Favorite Books — March 2024

I didn’t get through as many books this month as last, but there’s one I absolutely want to rave about:

HALF-WITCH, by John Schoffstall

In Lizbet Lenz’s world, the sun still goes around the earth, God speaks directly to his worshippers, goblins haunt every cellar and witches lurk in the forests. Disaster strikes when Lizbet’s father Gerhard, a charming scoundrel, is thrown into a dungeon by the tyrant Hengest Wolftrow. To free him, Lizbet must cross the Montagnes du Monde, globe-girdling mountains that reach to the sky, a journey no one has ever survived, and retrieve a mysterious book. Lizbet is desperate, and the only one who can help her is the unpleasant and sarcastic witch girl Strix.

Wow, this book was fantastic. And despite some rave reviews in prominent places, it seems to have flown under everyone’s radar for the most part. Whimsical, inventive, irreverent (and sometimes surprisingly reverent), this novel is a true hidden gem that deserves a much wider audience.

Other books I enjoyed this month included THE LAST DAYS OF NEW PARIS by China Miéville, NEON ROSES by Rachel Dawson, TO SHAPE A DRAGON’S BREATH by Moniquill Blackgoose, ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE by Robin Hobb, SCABBY QUEEN by Kirsten Innes, and THE PRISONER’S THRONE by Holly Black.

Favorite Books — February 2024

February was a good month for reading. The one I want to highlight this week definitely deserves its status as a well known classic:

REBECCA, by Daphne du Maurier

Ancient, beautiful Manderley, between the rose garden and the sea, is the county’s showpiece. Rebecca made it so — even a year after her death, Rebecca’s influence still rules there. How can Maxim de Winter’s shy new bride ever fill her place or escape her vital shadow?

I’d been worried that I wouldn’t get as much as I could out of this novel because I’d been spoiled for the Big Twist many years ago. I needn’t have been concerned — there’s a lot more to this book than the twist. It’s a subtler and more interesting book than it pretends to be. While it takes the form of a gothic melodrama in many ways, the purported hero is no falsely maligned innocent, and the purported heroine is so much less memorable than her deceased nemesis that she doesn’t even get a name to remember her by. Great book.

Other books I liked this month included THESE BURNING STARS by Bethany Jacobs, WITTGENSTEIN’S MISTRESS by David Markson, THE TWICE-DROWNED SAINT by C. S. E. Cooney, HEARTSTOPPER VOLUMES 2-5 by Alice Oseman, VESPERTINE by Margaret Rogerson, THE HOUSEKEEPER AND THE PROFESSOR by Yōko Ogawa, GIRLS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD by Laura Brooke Robson, SILVER NITRATE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, BLACK SAILS TO SUNWARD by Shelia Jenné, SPACEMAN BLUES by Brian Francis Slattery, and DRAGONFALL by L. R. Lam.

Buffalo

Buffalo from the town of Buffalo, who are buffaloed — that is to say, overawed or intimidated — by other buffalo from the town of Buffalo, may find themselves in turn buffaloing yet a third set of buffalo from the town of Buffalo.

I don’t know why this concept is usually conveyed with such a shocking lack of clarity.

Favorite Books — January 2024

There were no fewer than three fantastic books I want to highlight as standouts this month, in three very different genres:

MENEWOOD, by Nicola Griffith

Hild is eighteen, no longer the bright child who made a place in Edwin Overking’s court with her seemingly supernatural insight. But now war is brewing. And Hild must find the implacable determination to forge a radically different path for herself and her people.

Even if the Hild Sequence stopped at Menewood, its second book, it would be a towering work of historical fiction. But I do hope there will be more books, since after well over a thousand pages of text, Hild (who historically lived to the age of 66) has a lot left to her story, and I’d love to know what she does next. This book starts with some radical changes to Hild’s circumstances, and then for much of its length it is, if it’s any one thing, the process of her learning to become a person, instead of the infallible prophet she was forced to be as a child. And then, unsurprisingly given the time and place, there is more war. As with the previous book, it’s riveting throughout.

MRS. S, by K. Patrick

In an elite English boarding school, a butch Australian outsider arrives to take up the antiquated role of “matron.” Within this landscape of immense privilege, she finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body. That is until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster’s wife. Over the course of a long, restless summer, their unspoken yearning blooms into an illicit affair of electric intensity.

For most of its length, I thought this was quite a good book. Then I hit the absolute gut-punch of an ending, and decided it might be a great one. The almost impressionistic prose and dialogue might not suit everyone, but it definitely worked for me.

THE ADVENTURES OF AMINA EL-SIRAFI, by Shannon Chakraborty

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural. But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum.

This was just SO. MUCH. FUN! Pirates! Sea monsters! Evil sorcerers! Moral dilemmas! An ex-criminal getting the gang back together again for one last job! It might not ever reach the thematic depths of Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy, but the rich historical backdrop and the great characters more than make up for that.

Other books I enjoyed this month included AND PUT AWAY CHILDISH THINGS by Adrian Tchaikovsky, HEARTSTOPPER VOLUME ONE by Alice Oseman, CONQUEST by Nina Allan, SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON by Wole Talabi, and THE SEA IN YOU by Jessi Sheron.

THE RY AWARDS, PART IV – LITERARY AND CONTEMPORARY FICTION

And finally, we come to the last category in THE RY AWARDS, which was particularly strong this year.

