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nonesensed) wrote2024-12-30 10:17 pm
nonesensed) wrote2024-12-30 10:17 pm
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Book Bingo and this year’s favorite books~!
Last month I finished the book bingo kingstoken created for 2024, but I’ve not had time to post about it until now 😅
Book Bingo Summary
"
First row:
Second Row
Third Row
Fourth Row
Fifth Row
Andkingstoken made a lovely badge for everyone who completed the book bingo 💖
"
Favorite books of this year
The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by Roman Mars & Kurt Kohlstedt. If you like the podcast 99% Invisible, you will enjoy this book! Some of it is information you’ve already heard, but there’s plenty more, and an excellent source of city worldbuilding inspiration for all kinds of stories.
Anywhere Out of the World by Karin Tidbeck. I love pretty much everything by Karin Tidbeck. Reading short horror stories by Tidbeck in the darkest of January? Perfection 💙❄️
The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. The movie isn’t really my vibe - mainly because of all the awful shit that went on behind the scenes - but THIS STORY!!!! So eerie! So full of questions! So brutal! My little cosmic horror goblin heart loved it 😁
The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller. Started picking up Miller’s books when she became a host on the “Worldbuilding for Masochists” podcast and I have no regrets! I enjoyed this story of two sisters having to deal with both mundane and supernatural challenges (and horrors) as much as I enjoyed her Unraveled Kingdom trilogy! Especially thrilled that both sisters have romantic relationships going throughout the book but the focus is still on their sibling relation!
I’m enjoying my way through the Foreigner series by C. J. Cherryh. I read “Inheritor” and “Precursor” this year and I adore how alien the aliens in this world get to be! They don’t “learn about friendship” because they literally can’t biological experience those kind of emotions, just as the humans can’t experience the “instinctual loyalty”-thing the atevi have going on. I’m so glad there are 22 books in this series (as of current date) ‘cause I adore seeing how this world and its politics continue to grow.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. Horror and humor in the perfect mix for me ✨ Any character Kingfisher has thrown at the reader thus far has been the kind I enjoy following through a story. Also, learned some new things about both ladybugs and vultures!
The Masquerade Series by Seth Dickinson. I read both “The Traitor Baru Cormorant”, “The Monster Baru Cormorant” & “The Tyrant Baru Cormorant” this year and I can’t wait for the final(?) book in the series!!! I adore a good “anti-heroes who is morally gray and has to live with their horrific decisions”-story, especially when combined with an unreliable narrator and more and more complex worldbuilding. Adore this series thus far, and even if it all crashes and burns in the next book, I’ll have the super thrilling experience of reading this. To quote myself at the end of the first book: “AAAAAAAAH!!!!! ...good book.” 😆 Plus, the prose in this is so good!! I’m a hopeless skim-reader at times, especially when it comes to environments and character descriptions, because I don’t really picture what I’m reading while I’m reading it. I didn’t skim anything in these books - it was really my kind of style of writing 💖 (OBS! ALL the trigger warnings for this series!)
No One Came For Me: weird and primal horror stories by Mary Hollow. Picked up a copy at my local bookshop since it was on the staff recommends shelf. Apparently the author walked in with a reader copy that impressed the shop’s horror aficionado so much they ordered more copies and started selling it. And I understand why! This book definitely lives up to its title. I’m a fairly jaded horror fan and even I found more than one story in here that really thrilled me! Though do beware the title, in case you have horror related squicks or triggers.
Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Muir is so good at coming up with new ways to create utterly unreliable and uninformed main characters in this very dramatic story full of politics and magic you barely are made aware of 😁 I 100% understand how that might frustrate some people, but I love that kind of thing~ Picking up on clues and connecting the dots is half the fun of this series! The other half is the characters and their wonderfully complicated relationship to each other and to life. Can’t wait for the next book in this series!
A Power Unbound by Freya Marske. Really enjoyed this ending to the trilogy! The worldbuilding and characters are topnotch. If you’re looking for a series set in the UK with a secret society of magic users living among the regular population (possibly to take the place of another such franchise…) and you want that book trilogy to also include gorgeous language and great sex scenes that include character development, this is the book series for you!
Also finished The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner. Read “A Conspiracy of Kings”, “Thick as Thieves” and “Return of the Thief” this year, and I finally really “get” why this series has been as popular for fic requests at Yuletide.
Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland. Hilarious pirate story with an OT3 romance and the wettest little cat of a protagonist 😆
The Swords and Fire series by Melissa Caruso. I finished “The Defiant Heir” and “The Unbound Empire” and to my joy found out there was a sequel trilogy! Will be checking that series out too soon. Really want to return to this world for a while longer and see how it’s changed~
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. What a ride! I loved both the mystery and the very subtly building romance to the point where I immediately ordered the two other books once I’d finished this one💙 The time related supernatural shenanigans were brilliantly executed and the mysteries intriguing ✨
What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher. Read this aloud to my sister and we both enjoyed it immensely. By far not the creepiest or scariest book I’ve ever read, but I really love the sarcastic humor of Kingfisher’s style, and I like the character of Alex Easton and all kan friends ✨
The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell. Purcell’s “maybe magic maybe mundane” approach to horror mysteries never fails to intrigue me. Usually I’m not a fan of stories where all ghosts are doubted until the very end, but Prucell strikes just the right balance between doubt and proof of ghostly activities 💙 It goes well with the elements of “the character you thought you could trust is untrustworthy and the other way around” that Prucell also tends to include. Wonderfully unsettling~
Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland. You know those “they’re sleeping together but one guys loathes the other guy and for some reason that guy puts up with it and they stay together”-plots where you just want to yell at the characters “Either talk things out or BREAK UP!!!!”? That’s where this book starts and then it spends most of the plot DEALING WITH THE COUPLE’S ISSUES! As much as I can enjoy a toxic romance, this was very cathartic to read.
PS. I’m still greatly enjoying reading the Monstress series and Witch Hat Atelier!
kingstoken created for 2024, but I’ve not had time to post about it until now 😅Book Bingo Summary
"First row:
- Book in a series: “Nona the Ninth” by Tamsyn Muir
- Author you've never read before: “The Traitor Baru Cormorant” (The Masquerade #1) by Seth Dickinson
- Book older then you are: “Gösta Berlings saga” by Selma Lagerlöf
- Fairy Tale or Fairy Tale Retelling: “Beauty” (Tales from the Kingdoms #3) by Sarah Pinborough (illustrations by Les Edwards) - A reread since I couldn’t find anything fairy tale based
- Graphic novel or Comic: “Stand Still, Stay Silent: Book 4” by Minna Sundberg
Second Row
- Pet or Animal Companion: “The Bone Shard War” (The Drowning Empire #3) by Andrea Stewart
- A main character over the age of 30: “Precursor” (Foreigner #4) by C. J. Cherry
- LGBTQ+: “The Impossible Contract” by K. A. Doore
- Multiple POVs: “The Tyrant Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade #3) by Seth Dickinson
- Under 100 Pages: “Anywhere Out of the World” by Karin Tidbeck
Third Row
- Romance Plot or Sub-plot: “A Power Unbound” (The Last Binding #3) by Freya Marske
- Translated: “Korta Svar på Stora Frågor” by Stephen Hawking
- (FREE SPACE): “A Conspiracy of Kings” (The Queen's Thief #4) by Megan Whalen Turner
- Humour: “Running Close to the Wind” by Alexandra Rowland
- Non-fiction: “The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design” by Roman Mars, Kurt Kohlstedt & 99% Invisible (podcast)
Fourth Row
- Thriller or Suspense: “Döda kvinnor förlåter inte” by Katarina Wennstam
- With a Blue Cover: “The Heroes of Tolkien” (Tolkien Illustrated Guides) by David Day
- POC Author: “The Bone Shard Emperor” (The Drowning Empire #2) by Andrea Stewart
- Horror or Paranormal: “A House with Good Bones” by T. Kingfisher
- Colour in the Title: “The Last Black Unicorn” by Tiffany Haddish
Fifth Row
- Seasonal Read: “Tmutarakan. Obekanta konster” by Magnus Åberg
- Book from your TBR: “The Faithless” (Magic of the Lost #2) by C. L. Clark
- Crime or Mystery: “The Whispering Muse” by Laura Purcell
- Sci-fi or Fantasy: “Fault Tolerance” (Chilling Effect #3) by Valerie Valdes
- Banned Book: “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie (illustrated by Ellen Forney)
And
kingstoken made a lovely badge for everyone who completed the book bingo 💖"Favorite books of this year
The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by Roman Mars & Kurt Kohlstedt. If you like the podcast 99% Invisible, you will enjoy this book! Some of it is information you’ve already heard, but there’s plenty more, and an excellent source of city worldbuilding inspiration for all kinds of stories.
Anywhere Out of the World by Karin Tidbeck. I love pretty much everything by Karin Tidbeck. Reading short horror stories by Tidbeck in the darkest of January? Perfection 💙❄️
The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. The movie isn’t really my vibe - mainly because of all the awful shit that went on behind the scenes - but THIS STORY!!!! So eerie! So full of questions! So brutal! My little cosmic horror goblin heart loved it 😁
The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller. Started picking up Miller’s books when she became a host on the “Worldbuilding for Masochists” podcast and I have no regrets! I enjoyed this story of two sisters having to deal with both mundane and supernatural challenges (and horrors) as much as I enjoyed her Unraveled Kingdom trilogy! Especially thrilled that both sisters have romantic relationships going throughout the book but the focus is still on their sibling relation!
I’m enjoying my way through the Foreigner series by C. J. Cherryh. I read “Inheritor” and “Precursor” this year and I adore how alien the aliens in this world get to be! They don’t “learn about friendship” because they literally can’t biological experience those kind of emotions, just as the humans can’t experience the “instinctual loyalty”-thing the atevi have going on. I’m so glad there are 22 books in this series (as of current date) ‘cause I adore seeing how this world and its politics continue to grow.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. Horror and humor in the perfect mix for me ✨ Any character Kingfisher has thrown at the reader thus far has been the kind I enjoy following through a story. Also, learned some new things about both ladybugs and vultures!
