#Books Of The Year

[kbkirtley]

Renegades Series - Marissa Meyer

This was my favorite series I read this year. All my life I’ve looked for superhero novels, but there weren’t really any in the mainstream. And while I’ve learned to enjoy Graphic Novels this past year, I still don’t fall into those the same way I do with books. Finding Marissa Meyer’s Renegades series was such a fun experience for me because of that.

Nova being a villain at the start shifts the perspective of the book and raises a lot of questions as to whether the heroes are actually the good guys. Moving from Renegades to Arch-Enemies to Supernova, Meyer creates a really interesting world of superpowered people and the struggles that go with keeping people safe in such a world, especially when the government is being run by people with powers.

The characters are really where the series shines. Nova/Nightmare/Insomnia and Adrian/Sketch/Sentinel are the two main characters whose perspectives we see. Both of them have secrets that they’re keeping from each other and the Renegades as a whole, leading to much of the tension in the book. They are one of the best pairs I’ve read in YA in a long time and both of their desire to see the Renegades be better than they are is the driving catalyst for the series.

The supporting characters are maybe even more enjoyable. Max/The Bandit is my favorite character in the story. The rest of the team Oscar/Smokescreen, Ruby/Red Assassin, and Danna/Monarch are a delight. The council as a whole is fantastic, but Adrian’s dads Hugh/Captain Chromium and Simon/The Dread Warden, do a ton of the heavy lifting in helping to understand what the Renegades are and what they stand for. The other Anarchists, especially Leroy/Cyanide, help to humanize the other side of the Renegade’s battle and allow for Nova’s story to carry the weight that it does.

The Renegades series is one that I would absolutely recommend and it’s one that gives me hope there is an audience for books like mine!

[norius-here-to-sips-tea]

I just read "Café con Lychee" a few hours ago and I just can't get over it yet. It's simply a beautiful book that deserves a lot of love. AND @emeryleewho TOO! they are so talented, I haven't felt in the shoes of the characters reading a book in a REALLY REALLY long time so for me it was double the emotion (I cried a lot, laughed a lot)

Thank you very much for sharing Theo and Gabi's story with us, I thank my past self for choosing this book among so many others, it is a 100/10 without a shadow of a doubt.

I'll soon be after "meet cute diary" and I hope they're books get the love and recognition they deserve.

here's a sketchy fanart ^^

"Theo's hair is shorter"

I only saw it after finishing because it was completely based on this image:

but hope you guys liked it!! and, again, if you've never heard of it or if you want to read it but don't know if it's any good, just jump. It's spectacular.

[goodiecornbread]

Best Books I Read in 2022

In no particular order

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Okay, I know I said "no particular order" but I think this was my #1 for the year. Starting with a misunderstood, nerdy bookworm, who ends up being the only one who can save the word, how can it get better? Maybe the fantasy, the interdimensional travel, the demigods... I'll absolutely reread this one again.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. Magical realism, historical fiction, and a hint of the devil. What's not to love?

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. Hey, the first in the list that isn't a drama. In fact, this rom-com has it all: neurodiversity, secret relationships, 'let's fuck away our problems', and lots of queer representation!

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. Oops, back to the serious books. I'm a sucker for dystopian novels, and knew I'd love this. If you can, listen to the audiobook read by Noah Reid; his narration is chef's kiss.

A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske. More historical fantasy with magical realism! Plus throw in some turn-of-the-century queer folks, and you're all set! At least I am, because apparently magical queer books are my jam.

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas. Okay, this fantasy doesn't have a bunch of queer representation, but it's got lots of smut! The latest in the Court of Thorns and Roses series, this one follows a different MC who is kind of a super bitch, and I kind of love it.

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White. Oh good, back to the weird gay books. This post-apocalyptic horror stars a trans teen who revolts against the radical evangelical terrorists who unleashed a plague upon the world. This is a book that sinks it's teeth into you. And claws.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. More historical fantasy with interdimensional travel and magic! Not as gay, but just as interesting, and the second book has a strong female main character.

All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown. Another book about post-apocalyptic queer youths! This one is much less horror than the previously mentioned, but more heartwarming. Two teen boys trying to find their way in a post-pandemic work (not COVID, but a similar illness with a more drastic outcome).

Book Lovers by Emily Henry. Sorry to end this list with a heterosexual rom-com, but we do what we have to. A book about two people who love books, working on a book? With a bookstore?! Yes please!

Honorable Mention: Heartstopper, by Alice Oseman. This year I re-read the graphic novels, as well as some of the novels and novellas of the Osemanverse, and the Hearstopper Yearbook. Loved the show? You'll love the books even better. I don't know how Alice does it, but she created some of the best characters to ever live on the page.

[pawswithprose]

Hello! What are your top 3 books you read this year? 🌼

Thank you so much for the question.

I’ve read 182 books so far this year so it won’t be easy to pick a top three.

The first book that came to mind is Little Women. I finished it this past weekend and I loved it so so much. The bond between the sisters is so well written as is their relationship with their mother.

I’ve read a lot of translated fiction this year and one of the best is What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama. It’s about a library and the woman who works there helping visitors who are struggling to make big decisions or change their lives. It was really heartwarming and made me happy to read it.

Our Wives Under the Sea is a story which has really stuck with me. It’s hard to describe it but it focuses on two women and how their relationship changes after one returns from a submarine trip very changed. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it but it’s so engaging and intriguing but also emotional.

Shout out to Cleopatra and Frankenstein, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans, Big Swiss, After Dark and Hell Bent which were all five star reads.

[nathanpenlington]

Books of the year 2022

I'm not sure where the year went, but here we are again at my books of the year list. 

