Shannon (sturlington) Gets to Those Books She's Been Meaning to Read (or Reread) in 2024

Hi, everyone! This year, my challenge is going to be very loose, and I'm not actively going to do any CATs or KITs. The goal is to read what I want to read when I want to read it. My theme is books that I've been meaning to read or reread for a while now. I have a list that includes new books and old ones, classics and obscure, from which I'll choose whatever I feel like reading at the time -- while giving myself permission to wander farther afield and read whatever catches my eye and fancy.

I will continue to do the BingoDOG despite not coming close to filling up my card in recent years. I'll also follow along with my long-time favorite challenge, ScaredyKIT, in case my reads coincide with the monthly themes. And I'll keep tracking the locales where my reads are set.

And that's it! I expect my reviews this year will be extremely short and sweet, but I'll list everything I read, and I'm happy to discuss books with anyone who stops by.

I hope all my fellow readers are having a wonderful, relaxing holiday. Here's looking forward to a great new year!

BingoDOG



1. Featuring twins: Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
2. Epistolary or diary: The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker
3. Featuring water: American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
4. Another cultural tradition: Kindred by Octavia Butler (slave narrative)
5. Current/recent bestseller: All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby
7. Person's name in title: Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
8. Book with an ugly cover: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
11. Paper-based item in plot: Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
13. Read a CAT (KIT): Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
15. Short story collection: You Like It Darker by Stephen King
16. POC author: Passing by Nella Larsen
17. Three-word title: Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason
18. LT similar library: Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J. W. Ocker
19. Set in a city: Grievers by adrienne maree brown
20. Warriors or mercenaries: Prophet by Sin Blache and Helen Macdonald
21. Reread a favorite book: The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
22. About friendship: Cackle by Rachel Harrison
23. Set in multiple countries: The Future by Naomi Alderman
24. Only title and author on cover: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
25. Publication year ending in 24: The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

ScaredyKIT Themes:

✔January: Psychological Thrillers - Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason
✔February: Gothic - Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J. W. Ocker
March: True Crime
✔April: Witches, Evil Spirits, and Black Magic - Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
✔May: Graphic Novels and Short Fiction - You Like It Darker by Stephen King
June: Serial Killers
July: Corporeal Undead
August: Middle grade and YA horror
✔September: Stephen King and Family - well, I did read You Like It Darker earlier in the year
✔October: Contemporary Horror - Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
✔November: Things with a Bite - Vampires and Werewolves - Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
December: Catch Up! Read Something That Fits Any Month's Theme

USA Road Trip: Continuing my road trip from the previous year


Create Your Own Visited States Map

✔Arizona: Dinosaurs - outside of Phoenix (read in 2023)
✔California: American Mermaid - Hollywood (read in 2024)
✔Connecticut: The Cherry Robbers - Fiction town of Bellflower Village (read in 2024)
✔Florida: The Light Pirate - Fictional town of Rudder, Florida. (read in 2023)
✔Idaho: Beulah - Fictional small town of Beulah, Idaho. (read in 2023)
✔Iowa: The Houseboat - Fictional small town of Oscar, Iowa. (read in 2023)
✔Kansas: You Like It Darker - One long story is set in Kansas. (read in 2024)
✔Maine: Looking Glass Sound - Fictional coastal town (read in 2024)
✔Maryland: Kindred - Plantation in 19th-century Maryland. (reread in 2024)
✔Massachusetts: No Gods, No Monsters - In and around Boston. (read in 2022)
✔Michigan: Grievers - Detroit. (read in 2024)
✔Minnesota: This Town Sleeps - Small town of Geshig. (read in 2023)
✔Mississippi: The Trees - Small town of Money. (read in 2023)
✔Missouri: Gone Girl - Small town of Carthage. (reread in 2024)
✔Montana: Lone Women - Very small town of Big Sandy. (read in 2023)
✔Nevada: Prophet - Climax takes place at a secret military base in the desert. (read in 2024)
✔New Hampshire: I Have Some Questions for You - Boarding school. (read in 2024)
✔New Mexico: The Better Liar - Albuquerque. (read in 2024)
✔New York: Vladimir - Upstate liberal arts college. (read in 2023)
✔North Carolina: Three Graves Full - Small town of Stillwater. (read in 2024)
✔Ohio: The End of the Road - Small town/farm in rural Ohio. (read in 2023)
✔Oregon: Hummingbird Salamander - Guessing this was the setting as it was never specified; I may trade this out if I happen to read a book more explicitly set in Oregon. (read in 2022)
✔Pennsylvania: Appointment in Samarra - Set in the fictional small town of Gibbsville
✔Rhode Island: The Pallbearers' Club - A large portion is set in Providence, but also some is set in Beverly, Massachusetts. (read in 2023)
✔South Carolina: How to Sell a Haunted House - Set mainly in Charleston. (read in 2023)
✔Tennessee: Summer Sons - Set at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. (read in 2023)
✔Virginia: All the Sinners Bleed - Set in Charon County, on the coast. (read in 2024)
✔Washington: Remarkably Bright Creatures - Small coastal town of Sowell Bay on the Puget Sound. (read in 2023)
✔Washington DC: Never Saw Me Coming - Stand-in for Delaware (read in 2024)

