Books I read in 2024

Red Rising Series – OUR GOD WHO ART IN HEAVEN! This is the greatest thing I’ve read in years. It’s been so long since I’ve been this into a series. I burned through the original renditions, then immediately followed that with the graphic audiobook versions. Then I read the graphic novels. Unfortunately, the final book won’t come out till (hopefully) 2026.

Dungeon Crawler Carl Series – This is another absolute BANGER. I’ve never had a year filled with this many awesome books. It’s a genre piece. If you don’t like this genre, then maybe you won’t like it. If you do like this genre, this will be the greatest thing you’ve ever read.

This is more humorous, whereas Red Rising is more “epic.”

I love stories that give me a glimpse into the life of something unfamiliar. This is a good fictional variation of Hillbilly Elegy.

A very nice collection of ideas on living well.

I appreciate being able to benefit from others’ life wisdom.

Reread. Yigyu started reading this so I decided to read along to be able to talk about it. It was fun discussing the concepts with her. These are the kids of ideas I want to live by.

Amazing book. Made me think a lot about colonialism and Africa. I want to learn more about it. I want to know what life is/was like in each region of the world. I want to know the basic history, values, and experiences that caused them to be the way they are. I can’t know everything, but at least I can get a general idea. This one book expanded what I know about life in Africa by leaps and bounds.

Part of the magic of this book was how unlikely it was for me to read it. It’s written by an old Facebook friend’s dad. He posted about it a couple of years ago, and I added it to my Kindle list. I never intended to read it, but I ended up doing just that. Partly it was fun to read the story of a person I know in real life. Mostly it’s glimpsing the honesty and wisdom accumulated in a good man’s life. There are smart, remarkable people doing incredible things in little pockets all around the world.

Reread. I got Yigyu to read this after Skin in the Game and read it along with her. It’s fun to read books together and talk about them.

I rate this my highest Four Star. Not sure why I didn’t rate it a Five Star at the time. I enjoyed the tone and style and eagerly await the sequels.

Enjoyable read. “Live gratefully.” was a line that struck me. However, I believe that people over-romanticize Native American culture. I doubt it was as idyllic as people paint it to have been.

Somehow I never heard of this book before. I read it because Yigyu was reading it. Amazing story. I love how it expressed having a relationship with God.

I read it because Yigyu did (I’m noticing a theme here) and she liked it. I think it’s women who tend to like these kinds of books: slice-of-life. A sneak peek into the life of an ordinary person with an ordinary life that happened to have an out-of-the-ordinary experience.

Nice productivity book. Like all productivity books, it requires following up and using the resources and activities it has in order to make the best use of it. These resources and activities from this book would actually be worthwhile.

Nice conclusion to the series. Fun YA series. One line made me tear up, “Permission to stay gave me the courage to go.” If you read the book you’ll understand.

Heard about this from Nicholas Taleb’s book. Good read. Great narrative that ties in a good summary of things “not to do” when trying to earn money in investing.

Not what I expected, but still a nice read. I was expecting an individual’s contemplation on life. This book was a contemplation on the role of religious faith in a person’s life. An ode to sincere believing.

Fun story. It reminded me what a good storyteller Patrick Rothfuss is and made me ache for Doors of Stone to finally come out.

Inspiring story. Left me feeling like Nike is the greatest company in the world (which is what it’s supposed to do :p).

I’ve been increasingly interested in epigenetics and the role it plays in our lives. Seeing some of the mannerisms I had as a child manifest in my kids piqued my interest. It blew my mind seeing them pick up ticks that I stopped at 10 and completely forgot about.

This didn’t hit me as strongly as the first time (what book does?). It became newly available as an audiobook, so I wanted to revisit it. I love that we now live near a creek and I can bring my kids to play there.

A nice tie-in story to The Godfather, but not quite as good.

Appreciated this glimpse into farming life. There are a lot of complicated questions revolving around the topic of producing food that I never considered.

I’ve liked the two essays I read from this guy. This is the kind of writing I want to be able to do.