The Masquerade Series by Seth Dickinson. I read both “The Traitor Baru Cormorant”, “The Monster Baru Cormorant” & “The Tyrant Baru Cormorant” this year and I can’t wait for the final(?) book in the series!!! I adore a good “anti-heroes who is morally gray and has to live with their horrific decisions”-story, especially when combined with an unreliable narrator and more and more complex worldbuilding. Adore this series thus far, and even if it all crashes and burns in the next book, I’ll have the super thrilling experience of reading this. To quote myself at the end of the first book: “AAAAAAAAH!!!!! ...good book.” 😆 Plus, the prose in this is so good!! I’m a hopeless skim-reader at times, especially when it comes to environments and character descriptions, because I don’t really picture what I’m reading while I’m reading it. I didn’t skim anything in these books - it was really my kind of style of writing 💖 (OBS! ALL the trigger warnings for this series!)
No One Came For Me: weird and primal horror stories by Mary Hollow. Picked up a copy at my local bookshop since it was on the staff recommends shelf. Apparently the author walked in with a reader copy that impressed the shop’s horror aficionado so much they ordered more copies and started selling it. And I understand why! This book definitely lives up to its title. I’m a fairly jaded horror fan and even I found more than one story in here that really thrilled me! Though do beware the title, in case you have horror related squicks or triggers.
Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Muir is so good at coming up with new ways to create utterly unreliable and uninformed main characters in this very dramatic story full of politics and magic you barely are made aware of 😁 I 100% understand how that might frustrate some people, but I love that kind of thing~ Picking up on clues and connecting the dots is half the fun of this series! The other half is the characters and their wonderfully complicated relationship to each other and to life. Can’t wait for the next book in this series!
A Power Unbound by Freya Marske. Really enjoyed this ending to the trilogy! The worldbuilding and characters are topnotch. If you’re looking for a series set in the UK with a secret society of magic users living among the regular population (possibly to take the place of another such franchise…) and you want that book trilogy to also include gorgeous language and great sex scenes that include character development, this is the book series for you!
Also finished The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner. Read “A Conspiracy of Kings”, “Thick as Thieves” and “Return of the Thief” this year, and I finally really “get” why this series has been as popular for fic requests at Yuletide.
Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland. Hilarious pirate story with an OT3 romance and the wettest little cat of a protagonist 😆
The Swords and Fire series by Melissa Caruso. I finished “The Defiant Heir” and “The Unbound Empire” and to my joy found out there was a sequel trilogy! Will be checking that series out too soon. Really want to return to this world for a while longer and see how it’s changed~
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. What a ride! I loved both the mystery and the very subtly building romance to the point where I immediately ordered the two other books once I’d finished this one💙 The time related supernatural shenanigans were brilliantly executed and the mysteries intriguing ✨
What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher. Read this aloud to my sister and we both enjoyed it immensely. By far not the creepiest or scariest book I’ve ever read, but I really love the sarcastic humor of Kingfisher’s style, and I like the character of Alex Easton and all kan friends ✨
The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell. Purcell’s “maybe magic maybe mundane” approach to horror mysteries never fails to intrigue me. Usually I’m not a fan of stories where all ghosts are doubted until the very end, but Prucell strikes just the right balance between doubt and proof of ghostly activities 💙 It goes well with the elements of “the character you thought you could trust is untrustworthy and the other way around” that Prucell also tends to include. Wonderfully unsettling~
Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland. You know those “they’re sleeping together but one guys loathes the other guy and for some reason that guy puts up with it and they stay together”-plots where you just want to yell at the characters “Either talk things out or BREAK UP!!!!”? That’s where this book starts and then it spends most of the plot DEALING WITH THE COUPLE’S ISSUES! As much as I can enjoy a toxic romance, this was very cathartic to read.
PS. I’m still greatly enjoying reading the Monstress series and Witch Hat Atelier!
no subject
And Nona the Ninth!
Now we get two series with complicated lesbians and evil empires and mental illnesses we're waiting for the fourth book of.
I disliked the The Birds movie, didn't see the point, ans was very surprised to love the short story, especially since apocalyptic fiction isn't usually my thing.
no subject
Yessss! Though it brings to mind that "two nickles"-meme; funny that it happened twice and all 😆
I disliked the The Birds movie, didn't see the point, ans was very surprised to love the short story, especially since apocalyptic fiction isn't usually my thing.
Same! I only checked out the short story because it got mentioned on a podcast I follow (Strange Studies of Strange Stories) and boy am I glad I did!
no subject
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I enjoyed Freya Marske's series too. :) And I want to read more of T. Kingfisher's work!
no subject
The Last Binding series is so much fun 💖 I've plenty of T. Kingfisher left to read and I'm so very pleased about that. Highly recommend the ones I have read (What Moves the Dead, What Feasts at Night, The Hollow Places and The Twisted Ones.)