Books I've Read in 2024

Like last year, I kept a list of books that I read this year as I went. I'll be separating them into fiction and non-fiction, but not any further than that by category. As usual, the fiction side is rather longer, since I tend to read more of that and also read it more quickly.

FICTION

In the Vanisher's Palace (Aliette de Bodard) – The tale of Beauty and the Beast retold in a Vietnamese fantasy setting with dragons.

Love After the End (edited by Joshua Whitehead) – Various post-apocalyptic tales by queer Indigenous writers, with more of utopian than dystopian slant.

Black Sun (Rebecca Roanhorse) – The first entry in a fantasy trilogy in a pre-Columbian Americas inspired setting that ended up being my favorite new fantasy that I read this year.

Fugitive Telemetry, Network Effect, and System Collapse (Martha Wells) – Murderbot novellas, which I continue to be fond of. Science fiction.

Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune (Frank Herbert) – It had been some time since I re-read these, and I was curious how differently I would think of them. It turns out that I do still enjoy Dune, and I find some enjoyment in Dune Messiah, but I'm probably adding Children of Dune to my list of 'Dune novels not to re-read' after this time. Science fiction.

The Faded Sun trilogy (C.J. Cherryh) – Another on the re-read list, which is often what I end up taking with me on long train trips. Science fiction.

The Works of Jules Vergne (Jules Vergne) – I decided to go ahead and read all of them in this collected volume, and have come to the conclusion that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is by far my favorite. Science fiction.

Cat Gamer 4 and 5 (Wataru Nadatani) – Manga following a gamer and her cats. Fun and cute.

Fevered Star and Mirrored Heavens (Rebecca Roanhorse) – The second and third volumes in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy (see above).

Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts (Rebecca Roanhorse) – Urban fantasy set in a post-apocolyptic following a monster hunter. I liked these. First two in a series.

The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) – Re-read for the... honestly I've lost track the number of times. At least tenth for all three? Possibly more? Anyway, I was feeling very anxious towards the end of the year and decided it was time to re-read my favorite books again. Fantasy.

Vivi Conway and the Sword of Legend and Vivi Conway and the Haunted Quest (Lizzie Huxley-Jones) – Urban fantasy based on Welsh mythology with an autistic heroine. I would have loved to read these when I was a kid, and still enjoyed them a lot as an adult. Made me realize how nice it is to read about a main character I understand more.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) – Re-read, again; I finished my Middle-earth re-read and realized I was still anxious and still wanted to read comfortable things. I remembered some cases better than others. Mystery.

NON-FICTION

Unmasking Autism (Devon Price, PhD) – Masking, in this sense, refers to mimicking neurotypical behaviors and putting up a shield (or mask) to the world. It's not healthy to keep up and leads to a lot of stress. This book is about why and how to stop doing that.

How to Build a Car (Adrian Newey) – Adrian Newey's own account of his career in F1 and, at times, other forms of motor racing. Very interesting. In places technical, which I enjoyed, but usually not.

J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator (Hammond and Scull) – An in-depth look at the art of J.R.R. Tolkien, which did mostly have to do with Middle-earth, but not entirely. I had seen some of it before in other books, but a lot was new to me.

An Asperger's Guide to Entrepeneurship (Rosalind A. Bergemann) – I was hoping that this would help me figure out marketing and how to sell things, but I'm afraid that my main take away ended up being that I'm probably not really cut out for entrepeneurship, which is a problem that I've shoved to the back of my mind for a while. I did learn some useful things about how to interact in business situations, though.

Looking After Your Autistic Self (Niamh Garvey) – Advice about self-regulating and taking care of oneself with a lot of good lists and useful coping strategies. I've been working at incorporating a lot of this advice into my plans for situations that I tend to struggle in, and recovery from those.

The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben) – A German forester-turned-forest-caretaker's insights into how trees grow and what sorts of networks they form in the woods, incorporating other science. I read the English translation (mostly because it was easier to find).

Entangled Life (Merlin Sheldrake) – All about fungi, but not everything there is about fungi, because fungi are extremely varied and complicated. Highly informative.

Aliens & Alien Societies (Stanley Schmidt) – I came across this while I was working the 'setting bible' for my currently in-progress science fiction series, so I figured it would be worth a read while I was working up alien descriptions. It turns out I was familiar with most of the background science in the first part of the book, although some people might not be, but it had a lot of good prompts for things to consider when designing aliens and their worlds.

Finding the Mother Tree (Suzanne Simard) – A forester-turned-scientist's journey by her own account, with a lot of information about trees and how forests work. Very interesting.

The Blue Machine (Helen Czerski) – How the ocean works as a whole, by an oceanographer and physicist. Mostly the broad strokes, but it does get down into detail in quite a few places, and I found it really interesting.