It was interesting to do a deep dive into a niche topic like classic Russian literature. The author read through the most infamous classic short stories and dissected them with us. It’s awesome to benefit from the knowledge of a person’s entire life. He dedicated decades to studying these writers, and I can absorb a piece of that in a few hours.

After reading, I wondered what makes one writer’s work genius and another’s merely entertaining. These were entertaining stories for sure, but I would never have noticed the depth of them reading on my own. Did the author reveal the depth of them to me, or manufacture it? Can any story become significant with enough insistence?

A profound book. There is so much that can be dismantled and discussed regarding this. The book does an incredible job of connecting a familiar story to the journey of masculinity. However, he goes at a manic pace that’s hard to keep up with as an individual reader. Having a group to read and discuss together with would help a lot. Or a teacher who can lecture about it. I think this is a precious resource that is the culmination of the author’s life work. This is the kind of book I was hoping “The Comfort Crisis” would be. A manifesto.

Reading this was one of my annual goals. I felt peaceful listening to it. Precious book. I was pleased by how understandable much of it was. I could glean wisdom from it just listening. I was worried that the deeper meaning of it wouldn’t be attainable without studying and learning from people who dedicate their lives to interpreting the bible to everyday life.

I love these kinds of books. Absurd, ridiculous, with no higher purpose than to encourage curiosity.

An amazing thinker and amazing writer. Amazing how a person can express their thoughts and beliefs so well. I particularly love his perspective converting to Christianity as an Atheist. He was fortunate to be in a mastermind of other great writers.

You can be good merely for the sake of goodness. You can never be bad just for the sake of badness. There is always something in it that makes it seem right. Badness is only spoiled goodness.

Nice book to reinforce what I already believe. Not sure if it’s worth an audible credit. I’m writing this three week after reading and can’t recall any specific points. Worth reading a summary of as a refresher.

Nice read. But, like other self help books, I hardly remeber any points from it 11 days later. Worth reading a summary. I like the ATTUNE method (Attend, Turn toward, Understand, nondefensive listen, empathize). Oral sex is important to provide to women. Women look for trustworthiness and reliability above all. pheromones are important in attraction (in-person meeting is important). If the spark of attraction isn’t felt in the beginning, it will never come. Pay attention to how a woman treats people and how she deals with adversity. Women love shopping because it’s like gathering. Six second kisses.

Another good book that promotes an enthusiasm for curiosity. Fun to read. Not much to be gained from it besides opening my mind to science.

Fun side story in the Reckoner world.

Another curiosity book. Enjoyable read, great place to get anecdotes. However, I burned through books too quickly to recall enough. These kinds of books keep me entertained and slowly expand my mind.

I liked his original book enough to read this. Don’t think I’ll read his others though. This was enjoyable, but I’m getting too much of this genre.

This got me at the right time. The week prior to reading this I had been on a dopamine binge. Constantly looking for more and more dopamine. That’s all I was feeling. Interestingly, author categorizes two kinds of people (a popular method of book writing), the dopamine people and the connection people (forgot the chemical they named). Dopamine affects so much of our lives…

Fascinating to get a glimpse of how powerful physics is. He described how we could learn to communicate with an alien race through physics. It is unchanging and constant throughout all corners of the universe. That’s the the exact premise from the book Hail Mary. Physics is 99.99% symmetrical. that small deviation is enough to physically distinguish left from right.

We can get to a place through various means. Different ways of saying the same thing. Even physics is like that.

I enjoy Cal’s books, but honestly, I’m writing this reflection five months after reading the book and can’t remember any points from it.

Sanderson is my darling. I will basically enjoy any of his books.

Also nice, but didn’t enjoy it as much as Tress.

This was my favorite of the secret project books.

It was fun seeing the Way of Kings character crossover.

Glad I could read this book to grasp an important part of the women in my life. Women NEED to experiences wildness. It’s something I never considered before. I thuoght it was just men. I can encourage them in that. Worth a reread.

Fun book in a new genre. The super-over-powered MC. It was also fun to read a popular Korean series.

Fun Agatha Christie book. Unfortunately I already knew the plot twist from the movie.

Super short. Nice little novel about a boy’s journey to manhood.

