Charon07’s 2024 category challenge

I’m Charon07, a (literal) cat lover, former copy editor, and a current accountant from central Illinois. This is my first category challenge, so I guess I’ll see how it goes! I don’t want to overwhelm myself, so I’m not going to set any specific quantity goals for my categories, though I hope to read at least two six ten books from each category over the year, except for nonfiction, where I’ll be happy if I reach six. [Having met my target of two books from each category in April, and six books in June, I’m now setting a goal of ten, which should be doable at this rate.]

I’ll also try the SFFKit and PrizeCAT, though I’m not likely to hit every month. And I’ll toss in the BingoDOG, too, because I’m sure I can make some of my category books do double (or triple) duty.

My categories are:

🐓 The Tournament of Books (current or prior years’ short list)
☣ New Science Fiction (in the past 5 years or so)
🚀 Classic Science Fiction
🔭 Nonfiction
🏠 Books I Already Own (but haven’t read yet)
🌍 Books in Translation

KITs, CATs, and a Dog:
🐈 PrizeCAT
🐱 SFFKit
🐶 BingoDog

Books I’ve read so far:

🏠 🌍 🐈 🐶 Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 🏠 The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty ★ ★ ★
🚀 🐶 Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany ★ ★ ★ ★
🐶 Cat Brushing by Jane Campbell ★ ★ ★ 1/2
☣ 🏠 Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki ★ ★ ★
🌍 🐶 Public Reading Followed by Discussion by Danielle Mémoire ★ ★ ★
🏠 🐶 Our Wives under the Sea by Julia Armfield ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🐱 Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 🐈 🐶 The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🏠 🐶 The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐶 The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman ★ ★ 1/2
🐶 The Spear Cuts through Water by Simon Jimenez ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🐶 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier ★ ★ ★ 1/2
☣ 🐱 Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes ★ ★ ★
🐶 Lanny by Max Porter ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🏠 🐶 Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 🏠 🐈 🐶 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🔭 🌍 🐶 Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life under Tyranny
   by Witold Szabłowski ★ ★ ★ 1/2
☣ The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw ★ ★ ★ 1/2
☣ 🐱 The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart ★ ★ ★
🚀 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🏠 🐈 The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan ★ ★ ★ ★
🔭 Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal about Our World--and Ourselves
   by Matt Simon ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🚀 🌍 🐶 War with the Newts by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★
🚀 🐱 Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg ★ ★ ★
☣ 🐶 Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker ★ ★ ★ ★
🔭 The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
   by Kate Summerscale ★ ★ ★ ★
🏠 🐶 Girl, 11 by Amy Suiter Clarke ★ ★ 1/2
🐶 Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐈 🐱 🐶 The City & the City by China Miéville ★ ★ ★ ★
🏠 How to Be Both by Ali Smith ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 🏠 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🚀 🌍 🐶 We by Yevgeny Zamyatin ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🚀 🐱 Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐶 The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell ★ ★ ★
🌍 I Am Alive by Kettly Mars ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 🌍 🐈 Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 ☣ 🏠 The Down Days by Ilze Hugo ★ ★ ★ ★
🐓 🐈 Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 🏠 🐶 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🔭 The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey ★ ★ ★ ★
🏠 Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore ★ ★ ★
🐓Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
☣ 🌍 Counterweight by Djuna ★ ★ ★ ★
☣ Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot ★ ★ ★
🌍 🐈 Orphans of Eldorado by Milton Hatoum ★ ★ ★
🏠 🐱 Grendel by John Gardner ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🔭 A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest
   Birds of Prey by Jonathan Meiburg ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🏠 🐱 The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🌍 There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby
   by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya ★ ★ ★ ★
☣ 🐱 Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐈 The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward ★ ★ ★ 1/2
☣ August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White ★ ★ ★
🐱 🐶 Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells ★ ★ ★ ★
🌍 Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🚀 We Who Are about To… by Joanna Russ ★ ★ ★ ★
🔭 🐶 What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds
   by Jennifer Ackerman ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🌍 The Garden of Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu ★ ★ ★ ★
🐓 Big Swiss by Jen Beagin ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 🏠 The Sentence by Louise Erdrich ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🚀 The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester ★ ★ ★
🔭 🌍 The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🌍 🐈 🐱 The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🚀 Northwest Smith by C. L. Moore ★ ★
☣ We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen ★ 1/2
🔭 World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
   by Aimee Nezhukumatathil ★ ★ ★ ★
🔭 James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🔭 Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
☣ 🐱 Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden ★ 1/2
🔭 🐶 Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
   by Dennis Duncan ★ ★ ★ ★
🚀 Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton ★ ★ 1/2
🐈 Popisho by Leone Ross ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐓 On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🔭 Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys of the Avian World by Candace Savage ★ ★ 1/2
🏠 🐓 A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐈 The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers ★ ★ ★ ★
🐓 🏠 Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson ★ ★ ★ ★
🚀 🌍 The Wall by Marlen Haushofer ★ ★ ★ ★
🚀 🌍 🐱 The Absolute at Large by Karel Capek ★ ★ ★ ★
🐓 🐈 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🐓 The Trees by Percival Everett ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🔭 The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin ★ ★ ★ ★
🚀 Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🐓 Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino ★ ★ ★ ★
🐈 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore ★ ★ ★ ★
🚀 The Best of Leigh Brackett by Leigh Brackett ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🌍 Confidential by Mikołaj Grynberg ★ ★ ★ ★
🐓 The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft ★ ★ ★ 1/2
🐈 Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente ★ ★ ★ 1/2

🐓 The Tournament of Books (current or prior years’ short list)

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty ★ ★ ★
The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Down Days by Ilze Hugo ★ ★ ★ ★
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson ★ ★ ★ ★
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Trees by Percival Everett ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino ★ ★ ★ ★
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft ★ ★ ★ 1/2

