My 4th year in a row of completing the 52 book challenge! My actual goal this year is 60 books, but I felt like it would be fun to make a tier list now that I hit the 52 mark.

I'm continuing to use Storygraph to track books and find new books and would strongly recommend it to anyone who reads a lot! It's helped me find books that I actually like more than other sources--the data on moods is really helpful. For example, I find that I gravitate towards books that are adventurous, emotional, and funny.

I would love recommendations on what to read next if you like the same books that I do! Obviously I am a big fan of fantasy books with queer (especially gay male) characters, but I also like sci-fi and M/M romance. This year I've branched out into some more lit-fic type books for one of my book clubs, and I'm finding I do enjoy some lit-fic and contemporary novels as long as they're funny!

As required by the mod rule, here is the written list of books & authors. Apologies for spelling errors in the author names, 52 titles/authors is a lot to write out!

• Tier 1: Couldn't put it down, so sad when it ended:
  • A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett
  • Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers
  • Father Material by Alexis Hall
  • Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
  • The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles
  • The Gentleman's Guide to Vice & Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
  • The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
  • The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (re-read)
  • Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
• Tier 2: Really good, would recommend
  • Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
  • Go As a River by Shelley Reed
  • How to Fake it in Society by KJ Charles
  • Motheater by Linda Codega
  • Sorcery & Small Magics by Maiga Doocy
  • Take Me With You by Steven Rowley
  • The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Steven Graham Jones
  • The Everlasting by Alix Harrow
  • The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
  • The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
  • The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan
  • The Summer War by Naomi Novik
  • The Tapestry of Fate by S.A. Chakraborty
  • We Burned So Bright by T.J. Klune
  • We Dance Upon Demons by Vaishnavi Patel
  • When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory
• Tier 3: Enjoyed it
  • A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (re-read)
  • Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • Radiant Star by Ann Leckie
  • The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia
  • The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey
  • The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (re-read)
  • When the Tides Held the Moon by Vanessa Vida Kelley
  • White Trash Warlock by David Slayton (re-read)
• Tier 4: Mostly enjoyed it but wish it was better
  • Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
  • Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
  • Colin Gets Promoted & Dooms the World by Mark Waddell
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
  • Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • The River and the Star by Gabriela Romero Lacruz
  • The Sovereign by C.L. Clark
  • The Wolf & His King by Finn Longman
• Tier 5: It was fine
  • Hell's Hear by Alexis Hall
  • How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days by Jessie Sylva
  • Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire
  • Sharshipped by Cat Sebastian
  • The Book of Love by Kelly Link
  • To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose
• Tier 6: Not for me
  • How We Named the Stars by Andrés Ordorica
  • Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera
  • Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell
• Tier 7: Forced myself to finish to learn what not to do in my own writing
  • Bromantasy by Maire Roche
  • The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch

I love buying books and have purchased several for decades, even more so during and after the COVID pandemic. I also love reading and have been reading more every year. Last year, I read 43 books. The year before; 30. This year, I am behind due to some medical issues. I have only read 22 so far. Unfortunately, my interest in collecting books does not correlate with the rate that I read the books. Currently, I have 546 physical books. I have read 75 of those books. This total is not including all the books I own on my kindle or my kobo. I am trying to find the right method to help me make more of a dent in my physical tbr books. I would really love it if I didn’t have to double stack my books and would have room to make the shelves more aesthetically pleasing or organized. One barrier I have is I am in 2 books clubs and the chosen books are rarely ones I already own. If I am not able to get those books from Libby or the library in time, I end up purchasing the physical or e-book. I have tried a temporary book ban and have even kept track of when I purchase or make progress in the total read. When we are out for the day and are near a book shop, especially one I’ve never been to before, my boyfriend often encourages me to go and look then I end up with 2-4 or even 5 new books. I have seen some people on YouTube go through their books and donate a lot that they have decided they no longer want to read. That’s not the case here. I do want to read these books. I am just overwhelmed and don’t know where to start flipping the momentum to reduce the amount of total books and focus on reducing my physical tbr pile. I included photos of all my book shelves for you to see! Thank you in advance for your help!

