Last year I read more books than ever before, and since it just ended, here are some thoughts about my reading journey in 2024!
Just like gaming, reading has been much more present this year than ever before.
I have managed to read a total of 15 books this year! I managed to surpass my goal of 12 books, which I set for myself starting the year, by finishing 3 books in December.
For 2024, I really tried to bring lots of variety to all of my reading, both inside different types of science fiction, as well as other genres outside of it, at least for one of the books.
To add to this, I had decided to only read a single book per author, something I kept true for most of the year, until I decided to read The Expanse with my book club later in the year, and ended up finishing 2 books of the series.
Almost all of the books I read this year have been quite good! A defining factor for me to enjoy a book is, if it makes me think about things from a different light, which is something that pretty much all of the books I read accomplished.
Starting the year, I was using my phone to read books, something I had been doing for years already, with the Librera reader app, since itâs super customizable and open source, I used and enjoyed it for years now, and it is still great!
However, halfway through the year, I got myself a Kobo Clara 2Eâa month or so before they released their Color models, but such is life sometimesâand completely moved all of my library and reading to it. Dune was the first book I read on it, although I started it on my phone.
Almost immediately after getting my Kobo reader, I installed KOReader on it, just to have more features and customization over what Kobo offers by default, it is now my favorite way to enjoy my reading on the go, without notifications, without distractions.
All the books Iâve read this year have been reviewed already, but I will still share some thoughts that have been lingering in my mind since thenâand which books havenât really left an impact on me since then.
The first book I finished, but I actually started in 2023, it was a very good read, and a truly fantastic experience, I enjoyed the characters, the premise and the action sequences. It was very interesting to read a more military side of sciene fiction, which is something I hadnât done in a while, pretty much since I last read the Halo novels!
I have to say, since I saw the movie, the ending was less strong than it could have been, I am interested on reading the rest of the series to see how it developsâthatâs something Iâm going to say a lot with all the series and trilogies Iâll mention here.
My second book, is probably one of the ones I still think about to this day. Childhoodâs End is amazingly good, the utopia featured there, the quotes, the concepts, they still linger in my mind after all the books I read since then! Aliens that come to Earth in peace, with the goal of basically saving Humanity from itself, by stoping war, illness and hunger, achieving world peace.
It a product of its time, but that doesnât make it dated, for the most part. It is interesting to see this book in context, just a few years after World War 2 ended. The mystery behind the aliens, their real goals and the struggle of Humans to stay creative and seek true freedom are all pretty interesting, and the ending is bonkers. I donât want to say much more to not spoil it though. Give it a read, it is fantastic.
I wanted to see what C.S. Lewis could do in the sci-fi genre with his not so known Cosmic trilogy, starting with Out of the Silent Planet. I was not dissapointed. It is about some guy who ends up abducted by some crazy scientists that arenât very friendly, he escapes and finds himslef in an alien planet, with different alien races living in harmony.
The peace and the behavior of alien life on this one is very different to what Childhoodâs End, Enderâs Game and many of the books after show, also, the more classic style given the age of this novel was kind of nice, it also references H.G. Wells so I love it just because of that. Really, I liked it, and I want to read the other two books next year, which Iâve heard are even better.
I have to say I loved the acknowledgement of the work of H.G. Wells for science fiction, and how this is written in the style of a secret writing by someone who actually went on this crazy trip. Wonderful book.
Back to Earth, in some dystopian future, CadĂĄver Exquisito, or Tender is the Flesh is a about a dystopian world where animal meat is now inedible, making human consumptionâthe consumption of humansâthe only way to eat meat safely, and people love meat so, it becomes accepted. The legality and conflict about it isnât the focus, it becomes the status quo, and the story focuses on someone in charge of a processing plant.
Many events happen, showing different facets of the state of this world. All the characters suck. It is shocking, disgusting, and somehow I read it in a day.
Back in space, in a future where slavery is OKânow that they created a species built to be perfect servants, The Undefeated is about a journalist who gained inter-planetary fame during her lifetime, she is now older and goes to her planet of birth, to reflect back on her youth, her choices and how despite it all, she refused to see the elephant in the room.
Now they are back for justice, and revenge. I remember loving the style and the prose, it felt quite melancholic and thoughtful, good read but I canât say I think about it a lot. It was just too short and left many themes unexplored, still a good quick and short read.
What can I say about Dune? this book was fantastic from beginning to end, even after watching the movies, I found myself immersed in that world, in the sands of Arrakis. I think it was a pretty interesting journey, full of strange moments, spirituality, religious themes and warnings. It doesnât read like any other book Iâve read.