☣ New Science Fiction (in the past 5 years or so)

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki ★ ★ ★
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes ★ ★ ★
The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart ★ ★ ★
Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker ★ ★ ★ ★
The Down Days by Ilze Hugo ★ ★ ★ ★
Counterweight by Djuna ★ ★ ★ ★
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot ★ ★ ★
Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White ★ ★ ★
We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen ★ 1/2
Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden ★ 1/2

🚀 Classic Science Fiction

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany ★ ★ ★ ★
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm ★ ★ ★ 1/2
War with the Newts by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★
Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg ★ ★ ★
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke ★ ★ ★ 1/2
We Who Are about To… by Joanna Russ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester ★ ★ ★
Northwest Smith by C. L. Moore ★ ★
Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton ★ ★ 1/2
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer ★ ★ ★ ★
The Absolute at Large by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Best of Leigh Brackett by Leigh Brackett ★ ★ ★ 1/2

🔭 Nonfiction

Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski
   ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal about Our World--and Ourselves by Matt
   Simon ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
   by Kate Summerscale ★ ★ ★ ★
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey ★ ★ ★ ★
A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey
   by Jonathan Meiburg ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
   ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben ★ ★ ★ 1/2
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
   by Aimee Nezhukumatathil ★ ★ ★ ★
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
   by Dennis Duncan ★ ★ ★ ★
Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys of the Avian World by Candace Savage ★ ★ 1/2
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin ★ ★ ★ ★

🏠 Books I Already Own (but haven’t read yet)

Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty ★ ★ ★
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki ★ ★ ★
Our Wives under the Sea by Julia Armfield ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth ★ ★ 1/2
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan ★ ★ ★ ★
Girl, 11 by Amy Suiter Clarke ★ ★ 1/2
How to Be Both by Ali Smith ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Down Days by Ilze Hugo ★ ★ ★ ★
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore ★ ★ ★
Grendel by John Gardner ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson ★ ★ ★ ★

🌍 Books in Translation

Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Public Reading Followed by Discussion by Danielle Mémoire ★ ★ ★
Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski
  ★ ★ ★ 1/2
War with the Newts by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin ★ ★ ★ 1/2
I Am Alive by Kettly Mars ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Counterweight by Djuna ★ ★ ★ ★
Orphans of Eldorado by Milton Hatoum ★ ★ ★
There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
  ★ ★ ★ ★
Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Garden of Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu ★ ★ ★ ★
The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer ★ ★ ★ ★
The Absolute at Large by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★
Confidential by Mikołaj Grynberg ★ ★ ★ ★

🐈 PrizeCAT

January: Long-Running Prizes
Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello ★ ★ ★ 1/2, Nobel Prize in Literature 1934

February: A Prize from Your Own Country
The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li ★ ★ ★ ★ ★, PEN/Faulkner Award 2023

March: A Prize That’s New to You
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2, The Kitschies Red Tentacle 2020

April: Women’s Writing
The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan ★ ★ ★ ★, Davitt Award 2019

May: Doubling Up
The City & the City by China Miéville ★ ★ ★ ★, Arthur C. Clarke Award‬ (‪2010‬), ‪British Science Fiction Association Award (2009), Hugo (2010), ‪Locus Award‬ (‪2010‬)‪, Kitschies‬ ‪Red Tentacle (2009‬), World Fantasy Award‬ (‪2010‬), among others

June: Booklists
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2, Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2017
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2, Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2023

July: Prize from a country other than your own
Orphans of Eldorado by Milton Hatoum ★ ★ ★, Prêmio Jabuti 2009 (Brazil)

August: Genre Prizes
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward ★ ★ ★ 1/2, British Fantasy Award 2022

September: A September CAT/KIT that won a prize
The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino ★ ★ ★ 1/2, Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize 2014 (September SFFKit)

October: Missed It by That Much
Popisho by Leone Ross ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2, Diverse Book Awards 2022 shortlist, Goldsmiths Prize 2021 shortlist, Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022 longlist

November: Children’s Literature
The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers ★ ★ ★ ★, Newbery Medal 2024
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green ★ ★ ★ ★ ★, 3 Apples Book Award 2017, BCCB Blue Ribbon Book 2012, Kids' Book Choice Awards 2013, et al.

December: A prize of your choice
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore ★ ★ ★ ★, National Book Critics Circle Award 2023
Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente ★ ★ ★ 1/2, Lambda Literary Award: LGBT Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror 2010

🐱 SFFKit

February: Critters and Creatures
Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls ★ ★ ★ 1/2

March: Space Opera
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes ★ ★ ★

April: Time Travel
The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart ★ ★ ★
Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg ★ ★ ★

May: Archeology
The City & the City by China Miéville ★ ★ ★ ★
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke ★ ★ ★ 1/2

June: Monsters!
Grendel by John Gardner ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2

July: First Contact
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

August: Paranormal Investigators and Space Detectives
Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells ★ ★ ★ ★ (a reread)

September: Gods, Godlike Beings, and Mythology
The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino ★ ★ ★ 1/2

October: Women Authors
Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden ★ 1/2

November: Recommended Books
The Absolute at Large by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★

BingoDOG



1. The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell ★ ★ ★
2. Girl, 11 by Amy Suiter Clarke ★ ★ 1/2
3. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman ★ ★ 1/2
4. Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone ★ ★ ★ 1/2
5. Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age
    by Dennis Duncan ★ ★ ★ ★
6. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin ★ ★ ★ 1/2
7. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
8. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
9. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier ★ ★ ★ 1/2
10. The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
11. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth ★ ★ 1/2
12. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
13. Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello ★ ★ ★ 1/2 (January PrizeCAT)
14. Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker ★ ★ ★ ★
15. Lanny by Max Porter ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
16. The City & the City by China Miéville ★ ★ ★ ★
17. Public Reading Followed by Discussion by Danielle Mémoire ★ ★ ★
18. Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany ★ ★ ★ ★
19. Cat Brushing by Jane Campbell ★ ★ ★ 1/2
20. Our Wives under the Sea by Julia Armfield ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
21. The Spear Cuts through Water by Simon Jimenez ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
22. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells ★ ★ ★ ★
23. Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski
      ★ ★ ★ 1/2
24. War with the Newts by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★
25. What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
      ★ ★ ★ 1/2

Welcome to the group, I hope you have fun here!