BEST NOVEL:
HALF A YELLOW SUN by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

BEST CLASSIC:
BELOVED by Toni Morrison

BEST HUMOROUS HORROR:
THE SUNDIAL by Shirley Jackson

BEST HORRIFIC HUMOR:
THE VERY NICE BOX by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman

BEST WAR NOVEL:
THE QUIET AMERICAN by Graham Greene

BEST NOVEL IN VERSE (tie):
DEAR MEDUSA by Olivia A. Cole
COUPLETS by Maggie Millner

BEST TRANSLATED NOVEL:
ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT by Mieko Kawakami

BEST TRANSLATED TRILOGY:
KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER by Sigrid Undset

BEST DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY (tie):
I’M SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY by Rebecca Wait
HOME by Marilynne Robinson

THE RY AWARDS, PART III – MEMOIR, BIOGRAPHY, AND FICTIONALIZED MEMOIR AND BIOGRAPHY

Third category of THE RY AWARDS! Every year, there’s always one oddball category because I happened to read an unusual number of books in it. This year, it’s biography-adjacent books.

BEST MEMOIR:
I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL MEMOIR:
IT’S LONELY AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH by Zoe Thorogood

BEST ROMAN-A-CLEF:
SISTERS BY A RIVER by Barbara Comyns

BEST FAKE BIOGRAPHY:
BIOGRAPHY OF X by Catherine Lacey

THE RY AWARDS, PART II – SCIENCE FICTION

Next up for THE RY AWARDS, as seems only logical, is the category I read the second most.

BEST SF NOVEL:
EMBASSYTOWN by China Miéville

BEST POST-APOCALYPTIC SF:
LEECH by Hiron Ennes

BEST PRE-APOCALYPTIC SF:
IF TOMORROW DOESN’T COME by Jen St. Jude

BEST MID-APOCALYPTIC SF (tie):
THIRSTY ANIMALS by Rachelle Atalla
ON THE EDGE OF GONE by Corinne Duyvis

BEST MULTIVERSE NOVEL:
FAMOUS MEN WHO NEVER LIVED by K. Chess

BEST SPACE OPERA SERIES:
THE EXPANSE by James S. A. Corey

BEST SF SERIES ENDER:
THE INFINITE by Ada Hoffman

BEST WHAT-THE-HECK-WAS-THAT SF NOVEL:
SEVERAL PEOPLE ARE TYPING by Calvin Kasulke

THE RY AWARDS, PART I – FANTASY

A new year has come, a new day has dawned, and that means it is time for the sacred tradition of reflecting on the past year with the most important question of all – what did I read? Was any of it good?

That’s right, it’s time for THE RY AWARDS, the least important of all literary awards, given to books read in the past year by Ry!

We begin, as always, with my favorite category.

BEST FANTASY NOVEL:
SAINT DEATH’S DAUGHTER by C. S. E. Cooney

BEST FANTASY SEQUEL:
THE SHADOW CABINET by Juno Dawson

BEST FANTASY GRAPHIC NOVEL:
NIMONA by ND Stevenson

BEST MIDDLE-GRADE FANTASY:
ISLAND OF WHISPERS by Frances Hardinge

BEST VAMPIRES:
THE GILDA STORIES by Jewelle Gomez

BEST FAIRIES:
THORNHEDGE by T. Kingfisher

BEST GHOSTS:
THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH by Andrew Joseph White

BEST DEMONS:
WITCH KING by Martha Wells

BEST HUMOROUS FANTASY NOVEL:
KINGS OF THE WYLD by Nicholas Eames

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORIES:
WHITE CAT, BLACK DOG by Kelly Link

BEST WHAT-THE-HECK-WAS-THAT FANTASY NOVEL:
AMPHIBIAN by Christina Neuwirth

Favorite Books — December 2023

There’s no particular book I want to single out this month, but honestly quite a few that I very much liked:

BIOGRAPHY OF X by Catherine Lacey, PERSEPOLIS RISING by James S. A. Corey, I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy, SYSTEM COLLAPSE by Martha Wells, MAKING COMICS by Scott McCloud, THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES by Alix E. Harrow, THE STREET OF CROCODILES by Bruno Schulz, MYSTERIES OF THORN MANOR by Margaret Rogerson, THE IMPENDING BLINDNESS OF BILLIE SCOTT by Zoe Thorogood, SISTERS BY A RIVER by Barbara Comyns, and THE LITTLE STRANGER by Sarah Waters.

Sometime in the next few days, I’ll post the winners of my personal annual book awards!

Favorite Books — November 2023

Another short list this month, but with an excellent standout to recommend:

SAINT DEATH’S DAUGHTER, by C. S. E. Cooney

To be born into a family of royal assassins pretty much guarantees that your life is going to be… rather unusual. Especially if, like Miscellaneous “Lanie” Stones, you also have a vicious allergy to all forms of violence and bloodshed, and an uncanny affinity for bringing the dead back to life. To make matters worse, family debt looms – a debt that will have to be paid sooner rather than later if Lanie and her sister are to retain ownership of the ancestral seat, Stones Manor. Lanie finds herself courted and threatened by powerful parties who would love to use her worryingly intimate relationship with the goddess of death for their own nefarious ends. But the goddess has other plans…

This book has some of the same feel for me as Gideon the Ninth — and not just because they both feature queer necromancers (although that probably was, you know, a factor.) But more than that, this is a *messy* book. The plot meanders. Sometimes it skips years. Sometimes it’ll spend a chapter enthusing about the costumes everyone’s wearing to a party. Sometimes the characters talk in exposition. It does not care about getting from point A to point B in a straight line. So why did I like it so much? Because I was always on board for the ride. This is a book that delights in language, delights in its characters, and delights in exploring its own world, and it’s hard not to get swept right up in that delight.

Other great reads this month included BIRDS OF AMERICA by Lorrie Moore, ON THE EDGE OF GONE by Corinne Duyvis, and THE MIDNIGHT GIRLS by Alicia Jasinska.