Tag: recommendations

2024 in reading

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Usually about this time, I start listing all the books I gave 5 stars to, sorted into categories like ‘fiction’ or ‘poetry’ and trying to split out books that were released that year or not. This year, inspired by Kat’s great musing on reading pre-2004 books, I’m going to be a bit less list focused, and just talk about my reading in general and my recommendations out of that.

I didn’t have any reading goals going into 2024. For the past few years I’ve stopped trying to read a certain number of books, which is nice. I ended up very busy at work and often too tired to read more than a few pages before sleeping, so it was less stressful to not care about racking up more books. My aim was just to keep my Netgalley ‘to read’ books manageable and try to get through a range of other books. I actually did read either 194 or 195 books in 2024 (depending on whether I finish Peter Straub’s Ghost Story today or not), which is a huge number but less than I’ve read in a year since 2018. Is that something I should be able to find out? That’s a separate rant about the datafication of hobbies.

I end up with such a long list of books I want to read that when I do finally get to read them and they’re good, it’s like an extra treat. This year, I read a bunch of books I’d been wanting to read for a while which lived up to my waiting, like Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom, Little Blue Encylopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante, Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas, and These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever. The latter two really hit the terrible part of me that wishes I could go back and read The Secret History for the first time again.

Looking back, I enjoyed a lot of new 2024 (and upcoming in 2025) fiction, but not to a level where I really loved it. However, there are a few notable exceptions to that: Katherine Packert Burke’s Still Life was a great exploration of writing trans autofiction; Model Home by Rivers Solomon was rich and haunting; and Santanu Bhattacharya’s Deviants (coming out in 2025) tells a three-generation story of being gay in a way that sold me on a structure (three concurrent narratives of generations) I usually don’t like. There was a lot of great poetry too, but for some reason I’m much worse at summarising what I like about poetry so I’m just going to say that Them! by Harry Josephine Giles in both printed and audiobook format was wonderful and transformative. I didn’t read many technology books this year, but Supremacy by Parmy Olson is my current recommendation for getting a sense of the race that led to generative AI products and where the money, power, and decisions came and continue to come from.

And finally, inspired by Kat’s discussion of reading older books, I really need to read more older books again (that aren’t just Dennis Cooper, who I seem to continue reading every year—this year I enjoyed The Sluts and its playful form). I did tackle The Godfather and loved it, reminding myself how fun it is to read a long book in physical form for a sense of achievement. Amongst others, I also read more Shirley Jackson, Poor Things, some haiku in translation, Samuel Delany’s Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, the first couple of volumes of Death Note, and Queer before going to see the film, so I think my pre-2005 reading has a few distinct strands. 

Storygraph’s stats just told me that I’ve not reread anything this year (if you discount the two different formats of Them!) so I think I also need to resolve to reread some books (The Haunting of Hill House, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Ada or Ardor, and Detransition, Baby are all on my reread radar currently). My physical to-read pile threatens to topple and crush my sleeping head, so I really should read more of those, too. I’ll return this time next year and we’ll see how I did (in the meantime, you’re welcome to find me on Goodreads or Storygraph to spy on what I read).

A person next to a huge tower of unread books
The author as apprehensive, next to the towering to-read pile on the last day of 2024.

My favourite non-2023 books of 2023

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I forgot to finish and post this in 2023, but seeing as the books didn’t come out then either, I think it’s fine. These are my favourite books I read in 2023 that didn’t come out in 2023, with a caveat that Greta & Valdin actually comes out in the UK in 2024, but was already published in New Zealand so I’m counting it as already out. The list is short and weirdly varied (two novels, two poetry books, and one horror manga), but I think it does give a good insight into what kind of books I like.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito – I’d been watching the Netflix adaptation of some of Junji Ito’s stories and finally read my first book, which very much lived up to expectations (and the whole obsessed with spirals premise wasn’t helped by the fact I keep feeling dizzy, made for an immersive experience).

full-metal indigiqueer by Joshua Whitehead – Having read Whitehead’s novel Jonny Appleseed, this poetry collection was very exciting to find in my local queer bookshop.