Welcome to the Category Challenge, enjoy your 2024 reading!

Welcome aboard and have fun!

Welcome to the group! Have fun reading in the new year!

Welcome, and happy reading in 2024.

Welcome to the group and good luck with your reading in 2024.

Welcome and hope you have a good reading year.

Welcome! Not overwhelming yourself sounds like a good plan. I'm looking forward to seeing what you read.

You have some great categories! Good luck with your 2024 reading.

Welcome! Enjoy the year and your reading.

Welcome, and I hope you enjoy your reading!

Welcome and have fun with your reading!

As another Tournament of Books fan and resident of central Illinois (Bloomington), I'll be watching your reading this coming year. I'm currently reading Dayswork, from the current shortlist, and I'm enjoying it so far.

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! I’m excited to get started—I’ve been plotting out books from my TBR that will fit some of the KITs and CATs.

>23 RidgewayGirl: I’m just down the road in C-U. I got my accounting degree at ISU. Have you read Moby Dick, or anything else by Melville? I’d be interested to hear if you think Dayswork would hold any interest for someone who hasn’t, or if it might spark some interest in reading Melville.

🏠 🌍 🐈 Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Clever, amusing, probably very innovative at the time, but give me Tom Stoppard or Harold Pinter any day. If you like Theater of the Absurd, you’ll probably like this play.

Wishing you a great first year in CC.

I've wondered the same thing re Dayswork although Kay's review has tipped me towards picking up the book.

🐓 🏠 The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty ★ ★ ★
Just plain weird, and not in a good way. Weird in an implausible, incomprehensible way. Maybe I’m just too old for this book. I listened to the audiobook.

🚀 Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany ★ ★ ★ ★
Delany broke a lot of ground in the science fiction world regarding sex and gender and other issues of diversity. I read this because linguistic science fiction is always interesting to me, but what I really ended up loving was the Transport culture he painted, with its exotic body modifications, discorporate entities, and polyamorous triples.

Cat Brushing by Jane Campbell ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A collection of grim but honest stories about old women, from the perspective of old women, written by an old woman.

>24 Charon07: Howdy, neighbor! I have read Moby Dick (and loved it), but the book is far more about Melville's life than specifically about the book.

>27 Charon07: I was also unable to fathom the charm of The Rabbit Hutch although I liked the parts that Blandine wasn't in.

☣ 🏠 Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki ★ ★ ★
An odd blend of science fiction and fantasy with happily-ever-after endings for everyone (well, everyone we care about anyway). Though it deals with some heavy topics—a trans girl running away from an abusive father, an intergalactic plague of existential despair, a woman about to lose her soul—it’s unrelentingly upbeat. The transformational power of music makes everything right in the end. In fact, if there had been just little bit more sadness, a touch more of the underlying tragedies, it would have been a more affecting book. As it was, it seemed a little too light to be a great book for me. I listened to the audiobook, so it’s always possible the narrator colored my perception of the tone.

🌍 🐶 Public Reading Followed by Discussion by Danielle Mémoire ★ ★ ★
An entertaining and witty but impenetrable bit of oulipo, which I read too closely on the heels of Six Characters in Search of an Author.

_{I listened to the audiobook, which has a different cover, but this one is more suitable, I think.}

🏠 🐶 Our Wives under the Sea by Julia Armfield ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
A beautiful, sad, strange love story. But while it seems to often be classed as SF or horror, I think it’s definitely one to which this caveat (from an article by author Jo Walton) applies:

“In science fiction, the world is a character. . . . And really, we SF readers expect an actual explanation at some point. . . .

“Whereas in genre LitFic, those world questions are just scenery, and the whole structure of what [the author] is doing [is] for creating emotional resonance in the reader. . . . Having resolved the emotional plot, she thinks the reader will be happy — and she’s right, the reader of women’s fiction and of LitFic will be happy, but the SF reader will be asking ‘Wait, what was this all about? What was the point? . . . Did I just read a whole book and you’re not even going to give me the answer? What was it all for?’”

🐱 Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls ★ ★ ★ 1/2
I don’t think I can say much about this book without giving too much away. It’s more of a social/domestic satire, or fable, than science fiction. I can say that I adored the scene where Dorothy, a bored and lonely housewife in an empty marriage, first encounters Aquarius the Monsterman, a.k.a. Larry. It’s just pure genius.

🐓 🐈 🐶 The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I’m going to need to sit with my thoughts about this book for a while before I can come up with a coherent review. But I can say that it’s unsettling, moving, and thought-provoking.

🏠 🐶 The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A moving story of community and love in all its forms. It’s told episodically from the point of view of Father Damien Modeste of the Ojibwe community of Little No Horse and involves many of the same characters from others of the Love Medicine books, which I now want to go back and (re-)read from the beginning.

>36 Charon07: Oh, I really hope to make time for that series this year! I read Love Medicine in 2009 and wish to reread it and then go on from there. The only other one I have read is Tracks.

>37 MissBrangwen: This is only the third I’ve read, but the other two were long ago. Maybe next year I’ll have a Louise Erdrich category!

