton — The Dreaming Void

I did have three more books in this universe on my shelf, but after reading this one I gave them away. It's not that this novel was actively bad, but I felt I was wasting my time by reading it. It was like I'd read this exact space opera before, just with the names and plot specifics changed. As a novel it had nothing to say. I've read a lot of Peter's work over the years but this kind of writing just has nothing to offer me any more.

👍 Rekka Bellum & Devine Lu Linvega — Busy Doing Nothing

A surprising page turner; a tided up log book of a couple's non-stop journey from Japan to Canada in their sail boat, Pino. It brilliantly conveyed the joys and terror of their passage across the Pacific. Before reading this, following these two had already lead me to learning to sail. I love them and their life is a great inspiration.

100r.co/site/busy_doing_nothing.html

👍 Emma — The Mental Load

Required reading for all men. The descriptions of gender dynamics in relationships is the best that I've seen. The advice is fantastically articulated and directly applicable (and applied) in my own relationships.

sevenstories.com/books/4116-the-mental-load

Doctor Who Target novelisations

I finished all but one of my remaining classic Doctor Who novels this year. This is one of the reasons I don't expect my book count to be as high in 2025!

Bonus: aimed young but nevertheless interesting and charming.

Continuing Discworld read through

Bonus: this collection of short stories was fantastic and I'll likely reread.

Fiction

Non-fiction

Reading more women

It was a goal of mine in 2024 to read less men. It's been a genuine failing in my reading habits and something that is important to me that I correct for. I was largely reading off of my existing unread shelf this year, but nevertheless made progress.

I'm setting the bar low with a generous metric. Here are the number of books I recorded reading that were written by or featured the writing of someone that didn't identify as male.

2023: 5 out of 33, 15%

2024: 15 out of 49, 30%

A doubling looks good but in 2025 I intend to consider anything under 50% as a disappointing failure.

Publié Dim. 9 fév. 2025