This checks all the spooky season boxes.
It takes place almost entirely on Halloween, following various characters across a few families.
Mostly children.
Spooky terror ensues throughout the night.
I think it was well written, the characters were good, dialogue was good.
Even I could tell how subplots were used to shape the main characters, clearly delineating how most readers would feel about them and how the story ended for each.
My only complaint really is how much those subplots were discussed. Meaning, it was already clearly there under the surface, but we kept being reminded of them, force feed them like we would forget.
Though I guess that’s the point, it’s not just supposed to be scary, it’s supposed to be uncomfortable.

Watership Down is the story of a group of rabbits who venture out to find a new home after one of the rabbits has a prophecy of their current home being destroyed.

Watership Down is actually the book that started my 750 challenge. I had wanted to read it for years but it kept getting pushed back while I added more books to my TBR. So I clamped it down to make sure I have time to read the books I have wanted to read before adding more.

This book was amazing and very worth the wait. I saw the movie a long time ago but I was so young I barely remember it. I see a lot of discussion about how it is a violent and brutal story, but I actually found it to be very hopeful and optimistic. There are tense moments and moments of violence in it, but the majority of the book is a story of collaboration, trust, and bonding. The rabbits grow together, try new things, tell stories, joke, and lean on each other while they work to make a better future for themselves. I was worried a story about rabbits looking for a home couldn't sustain itself for almost 500 pages but it absolutely did. It took me less than a week to read it but I feel like I have known these characters for years. It felt like such an epic saga and I had such a great time!

Still have 30 books left in my immediate TBR queue that I want to read before end of year.

Would love to hear any opinions on the books or what else should be next

As the author states in the book, it is extremely important to have more published works regarding the experiences of gay trans men, especially since, to my knowledge, such books are virtually non-existent. I have only managed to find three books on this subject, one of which is by a Brazilian author and inaccessible to non-Portuguese speakers, as it has not been translated.

There were several aspects of the author’s experience that I strongly identified with, which was wonderful; I had never seen these parts of my own life represented before. Even though I have read Lou Sullivan’s diaries and have many gay trans friends, I had never encountered anyone else who shared some the specific experiences he describes.

However, I do not think he writes particularly well, and it feels as though he is trying to address multiple audiences simultaneously—shifting back and forth between an educational text for cisgender people and a personal memoir.

He spends time explaining and attempting to convince the reader of the rights of trans people while recounting his own life story. I understand why he does this, but it ultimately turns the book into a hybrid of a manifesto and a memoir. That said, I don’t believe the "manifesto" portion is even necessary; most people who will read this book are likely other gay trans men. The very people who most need to learn about the reality of trans lives are generally the least likely to pick up books written by trans people themselves.

The Possessed - Witold Gombrowicz
In time for Halloween, a kind of haunting story. Very fun read.

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brönte
A classic, very worthwhile.

The Tunnel - William H. Gass
An absolute behemoth of a book.

I think I started this when she still was alive. I am glad for her kid that this book exists. Very honest

"Circe" is another book that has a habit of ending up in everyone's S tier so I knew I needed to read it for myself. Now I have. Every sentence is a work of art. Some passages landed so hard I needed to stop and recover before I could keep reading. It is utterly spellbinding. The scenes with young Telegonus were a particularly poingant depiction of the joys and miseries of parenthood.

Much of the Greek Cannon is retold here, yet it is framed and iterated upon in a way that is completely novel: the life and times of the immortal she-witch Circe. It is a woman's story, told by a woman, and written by a female author. If any of those things make you lose interest then I challenge you to overcome your rectal-cranial inversion because it's keeping you from a legendary book.

This year I challenged myself to read more female authors, more nonfiction and more nonEnglish original language books.

Women make 33% of authors, but 3/4 S tier books were written by women, so that part has definitely paid off. Jane Austen was way more funny than I expected, and The Years was one of teh best books I have ever read. The nonfiction aspect maybe it's more touch and go, 22% of books, none in the S tier. 62% of books were written in English, but half the S tier.