🐶 The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman ★ ★ 1/2
Disappointing. A polemic against organized religion with not much new or interesting to add to the subject. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by Pullman.

>34 Charon07: I love Mrs. Caliban. It's such a weird story.

>35 Charon07: Yeah, that was a 5 star read for me, too. Yiyun Li is so good.

🐶 The Spear Cuts through Water by Simon Jimenez ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Beautiful and moving. I’ll probably read anything by Simon Jimenez from here on out.

🐶 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Interesting, but I’m bemused by the ambiguity of the “hero/ines” and “villains.”

☣ 🐱 Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes ★ ★ ★
An uneven but entertaining enough space romp. Psychic space kitties were underutilized, but I nudged my rating up a bit because I liked the characters.

🐶 Lanny by Max Porter ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A strange and beautiful prose-poem fable.

🏠 🐶 Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth ★ ★ 1/2
Disappointing. It failed to deliver on creepiness or gothic horror, despite its initial promise. And it was much longer than it needed to be.

🐓 🏠 🐈 🐶 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A small, beautiful, melancholic fantasy.

🔭 🌍 🐶 Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski
★ ★ ★ 1/2
The title says it all. I was severely handicapped by my ignorance of the geopolitics of the countries discussed, but the stories of both the bears and the people were interesting.

☣ The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Violent, gory, sadistic. Grungy, obfuscating, irritating as hell. Finally, at the end, I loved it.

☣ 🐱 The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart ★ ★ ★
Didn’t overcome the problematic issues I have with time travel stories.

🚀 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A postapocalyptic paean to individuality and human ingenuity.

🏠 🐈 The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan ★ ★ ★ ★
I listened to the audiobook, beautifully read by Aoife McMahon. It was an engaging, if sombre, mystery.I’m planning on reading more in this series (Cormac Reilly).

🔭 Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal about Our World--and Ourselves by Matt Simon ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The most outlandish and grotesque parasites that influence the behavior of their hosts, described humorously and sensationally.

🚀 🌍 🐶 War with the Newts by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★
A first-rate satire, on a par with Mark Twain or Kurt Vonnegut.

>53 Charon07: I really liked War with the Newts. It's witty, thought-provoking and still relevant. I also liked The Absolute at Large, which is a free e-book.

>54 pamelad: Thanks for that tip! I’ve added The Absolute at Large to my TBR: it sounds like more of the satire and social commentary I liked about War with the Newts.

🚀 🐱 Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg ★ ★ ★
Time travel ironically stuck in the 1960s, in which time travel is a gimmick that probably worked better in the short-story version of this expanded novel.

☣ 🐶 Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker ★ ★ ★ ★
Overall, a great collection of SF stories. I preferred the longer novelettes/novellas. Pinsker’s style is less science and more humanistic and literary, which suits me fine. My absolute favorites were “In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind” and “And Then There Were (N-One).”

🔭 The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale ★ ★ ★ ★
A surprisingly (to me) compelling true-crime history that tells the tale of a gruesome murder, one of the first police detectives in England, and the effects on the development and popularity on detective fiction in the latter half of the 19th century.

🏠 🐶 Girl, 11 by Amy Suiter Clarke ★ ★ 1/2
This thriller about a former social worker turned true-crime podcaster strained my credulity.

>58 Charon07: I loved that one because I've read several Victorian novels that were influenced by that case. Have you seen the TV series based on this book and some of Whicher's other cases?

>60 cbl_tn: I haven’t seen the TV show, and I wasn’t familiar with the case or the detective until I read this book. A reviewer suggested that re-reading The Moonstone right after this was eye-opening. I think it was so interesting to me because the case and reports about it had such an influence on novels I was familiar with.

>58 Charon07: Hmm, this sounds interesting.

>62 RidgewayGirl: In fairness, reviews on LT are pretty mixed. But I didn’t find it boring and dry at all, as some reviewers did.

🐶 Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone ★ ★ ★ 1/2
There are several implausibilities in the plot, but it was so strange and gothic, so atmospheric, so dark and twisted, that I didn’t mind at all. If, like me, you ever played somewhat creepy make-believe games with your slightly older sister, you might understand the appeal.

🐈 🐱 🐶 The City & the City by China Miéville ★ ★ ★ ★
The cities of Besźel and Ul Qoma exist in the same time and place, but the citizens coexist without ever acknowledging that they’re aware of the other or else face dire consequences, which makes for some interesting policing challenges in this noir detective mystery. Like a good noir, greed and corruption are at the heart of the story.

🏠 How to Be Both by Ali Smith ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
It’s about being both alive and dead, past and present, male and female, joyful and sad. It’s told from the point of view of grieving teenager George, whose mother has just died, and the Italian renaissance painter Francescho del Cossa.

🐓 🏠 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A beautiful meditation on grief, regret, vengeance, and, peripherally, the Civil War. I listened to the audiobook, and despite footnotes and 166 readers, the audio format enhanced the novel for me.

🚀 🌍 🐶 We by Yevgeny Zamyatin ★ ★ ★ 1/2
An important but not very enjoyable book that influenced later dystopias like 1984 and Brave New World.

Looks like you are blowing through these challenges! Good for you! I am not a big sci-fi reader, but Delaney's autobiography is one of my favorite books ever.

>67 Charon07: I read Lincoln in the Bardo, but so many people have said that the audio version is extraordinary. I have picked up a copy on audible.

>69 purpleiris: I’m reading a LOT more than I typically do! It looks like I read 56 books last year, and at my current rate I’ll have read 96 books in 2024. It helps when I can find one book that fulfills more than one category—trying to pick books that do that is half the fun! I’m planning on reading more Delaney in the near future. Prior to Babel-17, the only other thing of his that remember reading was the short story “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones,” but it really made an impression.