Fun.

Fun.

Fun.

Neat, new style of book series – super short sci-fi. Being short made it easy to commit to each new book.

Farming Litrpg that’s a faster pace than Beware of Chicken, so more enjoyable for me.

I had given up after the first four books, and spontanously decided to check out the fifth. It was surprisingly enjoyable, enough so for me to continue on. Got burnt out by Book Eight so will take another break. This is a crazy long series…

This book makes me feel smarter about the future. I want to prepare myself and prepare my kids for the uncertain, opportunity-filled future.

I liked this book enough to do the activities with YG. Fun topics to discuss. An easy recommendation for couples looking for a marriage book.

I went on a John Eldredge binge this year. He’s written a lot of good stuff.

I guess I’m a word nerd. It was exciting to read a book on grammar and stylization. Many times I thought, “YES! That is the proper way to write!” I printed the rules out as a reference.

The beginning was rough. Too much time passed since I read the previous book and it picks up in the middle of the action. After slogging through the first part it turned into a lot of fun. CRAZY that this series is 11 books in and the end still isn’t in sight. Seems like a trend for modern fantasy authors. There are a ton of longggg fantasy series these days.

Gosh, Hardly remember what I got from this. We all have an inner child that needs healing? I liked how she emphasized that not all trauma is dramatic.

I like these books that are a good mix of science and poetry about nature. It’s an area I want to develop more appreciation for.

The Christian Girl’s guide to friendship. It’s SUPER religious. It didn’t need to be, but that’s who she’s writing to and I’m trying to learn more about that world so I appreciated it.

The best book on friendship of all the ones I read. Also the only one geared towards guys. Every. Single. Book. On friendship is written for women.

This is the new science communicator for the lay man. He does a great job distilling complex subjects.

What a surprisingly enjoyable book given how short it is. Even in such a short book Sanderson created a robust plot with interesting characters.

Nice continuation.

The OG science communicator. Loved reading this.

We all yearn for a father.

My attempt at checking out some classics. It didn’t dissapoint. I’m amazed by the author’s ability to vocalize the uncertainty and angst of living as a woman who knows she doesn’t have a chance of living up to the expectations placed upon her. Elagantly written. It didn’t hit like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. That was beautiful. I would not call this book beautiful. Elegant is a good word.

I love John’s writing. I love his career. He’s a useful model for exactly the lifestyle I hope for myself. Writing, sharing ideas, working closely together with good friends on meaningful projects. The Kingdom awaits us. That’s a comforting reminder. Everything on this earth is temporary; all the good and all the pain. At the end, all shall be restored; all shall be made new.

Surprisingly entertaining. I read many reviews about this, deliberating whether to get into it or not. What I remember from what I read is that it’s an 80s pop culture indulgence fest. I could see that from the first book, but it honestly wasn’t over my head or annoying as I feared. It’s actually an interesting premise written in an entertaining way. I actually want to read the next book.

This book didn’t dissapoint! The most I’ve ever learned about dinosaurs and that period of history in my life! Well written, entertaining, and informative.

I’ve liked all the books I’ve read from Cal. The more I learn about him, the more I see that he’s built different. He created a successful web design company while in high school. From each book I get a small nugget that tweaks the way I interact with information. This book got me to set up a batch email process. I signed up for boomerang and now emails are blocked from my inbox except for once a day. Two other insights are that boards are useful (kanban style), and that what’s most effective is to change how I work rather than try to change how other people interact with me. I like that.

Nice trilogy. Abercrombie has a particular style that you can rely on when that’s what you’re looking for.

Fun mix of short stories.

Fun story. A shame that it’s on hiatus until the author is done with Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Nice to hear John’s thoughts on marriage.

I inhaled this too quickly. A thought-provoking book that deserves more contemplation.

Fun YA series. I would enjoy reading the rest and its nice to have a series I can comfortably share with my kids (when they start reading).

Another book that allowed me to glimpse the life and times completley out of my personal experience. Jewish folk living in NYC.

