#poor king tho 😓

[khadgarfield]

This year I set myself a goal to complete FIFTY books, and keep a record of what I read including what I thought about/learned from each book in terms of writing techniques, story structure, or just wrt developing a better idea of my own writing goals and tastes. I demolished this goal before June, which I am extremely pleased about, and I am still in the process of demolishing this goal, having completed another three books since I last updated this list a week or two ago!

The aim of this exercise was the following:

Re-establish reading habit, and improve attention span.

Re-Learn how to write down my thoughts about books, even if they are uncritical observations, opinions, or ideas inspired by what I'm reading.

Cover as much ground as possible as fast as possible, over a wide range of topics and genres (audiobooks and written books both count!)

Book quality was not a factor I considered when picking what to read - if it fell into my lap I read it and wrote down my thoughts, and let me tell you I definitely read some sub-par books in 2023. I read some really great ones too! But when one is not picky you kinda get what you get, and I think next year I might be a bit more discerning/tactical in my approach. I also did NOT go to tik tok for book recs because I don't believe in tik tok the same way some people don't believe in the spherical earth. I picked books based on word of mouth, recommendations spoon fed to me by via the audible algorithm (still evil, but the devil one knows and all that), and via on-the-ground perusal of book shops and stacks and the 'recently returned' feed on the libby app. Despite this, I know some booktok faves managed to find their way onto my list. I am working very hard not to acknowledge this, please don't draw undue attention to it 😂

Speaking of libby, my hold list also grew astronomically this year. My poor local library is limited, and I have been waiting for a few books I really want for MONTHS (riyria revelations v1, the colour of magic, the king in yellow...). I was able to borrow as many cosy murder mysteries as I wanted, though, because small town libraries seem to have 10000000 of those available per patron per anum. Unfortunately, I have discovered I am neutral at best about this genre. 😔

The best books I read this year across all genres and in no particular order were as follows:

The southern book clubs guide to slaying vampires - Grady Hendrix: this appealed deeply to my love of and familiarity with horror movies of the 80s-2010s. It had an innovative and articulate approach to themes like powerlessness, rage, desperation, boredom, inequity, and guilt - at least compared to everything else i read this year. I noted paralells between this and Ira levins stepford wives, much of Stephen kings horrific americana, plus some other books and movies which I alluded to in my notes but for some reason I didn't write down (foolish 😓). Some big TWs would apply for this one, however.

The day of the triffids - John Wyndham: genuinely I do not know how I enjoyed this so much. I had no business enjoying this so much. Despite being from 1951, parts of this felt very contemporary in style and concept, tho sometimes dubious ideas about humanity or society would appear in the text as if they were a natural fact. Nevertheless, I went out and read another Wyndham book straight after, because there was also some beautiful prose in this, and it's always interesting to personally experience the origin of so many tropes which are like. Ubiquitous now.

Uglies series - Scott Westerfield: another unexpected winner. I never read these books as a teen and I consider that a good thing because they would have made my little adolescent brain crazy. These books are crammed with paraphernalia which would have been the coolest shit to a 13 year old me, all masterfully concealing themes about beauty and social hierarchy and state surveillance in a way that seems exponentially more relevant now than it did nearly 20 years ago. I was so impressed with these books honestly, and the way this author used language was something else. I didn't even notice what was going on until it was pointed out by the story, having simply resigned myself to reading an averagely written book full of weird dialect quirks just because it was pitched at a teen reader. I was way wrong, and ive never seen such an elegant example of style justified by the narrative itself. I really wish I could do something that skillfull in my own work!

Braiding sweetgrass - Robin wall Kimmerer: gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. a sensory joy. Seriously beautiful, and surprisingly emotionally intense. I had to read this in short bursts because it made me feel too much about trees.

Boy Parts - Eliza Clark: this one made me feel things I haven't figured out yet. Unlike everything else ive ever read, I could have believed that I wrote this, and that recognition of the self was horrifying because there wasn't a moment in the story i didnt struggle to reconcile revulsion with the exquisite beauty of it all. Easily the scariest book of the year, Easily the one i have thought about the most, Easily the biggest TW of my 2023 recommendations. I'm gonna be defining my own work against this for at least the next six months, or until I have matched it in calibre/distanced myself from it so completely that I am forced to recreate myself and my art anew.

In 2024, I plan to narrow my scope more and focus back on horror, fantasy, and non-fiction. Based on how good I was in 23, I'm going to aim for 65 books in 2024!!!

#text #personal #writing things #writing things adjacent at least