But first I have to whittle away at some nonfiction…

>70 RidgewayGirl: I recommend the audiobook! I thought the huge cast would be daunting, but now I think reading the text would be maybe more daunting. All those voices were very evocative of the atmosphere of the bardo.

🚀 🐱 Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Good old-fashioned hard science fiction about a brief opportunity to explore an interstellar spacecraft from a distant, unknown civilization, humanity’s first evidence that we’re not alone in the universe.

🐶 The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell ★ ★ ★
A murder mystery for fans of the Great British Bake Off. Nothing surprising or exceptional, but it was a fun romp.

🌍 I Am Alive by Kettly Mars ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A family learns to cope with the return home of their schizophrenic son and brother after the 2010 Haitian earthquake closes the mental institution where he’s lived for over 40 years. While ostensibly about the shifting relationships among the members of the household, it also subtly looks at shifting conditions in Haitian society as well.

🐓 🌍 🐈 Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Strange, disturbing, intense, with a building suspenseful creepiness, this is not so much a horror novel as a warning: Pay attention to the “rescue distance.” It’s very important for us all.

>75 Charon07: I'm glad you enjoyed it! (and were able to find it!)

>77 purpleiris: Thanks for recommending it!

>78 Charon07: You're welcome!

🐓 ☣ 🏠 The Down Days by Ilze Hugo ★ ★ ★ ★
A pandemic of a strange new laughing sickness in Cape Town has turned society chaotic, weird, unexpected, and possibly supernatural, but that it still seems so firmly grounded in what we now know is reality during a pandemic is a testament to the storytelling skills of Ilze Hugo, an even greater feat because this is her first novel and was written before the COVID-19 pandemic. I listened to the audiobook, and narrators Bianca Amato and Gideon Emery were excellent and well chosen for their parts.

🐓 🐈 Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A very different sort of Bildungsroman. Monstrilio is about trying to find where you fit in and about unconditional love.

🐓 🏠 🐶 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
What a beautiful, heartbreaking book about love. It’s probably going onto my favorites list, to which I don’t think I’ve added anything for years. I listened to the audiobook, and George Guidall, who read the parts from Leo Gursky’s POV, was marvelous.

You are reading such a great variety of books! I took note of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. I noticed that I have trouble finding true crime books when that prompt comes up for MysteryKIT, so I have been looking for books about historical cases, and this is something I might try in future years.

>83 MissBrangwen: I don’t tend to like true crime books myself. If you haven’t already read it, and if fiction is permissible, I found Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood fascinating.

>84 Charon07: I have and just like you, I found it fascinating! I might reread it one day, but not yet I think.

>81 Charon07: And also about not eating people you know.

>86 RidgewayGirl: Hah! True enough.

🔭 The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey ★ ★ ★ ★
A small, quiet, serene book about observing a snail while bedridden with a prolonged illness. Bailey introduces various interesting facts about snails from an array of science writers and natural historians, but without ever lecturing—simply illustrating, supporting, and expounding on her careful observations of and meditations on the snail.

🏠 Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore ★ ★ ★
I needed some lightweight diversion, and this filled the bill. Not the best Christopher Moore I’ve read, but it was entertaining enough.

🐓Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The novel is written as a screenplay to emphasize how it’s about the roles Asian Americans (and ultimately everyone) are forced into playing and then eventually internalize. Very good, but very painful to read.

My half-year summary

I’ve read a total of 49 books so far this year, so I’m on track to read far more books than I’ve read in recent years. (A few were not Category Challenge books, so they’re not listed in my first post.)

I’m doing far better in most of my six categories (except for nonfiction) than I thought I’d be. From having no specific goal but a hope for two books from each category, I raised the goal to six and then ten of each (except six for nonfiction). So far I’ve read:

Tournament of Books, current and prior years’ short listed books 9/10
New Science Fiction 6/10
Classic Science Fiction 6/10
Books I Own (But Haven’t Read Yet) 14/10
Books in Translation 7/10
Nonfiction 4/6
PrizeCat: 7 books (one each for Jan-May and two for June)
SFFKit: 6 books (none in Jan, but one each for Feb & Mar and two each for Apr & May)
BingoDog: 22/25

The best books I’ve read so far this year:

5 stars:
‪Our Wives under the Sea‬ by ‪Julia Armfield‬
‪The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li‬
‪The Spear Cuts through Water‬ by ‪Simon Jimenez‬
‪The History of Love‬ by ‪Nicole Krauss‬

‪4 1/2 stars:‬
‪The Passion‬ by ‪Jeanette Winterson‬
‪Interior Chinatown‬ by ‪Charles Yu ‬
‪Lincoln in the Bardo‬ by ‪George Saunders‬
‪Monstrilio by Gerardo Samango Córdova‬
‪The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Hors‬e by ‪Louise Erdrich‬
‪Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin‬
‪Lanny‬ by ‪Max Porter‬
‪Piranesi‬ by ‪Susanna Clarke‬
‪How to Be Both‬ by Ali Smith‬

In 2023, I read a total of 56 books, of which I rated two 5 stars and twelve 4 1/2 stars, so at this rate it looks like not only will I have read more books by the end of 2024 than I did in 2023, but I’m also reading better and more enjoyable books!

‪I thought maybe the combination of PrizeCat and Tournament of Books selections were the source of most of my best books so far this year, but 8 of my favorites were for the BingoDog (7 squares plus one I decided didn’t qualify), 7 were Tournament of Books selections, and 4 were PrizeCat reads. ‬

‪I think it’s interesting that the BingoDog led to some of my favorite books so far this year. I thought it would be fun but would end up being light and mostly arbitrary reads, but it has a 35% success rate at introducing me to some excellent books (the challenge overall has a 27% success rate).‬

☣ 🌍 Counterweight by Djuna ★ ★ ★ ★
SFnal corporate espionage thriller about a closely held corporate conglomerate involved in building a space elevator based in the island country of Patusan. A clever and intriguing romp involving space exploration technology, AI, and brain implants.