There are truly strong-willed and iron-minded people out there. This is one of those guys. He writes so casually about insane feats of endurance trecking across mountain ranges. Nice to glimpse life in this part of the world, the culture and considersations that shape their lives and choices. Super interesting reading a popular book from a former Nazi (although he was not involved in the war because he was in Asia the entire time).

The book he wrote with his partner that died in the climbing accident. That must have been a heartbreaking experience.

I begrudingly admit I like some of her ideas. Her success seems reachable. Reading people like this spurs me on to make it as a writer. I don’t agree with all of her ideas, but I don’t fault her for that. I do like a lot of her ideas. I think what I begrudge is the inconsitancy I see. She talks about internal things and not minding what others think, but it also seems like she’s gotten plastic surgery done on her face. She also doesn’t have a genuine online presense. Everything is curated. All you can see of her is the brand she portrays.

Fun premise, but I think there are better books out there so won’t invest further in the series.

This is a classic I could appreciate. Especially fun since Yigyu was reading it (That’s why I picked it up).

I read his books to learn how to write better.

Some people reference this book as the single most influential book in their life. It wasn’t that impactful for me, but I liked it. One thing that irks me is people’s romanticism of Native American life. There were a lot of nice communal aspects of it that fit well with nature. They also warred and killed each other a lot. People gloss over that part.

A collection of letters Richard wrote to various people over the years. Letter writing is a lost art. It was nice to glimpse what interactions were like back then.

I think I liked this Dillard book the most. She made interesting life choices. She could have lived a far wealthier, comfortable life if she so chose. She grew up as Philly elite.

Nice to imagine getting into writing. I’ve yet to do any of these exercises.

Fun series! The voice acting is fun too!

Reread for work. Nice book.

His latest book. He’s got a style of writing that I like.

I love his writing. Amazing to learn the names of the influential people of history.

Actually a collection of short stories. Captured my imagination well.

Finally read this. It was a nice book. I’d consider reading others in the series. They’ve created a methodology for disecting people’s experiences. I like to stick with Real Love.

Whimsical read. Nice romance for book lovers.

I like the contemplation on time this book provided. I have been taking time for granted. I liked it was thoughtful rather than practical. I have enough practicalness regarding time in my life. More won’t make a difference.

This is murder mystery done well.

For some reason this kind of book is way easier for me to absorb than a typical history book with dates, names, and events. I process concepts and principles better.

Reread. I like the worlds Sanderson makes.

I like Ben. He’s living many of the lifestyle things that I value. I like his take on things.

Cool to see a smart detective at work. The flow of the books are starting to feel repetitive though. Self-deprecating MC works under the radar, latches onto unexpected clues and solves the case. Always has a satisfying plot twist.

Nice short book. I had a Higashino period and binged several of his books.

Read it cause it’s short. Fun how different this writing style is from Son of the Black Sword.

A clean, slow-burn fantasy series. It’s a cozy read, but a little slow for my tastes. I’d continue the series if it were available as an audiobook; otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to conclude it.

What an interesting world! Kungfu Sicilian gangsters. Elements of the plot strongly reminded me of The Godfather, and sure enough that was one of the authors reference points. I love the blend of cultures and themes the first book pulls off. Unfortunately, it falls victim to the plight of many trilogies. Great first book, lukewarm middle book, and lackluster finale. It was hard to make it through the last book.

Nice to read outside of my genre once in a while. A cheesy, feel-good romance. Was entertaining, but not my pace. While reading I was amazed at the author’s ability to express “normal everyday people”. I could imagine the dialogue happening with typical people in real life. Or perhaps it’s the case that people imitate this form of communication becaues of the influences they absorb? Is it all one massive zeitgeist? I still remember the quote from Gone Girl, “The worst is knowing the words to say.”

And now you know why I don’t know how to relate with normal people.

Super interesting premise. Made me think about how much time I have left and what I would do if I knew. Book went the splice-of-life angle, looking into normal people’s lives during an extraordinary time, but I thought it could have been a more compelling story.

Comprehensive, but not the best delivery. Granted, this book was published in 1996. Would do much better as a Youtube series. The information can be conveyed much better in video format, and the stretches can be demonstrated far more effectively. The diagrams for these stretches were pretty useless.

