jethrien

1. Buried Deep by Naomi Novik, 5.
2. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride, 4.
3. A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience by Stephanie Burgis, 3.
4. Countess by Suzan Palumbo, 3.5.
5. Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland, 4.5.
6. James by Percival Everett, 5.
7. I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle, 4.
8. You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle, 5.
9. The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter, 4.5.
10. Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin, 5.
11. Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill, 4.
12. Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire, 4.
13. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler, 5.
14. Netherford Hall by Natania Barron, 3.
15. The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkswood, 3.
16. Find Layla by Meg Elison, 5.
17. Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear, 3.
18. The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard, 3.
19. Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett, 4.
20. Space Oddity by Catherynne M. Valente, 3.
21. The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop, 4.
22. The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison, 4.
23. The Wedding People by Alison Espach, 5.
24. Emberclaw by L.R.Lam, 4.
25. Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan Macguire, 3.5.
26. Saint Death's Daughter by C.S.E.Cooney, 4.
27. Queen of None by Natania Barron, 3.
28. Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer, 5.
29. Charming by Jade Linwood, 4.
30. Wavewalker by Suzanne Heywood, 5.
31. The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim, 3.5.
32. Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety by John Duffy, 3.
33. The Warbler by Sarah Beth Durst, 4.
34. Between the Bliss and Me by Lizzy Mason, 3.
35. The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean, 3.5.
36. Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett, 4.5.
37. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, 5.
38. Moonbound by Robin Sloane, 4.
39. The Life Impossible by Matt Haig, 1.
40. Unlocked by John Scalzi, 3.5.
41. 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall, 4.
42. The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho, 4.
43. Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant by Stephanie Kiser, 3.
44. Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav Barsukov, 3.
45. Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera, 4.5.
46. Asunder by Kerstin Hall, 4.
47. The Book of Love by Kelly Link, 4.5.
48. The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler, 4.5.
49. Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa, 4.
50. The Practice, The Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar, 4.
51. The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui, 5.
52. Brain Energy by Christopher M. Palmer, 4.
53. Holistic Solutions for Anxiety & Depression in Therapy by Peter Bongiorno, 4.
54. The Divine Gardener's Handbook by Eli Snow, 2.
55. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty, 4.5.
56. The Only Song Worth Singing by Randee Dawn, 3.5.
57. Daydreamer by Rob Cameron, 3.5.
58. Puzzleheart by Jenn Reese, 3.5.
59. Braided by Leah Cypress, 4.5.
60. The Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells, 4.
61. Benny Ramirez and the Nearly Departed by José Pablo Iriarte, 4.5.
62. Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee, 4.
63. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, 5.
64. When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley, 5.
65. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, 3.5.
66. Dead & Breakfast by Rosiee Thor and Kat Hillis, 4.
67. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, 4.
68. Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 4.5.
69. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews, 4.
70. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 3.
71. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao, 4.5.
72. Five Broken Blades by Mai Cortland, 4.
73. The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso, 4.5.
74. This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher, 3.5.
75. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, 4.5.
76. Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire, 3.
77. The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo, 5.
78. Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard, 4.
79. Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao, 3.5.
80. The Feast Makers by H.A. Clark, 3.5.
81. Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler, 4.
82. Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame by Mara Wilson, 3.5.
83. Twice as Dead by Harry Turtledove, 3.5.
84. Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill, 3.5.
85. The West Passage by Jared Pechaček, 4.
86. Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman, 4.
87. Books & Bewitchment by Isla Jewell, 3.5.
88. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, 4.
89. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, 4.
90. Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Strothers, 3.5.
91. Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronika Dapunt, 4.
92. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse, 4.
93. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, 5.
94. Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle, 5.
95. Unidentified Funny Objects 9 by ed. Alex Shvartsman, 3.
96. A Stranger in the Citadel by Tobias S. Buckell, 4.
97. The Secret Lives of Zombie Wives by Barbara Truelove, 5.
98. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, 4.
99. At First Spite by Olivia Dade, 4.5.
100. The Wicked King by Holly Black, 4.
101. The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black, 4.
102. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo, 4.
103. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo, 4.
104. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, 5.
105. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston, 5.
106. Behooved by M. Stevenson, 3.5.
107. Book Lovers by Emily Henry, 5.
108. Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines, 4.5.
109. A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett, 4.
110. The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, 4.
111. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, 5.
112. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, 5.
113. The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke, 3.
114. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, 4.
115. Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire, 3.5.
116. Daedalus is Dead by Seamus Sullivan, 4.
117. The Lighthouse at the End of the World by Philip Suggars, 3.
118. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, 4.
119. Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire, 3.5.
120. Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire, 4.
121. Entwined by H.M. Long, 3.5.
122. A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang, 3.
123. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo, 5.
124. The Apple and the Pearl by Rym Kechacha, 5.
125. Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell, 4.5.
126. Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire, 4.
127. Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire, 4.
128. House of Idyll by Delilah S. Dawson, 3.
129. Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson, 4.
130. 14 Talks by Age 14 by MIchelle Icard, 3.
131. Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire, 4.
132. Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire, 4.
133. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi, 4.
134. Baking Bad by Kim M. Watt, 3.
135. Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale, 3.
136. Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell, 3.
137. The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein, 4.
138. The Vale of Seven Dragons by Jendia Gammon, 2.5.
139. Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer, 4.
140. What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher, 4.5.
141. The Secret Romantic's Book of Magic by ed. Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, 3.5.
142. Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher, 4.
143. The Ghosts of Merry Hall by Heather Davey, 3.5.
144. Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders, 5.
145. When Among Crows by Veronica Roth, 4.
146. The Gryphon King by Sara Omer, 4.
147. Play Nice by Rachel Harrison, 4.
148. A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin, 3.5.
149. Teenage Girls Can Be Demons by Hailey Piper, 4.
150. Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher, 4.5.
151. Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle, 5.
152. Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland, 4.
153. Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite, 4.
154. The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison, 5.
155. The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older, 4.5.