☣ Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot ★ ★ ★
A fine—if not terribly original—space opera, with evil warring religious factions, downtrodden underclasses, underground rebels, old beat-up spaceships, a tough-as-nails, rough-and-tumble protagonist, and a mysterious ninja-like sidekick that she picks up along the way.

🌍 🐈 Orphans of Eldorado by Milton Hatoum ★ ★ ★
One of Canongate’s Myths series. A realistic story set in early 20th century Manaus and Vila Bela that incorporates elements of the indigenous Amazonian legend of the Enchanted City conflated with the colonialist legend of El Dorado. Though I appreciated the cultural perspectives offered, I found the narrative bleak, dry, and off-putting and so never fully engaged with it.

🏠 🐱 Grendel by John Gardner ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
I’m pretty sure the answer to life, the universe, and everything is somewhere in this book. Definitely worth a re-read after I finally get around to Beowulf.

Wow! I just noticed it’s my Thingaversary today! In two weeks my local library is having their book sale, so I’ll probably wait till then to get my 3 Thingversary books, but I’ll celebrate today by getting “one to grow on” from libro.fm. (That’s my referral link, BTW, so if you use it join libro.fm, I get an additional Thingaversary present!)

>96 Charon07: Happy Thingaversary! And happy hunting at your library book sale! Is it the one in Decatur or Lincoln?

>97 RidgewayGirl: Urbana!

>98 Charon07: Are you going on Friday or Saturday? Any interest in browsing the books together?

>99 RidgewayGirl: I’d love to! I hadn’t given much thought to the day. I’ll DM you & we can arrange a time.

Happy Thingaversary! I love Libro.fm :)

Happy Thingaversary!

>101 rabbitprincess: >102 MissWatson: Thank you!

I got the audiobook Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley for my “bonus” book, with more to come!

Happy Thingaversary!

>104 pamelad: Thank you!

🔭 A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey by Jonathan Meiburg ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A charming, engaging, playful, cautionary, and educational biogeography of caracaras and the naturalists who love them.

🏠 🐱 The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Well written and thought provoking. Though it’s ultimately an inquiry into religious faith, its questions are profound and interesting even to an unbeliever like myself, and it’s an interesting look into how first contact with an unknown culture can go horribly wrong even with the best of intentions.

>107 Charon07: I loved The Sparrow -- glad it spoke to you even as a nonreligious person. I would also highly recommend Doc by the same author if you enjoy historical fiction!

>108 christina_reads: Added to my TBR! I don’t typically read historical fiction per se, but I’m interested to see what Russell, with her ability to depict interesting and complex characters, does with a legendary figure like Doc Holliday.

>109 Charon07: I was skeptical about Doc too -- I do like historical fiction but am not particularly interested in Westerns -- but liked it a lot more than I expected to!

>109 Charon07: Doc was my introduction to Russell's work and it's very, very good. If you haven't laid hands on a copy, I'm happy to loan you mine.

>111 RidgewayGirl: I’ll take you up on that, but no hurry as I’ve got a ton of other books to get through first!

>107 Charon07: - et al - I was impressed by how she was able to write in different genres and be successful. I think The Sparrow was one of the first SF books I had ever read. There is a sequel - Children of God which was also good although not quite as good as The Sparrow I didn't think. I first heard of her when I was listening to an interview on NPR about Doc.

>113 dudes22: I understand she has a PhD in biological anthropology, so a lot of the science in The Sparrow would be in her area of expertise. It’s interesting that most of her later novels have been historical fiction.

🌍 There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
★ ★ ★ ★
Like a dark, bleak, surreal O. Henry. Most of the stories could be said to be about how dismal life was in the Soviet Union: Characters full of paranoia, suspicion, and selfishness. Stories of betrayal, abandonment, poverty, illness, and death. All very strange, with a dream-like logic.

☣ 🐱 Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A perfectly delicious science fictional noir. As in Gnomon, which I also loved, Harkaway proves himself a master of style.

🐈 The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward ★ ★ ★ 1/2
The Last House on Needless Street has put me off reading any more horror for quite some time. It’s a book about trauma, and Little Girl With Popsicle who is introduced early on is a missing child, so be forewarned if you’re thinking about reading it. But Catriona Ward is quite a writer.

>117 Charon07: Taking a BB for this one.

Thank you for your visit to my thread!

>107 Charon07: I'm not a big fiction reader, but this is one of my all time favourite books. I still haven't dared read the follow up book, Children of God, in case my heart is broken all over again.

>119 Jackie_K: I visit other people’s threads quite a lot to see what everyone’s reading—I just don’t always leave any footprints!

I got both The Sparrow and Children of God as gifts. I understand about not daring to read the sequel; I’m giving it some time before I start it to allow my heart to heal as well.

☣ August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White ★ ★ ★
A mixed bag of a space opera about giant mechas from space threatening to destroy humanity. I boosted my rating an extra half star because Ardent Violet is such a fabulous character.

🌍 Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A moving and beautiful story about quilombola tenant farmers on a plantation in the sertão of Bahia, Brazil. It’s told primarily from the points of view of two sisters, Bibiana and Belonísia, and while it tells the story of their family, in doing so it also illuminates the history of formerly enslaved African Brazilians and their descendants.

🚀 We Who Are about To… by Joanna Russ ★ ★ ★ ★
A bleak philosophical look at humanity through the lens of a small group of survivors crash-landed on a remote deserted planet.

🔭 🐶 What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
★ ★ ★ 1/2
An engaging book packed with information about owls. There are also several beautiful photos of a variety of owl species in a variety of contexts.

