Books Read 2024

[YellowKing]

Pyramids - Terry Pratchett

This is the seventh Discworld book I've read and I still can't say I'm anywhere near a fan of the series. However, I started to see inklings of humor in this book that appealed to me in a way the humor of the previous books didn't.

I just started Book 8 (Guards! Guards!) and so far that one is hitting the sweet spot. So maybe I've finally turned a corner with these and I'm warming up to them. We'll see.

[Scuzz]

I started Pratchett with Guards Guards. I haven’t found any of his other works to be as balanced in story, characters and humor.

[Scuzz]

Golden Fool by Robin Hobb

This is the second book in the Tawny Man Trilogy and the eighth book in the Realm of the Elderings Series. This book continues the story of FitzChivaly Farseer, royal bastard of Buckkeep. I think if someone who didn't know the characters picked this up and read it they would call it very slow with very little going on, but as someone who loves the main character I actually found it a quick read. Hoob's loves to have Fitz analyze everything in his mind as he tries to figure out who is doing what to whom. But the plot does advance, we do get to new places and friendships and relationships change.

[ImLawBoy]

I re-read an old classic for the first time in decades - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I grabbed it on a family trip to the library to try to cajole my kids into reading it, but decided I'd give it a go first. I was a bit shocked by just how little I remember of it. Sure, I knew most of the major notes, but it was worth re-reading to get back so many lost memories. I'll have to get books 2 and 3 on our next trip (I already own 4 and 5).

[Hipolito]

Here in the Dark by Alexis Soloski (audiobook): The protagonist is Vivian, a New York theater critic who is alcoholic, misanthropic, nihilistic, all the icks. She's haunted by the early death of her mother and a psychotic break she suffered in college which ended her acting career. She only feels alive during the few hours while she's watching a play, even if it's a bad one that she's about to eviscerate in the press. At all other times, she seeks solace by isolating herself in her unkempt apartment, hanging out with her partying pal Justine, drinking, abusing prescription drugs, and sleeping with men she barely knows. She is prone to fainting and dissociating, and has to tell herself "these are your hands, these are your fingers," to snap out of it. Her shabby living and coping skills are stressed even further when she gets entwined in a missing persons case.

Although the audiobook narrator does a good job, and I like the funny scene when Vivian spends Christmas with her editor's mixed-faith family, this book is generally not enjoyable. What could be an intriguing story is weighed down by Vivian's ceaseless cynicism and world-weariness. She even describes a wall as "painted a suicidal taupe." The finale is rather cool and introspective, though, making the book somewhat worth the read.

I wonder whether my negativity toward this book is due to latent sexism on my part. The story is essentially detective noir, with a protagonist struggling to solve a mystery while drowning in their own misery and vices. The only difference is that the "detective" is now female. 4 out of 8 Chunky bars.

[YellowKing]

Finished High Mage by Terry Mancour, which is Book 5 of the Spellmonger series.

This, to me, is one of the most underrated fantasy series out there. You hardly ever see it on any best of fantasy lists, and I don't really understand why.

The biggest criticisms I've seen of it point to the main character, Minalan, being a womanizing prick, and- yes, that's true in the early books. He's a flawed hero, but that's what makes him so interesting. And he does grow and mature over the course of the books, so those early criticisms just don't hold a lot of water as the series progresses.

It's got an absolutely wonderful and complex magic system, and the world building is top-notch. And while it's not comedic fantasy, the story is told from Minalan's perspective which is often wry, sarcastic, and very witty.

I highly recommend the audiobooks, as John Lee does an absolutely masterful job of bringing Minalan's cynical persona to life.

[Jaymann]

I'm working on another fantasy series atm, but color me intrigued.

[Isgrimnur]

The Sword of Shannara

[Hipolito]

Finished High Mage by Terry Mancour, which is Book 5 of the Spellmonger series.

I'm intrigued, too. Thanks for sharing. I've added book 1 to my wishlist.

17 books, tho. That's a commit! And unfortunately the audiobooks aren't on libro.fm.

[YellowKing]

17 books, tho. That's a commit! And unfortunately the audiobooks aren't on libro.fm.

Yeah, it's a massive series. I just started Book 6, but the buddy of mine that got me into these has read all 17 (so far) and raves about them constantly. Apparently Mancour's writing gets better and better as the series progresses.