Interesting to read books in varying genres, so I’m glad I read this. Nothing more than interesting.

Autobiographies are suspect. There is too much incentive to make a positive spin on your own life. They also tend to be longer than necessary. Anyway, was nice to get a better picture of this famous person. I hardly knew anything about him other than his name.

Was interesting, but hard to retain info from it. Wild the number “0” was so controversial. People denied it for years and some died over it. The lesson for me from this book is that idealogy can hamper progress when we’re too attached to it. The people who were super into geometry would not accept the existance of something that doesn’t exist in the physical world.

Good book… I think? Writing this 2.5 months after the fact I can’t recall anything from it.

Was a fun vampire book. But not good enough to commit to a 10+ book series.

I’m reading Rand because I want to understand why people ridicule her so much. Atlas Shrugged MOVED me. I was inspired by The Fountainhead. This was a descent short read. I can tell that Rand was adimant on conveying her idealogy to the world. She was more interested in that than writing good fiction.

Not my style. Nonstop emergencies, like the TV show 24 in book form. Would especially get tiring book after book of the same thing.

I expected a lot from this book. It regularly gets rated as a S-tier series. The writing is so amatuer! The character development is nonexistant and the dialogue is laughable. Kudos to the author for writing for himself and being passionate about his work, but seriously this is not S-tier material.

Interesting to read a book on the exact same topic as Indistractable, but from the opposite end of the political spectrum. Both go in-depth on the problems of social media and manipulative algorithms. Indistractable is the individualist perspective about taking personal responsibility and making habit changes. This book calls for social change and policy making. Lame. I want to be careful not to get caught in a bubble-perspective of the world, but it seems like one attitude allows for an individual to find happiness far more than the other. That being the one that calls for personal responsiblity. Yes, I agree with many of the points this book makes. Certain people have more systemic difficulties working against them than others do. There are extremely smart and motivated people working to find ways to hook us to our devices. It can feel daunting to imagine overcoming that on our own. It would be wonderful for society to make things easier for us, we’re just better off not holding our breathe for that.

Math is not something intuative that we’ve always had. It’s a science that developed over time and of which we reap the benefits of because of the many people who’s shoulders we stand on.

I don’t know what to think about how popular his books are. They’re so… jaded about the potential of human relationships. He does do an excellent job at observing history and what kinds of relationship dynamics worked in the past. But, I believe that the old ways of relating will become irrelevant as people recognize there are happier ways to relate and choose to invest in newer paradigms. It does have interesting methods when in the situation where you do want to manipulate or whoo someone. I’d like to try some of these techniques on Yigyu and see what happens.

I find that I agree with much of what Ayn Rand writes, yet there is so much criticism of her work. Perhaps I’m considering it from too small a perspective. I consider only the admirable qualities that I would like to live by in my personal life. Objectivism clearly doesn’t works on a societal scale. I like what she talks about sacrifice. If we are giving something up for a higher value, then what sacrifice is taking place? It’s an investment. We fetishize sacrifice as a great virtue when it really isn’t. I like what she talks about “Second Handers” as well. People who only can feel value from receiving it from others.

Catchy thriller. Fits right into the literature junk food category. I enjoyed reading it, but it’s the kind of book I want to only read sparingly. Sometimes its just what I need. Sometimes. The kind of book that uses cheap plots and character types, with some kind of twist to surprise the reader. Granted, it’s done well.

I like the call for deeper friendships. It’s the kind of self-help book that is useful if you follow up with applying what’s suggested. I appreciate it has a workbook to use. I’ll actually follow up on looking at it. Reading books like this is helping me focus on the importance of friendship. Good takeaway I got from this is that it’s important to re-assess a friendship whenever there is a significant life change. That gave me a chance to have that conversation with a friend. He got married while we were developing a friendship and we never acknowledged how that changes things.

I’ve read several books on friendship by this point and I don’t remember anything specific to this book.