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly – A bit of a 2024 spoiler seeing as it is coming out in the UK this year, but I really loved this novel about chaotic queer siblings in New Zealand.

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrara – I’ve had a couple of a three-month book subscription where they picked specific books based on your taste, and my taste must be weird as a lot of them were just okay, but this novel really hit the nail on the head in terms of being a literary action thriller about immigration, feeling like the sort of film I would enjoy.

Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency by Chen Chen – I love Chen Chen’s poetry and this title really can’t help but draw you in (I love witty poetry, but I especially love witty, long titles).

My favourite books of 2023

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2023 had some ups and downs in reading, but the best part was probably that a number of my highly anticipated books turned out to be great, which has the side effect that this list isn’t particularly surprising. If I was doing some kind of “unwrapped” thing, I would have to note that the number of 2023 books I’ve bought t-shirts of is 2 (and both of those books are on this list). Note to publishers: I love inexplicable merch for queer literary fiction.

I’ve split into prose and poetry, though one of the prose is non-fiction and the rest are fiction. Links in titles to full reviews where I’ve written them.

Prose

Machine Readable Me by Zara Rahman – Reinvigorated my tech book reading by being compelling and interesting, and making me think a lot more about digital borders.

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt – The first (on this list) of my much anticipated books did not disappoint. I loved the body horror and the influence of the internet on the plot and the way it felt so much like edgy books teenage me liked.

How to Get Over the End of the World by Hal Schrieve – Having also read Schrieve’s Out of Salem for the first time this year, I was glad this one was great too, fully of messy queer teens and adults not living up to their role model status.

The Unfortunates by J.K. Chukwu – This novel really delves into the mental health of a Black queer college student whilst also be darkly comic and cutting.

Penance by Eliza Clark – What can I really say? Another highly anticipated book that knocked it out of the park, by being a meditation on teenagers, weird internet fandoms, Sims mods, true crime, and whose stories we are really telling. I just love literary fiction about being weird on the internet.

Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabel Waidner – And the third on my highly anticipated list, Waidner’s latest experimental novel is my favourite to date, blending class commentary, Joe Orton, queer relationships, and Bambi in their distinctive, surreal style.

Never Was by H. Gareth Gavin – Another book with a distinctive style, Never Was is a queer hallucination about storytelling with narratives within narratives and a mysterious unreal party.

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison – Sometimes my favourite books are because they are fun, and Such Sharp Teeth is one of those: a funny werewolf novel that does the ‘supernatural creatures in real world setting’ well and plays with the body horror elements of being a werwolf.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah – Tense and brutal, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a future of blood sports featuring incarcerated people and a book full of heart and a lot of perspectives.

Bellies by Nicola Dinan – Such a tender book about how a relationship between two people changes when one of them transitions, and how they both search to find themselves after university.

Open Throat by Henry Hoke – The queer mountain lion novel you never knew you needed (but you do).

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix – I wasn’t expecting Grady Hendrix to come out with my favourite of his novels to date, but How to Sell a Haunted House takes a high-concept sounding title and turns it into an emotional horror novel about grief (and weird puppets).

Wild Geese by Soula Emmanuel – Another novel about a changing relationship, as a trans woman’s ex-girlfriend appears on her doorstep and they have to face the past and the present. I loved how it was beautiful and wistful, but also full of references to things like Blåhaj).

Poetry

Ex-Cetera by HLR – I loved this punchy poetry collection that is hard-hitting, but also has references to things like Strongbow Dark Fruits.

Hard Drive by Paul Stephenson – My four word review from Goodreads says it all: “Deeply emotional; wonderful stylistically.”

Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You by Meena Kandasamy – Powerful and varied (and the title poem is so memorable).

Synthetic Jungle by Michael Chang – Witty, catchy, funny, referential: all the things I like poetry to be.

