Favorite Books of 2024
In 2024, I read 52 books for my Goodreads Reading Challenge. Although numerical goals are typically ill-advised, I have found that they motivate me to read more over the years. I've been doing the challenge on the site since 2019, the year I first got a Kindle (a Basic 2019 model).
Honestly, last year was a year of sporadic reading. During the second semester of my second year, I interned as a part of my degree, which consumed most of my energy. I read fewer than five books in the 2+ months and mainly focused on gaming and resting during my free moments. However, I did have an almost month-long break where I was at home. After my work hours, I had a lot more time to read! Hence I managed to actually complete the goal.
Overall, I'd say that it was a decent year of books - most of the books I read were enjoyable, and I've also made a habit of DNF'ing books that I just foresee myself not enjoying. It's made my reading experiences a whole lot better.
Now... here's my list of books that I thought were the highlights! I included 6 fiction books and 4 non-fiction, and they are not ranked in any order. I do want to note that these books were read throughout the year, and I unfortunately cannot recall most details. Please take the notes that come along with each of these books with a grain of salt!
Fiction
1. Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang
If you're active over on the r/Fantasy subreddit, you'll see this book getting recommended a whole lot. And for good reason. The story follows an ex-warrior who ends up getting married and having kids to fulfil her parent's wishes. Some situations in her present changed, and she had to step up and utilize the skills that she's cultivated (spoiler alert, it involves swords!), and unfortunately, had to hide during her entire marriage.
I thought this one was quite genre-subverting. I've had expectations that it would be more criticizing of the typical gender-specific norms, but it handled it in a very serious manner and fitting with the character's background. It took some time to get used to the pace, but I found the ending gratifying!
2. My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen
This is horror, but also, not horror. I think the premise of this book was incredibly grabbing - the main character, Ruth, has a spirit companion. She is made to fake seances by her mother, and people around town believe it. Until one day, a woman, Agnes, visited her for her services and decided to buy her from her mother.
The story gets interesting when it is revealed that Agnes herself had her own spirit companion. Spirit companions in this world toe the line between reality and non-reality, whereby as a reader, you don't quite know if it's all in the head or not. It's cleverly paced, with transcripts of interviews with Ruth between chapters regarding the aftermath of everything. No spoilers but it was a twist indeed.
3. A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
This is a fun-ish queer gothic murder mystery + adventure that stood out to me due to the characterization! I loved reading from the dark-and-grumpy Lorelei, and her banters with her academic rival, Sylvia. The writing is also lovely.
I can see it becoming a comfort re-read for myself, down the road.
4. Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
I've been seeing this series recommended a lot by some of the Booktubers on YouTube. This has been described as one of the best ongoing science-fiction fantasy series from the community, and I can definitely see why.
The best way I could describe it is that this is Dune, but better! I've always admired the scale and depth of Dune. The ecological themes it had, the amount of politick-ing throughout, and the fascinating characters. But one thing that could not capture me was how dryly they were all presented. This is not that.
The prose is modern enough that I can understand most parts without re-reading or re-listening again and again, and the story itself is a "show, not tell" type of situation. There are not too many info-dumps and just enough crumbs for you to follow along and think about why certain things are happening the way they are.
It's very much focused on one character, Hadrian. In this book, the first of planned 7 (the 7th is set to be published later this year), we experience with Hadrian the loss of his prestigious title as a genetically modified palatine.
*It was not his war.
On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe started down a path that could only end in fire. The galaxy remembers him as a the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives—even the Emperor himself—against Imperial orders.
But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier. Fleeing his father and a future as a torturer, Hadrian finds himself stranded on a strange, backwater world. Forced to fight as a gladiator and into the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, he will find himself fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.
Although I wouldn't say I was 100% engrossed throughout the book, I'm still curious to know how he ended up as the person the blurb described, and how some of the relationships he's formed/presumably lost will evolve. Definitely will be resuming the series this year!
5. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
I read this book indirectly because of the movie, The Half of It. It's still one of my favourite coming-of-age movies of all time, and perhaps I should write a post on it one day.
The main character and her love interest shared a love for the book The Remains of the Day by the same author. I read that one back in 2022. Although I enjoyed that when I read it then, I think this one left a more lasting impact on me.
This is a dystopian-like story where the main character is born into this community where they are essentially destined to have their organs harvested. But interestingly, the story itself does not focus too much on that aspect of things. Nothing much is ever spelt out clearly to the readers, and I think that subtlety particularly exemplifies the story.
6. Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke
This is one of my favourite shorter books I read last year. The entirety of this one is written in a text-messaging (or in Slack, specifically) format whereby you are placed in a work Slack group chat.
The main character of the book, a copywriter/writer for a marketing company, ends up getting trapped in Slack. How did that happen? Nobody really knows. I don't know either. When a friend of his finally gets to the bottom of things and realises that his friend who hasn't been to work physically has been doing things remotely because he was stuck in a Slack bot, things start to escalate.