This is the last Rand book I will read. I really wanted to understand her view and why people bash on it so much. I still don’t quite see it. I think she brings up strong points. What I can see is that she is self-indulgent in her writing. She also idealizes. I admire she stands for something and swings hard. It says something that people still talk about her work 50-60 years after the fact. I like what she says about extremism. It’s taken as a given that it’s a negative connotation. But there can be equally positive extremism as there is negative extremism. Like she said, you don’t applaud a man with modest integrity.

I have a hard time with classics. Hard for me to get. I suppose this book spoke to something people were feeling at the time it was written.

Cute story. Not good enough to read the next one.

I consider Durant an authority to write this kind of book and it was fun to read his take on top tens of different categories (Ex. Top Ten best poems or Top Ten inventions). It’s refreshing to read someone who reflects on history. Culture moves forward quickly and has no introspection. When people compile the “Best Of” lists it’s almost always based on immediate impression and experience. However, appreciating this book takes more foundation. I had no idea who most of the people and things listed were so the effect was lost on me. Being able to reference what each of the things listed would help.

A topic I reflect on often. How to balance both. This book was rightfully focused on women because it’s an even harder puzzle. Didn’t finish it with any particular insight or inspiration on a solution.

Blah. I’m glad to read books that differ from my view of things and this is one of those books. I can appreciate the criticisms it has about work culture and capitalism, but it always comes off as infantile when someone makes blanket criticisms. If you can tell me the ways in which something is good, then I’d be interested to know what you think we should do to improve.

Turns out this is an entire genre. I guess there is a reason power rangers and gundams are popular. There’s something about inhabititing a powerful force and controlling it that speaks to people’s psyche.

Easy to digest suspense. I’m not a fan of these books, but I suppose it’s good to read once in a while. They do a good job sucking you in. I was eager to continue each chapter, but in the end it didn’t have much substance. It’s all about drawing out the suspense.

There are certain types of books I have difficult time retaining. Factual, date based ones. This was one of those books. I listened to the entire thing and hardly retained any of it. A lot of war. That’s what I recall. WWII was a brutal time for Hungarians. That part stood out. Lots of rape.

This book didn’t catch me like Demon Copperhead did.

Was interested in this as it’s a Korean novel turned into a Netflix show. Not much substance to it.

Interesting background into the Covid pandemic. Wild how recent the concept of social distancing was implemented as a public policy. It was just a few years before Covid started. I took it for granted that it was always known to be the best solution. Things would have been drastically different without that.

This was recommened as a book on friendship, and it also happens to be super popular. To cut to the chase, this book was lame. Also not about friendship. It’s about the events experienced by two people who happen to be friends. More about Harvard and the video game industry.

Won’t continue this series. It’s going downhill.

I had high hopes for this book since I enjoyed Will of the Many and this series is highly rated. It’s so hard to follow along… The characters have hard to remember names and it jumps around to different characters and points in time. VERY reminiscent of Wheel of Time. Not surprising given that was the series that inspired this author to begin writing. It’s going for a similar tone. I normally wouldn’t continue with this series, but I already bought all three books because they were on sale…

Lazy compilation. More like “Most popular speeches from celebrities during the last decade.” Hardly what can be considered the greatest motivational speeches of all time. As if there isn’t anything of significance to add from the entirity of the 20th century.

Uhhhh, this book was so unnecessarily political. I liked how they told stories about their own friendship, the good and ugly. I do like that the book speaks to the significance of deep friendships. One of the most common regrets of the dying is that they neglected their friendships. I don’t want that to be my life. I HUNGER for amazing friendships. But OMG so much of this book was about navigating their racial differences. Their relationship sounds exhausting. They treat race as permeating every. single. thing.

I suppose different things inspire different people. I read some things and think, “Yes, this is how I want to live!” Others would read that and roll their eyes. Just like I roll my eyes at their attitude. They are inspired by activitsm and social change, so they apply that to their friendship. That’s a core part of their values. To me it’s exhausting, but it gives them purpose.

Blah. Hard to find a good book on talking to kids about sex when the starting point is so different. This author is coming from a particular value system that I have no interest in.