One thing that I find really unusual about it (and one reason it's such a sprawling series), is that the author has no qualms about devoting an entire book to one tiny bit of world building. As an example, there is one book that is just about a single castle being built. But down the road, when that castle becomes important, you have an entire novel's worth of history about it. He does this over and over, slowly layering detail that may seem irrelevant while you're reading it but that will pay dividends at some point down the road. If you have the patience to immerse yourself into that sort of "slow burn," it's really rewarding.

[Zarathud]

I am on book 14 of Spellmonger. Definitely underrated gem, full of great lines. When Giant hawks arrive at a castle, and the lord looks at his walls suddenly realizing they’re no longer tall enough. There are usually 2-6 or more lines like that in each book with similar observations which just take the piss out of fantasy tropes and make the read worthwhile.

The books take a long approach, building up stuff that he comes back to later. Sometimes with different characters. Or characters whose motivations have changed, which makes things more interesting.

[ImLawBoy]

Finished Changes by Jim Butcher. Speaking of long series, this is book 12 of the Dresden Files, following Chicago based wizard PI Harry Dresden as he fights for good and maybe trying to get some every once in a while. As the book title suggests, this book seems to represent a bit of a turning point for Harry. Not only does he learn he has a daughter, but he learns that she's been kidnapped by higher ups in the Red Court of vampires. He'll do anything to save her, and that causes him to make some bargains that he'd rather not. As with most of the books, this one rips along nicely as it loads impossible scenario upon impossible scenario for Harry to try to wriggle out of. This was the 6th book in a set of 6 I got bundled, so I'm out of Dresden Files to read for now, but I'll probably get back into them at some point.

[Hipolito]

Mort (Discworld #4) by Terry Pratchett (ebook): A callow and lackadaisical young man named Mort can't seem to find work. But what if Death himself were to arrive at the job fair?

I like this much more than book #3, and find this to be the best Discworld book so far. But it's not as good as I need it to be. The characters are neat but feel emotionally underdeveloped, and their relationships need more work. The story only really gets interesting when Princess Keli enters the picture, and she's a minor character. Though it's not a long book, it feels too long, and the ending doesn't feel earned. It may have a wicked scythe, but it still lacks that hook.

I'm a bit torn on whether to keep reading the books in publication order, or skip to book #8 (Guards! Guards!), which the fans seem to agree is the best starting book and maybe even the best book in the whole series. I like to watch the world unfold from book to book, though, so I'll probably proceed to book #5. 5 out of 8 hourglasses.

[YellowKing]

But it's not as good as I need it to be.

That might be the best summary of my Discworld experience I've ever read.

I will say I enjoyed a lot of aspects of Book 5. Didn't care for Book 6 at all and can't even remember what it was about. Book 7 is worthwhile for the offbeat Egyptian theme. I'm on Book 8 now.

[Hipolito]

But it's not as good as I need it to be.

That might be the best summary of my Discworld experience I've ever read.

I will say I enjoyed a lot of aspects of Book 5. Didn't care for Book 6 at all and can't even remember what it was about. Book 7 is worthwhile for the offbeat Egyptian theme. I'm on Book 8 now.

I'm 10% into book 5 and enjoying it quite a bit

[MCQueen2]

Book 5 has some solid moments, especially with the Egyptian theme. Hopefully, it keeps up the pace for you!

[El Guapo]

The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China by Jonathan Kaufman

Picked this up off of a Kindle sale. It's a history of two Jewish families from Baghdad (the Sassoons and the Kadoories) who both wound up relocating to Shanghai and building fortunes there in the late 19th / early 20th centuries, before World War II came along and messed things up a bit. Really interesting stuff that I knew very little about, and very well written. Would definitely recommend.

[Scuzz]

Timescape by Gregory Benford

In Timescape we follow the experiments of two groups of physicists, one group in 1998 and another in 1963. In 1998 the earth is facing an uncontrolled ecological disaster, the cause of which is known, but science doesn't have the time to un do what has been done. A group at Cambridge University develops a theory about contacting the past, using new tachyon discoveries, and then teaching the past how to save the future.

The book talks physics, the scientific culture, American culture and the possibility of paradoxes. Benford was himself a physicist and wrote this book in 1980. It did win the Nebula Award that year.