So here's a question - as I've moved mostly over to other social platforms (it's not that I don't miss this style, I do, but I have to be on IG and Bluesky for professional reasons and it's exhausting but gets actual feedback that I don't get here): is anyone still reading these or care?

I think this may be the last year I rate books publicly, although I may still list them. In the last couple months, this has suddenly become awkward as I interact professionally with too many of these folks, and it's not going to get less awkward any time soon.

1. Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer by Rax King, 5. Memoir
2. The Good-Enough Life by Avram Alpert, 3.5. Self-Help
3. The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, 5. Science Fiction
4. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist—the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England by Daniel Pool, 4. History
5. The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang, 5. Romance
6. Servant of Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, 3.5. Fantasy
7. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, 4. Romance
8. A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, 4. Science Fiction
9. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, 4. Fantasy
10. Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge by Eleanor Herman, 3.5. History
11. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, 4. Fantasy
12. Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart, 3. Fantasy
13. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, 5. Romance
14. On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor, 3.5. Pop Science
15. Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley, 5. Fantasy
16. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty, 4. Science Fiction
17. What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe, 5. Pop Science
18. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, 5. Science Fiction
19. The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant, 3.5. History
20. Mistress of Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, 3.5. Fantasy
21. Remind Me to Hate You Later by Lizzy Mason, 3.5. General fiction
22. The Company of the Dead by David Kowalski, 3. Science Fiction
23. A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab, 4. Fantasy
24. A Conjuring of LIght by V.E. Schwab, 4. Fantasy
25. The Hydrogen Revolution by Marco Alverà, 3. Pop Science
26. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, 5. Fantasy
27. Sing Anyway by Anita Kelly, 3.5. Romance
28. All the Feels by Olivia Dade, 4. Romance
29. Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders by Aliette de Bodard, 4. Fantasy
30. The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older, 4. Science Fiction
31. The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard, 4. Fantasy
32. The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard, 4. Fantasy
33. The House of Sundering Flames by Aliette de Bodard, 4. Fantasy
34. Network Effect by Martha Wells, 5. Science Fiction
35. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, 4.5. Science Fiction
36. Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith, 5. Fantasy
37. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, 4. Fantasy
38. Bishop's Opening by R.S.A. Garcia, 3.5. Science Fiction
39. I Never Liked You Anyway by Jordan Kurella, 4. Fantasy
40. Spear by Nicola Griffith, 4.5. Fantasy
41. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, 5. Memoir
42. Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, 3.5. Writing
43. Around the World in 80 Plants by Jonathan Drori, 4. Pop Science
44. The Archived by Victoria Schwab, 4. Fantasy
45. The Eye of the Heron by Ursula K. Le Guin, 3.5. Science Fiction
46. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson, 3.5. History
47. The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett, 3.5. Fantasy
48. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope, 3. Classic
49. The Unbound by Victoria Schwab, 4. Fantasy
50. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, 2. Classic
52. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, 3. Classic
53. The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough, 4. History
51. Divinity 36 by Gail Carriger, 5. Science Fiction
54. The Sumage Solution by G.L. Carriger, 5. Romance
55. The Omega Objection by G.L. Carriger, 4.5. Romance
56. The Enforcer Enigma by G.L. Carriger, 4.5. Romance
57. The Greeks: A Global History by Roderick Beaton, 5. History
58. Happy Place by Emily Henry, 5. Romance
59. End of Story by Kylie Scott, 3.5. Romance
60. Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk, 5. Fantasy
61. Role Playing by Cathy Yardley, 4. Romance
62. The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner, 4. Fantasy
63. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher, 4.5. Fantasy
64. Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher, 4. Fantasy