World Map: Maybe I'll get outside the US more this year.


Create Your Own Visited European Countries Map

Austria: Carmilla (read in 2024)
Italy: The Talented Mr. Ripley (reread in 2024)

Welcome!

Welcome back and have fun!

Glad to see you here Shannon and looking forward to following your reading.

Like the maps! Good luck with your 2024 reading.

Here's to a great reading year in 2024, Shannon.

Have a wonderful 2024 reading year!

Good luck with your reading in 2024.

Happy reading and armchair travelling!

Happy new year, and lots of luck in 2024!

Thanks for the New Year's wishes, everyone!

1. Cackle by Rachel Harrison (2021): A good break-up book, with delicious food, sumptuous dresses, and a very cute spider. Also witches. As I'm feeling a bit witchy myself in my advancing age, I found this novel very helpful.

Fits BingoDog "About Friendship" square.

>16 sturlington: Taking a BB for this one. I love witches and spiders. I have always felt witchy since my teen years.

>17 lowelibrary: This is the book for you then!

>16 sturlington: Glad you liked it, I thought it was a fun one too!

Happy reading in 2024. And safe travels!

Good luck with your 2024 reading. I think the title of your thread could be my title every year. We will never be able to read ALL the books we mean to. :(

>21 JayneCM: And then there's those shiny new books that distract us!

2. Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason: An older thriller that's been on my list for a while so I got it from the library. Did I think this was Coen brothers' level black comedy, as some of the reviews mentioned? No, I think it was a tad overwritten for that, but it was entertaining, and I'm glad the dog didn't die.

3. I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai: Mixed feelings. The book was most certainly too long. The #metoo themes seemed sometimes didactic, sometimes muddled. I didn't agree with the characters who seemed to think they had the right to destroy other peoples' lives through social media and podcasts based solely on suspicions, even if they are right. Would have liked to see some exploration of the revictimization of subjects of true-crime podcasts as well.

4. Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J. W. Ocker - Read for ScaredyKIT--Gothic month. Haunted house story. I found it gimmicky.

5. Passing by Nella Larsen - Read for a book club. An interesting book but with no likable characters, which I'm sure was intentional. Passing as white is not the only kind of passing going on here. The novel presents a point of view we don't usually get, but still this is a book obsessed with class and appearances.

6. American Mermaid by Julia Langbein - A book about a writer and the soul-crushing process of adapting your story for Hollywood. Clever and often funny. Too much drinking.

>27 sturlington: I've just started that one. It is clever.

>28 RidgewayGirl: I look forward to reading your thoughts on it. I wouldn't want to say too much about it for fear of spoiling--it's one of those books I'm glad I didn't know a lot about going in.

7. Kindred by Octavia Butler - A reread. I felt much more compassion toward this book than I did the first time I read it, nearly 20 years ago. I'm glad I revisited it.

8. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - A reread for classics book club. Here is my original review written 14 years ago. My feelings on this book did not change much in rereading--it remains an all-time favorite.