The book talks heavy science but you don't need to understand all of it to follow the plot, and Benford takes the time to humanize, and demonize his characters. It also features a satisfying ending. Well worth the read.

[YellowKing]

Horror Show - Greg Kihn - Yes, this was written by *that* Greg Kihn, of the Greg Kihn Band. This was a pretty fun if uneven novel about an aging horror director (very Roger Corman-esque) recounting the making of his most infamous film. It's full of campy supernatural events, an Elvira clone, and other fun throwbacks that horror fans would certainly recognize.

The Murder on the Links - Agatha Christie - Was finishing up a couple of Poirot books I got cheap. I confess I'm not smart enough to grasp these mysteries - by the end I'm just as confused as I was at the beginning.

Journeymage - Terry Mancour - I really enjoyed this sixth entry in the Spellmonger series. As usual, this was a small slice of life in the Spellmonger's adventures (an escort mission), but you know certain things that happened will pay big dividends later on. There were also some LOL moments in this one that I loved. Again, it's not comedic fantasy, but Minalan is such a haughty (but likeable) prick that some of his actions when dealing with nobility or enemy leaders is hysterical.

I also officially blew past my 2024 goal of 60 books. I was a bit skeptical going in that I'd be able to hit it, but audiobooks certainly helped. One of my resolutions for 2025 is to take a break from "challenges" such as this, so I won't be setting a goal for next year, just enjoying stuff as it comes along.

[hitbyambulance]

Thomas de Quincey - Confessions of an English Opium-Eater : de Quincey's memoir from 1820 detailing his descent into opium addiction. he is very even-handed about the 'pleasures' of opium, but doesn't hold back on the overwhelming 'pains'. de Quincey is recognized as one of the great stylists of the English language and this is very well written and compelling, but the long sentences and other prose period-isms will certainly deter the casual English reader. i read the original 'short' version (found as a Dover Thrift Edition in a LFL) rather than the later revisited and revised 'long edition'. as it turns out, the original was a far superior work in the eyes of most critics - by that time, he was so affected by his addiction that he no longer had the penetrating and vivid writing style he once had, and it was apparently a bloated mess, and couldn't keep his narratives and thoughts organized. but this one was so good, i am going to check out more of his writings, including the 'sequel' to this one, Suspiria de Profundis, which goes into detail about his opium dreams. (in this one he makes some reference to them, including one to the fever visions experienced by Giovanni Battista Piranisi, whose "Carceri d'invenzione" prints lately influenced Susanna Clarke's Piranisi)

https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/thoma ... pium-eater
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/thoma ... -profundis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carceri_d%27invenzione

[hitbyambulance]

not yet read: not only is the new Haruki Murakami novel out, there is going to be a new English translation of _Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World_ (rearranged to its original title of _The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland) released next month (with previously edited content restored)

[Scuzz]

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Imagine a world where genetic research has been outlawed because a rogue virus released to control an insect that is endangering Asia's rice crops instead leads to the rice itself mutating into a useless plant. Famine grips the world and millions die. Logan Ramsey works for the government agency which hunts down researchers who continue their work in secret, and in a raid he ends up being exposed to a dangerous new genetic "upgrade".

Crouch's books make me think of Michael Crichton's works. He takes a scientific theory or concept and allows it to stretch out in a direction nobody would want it to go. The basic plot is good, we get good characters and who am I to say if the science makes sense. The book becomes a wild ride and is a quick page turner.

I think if you like Crichton then Crouch is for you.

[disarm]

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Crouch's books make me think of Michael Crichton's works. He takes a scientific theory or concept and allows it to stretch out in a direction nobody would want it to go. The basic plot is good, we get good characters and who am I to say if the science makes sense. The book becomes a wild ride and is a quick page turner.

I think if you like Crichton then Crouch is for you.

Upgrade is a fun read...neat concept executed well.

I've read quite a few of Crouch's books and enjoyed them all. Recursion is probably my favorite, but I don't want to say much about it for fear of ruining the very cool plot.

[Scuzz]

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Crouch's books make me think of Michael Crichton's works. He takes a scientific theory or concept and allows it to stretch out in a direction nobody would want it to go. The basic plot is good, we get good characters and who am I to say if the science makes sense. The book becomes a wild ride and is a quick page turner.