My favourite books of 2022: non-2022 publications

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As usual, I feel a need to give a shout out to my favourite books I read in 2022 that were not published this year. Apparently this is how I found the particularly good fiction this year (particular note for The Haunting of Hill House and Lost Souls for both living up to expectations) and a poetry anthology that I know I will be returning to over and over again.

See my favourite fiction and poetry books of 2022 for the more up-to-date offerings.

fiction

  • The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – My review of this at the time was simply “Oh right yeah it is THE haunted house novel, fair.” and I stand by that. The writing, the atmosphere, the house. Watch Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House on YouTube for more great haunted house stuff.
  • Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead – Someone living in the big city has to return to their roots is a classic formula, and in this book, young Two-Spirit Jonny Appleseed has to attend the funeral of his stepfather and bring together the elements of his life.
  • A Safe Girl To Love by Casey Plett – Any short stories that can make it onto one of my lists must be impressive as it’s a form I often have issues really enjoying, but Plett’s range of trans girl experiences is a fantastic collection.
  • We Are Made of Diamond Stuff by Isabel Waidner – I read this whilst trying to kill time sitting outside and in a cafe and it really transported me into a surreal world of British culture to explore national, queer, and migrant identity in a very weird way.
  • Lost Souls and Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite – It was finally the year, after wanting to since my teenage horror/vampire loving years, to read both Lost Souls and Exquisite Corpse and they were so far up my street. The former is The Lost Boys run through a Dennis Cooper novel (who I also read a lot of this year) and the latter the serial killers in love novel you didn’t know you needed. I’m actually glad it took this long to read them so I could fully appreciate them rather than just like the vibes as a teenager.
  • Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo – As I wrote when I finished it: “Loved this southern gothic street-racing in-love-with-your-best-friend suspicious-academia haunting horror novel.”

poetry

  • Ports by Calum Rodger – This pamphlet from SPAM Press reimagines poems through the lens of video games and I just really enjoyed the playfulness and form, plus what you could get about poetry, narratives, and games from doing that.
  • Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz – There is a lot of poetry about bodies, but this collection really stands out. I’d been meaning to read it for a long time and was very happy that I did.
  • We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics ed. by Andrea Abi-Karam and Kay Gabriel – A beautiful anthology that’s perfect if you’re a poet as it’s packed full of inspiration and great if not just because there’s a lot of great innovative and experimental trans poetry in there.

My favourite books of 2022: poetry

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As I mentioned yesterday, I read a lot of great poetry in 2022, so it was tricky to put together this list. A lot of my poetry reviews boil down to ‘vibes good’ and ‘imagery or lines that just hit me in the chest’ so this isn’t the most articulate list of why these collections are good, but just some of my favourites of 2022. Links to full reviews in the titles where I’ve written them.

  • Please Press by Kat Sinclair – A powerful pamphlet that I sadly cannot say anything else about because I am many miles from my copy currently and I did not write anything about it at the time. But go get it from Sad Press and see why it’s great.
  • Limbic by Peter Scalpello – I ended up with two copies of this, one from each of the book subscriptions I had in 2022 (Cipher Press and Lighthouse bookshop’s poetry subscription), which tells you it must be a good intersection of my taste. Sex, queerness, tracksuits, tiny moments – there’s plenty to enjoy.
  • All The Flowers Kneeling by Paul Tran – A collection exploring violence and storytelling that was so compulsive I accidentally stayed up late reading it, not something I tend to do with poetry.
  • A Little Resurrection by Selina Nwulu – Some of my favourite parts of this great collection was the use of imagery and the engagement with space, as poems look at race and place and bring in elements of climate and convenience.
  • Yo-yo Heart by Laura Doyle Péan – Powerful poems moving through a breakup to show the political nature of healing, filled with wit and sadness.
  • The Moral Judgement of Butterflies by K. Eltinaé – I loved the form of these poems, which explore trauma and immigrant experience and the idea of home. One of the books I got from my Lighthouse bookshop poetry subscription and wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
  • Time Is A Mother by Ocean Vuong – Beautiful and highly readable. I expected a lot from Vuong and wasn’t disappointed.
  • At Least This I Know by Andrés N. Ordorica – Going to steal a line from my own review to sum it up: “I knew I was going to like the collection from the first poem ‘November 16th, 2014’, which is a perfect opening for it: a moment at border control, encapsulating fear and desire for a place to belong, and a poem that almost makes you laugh and cry at once.”