DNF 15%. This is actually a fun book that I would enjoy. However, I could tell reading it (and later confirmed through reviews) that this is a pulp-serials. A crime beat similar to Dresden Files. Each book is a contained story with a new plot. No character development. I like stories that take the MC from humble beginnings and through their character arc. Sprinkled with loyalty and friendship. I’d enjoy reading this book, but will devote my energy to the books that really light me up.

DNF 75%. All that way through and never got into it so quit. Simply wasn’t able to hook me. My metric for continuing a book is, “Would I care if I stopped reading this?” When the answer is no, then I stop. I read the plot summary online and that was enough for me.

DNF 71%. I completely get why people are going crazy over this series. Dark romance. Not my cup of tea.

DNF 64%. Too bad, the plot is super interesting on this. Just can’t follow the writing style for the life of me. The plot is awesome! But I can’t catch anything that’s happening while reading. Reminds me of Neuromancer.

DNF 13%. Such a popular book, but not the right timing for me. I read a synopsis of it and was satisfied with that. Probably would have finished it at a different point, just not now. I want to be willing to stop books that don’t catch my interest.

DNF 37%. An interesting topic, but an inflated book. The jist is enough.

DNF 10%. Too deep a fantasy story for me. I might enjoy it at some point, but not what I was in the mood for at the time. Normally I love dramatized versions, but this was actually too much. Too many sound effects and hard to follow the narration.

DNF 6%. Another fantasy story that I just wasn’t in the mood for.

DNF 15%. Not into it. It perplexes me how popular this is right now.

DNF 9%. Not into it. Don’t remember what about it I didn’t like.

DNF 37%. This won an award, but I couldn’t get into it. I read the synopsis of the series and that convinced me to call it quits.

DNF 67%. If I had known this was the same author as Circe I wouldn’t have read it. It’s SO dang popular! I thought I would like this for sure. I loved Greek mythology as a child. I was anticipating a unique retelling of the exploits of Achilles. This is not an ode to Greek mythology. This is a greek mythology themed gay romance. It was fun that I knew the characters and series of events. Turns out I’m more familiar with Greek mythology than I give myself credit for. Alas, the MC was boring and had nothing to offer. His only redeeming trait was Achilles loved him (for no apparant reason I may add. Very Bella/Edward-esque).

DNF 15%. Impossible to get through. Yaas Queen Self-Help Drovel.

DNF 45%. Wow. This book. The premise sounds awesome, but the delivery is so base. As the story progressed I kept assuming that the characters would develop in their growth and complexity. By 45% that was not the case. I ended up reading summaries and reviews of the book and it turned out my hunch was right. Let me illustrate. The MC’s Indian friend openly dislikes the white member of their group and is actively haughty towards her. A reader naturally assumes that there is some backstory to this that will be exposed and redeemed later on. Nope. The white member of the group in turn is painted as a well meaning but ignorant arostocrat completely oblivous to the privelage of her race. She is selfish and, plainly, a bitch. A reader naturally assumes that through a series of events she will grow and become wiser. After all, why would a group of characters be put together as close friends if they aren’t going to go on a journey together. In reality, this story has no character development. What you see on introduction is what you get for the entirity of the story. How utterly lame. Even the MC doesn’t grow. Even the gripping spy dynamic of the story is actually irrelevent to the main point of the story. That’s because the main point of the story isn’t the set of characters or the plot. The main point of the story is to put the author’s opinions on loudspeaker. Her opinions on colonialism and race. Two interesting and complex topics she squishes into 2-dimensional sound bites. Bad bad and good good. It’s not even subtle. Literally every single white person in the story ends up being a bad guy. Literally every single POC ends up being a good guy.

DNF 11%. Queer characters are fine. Books fall short when heavily propped by that quality as a the main trait of the story.

DNF 41%. Boring and generic.

DNF 13%. Just couldn’t get into it. Maybe not the right mood.

DNF 75%. Not a horrible book, just kind of generic. Going for a cool, love is love, be-yourself vibe. Interesting style of super short chapters based on topics. Feels like a compilation of blog posts.

DNF 22%. The arc I ended on in the previous book was good enough.