65. The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher, 4. Fantasy
66. Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort, 4. Romance
67. Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai, 4. Fantasy
68. Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne, 3. Fantasy
69. How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford, 3.5. Science Fiction
70. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson, 3.5. Self-Help
71. Wolfsong by T.J. Klune, 4. Fantasy
72. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, 5. Literary Fiction
73. The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin, 3.5. Fantasy
74. The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo, 5. Fantasy
75. That Special Something by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese, 4. Romance
76. The Dispatcher: Travel by Bullet by John Scalzi, 4.5. Fantasy
77. Parasite by Mira Grant, 4. Horror
78. Husband Material by Alexis Hall, 4.5. Romance
79. Please Scream Quietly by Julie L. Fennell, 4. Anthropology/Cultural studies
80. Arch of Bone by Jane Yolen, 2.5. Historical fiction
81. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sarafi by Shannon Chakraborty, 5. Fantasy
82. Translation State by Ann Leckie, 4.5. Science Fiction
83. Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey, 3.5. Fantasy
84. Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, 3.5. Fantasy
85. Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey, 4. Fantasy
86. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, 5. General fiction
87. In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune, 3. Science Fiction
88. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey, 3.5. Fantasy
89. The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur, 4. Romance
90. mindfulness guide by J. Mark G. Williams, 3.5. Self-Help
91. Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall, 4. Romance
92. Babel by R.F. Kuang, 5. Fantasy
93. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, 4.5. General fiction
94. Ravensong by T.J. Klune, 3.5. Fantasy
95. Mr Katō Plays Family by Milena Michiko Flašar, 3.5. General fiction
96. A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales, 4. Mystery
97. The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec, 4. Fantasy
98. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, 2. Classic
99. Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change by W. David Marx, 5. Anthropology/Cultural studies
100. And What We Can Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed, 4. Fantasy
101. The English Experience by Julie Schumacher, 4. General fiction
102. Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger, 4. Romance
103. City of Bones by Martha Wells, 4. Fantasy
104. The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder, 3.5. General fiction
105. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark, 4. Fantasy
106. Dome 6 by Gail Carriger, 4. Science Fiction
107. Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury, 3.5. Mystery
108. Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot, 3. Romance
109. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, 4.5. Fantasy
110. Charlie All Night by Jennifer Crusie, 3. Romance
111. Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn, 4. Science Fiction
112. Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good by Timothy Zahn, 4. Science Fiction
113. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, 3. Fantasy
114. Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong, 3. Fantasy
115. The Marquis Who Mustn't by Courtney Milan, 5. Romance
116. Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale, 4.5. General fiction
117. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, 3. Fantasy
118. Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn, 3.5. Science Fiction
119. Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan, 3.5. Fantasy
120. Peril at Price Manor by Laura Parnum, 3.5. Children's
121. Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan, 3.5. Romance
122. Murder Most Faire by Teel James Glenn, 2.5. Mystery
123. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher, 5. Humor
124. Tune In Tomorrow by Randee Dawn, 4. Fantasy
125. Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater, 5. Fantasy
126. Wings of Fire Legends: DragonSlayer by Tui T. Sutherland, 4. Fantasy
127. The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth, 3.5. Fantasy
128. Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire, 4.5. Fantasy
129. Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty, 5. Science Fiction
130. The Four ??? Of the Apocalypse by ed. Keith and Wren DeCandido, 3. Fantasy
131. Forget the Funnel by Georgiana Laudi, Claire Suellentrop, 3. Technical/Career
132. The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, 5. Fantasy
133. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, 5. Literary Fiction

Because when am I not behind.