I really like Patricia Highsmith’s writing style. It is a little old-fashioned, perfectly conveying the time and place of the story, but her word choices are so precise and evocative that I can almost see the action unfolding in technicolor in my imagination’s eye. I hope it’s not spoiling anything to tell you that there is a scene where a murder takes place, and that scene is so well narrated that I actually felt like I was the one committing the crime. At the risk of sounding like a fuddy-duddy, I don’t know if people write like this anymore.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is probably Highsmith’s most well-known novel, and the first by her that I have read (I have since read several more). Her antihero, Tom Ripley, is a character who is impossible to like, or even to sympathize with, but he does fascinate. Tom is not particularly clever or charming, or even that self-aware. Rather, he is a very lucky opportunist who wants to be anyone other than who he actually is — he despises himself — and he gets away with what he does through a combination of skillful lying and unthinking brazenness. Therein lies Tom’s talent: He doesn’t just lie effectively, but he convinces himself that his lies are what actually happened. Since he believes them so sincerely, everyone around him must believe them too.

We may not like Tom Ripley, but we do love his story, as it goes completely against the kind of story we’ve been conditioned to expect, in which the good guys triumph and no one gets away with murder. I’m sure that’s why several more Mr. Ripley books have followed this one.

9. The September House by Carissa Orlando

This is a twist on the tried-and-true haunted house story, with some insight into being in an abusive relationship. Very horrifying, on multiple layers. A bit too much at the end.

10. Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

Kind of a mess. Graphic sex and violence, but still felt juvenile. This was about psychopaths, and I think we were supposed to like them or root for them, but I didn't. I also think it was setting up a series.

>33 sturlington: Well darn. I already bought the audiobook. I guess I can put it at the end of queue.

>34 Charon07: You may like it better than I did! I think it has that first-novel feel. And I don't normally read series, so that aspect annoyed me.

11. Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

Another mind bender by Ward, although for some reason, I liked it less than previous books--perhaps the magical aspect of the plot didn't quite work for me. Though when I got to the end, and realized how I had been tricked, I wanted to reread it right away. Great characters, very evocative setting, nice insights into the act of writing.

12. The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker

All at once a slow, sensual burn of a gothic novel and a subtle upending of gothic tropes. The story features a doomed family of six sisters all named for flowers, living like colorfully dressed prisoners in a house that is called the "wedding cake," who one by one go to their mysterious fates with only one sister remaining to tell the tale. As the narrator is an artist, the book is filled with lush, evocative images. It is mostly left to the reader to make of this what we will, but men certainly do not come off well in this novel. I highly enjoyed it.

13. Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara

Read for classics book club. I really despised the main character of this novel. I was glad he had an appointment in Samarra.

14. You Like It Darker by Stephen King

A collection of short stories, many on the theme of growing older and confronting one's mortality, which makes sense considering King's time in life. About midway through this, with first the happy-ending reworking of Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and then the dog story "Laurie," I thought King might be turning into a softie. Where's the horror? Then I got to "Rattlesnakes"--whoa. That was some nightmare fuel, right there. And just when the reader is relaxing and thinking this isn't so dark. Good work. The final three stories were my favorites in the book, but I also really enjoyed the long one called "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream." Some jewels, some clunkers, overall a good read.

>39 sturlington: I like King's short stories, so I'll look for this, especially for his reimagining of "A Good Man is Hard to Find," which is such a perfect story.

>40 RidgewayGirl: I'm sorry--I probably spoiled that story for you. It was kind of ballsy for him to do, though, because you are right that it is a perfect story, and I'm absolutely positive he knows that. I think you'll find the collection to be worth picking up, though.

A movie recommendation: American Fiction based on the book by Percival Everett

I haven't read this book, although I have read several others by Everett. Most movies I watch these days are either reruns or are just not all that memorable. This movie was wry, intelligent, challenging. I enjoyed it.

15. Grievers by adrienne maree brown

Not really science fiction, although the premise is. This is more of an elegy and a love letter, both for the city of Detroit and for its people. The writing borders on poetry and strongly evokes the fog of mourning as well as the unending burden of social justice work.

16. The Better Liar by Tanen Jones

It's easy to write a formulaic suspense thriller, hard to write a good one. This is a good one. I wasn't expecting much, as I'm in my "it's too hot to read anything but thrillers" phase of the year, so this one pleasantly surprised me.

17. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

A reread 12 years after the book was published and its effect on the culture--primarily with the naming of the "cool girl" trope--has been solidified. I liked the book much better the second time around. Knowing the twists, I was able to pay more attention to how the author structured the narrative and how the back stories contributed to making these characters who they were. I still felt like both these people were loathsome, but having had more (not happy) life experiences under my belt since my first read, I gained a better understanding of how they got to be that way, more empathy for them, even if my sympathy was still lacking.

