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

Fun and fast-paced. Not really too much else to say other than it was a nice palate cleanser as I continue with some more classics.

All Systems Red-Martha Wells
Station Eleven-Emily St. John Mandel
The death of Ivan Ilyich and other stories-Tolstoy, Leo graf
Foundation-Isaac Asimov
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This-Omar El Akkad
Lonesome Dove-Larry McMurtry
Royal Assassin-Robin Hobb
We Are Legion-Dennis E. Taylor
The River of Doubt-Candice Millard
The Devils-Joe Abercrombie
In the Heart of the Sea-Nathaniel Philbrick
Madhouse at the End of the Earth-Julian Sancton
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet-Becky Chambers
The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl #4)-Matt Dinniman
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder-David Grann
Assassin's Apprentice-Robin Hobb
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage-Alfred Lansing
Alone on the Ice-David Roberts
The Terror-Dan Simmons
Lives-Plutarch
The Twelve Caesars-Suetonius
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition-Owen Beattie
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party-Daniel James Brown
Last Argument of Kings-Joe Abercrombie
Histories-Herodotus
Before They Are Hanged-Joe Abercrombie
Introducing the Ancient Greeks-Edith Hall
The Blade Itself-Joe Abercrombie
Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old-Mary Beard
Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James Romm-James Romm
The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 3-Matt Dinniman
The Hero of Ages-Brandon Sanderson
Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the Bloody Fight for His Empire-James Romm
Surface Detail-Iain M. Banks
Carl's Doomsday Scenario: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 2-Matt Dinniman
The Well of Ascension-Brandon Sanderson
Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 1-Matt Dinniman
Wrath (The Faithful and the Fallen Book 4)-John Gwynne
Mistborn-Brandon Sanderson
The Norman Conquest-Marc Morris
Ruin (The Faithful and the Fallen Book 3)-John Gwynne
The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England-Marc Morris
Matter-Iain M. Banks
The Doors of Eden-Adrian Tchaikovsky
Valor-John Gwynne
Look to Windward-Iain M. Banks
Malice (Book 1 of 4: The Faithful and the Fallen)-John Gwynne
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101-Christopher R. Browning
Leviathan Wakes-by James S. A. Corey
Medieval Europe-Chris Wickham
A Scanner Darkly-Phillip K. Dick
The Greatest Knight-Thomas Asbridge
House of Suns-Alastair Reynolds
Inversions-Iain M. Banks
The Last Town-Blake Crouch
The State of the Art-Iain M. Banks
Wayward-Blake Crouch
Pines-Blake Crouch
Excession-Iain M. Banks
Robots and Empire-Isaac Asimov

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!

To me, words feel like things so weak when it comes to describing my thoughts on an excellent story. This is the best I've read.

This is the most BEAUTIFUL story I've ever read and probably the only book where I'd change nothing, for every single thing about this book ROCKS!

It has the best characters I've read. Best plot. Best first line. Best protagonist. Best romance. Best pacing. Best murder-story. Best ending. Oh God, the ending! I cried so hard! Jake has never been what we'd call a crying man, but, man, when he did cry, I cried as well and I cried so hard!

Jake has easily become my favourite protagonist of all time. Idk why but i imagined him as Bill(Pennywise's actor). I don't think I'm ever going to forget the relationship between Jake and Sadie. I cried so hard when Sadie died and her last words were so emotional just thinking about them make my eyes watery. The book was so good I'm literally crying as I write this review. It took me 21 days to finish it. I'd started it on audio and it was good but when it came to voicing kids, I think the narrator failed cuz the kids sounded like an old man with high fever. So I dropped the audiobook, got the book and DEVOURED it and absolutely loved every single page of it! Stephen King blended the historical fiction/hitman/romance so well together. I loved the Historical FICTION part of the book so much. It felt to me like i was there in the late 50s/early 60s America even though I've never been to America and I'm just 18!

It was my first Stephen King book and it's already become my favourite book of all time. It'd need a book to be extremely GOOD to beat this one.

And I waannnnnt some recommendations!!!!

Do y'all have any similar EPIC book recommendations? Books that don't follow a single genre but are a good mixture of multiple genres? I'd love to read one so so so badly!

It all being said, I have two more books by Stephen King and I know nothing about either of them. One's the audiobook of Misery and the other is a mammoth of a book called the Stand. How do they compare to 11.22.63??

Have a good day/night!!!

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.

​

I really enjoyed this Goddamn book and the Goddamn main character. The gruff old swearing boat captain archetype is one of my favorites. And how he stumbled into this strange world was very amusing.

Funny enough this is my first GRR Martin book and I didn't expect the horror to be as good as it was. Plenty of moments were tense or outright disturbing, especially with the great narration by Donachie.

The setting and the technical aspects of steam boat travel had me fully immersed as well.

Downsides would be the villain and the supporting character Joshua York.

The villain was dissapointing outside of his actual physical threat to other characters. His philosophy was very basic and kind of pathetic and his lack of any ambition was kind of a let down rather than an interesting character feature. I found myself rolling my eyes whenever he tried to convince anyone of anything, he was more impressive as a villain when he didn't talk tbh.

York on the other hand I liked a lot up until his naivety started to be a broken record.

Also the "if we kill this bad guy and then we're bad guys too" trope is one of my least favorite. That trope can be done well it just didn't feel like that here.

Still the ending was satisfying and the epilogue had me tearing up. All in all it gets a goddamn 4/5.

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!

​

This is one of my favorites to start off, I'm a big fan of superhero media being lampooned or joked about in a way that isn't too mean spirited or fourth wall breaking. Examples being games like Dispatch or shows like the Venture Brothers.

This book gave me vibes similar to those, full of humor but still managing to hit the emotional beats.

I felt angry with the the main character Anna and horrified at the truth of what heroics do to the world. I felt triumphant at her wins and scared at her loses. This book took me for a ride.

A lot of the side characters aren't super fleshed out but they are all entertaining. The ones who are fleshed out like Keller resonated with me in the way life sometimes takes you in a different direction than the ones you love.

The world building is also so engaging without being too mired in pointless details.

I give perfect scores to books that do everything or needs to do and this one checks that box and more. Big 5/5 and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

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

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.

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.

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