I think if you like Crichton then Crouch is for you.

Upgrade[/] is a fun read...neat concept executed well.

I've read quite a few of Crouch's books and enjoyed them all. Recursion is probably my favorite, but I don't want to say much about it for fear of ruining the very cool plot.

I own that book and figure to read it in the near future.

[Hipolito]

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White (audiobook): The world is two years into an apocalypse caused by a Christian cult. They had engineered a virus called the Flood and released it into Times Square. Most people exposed to it die within days as the virus horribly mutates and mangles their bodies. A few don’t die and become giant, man-eating chimeras called Graces.

The main character is a teenage transboy named Benji. Raised in the cult, he is now on the run from them, not just because of their transphobia but also because they want to mutate him into the Seraph, an advanced type of Grace they could use as a superweapon to kill the rest of the world’s non-believers and bring about the End Times.

This book has excellent representation of transgender and autistic people. One of the characters uses neopronouns (xe/xem/xyr), which is initially confusing but I soon grew accustomed to it. The story shows the healing power of using someone's preferred pronouns, and that people who refuse to do so are not only bigots but outright liars. The book also points out that transphobes are treating trans people the way lepers used to be treated, which is contrary to the teachings of Jesus who embraced lepers. This is broadly a commentary on how we “other” people who don’t fit into our worldview. We see them as monsters in order to not to see ourselves as monsters for how we treat them. LGBT folks are victims of othering but are not immune from participating in it, and the book explores the divisions, resentments, and prejudices within the LGBT community.

Drenched in gore and vomit, this is an extremely violent novel. I think it could be adapted into a good Fallout-style game, or even a Fallout DLC. As it’s in the young adult genre, the writing style can be bland and boring at times. I also got tired of the frequent Biblical quotations and exhortations, which represent the “brain rot” that Benji has from years of religious trauma. But the thrilling final chapters make up for these annoyances. 6 out of 8 bead lizards.

[Jaymann]

The Infinite Miles by Hannah Fergesen



Imagine traveling into the past where your favorite sci-fi TV show does not yet exist and you know all the episodes by heart. And the show stars an alt David Bowie as an intrepid time and space traveler (as well as a rock star), and his trusty sentient ship that frequently morphs into a muscle car. And this is only the beginning.

This is a first novel by Fergesen (not self published), but she was a literary agent, so she knows the drill. Heavy on the trials and tribulations of the female protagonist and delivers a satisfying if predictable conclusion. 6/8 time travel paradoxes.

[YellowKing]

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jiminez



I picked this standalone fantasy novel up after seeing it on several BookTuber recommended lists. At a very high level, it's about two men escorting a dying God while being pursued by an evil Emperor's sons.

However, it gets much, much deeper. The world is a creative marvel that rarely explains itself - talking, sentient tortoises, Gods in physical form, etc. What's even more interesting is that the entire story is told through the lens of a stage production, and the narrative is frequently interrupted by the souls of the no longer living.

I confess, I had really mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, I can absolutely understand the critical acclaim. The storytelling method is unlike anything I've ever read, and it's absolutely beautiful prose. I 100% respect it for that. On the other hand, and this is a matter of personal taste, I'm so used to epic fantasy that this sometimes felt a bit too slow and artsy for my taste.

I still can't quite figure out where I land with it, but it hasn't left my mind since I finished it so I suppose that's a point in its favor.

[Isgrimnur]

Prequel of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.

[El Guapo]

Death's End by Cixin Liu (audiobook)

This is the last book in the Three Body Problem trilogy (though there's another prequel book and I think one semi-official fan novel out there). Without any major spoilers, naturally this resolves the confrontation between humanity and the Tri-Solaran aliens, and then moves onto fairly broad issues of interstellar relations under a plausible but advanced theoretical physics model, as various species approach hyper-advanced technology levels. I enjoyed this book and the trilogy a lot, although the first remains my favorite in the trilogy by a fair amount. I think you definitely have to enjoy futurist type thinking to enjoy these books, though one thing I like is that (unlike other sci-fi I have seen) it really grapples with the implications of the vast distances between stars in light of known and plausible physics models and how that would impact how intelligent species would come into contact and interact with each other.