I didnât find it boring or tedious myself, honestly, maybe the movie helped to imagine the locations and follow the thread better. It is an absolute classic for a reason. It was a very good read, I loved it!
Despite its short length, The Palace of Eternity does space opera and world building in a fantastic way, achieving more with less. Humanity is at war against aliens, and they are winning, the only advantage we have, is that we figured out interstellar travel, and they have not.
The story itself takes place in a planet away from the conflict, filled with artists and creative minds. There are plot twists after every chapter that hooked me everytime, thereâs some cosmic scale stuff later on as well that I found amusing. It has some questionable moments that show its age, but overall I really enjoyed it.
Speaking of novels that didnât age very well, The Machine Stops is not one of them. This is a dystopia that predates 1984, Brave New World and the rest. In this short story, technology is so advanced people donât have to leave their room, they have button to do everything, infinite artificial music, instant communication, and every need fulfilled, making them completely dependant on The Machine.
I found this premise to be extremely on point with how modern life is lived by most people, that I really couldnât believe this book is more than 100 years old. This is a must read less than 40 pages long. Itâs predicted so much itâs scary.
Feeling like reading a mystery, I went with The Mysterious Affair At Styles. This is one of the classic detective stories from Agatha Christie, and I remember really liking it! Even if I was very confused some times and I had never seen so many character introductions at once. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I gained quite a lot of interest in Poirot as a character as well, and this year I already started The Murder on the Links, the second book of his series!
Back to more thought provoking stories, Hothouse was an incredible journey. Two million years in the future, humans devolved and survive in a world that stopped rotating, one side facing the sun forever, filled with sentient vegetal life and dangers on every corner.
This book does world building like nothing else here. The creatures, the environments, the moment to moment narrative, the past, the future. This book was a great read that made me wonder like a kid. It is the first book I read in the dying earth sub-genre, and I really want to try some more books of this style, and more works by Brian W. Aldiss.
And now Leviathan Wakes, what a start for a series. I absolutely loved it! A space opera where humans conquered the solar system, and yet they are technologically outdated. Despite the length, it was a complete page turner, with actual characters that I cared about, a detective story, a war unfolding, cosmic horror, and everything in between.
Itâs like the perfect science fiction movie in book form and I want to get popcorn when I read it. Despite all that, it was actual depth and great moments, I donât know how they managed to pack so much into it, I guess the page count helps. But itâs great.
I started Black Easter on a whim, looking for something to add more variety to the books I was reading, and I found this. In a reality where magic is real and studied with diligence, the most powerful black magician is contracted by an arms dealer to set free all the demons from hell for a single night. A rather unique premise where magic is treated as science and spells must be followed like chemical formulas. A great concept with a a style of writing that can be a bit boring, but I still read it pretty quickly and enjoyed it a lot.
The sequel to Leviathan Wakes, I really liked how this one explored life on Earth just a tidy bit more as well as the political climate between all the ruling structures in the solar system. The conflict itself was also fantastic and I really enjoyed the new characters and points of view added to the story. Itâs a great continuation and I am going to read the 3rd book, Abbadonâs Gate, very very soon.
I finally had some vacation time from work, and for some reason I decided I would try to read another book before the year ended and the holidays started. And what better book to read than one about a bleak future where criminals are sent to a Martian settlement and they live in the worst possible environment, full of dangers and impossible odds, and of course, other humans that suck.
Even if this book isnât optimistic at all, and has lots of heavy topics, I still found the commentary and the characters quite interesting. A great read I finished in a a couple days.
Last but not least, I decided to read my first piece of Russian Science Fiction, which happens to be the most popular of them. This book was fantastic as well. Iâve read many first contact stories at this point, and this one is one of the most unique ones. Aliens came and went without further to do, and humans are utterly confused because of the mess they left behind.
I just reviewed this one so I canât say much I havenât already say, I think itâs a masterpiece of the genre, a wonderful book that Iâll probably revisit soon enough. This one is required reading as well.
So, in the endâŚ
You can check my Bookwyrmâs Year In The Books if you want some stats but prettier.
I am very happy with that. Some short, others rather long, but they were all great.
For 2025, I want to read at least another 15 books, I am already planning some future reads, such as continuing my read of Agatha Christieâs work, as well as The Expanse series, thereâs some other new (to me) books I want to read like Children of Time and I also have some interest in reading something by Ray Bradbury. Weâll see what the future brings!
This is day 2 of #100DaysToOffload
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