2024

4,803,334 words; 52 books

January - 498,245 words; 7 books

• The Awakening by Kate Chopin: excellent example of the Ontogenetic Metaphor. The ending was lovely; the book was well set-up but some things fell flat. 6/10; 45,965 words.
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: an excellent, relevant book. The keen characters were well-done, especially Serena Joy. 8/10; 96,400 words.
• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood - a fitting follow-up of The Handmaid’s Tale. I enjoyed this one more. 9/10; 108,000 words.
• The Colour Purple by Alice Walker - interesting concept and very good humanity. I enjoyed it, but it was slow at the beginning. 8/10; 65,556 words.
• Paradise by Toni Morrisson - I didn’t enjoy this one very much. Mavis was interesting but the characters felt rather stilted. 4/10; 79,500.
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - didn’t like this one very much. I have no idea why. 3/10; 47,094 words.
• The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood - I really liked Penelope's unique perspective and the take on it - however, from a point of view, I do not think Atwood should have targeted Greek myths and I generally disagree with her interpretation. 8/10; 56,000 words.

February - 592,230 words; 4 books

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo - unintentionally hilarious at points. Seriously. The guy choose a goat over his wife. 7/10; 200,725 words.
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - seems a lot more sympathetic towards the aristocracy. The characters need more personality. 5/10; 139,605 words.
• The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien - I enjoyed it. A little stuffy in places, but relatively good and would read again. 8/10; 130,000 words.
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - as the fourth Austen book I've read, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Not as much as Persuasion, but hey. 8/10; 121,900 words.

March - 464,731 words; 4 books

• A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee - so good. I enjoyed this very, very much. 9/10; 110,331 words.
• The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper - absolutely terrible. Would not recommend. 1/10; 145,469 words.
• American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis - interesting satire but wasn’t really my thing. Had to (sort-of) skip the sex scenes and skimmed the extreme violence because it got boring after a while. 5/10; 99,750 words.
• Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - very enjoyable and excellent prose. Anathema Device my beloved. 8/10; 109,185 words.

April - 419,690 words; 4 books

• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang - quite good, I enjoyed it very much. The characters aren't the best but the setting was almost painful in its realism. 9/10; 164,865 words.
• The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brian - pretty good, the storytelling nonlinear narrative was cool. 8/10; 61,500 words.
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - decently good, I got the feeling of nostalgia and teenage angst. 8/10; 77,325 words.
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - good. chilling. neither the Creature nor Frankenstein are completely incomprehensible. Both make sense. 7/10; 116,000 words.

May - 425,000 words, 2 books

• The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum - action. adventure. terrible romance. 6/10; 185,000 words.
• The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum - v v interesting. Conklin is cool. 6/10; 240,000 words.

June - 400,000+ words; 5 books

• The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum - plot point with diapers bothers me, otherwise good. 5/10; 230,000 words.
• Nerilka’s Story by Anne McCaffrey - interesting. I had been wondering what she had been up to. 8/10; unknown word count.
• Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey - super cool. I enjoyed connecting the dots between present and future in the book. Like Benden and Boll and Telgar had origins!!! Also poor Sallah. 9/10; unknown word count.
• A Good Family by A. H. Kim - very good, enjoyed the suspense and the characters were quite interesting. 9/10; unknown word count.
• Aces Wild: A Heist by Amanda Dewitt - cool. Fun queer representation :). 8/10; unknown word count.

July - idk, maybe 170,000+ words???; 3 books

• The Heart Break Bakery by A. R. Capetta - fun and light. Fun queer rep too. 7/10; unknown word count.
• The Renegades of Pern by Anne McCaffrey - interesting, but the b plot was kind of disconnected. Toric and Thella are both fascinating characters. 7/10; unknown word count.
• All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey - no offense but Jaxom is insufferable. 5/10; unknown word count.

August - 343,696 words; 5 books

• A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah - very good, haunting - wonderfully done prose and humanization of brutal warfare. 9/10; 80,413 words.
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson - interesting. it's very sad. 8/10; 84,000 words.
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - very interesting, poignant message, if a little obvoius. 8/10; 65,105 words.
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling - I liked the stories and the songs. 6/10; 54,178 words.
• Mozart's Last Year: 1791 by H. C. Robbins Landon - very interesting. I like the look into finances and such of a composer, and how they got their money. 8/10; 60,000 words.

September - 422,602 words; 4 books

• The Divine Trilogy by Dante Aligheri - very interesting. Sometimes it went over my head but I did enjoy it. 8/10; 286,546 words.
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinback - Lennie is literally my favourite. Kind of enjoyed it. 6/10; 30,445 words.
• The Pearl by John Steinback - not nearly as good as Of Mice and Men. 4/10; 25,845 words.
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - pretty good, haunting. 8/10; 79,766 words.

October-November - 870,458 words; 2 books

• Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch - light and sweet. 7/10; 113,019 words.
• The Bible by various, English Standard Version - The Bible is an incredibly interesting and enjoyable book. Despite my hang-ups due to the religious nature of the book, the Bible's own merits far outweigh whatever hangups could remain. Although some books like Leviticus were boring and others felt redundant, I truly did enjoy reading it. Perhaps I should try the Quran next. 8/10; 757,439 words.

December - 196,682; 2 books

• 1984 by George Orwell - the worldbuilding was interesting. The actual text, less so. Nonetheless, incredibly haunting. 5/10; 88,942 words.
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - fascinating! I especially enjoyed the descriptions of marine fauna and flora and the window into 19th century ideas of the deep sea. 9/10; 107,740 words.