Monday, December 2, 2024

Best reads of 2024: An Open Book Blog Hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What's the best book you've read this year (besides your own)? 
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I try to read about a book a week every year. At this writing, late November, I have read 64 books (see below for the entire list). I'm pretty good at choosing books that I will enjoy--after 50ish years as a reader, I know what I like. So, most of these are books I very honestly gave 4 or 5 stars to. 

I'm always a mood reader, with the exception of promises made to book clubs or folks I promised to review, and my taste ran dark this year. I went on a T. Kingfisher binge and read 12 of her books this year. I revisited some established horror favorites like Grady Hendrix, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Gabino Iglesias. 

I read a lauded and admired fantasy with dragons, and the final installment of a series I have loved. I picked up a couple of books by friends and a few things I can't even remember how I learned about them. 

So, it's been a great reading year. 

Picking a favorite…

I'm not good at that. So, I guess I'll tell you what my favorite one is today. But you should know that if you ask me tomorrow, I might give a different answer. 

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. 

It's a fairy tale, in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm, but isn't a straight-up retelling of any particular fairy tale. It's also a story about escaping bad situation, perseverance and resilience, and found family. Grimm fairy tales were some of my first loves in the world of story, and I love the way Kingfisher pulled out all I loved about those stories and made something new from it. Bonus points for a having one of the heroines be a "woman of a certain age." 

How about you? What did you read that was wonderful this year? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!







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4 comments:

  1. I haven't read anything by T. Kingfisher but I do have The Hallow Places on my tbr.

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  2. I have read The Hollow Places, and I liked it, but there are others by her I like better.

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  3. Replies
    1. I manage this much through audiobooks and kindle. Let's me squeeze in reading on the go…and I always seem to be on the go.

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