So this past year I read 105 books, here are some of my favorites!
Circe by Madeline Miller. An exploration of the myth of Circe from her point of view. Very fun. I personally learned a lot about her story that I had never known and besides, she was always somebody I kind of liked - I always thought turning men into pigs was fun.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. A lot of people have recommended this, it’s a great queer scifi book with found family and it’s very soft. I loved reading it. I also loved both sequels (A Closed and Common Orbit and Record of a Spaceborn Few) even though they’re very different and a lot of people don’t like them as much as the original. A Closed and Common Orbit is focused on two characters and the struggles of their lives (I cried so much reading it). Record of a Spaceborn Few is a really interesting look into a human society in space and how it functions, it travels between the viewpoint of several interconnected characters.
Becoming by Michelle Obama. I only read a little non-fiction, but I really loved this book. She really captured the emotions of her life, and I’m glad it focused on her life outside of being an Obama, and on her roots. She’s a remarkable woman.
The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb. This book was so good. Holy fuck. I love fairy tales, and this is a very unique retelling of The Little Mermaid, and I loved it so much. I made my mom read it, even though she doesn’t like fairy tales, and she loved it. It’s a lesbian romance and it’s really beautiful.
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand. This one also had a queer romance, but I really liked it because the focus was the strength of girls, and how they were the ones who could make a change. On the island of Sawkill, girls go missing, but the island is sick of it and chooses 3 champions out of the remaining girls to try and defeat the evil that plagues the island. It’s a little bit of a mystery and a little bit of a thriller and it’s a lot of fun. I really whipped through it.
All Out - The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages collected by Saundra Mitchell. This is a collection of short stories by queer authors, and they’re historical fiction. Exactly what it says on the tin, bringing queer people throughout history. It was very soft, most of them had happy endings (I can only recall one that ended unhappily, but it mostly ended in drama, not necessarily in sadness).
Beanstalk by E. Jade Lomax (and sequels Echoes of a Giantkiller and Remember the Dust). I’ll be honest. These are some of my favorite books and I reread them every year. They’re fantasy adventure with a diverse crew and a heavy helping of found family. This group of youths is training to be heroes, and start doing some extracurriculars of fighting monsters in the nearby town because they want to make a difference now, rather than only when they’re finished school. The characters are so rich and the story so good, which is why I keep going back year after year. Also, these books can be read for free as ebooks from the author’s website.
Infected by Scott Sigler. I’ll be honest. This book (and its sequels) were a little ridiculous. I still liked them. Aliens come to earth as spores that infect people to grow the spores and makes them violent and afraid of other people. Our main character gets infected and you can see his descent into paranoia from his perspective which is really interesting, while the authorities are searching for the infection.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. This book is one of my top 2 for the year. An amazing story. Really well fleshed out characters. About a girl who’s raised in the marsh and ends up mostly raising herself, and how she’s viewed as an outsider in the town by most. This comes into play when the town’s golden boy is murdered, and she is suspected, and some immediately believe she’s done it solely due to her status as an outsider.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. This is a children’s book based on the author’s lived experiences of being a refugee of the Vietnam War. Very emotional.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. This was a behemoth of a book, easily the longest I read all year. I took to explaining it to people while I was reading it as “Game of Thrones but actually good”. I say that because like Game of Thrones it’s spread across multiple nations and characters, and they are gearing up to fight a big bad. This book is so much better because there’s less senseless violence, characters do die and bonds are broken but it all is for the purpose to drive the plot forward. This story has it all. Magic, political intrigue, lesbians, dragons, different cultures and religions. What’s not to love? That being said it is like 800 pages. It does have a satisfying ending though, so it’s worth it.
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal. This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in Pakistan. I’ll be honest, I haven’t read P&P, I’ve only watched the 2005 movie, but I loved this book. It was set in modern times, with family who won’t stop meddling and wants the girls to get married because in Pakistan women should still be wives. I think it’s a great adaptation and from what I could tell it sticks close to the original story.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I liked Circe so much that I read Madeline Miller’s first book, and I really loved it as well. This one is the story of Achilles and Patroclus, from their childhood to the end of the Trojan war. It again brought the myth alive in a new way for me. I also learned that in the original myth, Achilles isn’t invulnerable, he’s just really fast and a great fighter. Who knew? It’s very gay.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. This is also one of my top 2 for the year. The story of family united by tea. A girl grows up in a small village on a mountain in China where her family picks tea and still sticks with their ancient customs and hasn’t modernized at all. When she’s older, she has a child out of wedlock which is taboo, and according to her culture, the infant should be killed, but instead she abandons her daughter to an orphanage with only a tea cake to find her by. The story continues and splits between the daughter who is adopted to America wondering about her birth mother, and the mother who makes it out of her village to continue her life steeped (lol) in the world of tea, now as a seller rather than a picker. Very interesting culturally and great characters. Very satisfying ending.
