A slow start, followed by some technical glitches with this website that disrupted by usual monthly posts of what I read — and just what did I read in February, March and April of this year? We’ll never know, because what I did remember to record either wasn’t posted here or disappeared if it was. (Note to self: Don’t rely on just this website to track such things. Have backups of backups, like you keep advising other people to do) — and ending with quite a bang.
In no particular order, from those nine months of actually successfully recording such stuff, here are my ten favourite books of the year:
Swordheart – T. Kingfisher
This was my first experience with the highly recommended, award-winning T. Kingfisher, and I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction. I’d thought it was a standalone book but it turns out this story takes place in the world of her preceding Clocktaur War series, if only tangentially.
Along with Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon, and John Scalzi, I now officially add T. Kingfisher to writers I wish to be able to write as well as.
Four Minutes – Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson
After suffering a devastating loss of teammates — of military brothers — in a firefight where assailants kept seeming to show up out of nowhere, special ops commander Tyler is invited to lead a new team working with a highly classified device that can send people to any point in the future for exactly four minutes. To save the country from attack by viewing the future, the team discovers a threat from an unknown source that seeks to take over the world.
Nicely executed thriller (that, unannounced on the cover, turns out to be the first of at least a duology, so heads up there) that caught my interest quickly and didn’t let it go.
The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi
On the heels of COVID, Jamie finds himself stripped of a good office job at a food delivery service company and reluctantly taking a job instead as one of those very food delivery people. Tom, one of Jamie’s delivery customers, starts chatting with Jamie, and offers him a position in a very quiet, very exclusive department he broadly explains as an “animal rights organization”.
Jamie accepts, and is brought into a whole new world bigger and more amazing than anything he had ever imagined.
The Athena Project – Brad Thor
In looking to get more of an edge on counterterrorism, the U.S. Delta Force creates an offshoot: An all-woman team. A bombing in Rome that kills more than twenty Americans calls the team into action, and as they try to hunt down the attackers and the arms dealer, they discover that there’s a lot more behind what’s happening than they realized.
My first Brad Thor book, and it’s a thriller packed with plenty of action.
The Rhythm of Time – Questlove & S.A. Cosby
Rahim’s dad is leery of technology, so when Rahim is given a phone made by his brilliant techy friend Kasia, he’s got to keep it quiet. But when using it to find information about his favourite band circa 1997, Rahim suddenly finds himself in 1997. By connecting the phone to a U.S. military satellite intending on getting Rahim free internet access forever, Kasia unwittingly created the world’s first time travel machine. Now Rahim is stuck in an era where his own parents are his age, the phone is broken, and Kasia is trying to figure out how to get him home.
Thorn Hedge – T. Kingfisher
Toadling is a human who was raised by fairies and had learned their lifestyle and livelihood, many of their tricks, and even some of their magic. She is asked to place a curse on a newborn human, but it goes wrong, and she has to take matters into her own hands.
Centuries later, though she has a hard time believing it’s been so long, the tower she guards — wrapped in dense and deadly thorn hedge to hide the tower and deter exploration — has been discovered by a young knight who will not be dissuaded. And he soon finds that not everything is as it first appears.
Agent to the Stars – John Scalzi
Thomas is an agent for actors in Hollywood. When his boss offers him a new account, what Thomas isn’t expecting is for it to be a chance to rep the first alien species to make contact with Earth.
We’re All In This Together… So Make Some Room – Tom Papa
One of the joys I’ve had with recently getting into audiobooks more is having a chance to hear material read aloud by the author. Such is the case here, with comedian/podcaster/TV show host/foodie Tom Papa, reading essays he’s written about life and the world we live in. Much of it is amusing, parts were laugh-out-loud funny, and there are a few that are more serious and heavy. But whether reading it or having it read to you, all are well worth your time.
Quietly Hostile – Samantha Irby
More essays by another comedian? Sign me up.
In this collection, Irby covers everything from her myriad physical ailments to her experience landing a TV show she created to her thoughts on all categories of website porn. On that note, be warned that while it’s a very funny book on the whole, Irby doesn’t hold back on talking about what she prefers in her… shall we say… online searches.
Starter Villain – John Scalzi
Charlie is at something of a dead end in his life and things are looking bad for even being able to have a roof over his head when his estranged uncle Jake dies and leaves everything to him.
That alone was unexpected.
But it turns out that Jake was way, way different from anything Charlie could have imagined. Suddenly, Charlie finds himself the head of a criminal organization like something out of a James Bond movie.
The downside: Charlie has made some very powerful enemies with his inheritance and business choices.
The upside: He’s also got a lot more power than ever before, and a team of dedicated employees and bioengineered creatures to help him navigate it all to hopefully win from his new lair, which is in a volcano. Because of course it is.
So that’s a wrap on my favourite books finished this year.
2025 will hopefully prove more fruitful. I’ll be listening to more books, plus keeping better track of them all, plus have opted to take on the challenge to myself of getting through 50 books before exactly one year from now.
Let’s do this.