69. How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford, 3.5. Science Fiction
70. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson, 3.5. Self-Help
71. Wolfsong by T.J. Klune, 4. Fantasy
72. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, 5. Literary Fiction
73. The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin, 3.5. Fantasy
74. The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo, 5. Fantasy
75. That Special Something by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese, 4. Romance
76. The Dispatcher: Travel by Bullet by John Scalzi, 4.5. Fantasy
77. Parasite by Mira Grant, 4. Horror
78. Husband Material by Alexis Hall, 4.5. Romance
79. Please Scream Quietly by Julie L. Fennell, 4. Anthropology/Cultural studies
80. Arch of Bone by Jane Yolen, 2.5. Historical fiction
81. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sarafi by Shannon Chakraborty, 5. Fantasy
82. Translation State by Ann Leckie, 4.5. Science Fiction
83. Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey, 3.5. Fantasy
84. Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, 3.5. Fantasy
85. Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey, 4. Fantasy
86. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, 5. General fiction
87. In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune, 3. Science Fiction
88. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey, 3.5. Fantasy
89. The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur, 4. Romance
90. mindfulness guide by J. Mark G. Williams, 3.5. Self-Help
91. Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall, 4. Romance
92. Babel by R.F. Kuang, 5. Fantasy
93. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, 4.5. General fiction
#REF!
95. Mr Katō Plays Family by Milena Michiko Flašar, 3.5. General fiction
96. A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales, 4. Mystery
97. The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec, 4. Fantasy
98. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, 2. Classic
99. Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change by W. David Marx, 5. Anthropology/Cultural studies
100. And What We Can Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed, 4. Fantasy
101. The English Experience by Julie Schumacher, 4. General fiction
102. Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger, 4. Romance
103. City of Bones by Martha Wells, 4. Fantasy
104. The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder, 3.5. General fiction
105. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark, 4. Fantasy
106. Dome 6 by Gail Carriger, 4. Science Fiction
107. Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury, 3.5. Mystery
108. Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot, 3. Romance
109. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, 4.5. Fantasy
110. Charlie All Night by Jennifer Crusie, 3. Romance
111. Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn, 4. Science Fiction
112. Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good by Timothy Zahn, 4. Science Fiction
113. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, 3. Fantasy
114. Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong, 3. Fantasy
115. The Marquis Who Mustn't by Courtney Milan, 5. Romance
116. Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale, 4.5. General fiction

36. Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith, 5. Fantasy
37. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, 4. Fantasy
38. Bishop's Opening by R.S.A. Garcia, 3.5. Science Fiction
39. I Never Liked You Anyway by Jordan Kurella, 4. Fantasy
40. Spear by Nicola Griffith, 4.5. Fantasy
41. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, 5. Memoir
42. Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, 3.5. Writing
43. Around the World in 80 Plants by Jonathan Drori, 4. Pop Science
44. The Archived by Victoria Schwab, 4. Fantasy
45. The Eye of the Heron by Ursula K. Le Guin, 3.5. Science Fiction
46. The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson, 3.5. History
47. The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett, 3.5. Fantasy
48. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope, 3. Classic
49. The Unbound by Victoria Schwab, 4. Fantasy
50. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, 2. Classic
52. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, 3. Classic
53. The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough, 4. History
51. Divinity 36 by Gail Carriger, 5. Science Fiction
54. The Sumage Solution by G.L. Carriger, 5. Romance
55. The Omega Objection by G.L. Carriger, 4.5. Romance
56. The Enforcer Enigma by G.L. Carriger, 4.5. Romance
57. The Greeks: A Global History by Roderick Beaton, 5. History
58. Happy Place by Emily Henry, 5. Romance
59. End of Story by Kylie Scott, 3.5. Romance
60. Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk, 5. Fantasy
61. Role Playing by Cathy Yardley, 4. Romance
62. The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner, 4. Fantasy
63. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher, 4.5. Fantasy
64. Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher, 4. Fantasy
65. The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher, 4. Fantasy
66. Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort, 4. Romance
67. Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai, 4. Fantasy
68. Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne, 3. Fantasy

I keep debating on whether to keep posting. I like having the records, and yet I feel stretched terribly thin. I think I'm moving to comment-less Goodreads posts - just stars, so I have the record - so I'll paste them in here. ...does anyone actually care, without the summaries?

1. Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer by Rax King, 5. Memoir
2. The Good-Enough Life by Avram Alpert, 3.5. Self-Help
3. The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, 5. Science Fiction
4. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist—the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England by Daniel Pool, 4. History
5. The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang, 5. Romance
6. Servant of Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, 3.5. Fantasy
7. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, 4. Romance
8. A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, 4. Science Fiction
9. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, 4. Fantasy
10. Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge by Eleanor Herman, 3.5. History
11. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, 4. Fantasy
12. Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart, 3. Fantasy
13. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, 5. Romance
14. On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor, 3.5. Pop Science
15. Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley, 5. Fantasy
16. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty, 4. Science Fiction
17. What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe, 5. Pop Science
18. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, 5. Science Fiction
19. The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant, 3.5. History
20. Mistress of Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, 3.5. Fantasy
21. Remind Me to Hate You Later by Lizzy Mason, 3.5. General fiction
22. The Company of the Dead by David Kowalski, 3. Science Fiction
23. A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab, 4. Fantasy
24. A Conjuring of LIght by V.E. Schwab, 4. Fantasy
25. The Hydrogen Revolution by Marco Alverà, 3. Pop Science
26. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, 5. Fantasy
27. Sing Anyway by Anita Kelly, 3.5. Romance
28. All the Feels by Olivia Dade, 4. Romance
29. Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders by Aliette de Bodard, 4. Fantasy
30. The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older, 4. Science Fiction
31. The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard, 4. Fantasy
32. The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard, 4. Fantasy
33. The House of Sundering Flames by Aliette de Bodard, 4. Fantasy
34. Network Effect by Martha Wells, 5. Science Fiction
35. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, 4.5. Science Fiction

I've got like four different books currently in progress, so I imagine 2023 will get off to a fast start.

113. Barcelona by Gary McDonogh and Sergi Martinez-Rigol. 3. Competent enough history of the city. They use maps to orient each chapter, which sometimes makes things more clear and sometimes more muddled, but generally a good intro to the region.

114. History of Spain: A Captivating Guide to Spanish History, Starting from Roman Hispania through the Visigoths, the Spanish Empire, the Bourbons, and the War of Spanish Independence to the Present by Captivating History. 2. Ugh, I'd vaguely remembered that I'd read a Captivating History book before, but forgotten that they're basically a random series of Wikipedia articles with terrible pacing. (In my defense, I was reading this on the plane to Spain on a trip I'd planned with a week's notice, and had not done the research I'd usually do.) Like a quarter of the book is the Roman history, with incredibly needlessly detailed descriptions of individual battles of the Punic Wars. Then a mad rush through a lot of the Moorish/Medieval history. Wikipedia is cheaper and probably better organized.

115. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. 4. Low stakes cozy fantasy in which an orc opens a coffee shop. Are you looking for sweeping adventure? Not happening. Are you looking for problem solving around the logistics of baked goods while building found family, with just enough conflict to keep things moving? This cinnamon bun of a book about cinnamon buns is your cup of...coffee.

116. The Bride Test by Helen Hoang. 4. Another charming romance from Hoang that features neurodivergent protagonists respectfully. Khai is an autistic American protagonist whose mom tries to mail order him a bride from Vietnam. Esme's willing to go along for a free get-to-know-you trip to the US so she can track down her father. Despite a million potential landmines, Hoang threads the needle deftly and sweetly.

117. Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes. 3.5. I appreciate how the messed up protagonists (he's a major league pitcher whose slump destroyed his career, she was about to leave her golden boy husband the night he died and is having trouble processing being a non-grieving widow) don't actually save each other. They have to save themselves before they can make things work.

118. Jolene by Mercedes Lackey. 3.5. Retelling of the Dolly Parton song as a fantasy Sixteen Tons in which Jolene may be an eldritch abomination? Why not?