Circe by Madeline Miller. An exploration of the myth of Circe from her point of view. Very fun. I personally learned a lot about her story that I had never known and besides, she was always somebody I kind of liked - I always thought turning men into pigs was fun.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. A lot of people have recommended this, it’s a great queer scifi book with found family and it’s very soft. I loved reading it. I also loved both sequels (A Closed and Common Orbit and Record of a Spaceborn Few) even though they’re very different and a lot of people don’t like them as much as the original. A Closed and Common Orbit is focused on two characters and the struggles of their lives (I cried so much reading it). Record of a Spaceborn Few is a really interesting look into a human society in space and how it functions, it travels between the viewpoint of several interconnected characters.
Becoming by Michelle Obama. I only read a little non-fiction, but I really loved this book. She really captured the emotions of her life, and I’m glad it focused on her life outside of being an Obama, and on her roots. She’s a remarkable woman.
The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb. This book was so good. Holy fuck. I love fairy tales, and this is a very unique retelling of The Little Mermaid, and I loved it so much. I made my mom read it, even though she doesn’t like fairy tales, and she loved it. It’s a lesbian romance and it’s really beautiful.
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand. This one also had a queer romance, but I really liked it because the focus was the strength of girls, and how they were the ones who could make a change. On the island of Sawkill, girls go missing, but the island is sick of it and chooses 3 champions out of the remaining girls to try and defeat the evil that plagues the island. It’s a little bit of a mystery and a little bit of a thriller and it’s a lot of fun. I really whipped through it.
All Out - The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages collected by Saundra Mitchell. This is a collection of short stories by queer authors, and they’re historical fiction. Exactly what it says on the tin, bringing queer people throughout history. It was very soft, most of them had happy endings (I can only recall one that ended unhappily, but it mostly ended in drama, not necessarily in sadness).
Beanstalk by E. Jade Lomax (and sequels Echoes of a Giantkiller and Remember the Dust). I’ll be honest. These are some of my favorite books and I reread them every year. They’re fantasy adventure with a diverse crew and a heavy helping of found family. This group of youths is training to be heroes, and start doing some extracurriculars of fighting monsters in the nearby town because they want to make a difference now, rather than only when they’re finished school. The characters are so rich and the story so good, which is why I keep going back year after year. Also, these books can be read for free as ebooks from the author’s website.
Infected by Scott Sigler. I’ll be honest. This book (and its sequels) were a little ridiculous. I still liked them. Aliens come to earth as spores that infect people to grow the spores and makes them violent and afraid of other people. Our main character gets infected and you can see his descent into paranoia from his perspective which is really interesting, while the authorities are searching for the infection.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. This book is one of my top 2 for the year. An amazing story. Really well fleshed out characters. About a girl who’s raised in the marsh and ends up mostly raising herself, and how she’s viewed as an outsider in the town by most. This comes into play when the town’s golden boy is murdered, and she is suspected, and some immediately believe she’s done it solely due to her status as an outsider.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. This is a children’s book based on the author’s lived experiences of being a refugee of the Vietnam War. Very emotional.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. This was a behemoth of a book, easily the longest I read all year. I took to explaining it to people while I was reading it as “Game of Thrones but actually good”. I say that because like Game of Thrones it’s spread across multiple nations and characters, and they are gearing up to fight a big bad. This book is so much better because there’s less senseless violence, characters do die and bonds are broken but it all is for the purpose to drive the plot forward. This story has it all. Magic, political intrigue, lesbians, dragons, different cultures and religions. What’s not to love? That being said it is like 800 pages. It does have a satisfying ending though, so it’s worth it.
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal. This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in Pakistan. I’ll be honest, I haven’t read P&P, I’ve only watched the 2005 movie, but I loved this book. It was set in modern times, with family who won’t stop meddling and wants the girls to get married because in Pakistan women should still be wives. I think it’s a great adaptation and from what I could tell it sticks close to the original story.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I liked Circe so much that I read Madeline Miller’s first book, and I really loved it as well. This one is the story of Achilles and Patroclus, from their childhood to the end of the Trojan war. It again brought the myth alive in a new way for me. I also learned that in the original myth, Achilles isn’t invulnerable, he’s just really fast and a great fighter. Who knew? It’s very gay.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. This is also one of my top 2 for the year. The story of family united by tea. A girl grows up in a small village on a mountain in China where her family picks tea and still sticks with their ancient customs and hasn’t modernized at all. When she’s older, she has a child out of wedlock which is taboo, and according to her culture, the infant should be killed, but instead she abandons her daughter to an orphanage with only a tea cake to find her by. The story continues and splits between the daughter who is adopted to America wondering about her birth mother, and the mother who makes it out of her village to continue her life steeped (lol) in the world of tea, now as a seller rather than a picker. Very interesting culturally and great characters. Very satisfying ending.