I'm looking forward to reading more women and more nonfiction and seeing how the year pans out. I'm hoping to get to 40% and 25%.

Hey! First time doing this. I chose 32 books this year because last year I did 25 in 10 months. I am a 26M who just started reading last year. Lots of reading goals ahead! I’ll do more of these if I feel like it. These scores are based on my reviews on Fable. Add me if you’d like: Joemama42069 - I feel like I’m going to get some hate for some of these haha, but my review score is entirely based on emotion when I finish the book. I’m working on becoming well read! Suggest or ask my anything if you’d like 🤙 currently reading The Name of the Rose (number 26) and am FINALLY getting into it. First 100 pages were not page turners… but now we’re getting somewhere!

Great reading year so far!!

Very sad and melancholic story about freedom and morality set in rainy Seattle. If you like sitting in the rain and feeling sorry for yourself this is for you. Fire up the Elliot Smith for this one.

It’s not just melancholic and full of ennui though. It’s rainy and miserable and it’s about pool hall junkies ultimately getting up to no good and being, well criminals. But there’s moments of good, honest philosophical insight.

These characters are gridiron tough. At moments they seemingly get everything they want and can feel trapped. Other moments they are in prison and feel more content and free than they ever did on the outside. Is their ‘imprisonment’ even their own fault really? And if you get freedom, what do you even do with it if you have no purpose ?

I think you need to be in a particular mood for this one - think dreary, sad, woe is me, violent, contemplative, and lonely. If that’s what you’re into, this will hit the spot.

first tier list.. first time since I was a kid reading this much. most as an adult were around 20 books a year. I am really proud and happy 🖤

Although it was written in 2012, it really does speak to the industrialists of present-day America (erm, Rockefeller ain't got squat on ol' Zuckerberg, am I right?).

All kidding aside, I'll be honest: I only enjoyed the first 77% of this book because those were the bits that focused on SAM THE BANANA MAN (not SAMA, though, again, today's technogarchs are hard to ignore, no?). I enjoyed learning about his immigrant past and how he carved out a niche in the banana biz when there really was none before him.

What I sort of didn't understand, or enjoy, was the author's use of the first person and how he (again, here, read, the author) became a sort of character-narrator on someone he'd never met nor been related to.

Just odd. Still a great book, but, yea, odd.

Anyways...

More thoughts here --> https://katepapenberg.substack.com/p/book-no-58-of-72-couldve-been-scripted?r=2seqlu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Read this now --> https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13166586-the-fish-that-ate-the-whale

Reviews copied from my Goodreads.

Second Stage Lensmen by EE Doc Smith

2.5/5 (Caveat in that I bought this not realising it was book 5 of a series when I bought it, it was on those tables that shops have with a selection of books on so logically I assumed it was book 1)

The book follows a lensmen (a telepathic agent) called Kim Kinnison who is the universe's top gigachad who is perfect in everyway (seriously on the back of the book he's described as the number one man of his time) on his adventures with the Galactic Patrol to protect Civilisation (with a capital C) against various threats mainly Boskonia which is corrupt and evil in every way.

The writing is quite dated but for me it was sort of entertaining. At one point Kinnison ends up on a planet where women rule and men are subhumans who only existing for breeding purposes. And he immediately just starts with the insults and berating them. If you've ever played the game Alan Wake its like the bit where the FBI agent shows up and starts with the insults and names within 5 seconds.

The reasons for my low rating are as follows:

The main character was way too perfect. He had no flaws whatsoever so nothing was a threat.

My main issue was the story was just disjointed. The plot on the back of the book about infiltrating the enemy society and rising to the top to give the orders that would destroy them from within (the reason I bought the book) is the final act and Kinnison faces no real challenge in doing this. Most of the book is just dicking about.

The Prophet of Lamath by Robert Don Hughes

3/5 Weak characters and basic plot saved by an interesting world. Overall it was fun though.