One other thing that really stood out in this book, though, is that the author really has some...thoughts about women and gender. The novel skips forward in time by centuries (humanity has fairly advanced cryogenics allowing people to freeze and unfreeze themselves to move forward in time) and a few centuries after the "common era" there's a fair amount of discussion in the novel on how men have become "unmasculanized" and feminine at that point. And then

Spoiler:

one of the main female characters makes two fairly catastrophic decisions that are very explicitly tied to her being a woman who is almost inherently incapable of making the same hard-nosed realistic decisions that a man can make. Indeed, before one of them a group of men come to her and urge her to make a different decision, which she foolishly disregards. I don't know that this really matters exactly but I mean...wow.

Pretty mild and general discussion in the spoiler portion there, but figured I would put it in spoiler tags to be on the cautious side for anyone who cares about that sort of thing.

[Isgrimnur]

Zones of Conflict: An Atlas of Future Wars (1986)

[Isgrimnur]

Spoiler:

https://bsky.app/profile/marthawells.co ... xtvkkjb22c

[ImLawBoy]

Finished The Trees by Percival Everett. In the small, poor town of Money, Mississippi, a strange murder has occurred. A white man is found dead in his home, strangled with barbed wire, and missing his testicles. Also dead in the room is a smaller Black man who has the former's testicles in his hand. Confusing things is that the dead Black man appears to have been dead for quite some time. The body of the Black man disappears from the morgue, only to turn up at another murder scene, again holding the testicles of a white man who was strangled with barbed wire. Oh, yeah. And the Black man bears a striking resemblance to Emmett Till.

Two Black detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and one Black special agent from the FBI are working the case, as similar incidents pop up throughout the country. They end up talking to Mama Z, a 100+ year old Black woman who has kept records of every lynching in the US since she witnessed her father's lynching as a child. The first two thirds of the book are relatively straightforward crime and mystery investigation, but it certainly takes a wild turn toward the end - a fascinating turn. Everett's accessible writing style makes this easy to read in a sense, but the subject and what it says about racism in America makes it much more difficult. The book was excellent and I recommend it.

[coopasonic]

Sabaa Tahir's Ember in the Ashes Series. I got the first book from Prime's First Reads at some point and picked it semi-randomly when I needed something to read. The first book was interesting enough to get me to buy the rest and I finished it a few days back. It is YA Fantasy/Romance. I didn't find the romance particularly interesting, but the fantasy and the overall story was good.

[Scuzz]

Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb

This is book 3 of The Tawny Man trilogy, and book 13 in the 16 book Elderlings series. I found this book a little wordy, as all Hobb's books are but I also think I found it to be my favorite, especially the ending. This book could easily have ended the series, but Hobb wasn't finished with Fitz and the Fool yet. There are seemingly many story lines completed in this book and not to spoil anything, but this is one of the few books with a "happy" ending.

I have already read the gooks that follow this one, so I know where the story goes. Somehow I missed this series many years ago when I read the other three. And yes, I did skip a series because I really had no desire to go there. The Liveship Series was not my cup of tea and so I didn't want to read the follow up series, especially 4 books.

Having now read 4 of the 5 series I would recommend the 3 series that follow Fitz. You will miss a few things but not enough to make a difference.

[ImLawBoy]

Finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by some guy named Mark Twain. Or is it Samuel Clemens? Anyway, this is one of those American classics I never read, even though I knew the general story. I think it largely fell out of favor due to use of the n-word shortly before I started high school, so I never had to read it for school. I'm planning on reading James by Percival Everett in the new year, which is a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the viewpoint of runaway slave Jim, and I figured I'd get more out of it if I read the source material first.

So, about that use of the n-word. It's used a lot. I mean, a lot. It's terribly off putting to a modern reader (at least, to this modern reader), and not just because of its frequency. I just finished The Trees by Everett, and it uses the n-word quite a bit (although not as much as Huck Finn), but it was usually in the context of racists being overtly racist. In Huck Finn, it's used by everyone, including those who are sympathetic to Jim and other enslaved people - like Huck. I know that Twain was an abolitionist and Huck Finn was considered a bit subversive at the time, but that still doesn't make it easy to read 4-5 times a page.