Like my previous books of the year posts, date of publication is not relevant for this list. This year I had to reread about 70 Choose Your Own Adventure books for a project - they are still as smart, funny, and engaging as ever, but as my love for those is so well documented I haven't included any here. 

So, these are the best books to find me - for the first time - in 2022.

#1 - My favourite thing is monsters - Volume 1 - Emil Ferris (2017)

This book is truly incredible, but not an easy read. 

Drawn mostly with Bic ballpoint pen, it breaks the conventions of graphic novels in many ways. On the surface Monsters is a coming of age story set in 60's Chicago, but it is a multi-layered narrative that catalogues monsters in all forms - those in pulp comics, those responsible for the horrors of the holocaust, and monsters that enable brutal sexual exploitation and abuse.   

It's embedded with sadness, weighed with the heaviness of human struggle, but shot through with light and love. A genuinely important work. 

Volume 2 is forthcoming, I hope in 2023. If so, I can't see it not making next year's list.

#2 - Acting Class - Nick Drnaso (2022)

I loved Nick's previous books - Beverly, and Sabrina - but Acting Class, for me, surpasses both. In Acting Class, as you'd expect, a disparate group of strangers join an amateur acting class. But what the title doesn't give away is the David Lynch like sense of uncanny, an under the surface oddness, which makes the ongoing narrative full of tension. It's compelling in every way.

  #3 - The Labyrinth - Simon Stålenhag (2021)

All of Simon's other books have made my previous books of the year lists, The Labyrinth deserves its place on this year's list too. 

In short The Labyrinth is a brutal sci-fi graphic novel, in which guilt and redemption collide. The art and words work together to build a darker world, where everyday horror seeps into an alternate past future.

  #4 - The Confidence Men - Margalit Fox (2021)

During the 1st World War, two British officers conspired to escape a remote Turkish prisoner of war camp. What follows is a true story of an elaborately planned, long running con, involving seances, spirits, and sleight of hand trickery. It's an outstandingly researched and written book. Film rights have been optioned by Fox, which doesn't surprise me, but the detail in the writing is a joy.

  #5 - Magritte in 400 images - Julie Waseige (2021)

Rene Magritte has been one of my favourite artists since discovering his work as a teenager, tucked away in the tiny Abergele library  in a book on surrealist painters.

This book covers a huge amount of his output, in chronological order. It's interesting to track his obsessions and motifs as they recur and develop. Magritte's use of the ordinary made strange creates a quiet unease, at odds with the more fleshy surrealism of someone like Dali. Magritte's work often playfully explores aspects of illusion and unreality, an area I'm constantly drawn to.  And the best children's book we've read this last year? My oldest daughter is now 6, she's learnt to read using the Biff, Chip and Kipper series (created by Roderick Hunt and illustrated by Alex Brychta in 1986). The illustrations are full of incidental details that are brilliant asides to a world bigger than the story. Creating compelling stories using a limited vocabulary is a constraint greater in challenge than anything used by George Perec.

  My daughter's favourite books have been the Pizazz series by Sophy Henn.

Imagine a girl who is a reluctant super-hero, embarrassed by her super-power (glitter jazz hands anyone?), always wearing her too long cape (chosen by her mum), having to save the world before school, and still forced to do homework. We read them all in a month, thanks to the well stocked Hackney library. Pizazz is funny, smart, and identifiable.

[dzknik]

fellas is it gay to cover my entire house with imagery of my muse, the centre of my life, the sun in my galaxy

[beguilingcorpse]

i am glad queer representation has drastically improved in my lifetime. because now i can say that i dislike a gay book and not feel like i’m invalidating stonewall

[s0up1ta]

toxic yaoi or something idk i haven't watched gravity falls

[denbo66]

The Times Literary Supplement

Friday 15th November 2024

[kbkirtley]

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros

My number 4 2023 Release is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.

This book was not without flaws. I found myself frequently rolling my eyes at certain thing or feeling the suspension of disbelief being pulled at through some internal logic. But I couldn’t stop reading this book and couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks after finishing it. I loved the concept of the book - “war college for dragon riders” was the easiest sell of all-time for me - and thought there was a really interesting plot. With a couple exceptions, I thought the characters were a bit flimsy in this book but that is largely addressed in Iron Flame. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to commit to four more books after Iron Flame, but as a “book one,” Fourth Wing did all it needed to do. Despite its flaws, Fourth Wing is one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

That being said, I will never forgive Yarros for what she did to [redacted] at the end of the book.

[that-butch-archivist]

"Lesbian Weddings" by Wendy Jill York

source: The Femme Mystique, edited by Lesléa Newman

[utilitycaster]

I should note, I hate the soulmates "we would fall in love in every universe" trope for the aforementioned "where's the tension and interest and really anything worthwhile" reasons. However, "we would find each other in every universe" fucking rips. We would interact meaningfully in every universe but sometimes we are lovers and sometimes we are friends and sometimes we are bitter enemies and sometimes we'd simply both be in the same HOA.

[chickpeamcb]

attic storage

[chloesimaginationthings]

Happy 10th anniversary to FNAF!!

[cryptocism]

"just as I did, in 1983."

you'd never know my favourite parts of the show are the fucked up insane bits when my first instinct is to draw the cheesiest thing imaginable

[theseoblogspace]

Top Picks: Best Selling Books of the Year

Summer is here, and what better way to relax and unwind than with a good book? Whether you’re lounging by the pool, soaking up the sun at the beach, or enjoying a quiet afternoon in the shade, a captivating story is the perfect companion for your summer adventures. As the days get longer and the temperatures rise, it’s time to dive into the world of books and discover the top picks and best…