Shoutout to A Quiet Place: Day One for prominently featuring Octavia Butler's book Dawn. This movie definitely exceeded my expectations.

18. The Future by Naomi Alderman

I was torn in my reaction to this. I dug the writing for the most part, and the plot carried me along. But I think it got bogged down toward the end, and I felt like it drifted into didactic utopian fantasy territory and away from telling a good story. You know how you feel like you're suddenly reading a manifesto instead of a novel?

Not finished: The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen

I purchased this novel because it was shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award, but when I realized that I literally had to force myself to pick it up and go back to reading it, I gave myself permission to quit. In past years, the Jackson Award has been a reliable way to find new and worthwhile works of dark fiction, but I have noticed that reliability dissipating with the most recent shortlists. Ah, well. Needless to say, I cannot recommend this one.

19. Prophet by Sin Blache and Helen Macdonald

This was a fun read! There's an X-Files kind of plot, a suspenseful trip into a house of horrors at the end (I always love a new take on this), and a slow-burn will-they-won't-they romance, yes! Definitely good beach-read material, and I rarely say this, but I believe I would read a second book with these characters. As per usual, I buck the trend and love what everyone else is hating on, but this has been one of my favorite reads of the year thus far.

20. All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby

Very readable mystery, with some highly disturbing content. Not for the faint of heart. I found a few holes in the plot and a little purple in the prose, but I liked the small-town setting and the main character's development as he tracked down a serial killer.

I read this because my Friends of the Library group is sponsoring a panel talk with this author soon.

>50 sturlington: Will you attend the panel with Cosby?

>51 RidgewayGirl: Yes, I will be there, manning the Friends table.

21. Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

Screenplay combined with novel explores the tropes of slasher and camp, low-budget horror movies, with a couple of twists at the end. I thought this was entertaining, very creepy in several parts, and an interesting commentary on why people are so drawn to horror films as to want to make them or be fans.

22. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Reread for classics book club. I recall that this is the first literary work I ever read where I realized that it could be about the fantastic and still be taken seriously. That was an important revelation for me.

23. The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

Political intrigue set on a Martian colony where there are conflicts between refugees from Earth and Mars-born colonists (Naturals) on all sorts of fronts, including relative strength, wealth, class, and gender identity. Multilayered world-building, a slow burn of a story, complex characters, fun wordplay, a sweet romance, and intelligent/adorable animals add up to a very entertaining read.

24. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Vampires used (once again) to very thinly disguise unacceptable sexual desire. My edition has sensual, gothic-style illustrations and an introduction/footnotes by Carmen Maria Machado.

25. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Reread for classics book club. I don't have a lot to say about this. Salinger is an excellent writer who has really nailed Holden's voice, but this is not a book I enjoyed or a character I enjoyed spending time with. So what to say?

26. Entitlement by Rumaan Alam

I did not like this as much as Alam's previous novel. I was confused about Brooke's character. She didn't seem naive but then it seems that her outcome rests on her naivete. The last scene at the party was fantastic but the rest of the book didn't uphold it. I think Alam didn't have full control over his themes or his character, so this book was almost but not quite there. It's clear that Alam is referencing The Bell Jar, but I did not get that at all from Brooke. He should have given in and gone for a subversion of The Great Gatsby--that might have worked better.

27. Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

This novel begins with a kidnapping in the 1980s and follows the family affected by that one event up until the present day, but it so much reminds me of the big novels of the 1970s that packed in everything. I really enjoyed it, even if I didn't like the characters that much. The end packs a punch.

2024 End-of-Year Meme
Describe yourself: Gone Girl

Describe how you feel: Grievers

Describe where you currently live: The September House

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Looking Glass Sound

Your favourite form of transportation is: The Catcher in the Rye

Your favourite food is: The Cherry Robbers

Your favourite time of day is: Twelve Nights at Rotter House

Your best friend is: The Better Liar

You and your friends are: Kindred

What’s the weather like: The Metamorphosis

You fear: The Future

What is the best advice you have to give: Cackle

Thought for the day: All the Sinners Bleed

What is life for you: I Have Some Questions for You

How you would like to die: Horror Movie

Your soul’s present condition: You Like It Darker

What was 2024 like for you? Passing

What do you want from 2025? Never Saw Me Coming