Here’s another Year in Books (I missed last year, but here’s 2022).

Most of these came from recommendations by friends, The Incomparable’s Book Club and (a new source), the “Books in the Box” episodes of Oxide and Friends.

The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder

I technically read it in the last few days of 2023, but included here because I liked it so much. This came recommended by the Oxide and Friends podcast’s Books in the Box episode. I didn’t know a ton about the history of computing, but have been picking up an appreciation for it thanks to reading this book. It goes into a ton of detail about what it took Data General to design and release a new machine. Highly recommended to anyone interested in computing.

More Murderbot Diaries

I got caught up on Martha Well’s Murderbot Diaries series, finishing both Fugitive Telemetry and System Collapse. These continue to be so enjoyable. (This Wired piece about Martha Wells and the series is in my reading list).

Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

This is third installment in her Locked Tomb series. I don’t remember a ton of details from the plot, but I do recall

  1. This feeling very different from the previous entries (each of which felt different from their predecessors)
  2. A general feeling of discomfort and tension, like things could explode at any time, which I think was deliberate

It’s not as simple to describe as “lesbian necromancers in space” like the Gideon the First, but overall, I enjoyed it.

The Cemeteries of Amalo series, by Katherine Addison

These are set in the same universe as The Goblin Emperor, but follow a different main character. I didn’t love these quite as much as The Goblin Emperor (which is just… perfect), but the writing in these is still great. Don’t expect a ton from the plot. These are still more about the world and characters moving through it than anything else.

The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy

This is probably a sign that I’m entering middle age, but yeah this was a fun read. I think I picked this up after Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladek were reminiscing about Clancy novels on the NSL podcast. I didn’t make it through Patriot Games, though, so maybe I still have some youth in me?

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree

This is a prequel to Legends & Lattes. If you enjoyed that, you’ll enjoy this one too.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Me and my 8-year old have been working our way through these. We finished The Two Towers earlier in the year and will wrap up Return of the King this week. I’m not sure how much he appreciates all the detailed descriptions of the scenery, but he seems to be mostly following the plot. They continue to be perfect.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I didn’t learn a ton of new actual science from this (humblebrag). If you have a decent high school or liberal arts education you’ll hopefully be familiar with most of the concepts. But I’d recommend reading it regardless because of all the background on the history and people involved in the discoveries (which my courses didn’t cover) and for the great writing. Also, I just love the idea of trying to cover everything in a single, general-audience book.

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

This is the third in the Scholomance trilogy. The first couple were great. The first especially was very fun, almost pop-corn fantasy (despite a lot of death. Like a lot). But this one somehow is way deeper, and in a way that makes you reevaluate the previous books. It’s maybe less “fun” because of where the story goes, but still great. I read this more recently but it’s stuck with me.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell by Susanna Clarke

This is a bit hard to review. It does seem to be long (I read it on a Kobo, but wow I see now that Goodreads says 1,006 pages). And while stuff happens, it’s not exactly action packed. Still, I never felt bored reading it, and I was able to follow things clearly the entire time. I think the characters were just so well written that she could bring back a character we haven’t heard from in 400 pages and have us immediately understand who they are and why they’re doing what they’re doing.

Susanna Clarke also wrote Piranesi which I still think about from time to time, and would highly recommend (despite even less happening in that book).

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This was a reread (I needed something short after the tome that was Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell), but this book had stuck with me since I first read it in 2021. It’s just so, so good. I guess it’s technically a romance set in a Sci-Fi world, which isn’t my usual genera. But I loved it mainly for the writing.

The setting is somewhat interesting, but that’s not really the point: two factions are in a struggle spanning multiple universes (“strands”, in the book). Their agents can travel through time and between strands, and embed themselves in various situations to nudge events along a favorable path. I love a good time-travel book, even if they don’t get into the mechanics.

The characters are somewhat interesting, but they’re also not really the point. We don’t get ton of detail about them (not even their real names; just get “Red” and “Blue”).

And the plot is also somewhat interesting, but I think still not the point. Stuff happens. They write letters to each other. More stuff happens. They fall in love. More stuff happens.

To me, it really comes down to the beautiful writing (with just enough structure around it to make all that flowery prose feel appropriate). I mean… just listen: “I distract myself. I talk of tactics and of methods. I say how I know how I know. I make metaphors to approach the enormous fact of you on slant.”

Overall, I’d recommend this to just about anyone. Plus, it’s short enough that it’s not a huge time commitment if it’s not your cup of tea.

Other

Some honorable, non-book mentions that I’ve started reading this year:

Overall, a solid year! My full list is on Goodreads Reach out to me if you have any questions or recommendations.