My favourite books of 2022: fiction

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It’s been an interesting year for me for reading. As well as a lot of new and upcoming books, many of which did not make the cut for these lists, I read a lot of horror (including a month of it in October) and plenty of poetry. So much of the poetry was good that I’ve split up fiction and poetry into two different ‘best of 2022’ lists, so we’ll start with fiction. 

A lot of fiction I read this year was good, but not so good as to be one of my top books, so it is quite a brief list this year. Not only that, but two of them aren’t actually from 2022, only first published in the UK in 2022, which I’ve decided to count on a whim. Links in titles to full reviews where I’ve written them.

  • Nevada by Imogen Binnie – I’m counting the UK publication this year as making it released in 2022, though clearly it’s not from 2022. I actually read it right at the start of the year, before this rerelease, but still. Classic trans roadtrip novel.
  • Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li – This book was just very fun and I thought highly of it for that, plus it’s basically a genre of a film I enjoy. Chinese-American students do heists to steal artefacts and have various drama along the way. Ridiculous but great to read.
  • The Arena of the Unwell by Liam Konemann – A coming-of-age novel about male mental health and queerness in the grimy indie music underbelly that retains humour whilst looking at a toxic relationship and the realities of NHS cuts.
  • Shredded: A Sports and Fitness Body Horror Anthology ed. by Eric Raglin – Such a fresh way of viewing both body horror and the whole world of fitness, with a really diverse set of sports, characters, and takes on the brief. There was a lot around who can find places within sports and fitness (and what kinds of bodies), which felt like the perfect use of body horror.
  • Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton – Truly an epic. Another one where I’m counting the UK publication as making it a 2022 book, this is a complex tale of a trans woman obsessed with 60s band the Get Happiness and their mysterious leader B—. Fascinating look at music, creativity, self, and constructing stories and histories.

My favourite books of 2021

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I was all ready to be like ‘I read a lot of books I liked, but not so many I completely loved’ and then I started writing this list and it got pretty long, so I’m saying it was actually a decent year for books. Some of these are very, very good, and others are very good in a specific way that I loved.

Unlike my favourite non-2021 books of the year, this will be in order of when I read them, starting with the book I read as a proof last year but did actually come out at the start of this one…

Fiction

Starting with fiction because I read a lot of it. I also fully embraced getting back into horror, which was good.

  • Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters – Need I say anything? Listen to the hype. 
  • The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe – Is this a trashy YA action story about accidentally becoming part of a heist? Yes, and that’s why it’s on the list – it’s fun and it’s the sort of narrative I like in a film.
  • Assembly by Natasha Brown – A novel about race, class, and millennial success, as an unnamed narrator takes you through preparing for a party in her boyfriend’s parents’ garden. One of the only times I’ve really loved the ‘immediate thoughts of narrator going to London job etc’ style of narrative.
  • Gunk Baby by Jamie Marina Lau – Felt like an instant cult classic to me. A book about a shopping centre and capitalism, all in a haze of muzak.
  • Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon – Not the kind of book I’d usually go to, but this genre-defying tale of a separatist escapee developing powers just really punched you in the gut and questioned who the monsters really are.
  • Reprieve by James Han Mattson – A horror novel about a full contact haunted house escape room that turns into a character study and an exploration of social dynamics. Come for the premise, stay for what it’s exploring.
  • Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So – I’m not always the biggest short story person, but the way these connected and built up a sense of Cambodian American life in California was very impressive.
  • Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke – A novel told over Slack, as someone gets trapped in their workplace Slack workspace. I almost hate how much I enjoyed this as someone who works with technology, uses Slack at work, and loves silly premises.
  • Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt – This was my most ‘I’ve got to read this’ book of 2021 and it did not disappoint. Haunted house gothic but the house is fascism and the racist 80s singer poster is scary. Not for the faint-hearted, but probably my most breathtaking book of 2021. Trans horror forever.
  • Stay Another Day by Juno Dawson – What’s one of my end of year book list without one of Juno Dawson’s books? This Christmas romcom was fun but, as might be expected from her, didn’t shy away from some more serious stuff too.
  • Sterling Karat Gold by Isabel Waidner – It’s very hard to describe this one – a bizarre trip round gender, football, time travel, and a whole host of other things – but it’s very good.
  • Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles – This is a novel in verse so I’m sticking it here just because I’m not writing anything about the ones in the poetry section. A sci-fi novel written in Orkney dialect verse and probably the ultimate ‘so you want to read something different’ recommendation.

