*Edited to add — I just read the synopsis of The Age of Miracles on Amazon and the story came flooding back. Oh my goodness, it was so good! I was wrong — it wasn’t the ozone layer or sun disappearing, it was the earth slowing down. SO. GOOD.
Hello loves
As promised, here’s my slightly unhinged recap of the four and five-star rated novels I read last year.
Out of 64 books I only had eight 5-star reads and 15 four-star, but those make up nearly a third of the list, which actually doesn’t feel too bad.
The majority were 3 and 3.5-stars (24 books combined) and 2-stars (14 books). There were three 1-star books and I didn’t bother to track the DNFs, of which there were many!
No one will be surprised to learn that book reviews are not my strong suit — ha! How do BookTubers do it so effortlessly?! — but it was interesting to see which stories out of the 23 I remembered and which books I couldn’t remember reading at all.
For a time I did keep an analogue reading journal to record a few thoughts about each book, but predictably I’ve let it slip, and honestly I find reading most enjoyable when I can just immerse myself in the words and not worry too much about the rest.
Recording my stats in my Notion database is enough — I try to keep my Goodreads updated but it’s not a priority.
What were your favourite reads from last year? I’d love to know! 🤓
BookTubers I enjoy watching:
Here’s the list* as they appear in the video:
The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlyn Starling
Last to Leave the Room by Caitlyn Starling
Bear by Marian Engel
Chlorine by Jade Song
Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth
The Lamb by Lucy Rose
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M Valente
Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper
Waif by Samantha Kolesnik
Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
This Immaculate Body by Emma Van Straaten
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte Mcconaghy
Exalted by Anna Dorn
Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
*5-star books are in bold
