What I read in 2024
Of the 27 books I kept track of this year, I finished 24. These shake out into three broad categories: nonfiction history, sci-fi and fantasy, and tech books. I apparently didn't read a single literary fiction this year, which is not surprising from the point of view of how much reading novels bores me these days, but is surprising given that novels were the bulk of my reading 20 years ago. I keep track of my reading in Org Roam. Some of them have more in depth notes, but the majority of them are simple author, title, quick summary of subject, who or what turned me on to them, and a simple n/5 rating.
My favorite books (5/5, would read again) were Endurance, The Man from the Train, Annihilation, Neuromancer, and three by Christopher Buelhman: Between Two Fires, The Blacktongue Thief, The Daughters War.
Endurance combines pristine writing with a nearly unbelievable story--we only find it believable because it happened--and I both regret I hadn't read it earlier and am very pleased to have been able to experience it for the first time. There is a reason Shackleton gets idolized by management gurus; it is a shame that Lansing only wrote this one book. Props to JO for the rec.
The Man from the Train is a curious book. I saw it on a table at a book sale at Meanwhile Brewery, and, rather than buying another book, I put in a library hold request. When I had a copy and started reading, I burned through it. The authors have dry manner of conveying the horror inflicted by (they believe) the man from the train, who killed perhaps 100 people in the early part of the 20th century.
Annihilation, Neuromancer: both of these are classics, and rightly so. I torched through each of them in less than 72 hours. I'll read others from their authors. I was surprised by the visual richness of both. Props to AW for the recs.
The Buelhman books: I got turned on to Between Two Fires by a thread on books on a chat server. I definitely gel with the vulgar musicality of Buelhman's prose: I devoured Between Two Fires and got the Blacktongue Thief soon after, and had a preemptive hold on The Daughters' War before it even came out. The monstrosities in Between Two Fires and the magic in the Blacktongue books both kindle imagination, and have informed how I think about setting the tone in games I run.
Some of the other highlights (almost great) were Command and Control--avoid unless you have a morbid fascination with nuclear war--and When Breath Becomes Air. David Grann never produces bad books, and The White Darkness and The Wager are both very solid books, but they are not his finest.
Lowlights: Last Argument of Kings--really an exercise in abusing readers, strikes me as pure authorial meanness. The Light Eaters--fascinating research mixed with too much authorial navel gazing. Out of My Head--I'm not sure what the goal of this one was, and I have an abiding fascination with philosophy of mind. Oh well!
The three books I abandoned (Conspiracy Theory in America, The Lies of Locke Lamora, Mystery Cults of the Ancient World) I quit, because, in order: I don't really care about the history of conspiracy theory, I found the worldbuilding overwrought, and I just ran out of time, even though the subject matter is fascinating. There's always next year.