>115 Charon07: I've added this one to the wishlist - have mixed results re Russian fiction, but this one sounds intriguing.

>122 Charon07: My library got this as part of a donation when it was listed as a contender for the international booker. Thanks for the nudge to read it.

>125 charl08: I’ve only recently run into the term “slipstream” as a genre, and I’m not sure I understand it, but I think it could apply to Ludmilla Petrushevskaya. It’s certainly no Anna Karenina!

I can recommend Crooked Plow without reservation. Definitely a book worth putting in the library collection rather than the book sale.

🌍 The Garden of Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu ★ ★ ★ ★
An experimental “novel” of sorts that comprises a collection of stories interspersed with a framing narrative about a human chess game. Strange, sad, and surreal, it defies easy interpretation.

🐓 Big Swiss by Jen Beagin ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Stylish and funny, but a little too affectedly quirky for my taste.

🐓 🏠 The Sentence by Louise Erdrich ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
In something of a departure from her typical historical fiction set on tribal land, this is a story of urban Indians in Minneapolis, in the difficult year of COVID-19 lockdowns, George Floyd’s murder, and the Standing Rock pipeline protests. It’s primarily the story of Tookie, who works at a (rather metafictional) bookstore owned by an author named Louise (who makes mostly brief cameo appearances). But in typical Erdrich fashion, the characters are interesting and fully dimensional, their stories engaging, and the moral and other dilemmas they face are thought-provoking and edifying.

>128 Charon07: Affectedly quirky is a useful description. I could apply it to some books I've read recently and some that I've abandoned for just that: The Maid, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Lessons in Chemistry. There's a theme here.

>130 pamelad: I’ve read The Maid and I can see how “affectedly quirky” applies. I think I was willing to give it more slack since the main character is presumably neurodivergent and so not quirky in a hipster-ish way. I haven’t read the others because I tend to avoid books with those flat, cartoonish, vector illustrations on the cover—they look too much like children’s books to me and they tend toward the annoyingly hip or quirky. The cover of the German edition of Big Swiss might have been a tip-off:

_{(I read an anthologized copy, so this is just a sample cover.)}

🚀 The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester ★ ★ ★
Foyle, a common Everyman, is abandoned by a spaceship that could have rescued him from his wrecked ship. Enflamed by rage, he’s inspired to tremendous feats and abilities—to transcend his simple, common self in a quest for revenge. How he transforms himself and what he transforms himself into makes for an interesting tale with an unexpected but satisfying end, if you make it through some of the more distasteful bits common in Golden Age SF.

>132 Charon07: So The Count of Monte Cristo, but in space? Intriguing!

>133 christina_reads: The Count of Monte Cristo is still on my TBR, but I’ve seen a lot of people compare it to the Count.

🔭 🌍 The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Wohlleben’s anecdotes about animals are charming and engaging, if not as surprising and radical as those about trees in The Hidden Life of Trees.

🌍 🐈 🐱 The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A retelling of the Japanese creation myth of Izanami and Izanaki. The theme of “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” (literally) isn’t particularly resonant in this day and age, but it was an entertaining read, and I learned a little about Japanese mythology, about which I knew nothing before reading this novel.

Northwest Smith by C. L. Moore ★ ★
Northwest Smith is clearly the granddaddy of Indiana Jones and Han Solo, so it had some entertainment value. I liked these stories best when they mined mythology, such as Circe, Medusa, and Atlantis, for their plots. But they were mostly so dense with florid Lovecraftian eldritch horror that I could only take them in small doses.

☣ We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen ★ 1/2
Despite an intriguing concept, this SF thriller was tedious, unpleasant, and disappointing.

🔭 World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil ★ ★ ★ ★
This is a collection of personal essays in which nature features prominently, but it’s more reflection and memoir than “nature writing,” per se. Aimee Nezhukumatathil is first and foremost a poet, so each of the natural wonders featured in each chapter serves as a metaphor or a springing-off point for personal memories or reflections. This book first came to my attention when the Libby app recommended it as similar to The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, and if you liked that book, you’ll probably like this one as well.

🔭 James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
An excellent biography of an intriguing and tragic writer, one of my favorite science fiction authors.

🔭 Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A frank, moving, and heartfelt contemplation of Bechdel’s complex relationship with her father.

☣ 🐱 Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden ★ 1/2
This (thankfully) very short novella was compared in a blurb to Murderbot. It was nothing like Murderbot. It was a big disappointment.

🔭 🐶 Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan ★ ★ ★ ★
In my past life as a publishing freelancer, I dabbled in indexing, and I found this book interesting and entertaining. The early chapters on how indexes evolved were particularly fascinating. The index itself is a tour de force and is as much fun to read as the book itself!

🚀 Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton ★ ★ 1/2
A good, old-fashioned space opera that has aged surprisingly well. Action-adventure is its strength. The characters are bland and entirely male.

>144 Charon07: Interesting that the characters are all male, since Andre Norton was a woman!

>145 christina_reads: Well, it was published in 1958 under the pen name Andrew North, so while it’s unfortunate that she didn’t take the opportunity to slip in a female apprentice or two, it’s not surprising. A lot of the women in SF back then were “passing” (as men), which meant male pen names or neutral initials (like C.L. Moore), and a “masculine” point of view that would appeal to the boys and young men who were (at least perceived as) the primary consumers of SF at that time.

>146 Charon07: Yeah, I'm sure she was thinking about "what sells" at the time, when SF was a very male-targeted genre.

🐈 Popisho by Leone Ross ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A sensual, carnal, lush folk tale of a community wrapped in love and magic and also of sly, subversive populism and feminism that takes place on the archipelago of Popisho, a magical realist version of Jamaica.

🐓 On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A prose poem about being a Vietnamese American, about being gay, about family, opioid addiction, poverty and violence, and beauty.