It's easier to describe the world first. It's a fantasy world with only humans that has been divided into 3 kingdoms, a theocratic northern kingdom, a definitely not Scottish clans kingdom in the west, and a fairly standard medieval kingdom in the south. The only easily accessible route between the 3 kingdoms has been taken over by a two headed dragon who refuses to let armies through and only allows traders through if they offer a heavy tribute in people to eat. So slavery has come back, the kingdoms are in constant states of low level warfare for slaves/prisoners to sacrifice but can't outright fight each other, and trade is dominated by a handful of highly influential merchant houses who can afford the tribute. The political machinations here are some of the more interesting parts of the book.

The plot itself is a fairly basic adventure. As a trade caravan heads through the dragon's pass an enslaved entertainer named Pelman (who has a different personality and skills depending on which region he is in: entertainer, sorcerer, prophet) and a princess (the southern king's heir) kidnapped for political reasons escape and go on the run. During the escape Pelman, currently in entertainer form, uses his skills to give the two headed dragon an existential identity crisis by making it learn that the two heads are different beings with their own minds. The books follows firstly Pelman and the princess on the run and the attempts to capture them. And the wider story of the impact of the dragon's identity crisis on the world.

Pelman's story with the princess is quite boring. The dragon and the politics are way more interesting. When there are large battle sections they are written pretty well.

Next up on the fiction is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K Dick. I’ve just watched Blade Runner 2049 for the first time so it seems appropriate.

I'm extremely easy to please and spend a lot of time at work reading, hoping to hit 120 books by the end of the year now that I've surpassed 52

Currently reading The Vegetarian, The City & The City, and Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You

Winslow knows New York. Winslow knows cops. Somehow. He has connections. He has some New York history. And here he stirs in informers, guns, prostitutes, heroin, gangs, the mafia, the night, the long night. There are more cops in New York than live in my whole town. And Winslow is playing among the elite cops who tangle with the politicians and the bosses in Manhattan. I think it likely the view from a taxi riding the length of Manhattan and the view from an unmarked drug squad’s car on the same route are drastically different. And the pull of money, the high dollar cars, the best seats in the best restaurants-- one can be dragged down into, well, the swirl of everything that is not quite considered the straight and narrow. One needs a taste.

This is a hard ride. And I have never seen New York so Winslow’s fantasy land I can only compare to Chicago, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco. But New York is like Tokyo and Paris: they all insist they are unlike anywhere else in the world. Maybe I believe it. But you get down into the nitty gritty of anywhere and I think they start to look alike. The scrabble of humanity up close and tight, right in the eyes and nose, starts to lean towards the median of harsh streetlife. And Winslow’s job here for me was to pull me away from all my quieter more refined books and shake me up. Job accomplished.

How does one love the overpopulated, hyperkinetic badland miasma that is New York?

Like this, Winslow says, like this. 

I just wanted to throw it out there that this is the ultimate spooky season read. I’ve read a lot of Stephen King and Paul Tremblay. Love those guys. This beats the hell out of them. The slow crawling feeling of dread I get from this book is insane. I’m only like a third of the way done with it. But I feel like it’s going to be one of my new favorites. S tier for sure.

I think calling this book horrible is a stretch, but the truth is I would never recommend it so that’s the bucket it’s going in.

This is just not enjoyable.
It’s not particularly well written.
I can’t tell if it’s the characters making bad decisions and poorly communicating, or just the way it’s written in general, but way too often I’m thinking “that’s just stupid”.
Then followed by too often by “oh, come on!” (eye roll)

Way too much time spent in intentional confusion, building the dual story that would be the big reveal. The result is once we finally start getting “the truth”, it’s a non stop barrage of twists and turns and truths and action and it’s just way too much at once.
Twists and turns and action in general are a good thing, entertaining, but when you cram it all in a small section, it’s just feels like a funhouse. Like there are more twists just so it feels endless.

Spoiler for my biggest complaint.
There is no ending. It literally ends in the middle of a “chase” with no clear indication if they escaped, completed their “mission”, save the day, etc. No conclusion to most of the character to character relationships. A big twist happens like 3 pages before the end that isn’t fully explained. It’s obviously left that way for a sequel.
That’s just not my jam.