Poetry

I can’t think of any good ways to summarise poetry collections so I’m just putting the titles of my favourites.

Non-fiction

I thought this category would literally just be Crying in H Mart, but then I found an obvious second.

My favourite non-2021 books I read in 2021

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I always do a ‘best books I read this year that weren’t out this year’ list, to fully appreciate any books I was catching up on/not born for/etc, but this year it is crucial, because this year is the year I read Lote and the year I read Tommy Pico. So we have to start with my two new faves:

  • Lote by Shola von Reinhold – Not so much the book I didn’t know I needed as much as the book I knew I needed but did not have. A friend gave me this thinking I would like it, maybe not that it would quickly become one of my favourite books of all time. We follow Matilda through Transfixions, aesthetics, and questions of who gets to define history and taste in a book that does Gender Feelings and made me google people and just generally feel like I got so much from it. I read it twice in 2021 and that may have not been enough.
  • IRL, Nature Poem, and Feed by Tommy Pico – I read three of Tommy Pico’s poetry books this year, and the only reason I’ve not read the fourth is that I’m saving it on my ‘to read’ pile that some kind of hoarder. I love long poems, I love books that are a single poem, and I love how Tommy Pico writes. I was sold and then I read the lines “Stop fucking / posting about “veggies,” truly / America’s most disgustingly / perky word”. Also, this year I watched Reservation Dogs because Pico writes on it, so got even more great content.

Okay, fine, I did read some other great books from not-2021 this year too, so here’s a few others that I’ll go less feral for:

  • Homie by Danez Smith – I read a whole bunch of recent-ish poetry on catch up this year and this was another stand out book, about friendship and loss.
  • Small Beauty by jia qing wilson-yang – A short novel about where you come from, as a trans woman deals with grief and explores her aunt’s secret relationship, that was just really good.
  • Infect Your Friends And Loved Ones by Torrey Peters – If we’re talking short… this novella was one of those ‘I know I need to read it’ and then I read Peters’ Detransition, Baby (which will come on the proper year list) and then I finally read this and it was fantastically witty and dark.
  • The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen – The only graphic novel I read this year, and it gets onto my top books list… the art style is beautiful (I basically picked this up because I saw a picture of the cover) and the tale of using stories to communicate where you don’t have other words is very emotional.

I read some other great poetry this year, but actually a lot of the non-out-this-year books I read this year were a bit of a let down, maybe because with all the reviewing and actual day job I didn’t get time to read as much of a mix as I’d like, especially not older stuff. Still, I got some new obsessed-with favourites out of the year, which I’ll take as a win.

Anyway, my list of actual 2021 books will be coming soon (and then, if you’re lucky, some kind of ‘spite list’/things I didn’t like in books this year)…

Fave non-2020 books of 2020

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As ever, I’m balancing out my top books of 2020 with some books I read in 2020 but didn’t come out then. It was a random year for picking what to read and accidentally this lot is half non-fiction and half fiction (and only that if you stretch the definition of ‘fiction’ to include poetry). Not sure what that says – possibly that I’m catching up with recentish non-fiction after not tending to read much of it.