A page, turning, is a wing lifted with no twin, and therefore no flight. And yet we are moved.

>149 Charon07: I found that book to be both tremendously beautiful and heartbreaking.

>150 RidgewayGirl: Yes, it is. I can’t believe it didn’t win the ToB. I may have to add the book it lost to, Optic Nerve, to my TBR, because it must really be something.

🔭 Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys of the Avian World by Candace Savage ★ ★ 1/2
A pleasant but insubstantial collection of anecdotes about corvids. The best part were the numerous illustrations.

🏠 🐓 A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet ★ ★ ★ 1/2
An allegorical tale of climate apocalypse that roughly follows biblical stories one might find in a children’s bible. A crew of children, whose parents are irresponsibly drinking their days away, are oddly responsible and competent as they face flood, exodus, a crucifixion, and armageddon in the form of armed survivalists.

>152 Charon07: I have this one on Mt TBR. I'll save it for when I need a light palate cleanser, I think.

>154 Jackie_K: Yes, I think it would be perfect for that.

🐈 The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers ★ ★ ★ ★
I don’t read a lot of children’s literature, but this audiobook, read marvelously by Ethan Hawke, was recommended to me, and I enjoyed it very much.

🐓 🏠 Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson ★ ★ ★ ★
A book with surprising depth and poignancy for one with such a silly premise and such humorous writing. I listened to the audiobook, read perfectly by Marin Ireland.

I really liked Nothing to see here. I was surprised by its depth as well.

>157 Charon07: Nothing to See Here was my introduction to Wilson's books and I loved it. I'm drawn to novels about friendships and ones about problematic women so this hit my sweet spot.

🚀 🌍 The Wall by Marlen Haushofer ★ ★ ★ ★
A simple, unadorned, matter-of-fact, first-person journal about living in the forest with a handful of animals after the end of the world. It was quietly devastating.

🚀 🌍 🐱 The Absolute at Large by Karel Čapek ★ ★ ★ ★
Another excellent satire on capitalism, international politics, and, above all, religion, from Karel Čapek.

“We’ll infect the whole industrial and financial world with God, and preserve only our own country as an island of civilization and honest labour free from God. It is a patriotic duty, so to speak, and besides, we have our own factories to consider.”

🐓 🐈 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
It was a good book. I cried and I cried.

🐓 The Trees by Percival Everett ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Part police procedural, part savage satire, part tragic history, but also funny as hell.

>164 Charon07: Without a doubt, The Trees will be on my list of Best Books I Read in 2024!

>165 DeltaQueen50: Mine too!

>164 Charon07: - I didn't get to it this year but it's definitely on my list for next year.

>164 Charon07: I think this is Everett's best book, although there is a lot of competition for that spot.

>167 dudes22: You won’t regret it!

>168 RidgewayGirl: I just read James, and I thought The Trees couldn’t possibly top that. Now I can’t decide which is best.

🔭 The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin ★ ★ ★ ★
I wish I could share Baldwin’s hope that the better angels of our nature might one day prevail. Nevertheless, I’m glad I read this wise book in these dark times.

>162 Charon07: I really enjoyed The Absolute at Large. Brilliant satire, and so is War with the Newts.

>171 pamelad: I counted this as my recommended book for the SFFKit based on >54 pamelad:!

>170 Charon07: I feel like I should add this to my list for next year. It's definitely a fitting read for current times.

>173 purpleiris: It was a very timely read. I wrote down quotes that I thought were relevant or that could help me through these difficult days:

“A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.”

“A few years ago, I would have hated these people with all my heart. Now I pitied them, pitied them in order not to despise them. And this is not the happiest way to feel toward one’s countrymen.”

“People always seem to band together in accordance to a principle that has nothing to do with love, a principle that releases them from personal responsibility.”

Those are definitely all relevant. :(

🚀 Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Tiptree remains one of my favorite SF authors, and these stories, most of which I’d read when I was very young, are even more poignant after reading Julie Phillips’ biography of Tiptree.

>174 Charon07: Kind of depressing how timely his words remain. I do need to read this.

🐓 Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino ★ ★ ★ ★
Adina is (maybe) an alien sent to Earth to report about conditions here. Her report on being human is funny and sad and wistful and entirely worth reading.

(I’m counting this as a ToB read because it’s on the 2025 longlist and because I don’t think it qualifies as science fiction, the category for which I thought I was reading it.)

🐈 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore ★ ★ ★ ★
A slightly weird but strangely funny and touching meditation on love and death and grief.

🚀 The Best of Leigh Brackett by Leigh Brackett ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Stories with depth and characters that make them a cut above most pulp SF I’ve read.

>178 Charon07: You win, because Beautyland is in the tournament. https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the-2025-shortlist

You did better than I did, since I'm knee deep into Banal Nightmare and Creation Lake and neither made the roster.

>181 RidgewayGirl: Yeah, I lucked out (but I would have counted it anyway)! I’ve already 3 of the shortlist, which I think is the most I’ve read before the tournament starts. There’s 3 more I’d really like to get to if I can get my hands on them at the library or on libby.

I’m kind of surprised Creation Lake didn’t make the cut, since it seemed to me like the buzzy sort of book that would have made the shortlist.

🌍 Confidential by Mikołaj Grynberg ★ ★ ★ ★
A spare, concise collection of short vignettes that illuminate the legacy passed down through the generations of a family descended from Holocaust survivors in Poland.

I received an ARC through LT Early Reviewers, and it was one of the finest ER titles I’ve read.

🐓 The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A fun romp, if a tad too absurd for my taste, about eight translators who run amok when their beloved author goes missing.

🐈 Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente ★ ★ ★ 1/2
A beautiful and grotesque dreamlike fairy tale about a magical city with its own idiosyncratic logic and symbolism.