Apart from that, the story also felt like a smug commentary on the usage of online chat services like Slack (and perhaps Discord, to some extent) for work. It pokes fun at the inevitable office drama - people talking behind others' backs, regretting it when they realize admins can see everything, and the endless cycle of follow-ups, task delegation, and corporate jargon.
I thought this book was very cleverly done and it was so entertaining!
Non-fiction
7. The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll
I saw the bullet journal method boom during my high school days, but never really got into it. It's a mindfulness-based productivity system, focused on repetition as a way of staying focused. There are different parts of the bullet journal system: monthly logs, future logs, daily logs, collections, etc. but they're all interchangeable/removable, which makes the system flexible.
I watched a couple of videos from the official bullet journal method channel, narrated by Ryder, and I found it fascinating. I also watched a couple of interviews where he shared how he came up with the system due to his ADHD, and I wanted to learn the system more in-depth.
While reading the book, I did try implementing small systems (the keys, and the bullet logging system, mainly) into the weekly planner that I was using, and I did like the simplicity of it.
I don't think I'll be doing an 'actual' bullet journal (as I rely a lot on Todoist), but I do like the idea of using a physical notebook to coincide with my digital system. My current system borrows some ideas from Ryder's, but simplified to make things work easier with my Google Calendar + Todoist!
I recommend this book to people not only to those who want to learn and implement the bullet journal system but also to those who are interested in improving their workflows/planning system. It has some great principles that I think can be generalized into other systems!
8. Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
I've seen this book popping up in lists and even in physical bookstores a ton. The title is eye-catching, and the topic is something I'm very much interested in. I own a physical copy of this one (I do not own anything else physically on this list), and it's definitely one that's very readable.
Morgan makes the book's topic (that I think can be dry, if the author is not careful) into something that's pretty engaging. He uses a lot of in-real-life examples of people who have boomed/bombed in terms of their investments and provides a pretty conclusive tip for every chapter. It's not a How to Get Rich type of book, but rather a Why People Do What They Do With Money type of book!
If I were to choose one take-home message from this, I would say it was his emphasis on doing what works for you long-term, instead of doing things that could only be sustainable for you right now, but would just burn you out in the long run. Compounding works!
9. Range by David Epstein
This was a book that was mentioned by a lecturer I had that taught my undergraduate emotions and positive psychology classes. The author focuses on his thesis of how learning broadly is much more effective than specialization, as a whole when it comes to long-term performance and life fulfillment.
This topic is fascinating to me, and although I won't say I'm a converted generalist yet, it's still very much worth reading.
10. Be Not Afraid of Love by Mimi Zhu
This was one of my favourite memoirs of last year, and probably my 2nd favourite of all time (the 1st is Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner). Mimi writes about her experience in an abusive relationship and her journey in getting out of it. I don't really know how to write a review for this, other than to ask you to read it for yourself and to experience her writing. It's truly wonderful, and I could feel that she has reflected on these topics for a long time.
Please read a few of the quotes that I've highlighted on my Kindle if you're interested:
Anger, like numbness, is another sacred protector of our survival. It is a loving act to protect yourself, a loving act to resist harm, and a loving act to allow yourself the sacred breath of anger. Everything brings us back to love.
While honoring anger is important, it is not an excuse to be harmful. Safe ways to honor our anger include expressing that anger in solitude, in journals, in unison with others, with support by our side, through dancing, singing, or yelling into the void. To honor anger in our loving relationships, we must let it simmer before we communicate our frustrations. We must breathe our vitality before we scream it.
It is quite the opposite; they hurt you because they hate themselves. When we fear ourselves, our actions and outbursts become unrecognizable, even to us. X did not have enough compassion to care for or process his own hurt. He had never been taught how. It is not the survivor’s responsibility to figure that out, even though we often think that it is. Nobody should be the scapegoat of anybody’s self-hatred.
While everything shifts so scarily in unexpected ways, I must remember that the most consistent present truth is that I am here. You are here. Each worry is valid and uncontrollable, but what soothes the spiky feeling is having faith in its passing. The spiral of anxiety does not begin with my anxious thought but with the being who is experiencing it. The spiral does not begin with despair but with the person who embodies and eventually overcomes it. I am not my anxieties but the awareness that is experiencing them. I cannot control my anxieties, though I can be aligned with my awareness. I am as enduring as the ocean and my anxiety mimics its movements: coming, going, and washing away.
Being in loving relationship is sharing the abundance that life has to offer, for there is so much to love. It comes without the condition of being physically close, or even in a committed relationship. It is when we can think of the people we love and feel uplifted when we envision their healing and their happiness. Unconditional love comes without trying to be each other’s “everything” but feeling grateful that we exist in this vast everything together.
Thank you for reading, and if you would like to share any thoughts or if you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a comment :)
[13/100] for #100DaysToOffload