The story, of course, is about Huck Finn faking his death and fleeing his abusive father by floating on a raft down the river. Not long after he starts off, he runs across Jim, who he knows from back home and is fleeing his slavery. They head down the river together and hi-jinx ensue. It gets especially wacky toward the end when they travel with purported royalty and then end up meeting with an old friend. There are certainly some dark moments, too, that condemn elements of humanity even among the "civilized".

In the end, I can only recommend it as an important historical piece that sheds light on a point in time. I can't really recommend it for entertainment value at this point, as there's just too much to overlook (and not just the n-word, but the way most of the Black characters were portrayed was pretty racist).

[YellowKing]

The Druid of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Continuing my journey through the Shannara series, this was the second book in The Heritage of Shannara quadrilogy which takes place several hundred years after the events in the original Shannara trilogy.

This one was OK, following a subset of the characters from the first book. However, nothing has changed my opinion that Terry Brooks feels more like a fantasy writer for middle school kids. His character names are cringey, he leans heavily on typical fantasy tropes, and the writing isn't particularly great.

However, I have nearly all of the Shannara books so I figured I might as well knock them out. Particularly since they tend to be quick reads compared to most fantasy novels. This series is definitely lower on my priority list, though.

[Hipolito]

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (paperback): Informed by the author's own battlefield experiences, this is the classic novel about a young German conscript in the trenches of World War I. His youth is reduced to the terror of combat and whatever peace and pleasure can be found between battles.

The book is mainly a series of vignettes. I read it gradually, reading a few pages, putting it aside for a while, then picking it back up to read a little more. But there are strong themes that form over time, such as:

• In the thick of battle, courage becomes a myth and patriotism is propaganda.
• Sometimes the soldiers are better people than the civilians.
• A culture of honor and shame pressures young men to throw their lives away in war.
• Soldiers who've experienced the brutality of combat find it difficult to relax and relate to people back at home during furlough.

I especially liked the character Tjaden, the scrounger with an uncanny ability to locate good food no matter where he is. Food plays a prominent role in the book. In fact, there is a scene that I initially thought was comically implausible:

Spoiler:

The scene where the boys are in a house cooking up an incredible meal. The enemy detects the smoke coming from the chimney and starts hurling artillery shells. But the boys insist on finishing their meal prep before fleeing the scene. One of them is cooking potato cakes at a stove while repeatedly dodging shrapnel.

But the book later explains that the soldiers are convinced that they will soon die in this all-consuming war, so in that mental state, they will do anything for a respite from it (because when might they get such a chance again?).

The book is ultimately a forceful and effective condemnation not just of war but of our politics and culture which, for all their supposed greatness, still allow war to happen. 6 out of 8 rations of liver-sausage.

[YellowKing]

Enchanter by Terry Mancour (Book 7 of the Spellmonger Series)

This book perfectly encapsulates why I think this series could potentially be a love/hate thing (though I imagine if you get 7 books in, you're firmly in the love camp). A good portion of the book is rather mundane politics, lore building, etc. But interspersed are events that you just know are going to have ripple effects in future books.

I think maybe the closest analogy I can draw from a fantasy perspective is the Wheel of Time series, because it has that similar slow burn feel. However, in the Wheel of Time I felt that much of the slow burn was more due to Robert Jordan's lack of editing. In Terry Mancour's case it feels very deliberate and methodical, not a by-product of overly descriptive 100 page chapters. My buddy often describes this series as an onion, with each book peeling back another thin layer.

I'm taking a bit of a break from the mainline series to go back and read the Legacy and Secrets trilogy and the Spellmonger Cadet trilogy. These are YA series that take place in the Spellmonger universe but chronologically take place earlier in the timeline than I am now. There is also a short story anthology that chronologically fills in some gaps that I want to finish as well before hitting Book 8.

[Zarathud]

I’m on Book 16. I’m sticking with the main storyline until I reach the end. The observations keep me going, and how the world pays off as different elements come back into play as the stories advance.

[hitbyambulance]

Susanna Clarke - "The Wood at Midwinter" : a new-ish (and very) short from the author of _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell_ (set in this world) and _Piranesi_. i felt this really had the potential to go on for longer - a *bit more story, less vignette.



it's really too bad she was taken out from writing due to her illness for the past two decades; we could have had a real Neil Gaiman competitor.

bonus: the afterword is mostly about Kate Bush's lyrics