Shoutout to the Heady Mix book subscription I had as a gift for some of the year, as that introduced me to some amazing books I wouldn’t have read otherwise, and for library borrowing apps giving me the chance to borrow books without going out.

  • Pet by Akwaeke Emezi – Unforgettable YA about fighting all-too-real monsters when adults are in denial.
  • Flèche by Mary Jean Chan – Poetry about identity, history, and self.
  • Girl at War by Sara Nović – One from Heady Mix book subscription, that I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise. The horror of war, as a woman returns to Croatia after years in America, to face what happened to her and her family during the civil war.
  • Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch – A book about internet language that is particularly enjoyable if you grew up using different internet sites with different linguistic conventions and are interested in thinking about that.
  • Pachinko by Min Jin Lee – Another from Heady Mix, this was a breathtaking multi-generational look at Korean life in Japan and I was gripped in spite of the length and the fact I don’t normally enjoy multi-generational novels.
  • Superior by Angela Saini – Thorough and interesting debunking of race science.
  • Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher – Hard to know what to say about this classic on the inconstancies and glitches in capitalism.
  • Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch – A powerful look at race and identity in modern Britain.

My favourite books of 2020

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I guess here’s where I’m meant to write that it’s been a strange year and all. Anyway, passing over that, here’s my usual list of my favourite books that came out this year. I’ve been quite picky with what I’ve included (and split into fiction, poetry and drama, and non-fiction) as I’ve read a lot of ‘good’ books this year, but I really wanted to highlight the best ones.

Books not published in 2020 are going to come separately, so my top books I’ve read this year are basically split into ‘stuff I’ve reviewed’ (this post) and ‘other things’ (the non-2020 publication lot). Links are to full reviews if you’re interested.

Fiction

  • The Magnificent Sons by Justin Myers – Biting look at what happens when two brothers with a big age gap both come out.
  • Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed – YA mystery through the streets of Paris as teenage Khayyam tries to solve an art history puzzle (with bonus Byron as my real selling point).
  • Homes and Experiences by Liam Williams – Email epistolary novel satirising gentrification and millennial culture and guilt, with a bittersweet narrative.
  • Wonderland by Juno Dawson – The final of her three books in a loose trilogy (following Clean and Meat Market), this one is Alice in Wonderland retold as a fall into an elite world of ‘old money’ teenage parties. Dark, thrilling, and hard hitting, it’s my favourite of the three.
  • Loveless by Alice Oseman – Working out asexuality whilst adjusting to weird university life and realising there’s not ‘one’ experience for everyone – just the sort of book I’m glad teenagers now have.
  • The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeki Emezi – An entrancing novel about whether parents really know their child.
  • Boy Parts by Eliza Clark – Perhaps very predictable of me to love this, an artsy Northern female take on the aesthetic antihero, but it was thrilling, very dark, and brilliant.

Poetry and Drama

  • Tongues of Fire by Sean Hewitt – Lyric poems combining nature and modern, like moving from a walk to a Berlin club and back again, and beautifully describing tiny moments.
  • My Darling from the Lions by Rachel Long – Short, storytelling poetry with vivid images and messages.
  • Underground, Monroe, & The Mamalogues by Lisa B. Thompson – Three very different plays looking at the black middle class and elements of race, gender, and respectability.
  • Poor by Caleb Femi – Witty and cutting poetry and photography about growing up on a Peckham estate and the reality of geography and gentrification with class and race.
  • The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill – A novel in verse about a girl growing up in India, discovering herself, and interacting with gods and goddesses, whilst considering the power of storytelling.

Non Fiction

  • The Reality Game by Samuel Woolley – Good primer on online disinformation and technology.
  • Data Feminism by Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein – How to think about data science from an intersectional perspective.
  • So Hormonal from Monstrous Regiment – Collection of essays about how hormones impact people’s lives, full of a vast range of eye-opening experiences.
  • White Tears/Brown Scars by Ruby Hamad – A look at how white feminism affects women of colour and how important intersectionality is (technically this first came out in 2019, but I read an edition out in 2020 so I’m saying it counts here).