119. To the Stars by George Takei. 3.5. Autobiography includes the sad but fascinating details of the actor's childhood in a relocation camp as well as a lot of the behind-the-scenes Star Trek info you'd expect. But it's from 1994, before he was out, so I imagine there's an entire parallel track of info we would get if this was written today that's entirely missing.

120. Closer to Home by Mercedes Lackey. 3. The Herald Spy books have somewhat better pacing than the Collegium Chronicles. If you haven't read Lackey, her earlier stuff is better, but I continue to find these comfort reads. I did appreciate that this had a few wrinkles I didn't predict from the obvious Romeo and Juliet set up.

121. Closer to the Heart by Mercedes Lackey. 3. Somewhat more complicated plotting, although I felt like Amily's roof running lessons were going to go somewhere but never did.

122. Closer to the Chest by Mercedes Lackey. 3. I feel like the titles between this and Closer to the Heart should have been swapped, TBH. Fun for Valdemar stans (which ok, I still am), repetitive for everyone else.

123. John Dies at the End by David Wong. 2.5. I think this one may have just been Not For Me. The combination of absurdist gross out horror sounded like I might enjoy it, but the climactic sequence finally brought home the degree to which body horror and penis jokes were just not landing for me.

124. What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. 4.5. Incredibly creepy and effective retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher. Intense body horror done right. (You don't HAVE to read the Poe to appreciate it, but it helps. And the Poe is a novella in public domain, go pull it up on your phone.)

125. Calling on Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. 4. This is an odd interstitial book in the Enchanted Forest chronicles, but the blue floating donkey alone is worth the price of admission.

126. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. 5. Budding witch Patricia and shiny new mad scientist Laurence are the kind of friends you get when outcasts are shoved together in elementary school. But their thorny friendship into adulthood threatens to tear apart or repair the universe.

127. Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology ed. by S.B. Divya and Mur Lafferty. 4. A collection of short stories from the podcast, featuring some of the best authors in fantasy and SF at the moment. I enjoyed the vast majority. A warning, though - as much of good SF can and should be, some of these are ANGRY.

128. Afterparty by Daryl Gregory. 5. A scientist who destroyed her life tries to keep the designer drug that makes you think you see God from hitting the market. Incredibly twisty and densely plotted, with some particularly clever tricks.

129. Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis. 3.5. You can think something is very well done and not actually enjoy it very much. This sequel about a semi-disastrous first contact in Bush era America is pretty devastating. The author was in a black place in her life when she wrote it, and it's pretty much Major Depression, The Book.

130. Wendy, Darling by A.C. Wise. 4. An adult Wendy tries to recover her daughter when Peter drags her unwilling to Neverland. I love the flashbacks to the asylum Wendy spends her early adulthood in (because where else do you put a girl who insists she went to a magic island in that time period?) as well as Neverland through the eyes of people who are less willing to put themselves under a bratty boy's spell.

131. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher. 5. While the opening promises somewhat more horror than the rest of the book supports, this adult fantasy about a quest to destroy an evil king and save the protagonist's sister includes goblin markets, tentative romance, and a demon chicken. Also, how refreshing is it for the protagonist to be in her 30s and kind of frumpy instead of a dewy-eyed 18 who doesn't know she's beautiful (that's what makes her beautiful)?

132. Mash Up ed. by Gardner Dozois. 4.5. This anthology has each story begin with a famous line from another book. Even the ones I didn't like at first, I liked by the end.

133. The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis. 4. Solid vampire hunter tale set in 1800s Prague. I should have seen the ending coming, but didn't, and was delighted.

134. The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher. 5. For a book with relatively little gore, this is incredibly creepy while also being surprisingly funny. But I think I particularly appreciated how well the author handles the usual questions (why doesn't she call for help? Why doesn't she leave the haunted house?), while keeping her narrator genre-aware in retrospect.

135. The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne. 3.5. This loose science fiction retelling of Persuasion is fun YA fluff, although I was terribly disappointed the little sister didn't leap and demand to be caught on the spacewalk.

136. The Councillor by E.J. Beaton. 5. Dark and broody political fantasy with some excellent twists, although I'm not sure the addiction thread really pays off in any particular way.

94. Briarheart by Mercedes Lackey. 3. Other than the first chapter, this riff on Sleeping Beauty doesn't actually have much to do with Sleeping Beauty. Mildly diverting, but squanders the premise.

95. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. 5. Absolutely charming romance featuring sundered best friends/travel buddies reconnecting on the worst trip to Palm Springs imaginable.

96. Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. 3. I adored the first two; while the twist in the premise this time is clever, it drags on far too long. This and the next were apparently originally one book and then were split; I think it might have been better for this to be shorter and part of whatever comes next.

97. Beach Read by Emily Henry. 5. Henry plays a lot of insider baseball - this is another romance featuring writers. But I'm a writer, and a total sucker for it. (I think non-writers will still like it.) Fluffy romance author and serious literature author swap genres on a bet. Hilarious but poignant.

98. The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik 5. Novik delivers gorgeously on the promises of the first two books, which started as Evil Hogwarts and became something much deeper and stranger.

99. Ithaca by Claire North. 5. Penelope, before Odysseus makes it home. I've never particularly cared for Hera before, and now I love her. Penelope's always been one of my favorites, and North does not disappoint.

100. A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. 4. Pulling off a trans Regency romance in which the main plot hinges on something other than trans-ness takes guts and cleverness. Hall makes this work believably, and lovably.

101. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. 4. It takes an excellent writer to go deep in the head of someone we know is going to be evil and make them sympathetic. This Hunger Games prequel mostly works well, although there are some bits (especially near the end) that feel a little clumsy.

102. Coffee Boy by Austin Chant. 3.5. The tension between Kieran and his crush Seth is pretty cute, but I'm not as comfortable with the office politics of ending up dating your boss, which isn't particularly dealt with.

103. The Opposite of Drowning by Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae. 4. I always want the hints of magical realism to be just a hair more magic, but I still love this pairing of the curmudgeonly editor and the ex-society girl consultant.

104. Sugar and Spice by Eli Wray. 2.5. Short romance with NB characters, which was nice. Not really for me, though - this was low-stakes to the point that I had trouble getting particularly invested. If you're up for really, really low stakes (we're talking "does my college crush like me back?" where the answer is immediately "yes" with no complications), you might like better.

105. Wrapped by Rebekah Weatherspoon. 3. Pastry chef Shae is getting over a bitter divorce when she re-meets a man from her past. Sweet, but the pacing felt a little off.

106. The Ultimate Pi Day Party by Jackie Lau. 3.5. Another baker + tech bro combo! Fun, though - good chemistry, satisfying complicated family dynamics. Climax requires making a truly boneheaded decision, but I can kind of see how it could happen.

107. Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault. 2.5. Clever premise involving a genderfluid baker/thief who struggles a bit with multiple gender identities getting tied to different aspects of life while solving a fantasy mystery. But writing gets bogged down a bit, and the fact the author's name is one letter off the protagonist's is a good indicator of the degree of author self-insertion...

108. Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg. 4. I love the "taming the intelligent house" trope, so I was totally onboard. Kind of would have liked the intelligent house to be even more involved in the climax, but that's a quibble.

109. Gallant by V.E.Schwab. 4. Very Coraline-esque, but sufficiently original and suitably spooky for Halloween. Clever use of images/diary entries that recontextualize themselves over the work.

110. The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg. 3.5. Clever materials-based magic system. Odd structure for the book, though; the protagonist spends half the book wandering through her mentor's memories.

111. The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg. 4. Nicely raised stakes, plus a great twist in protagonist's abilities at the end.

112. The Master Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg. 2.5. Unfortunately, the main plot (stop the unfortunately psychotic only important character of color!) is the least interesting thing. I would have liked less logistics on Ceony's powers or details of her romance, and more dealing with the implications that she has world-changing powers or even dealing with her being stuck in her mentor's childhood bullying victim's house.

80. Unnatural Creatures ed. by Neil Gaiman. 5. Really excellent anthology of short stories around cryptids of various types.

81. This Way Out by Tufayel Ahmed. 3. A young Bangladeshi man comes out to his family. I kind of hope this is heavily autobiographical - there are a number of plot wanderings that are kind of self-indulgent and unfocused unless they're true. But charming.

82. You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo. 4.5. Madcap adventure when a band of ex-military turned chefs get accidentally kidnapped by space pirates. Part funny, part devastating, may be setting up for a sequel? I kind of hope so.

83. Book Lovers by Emily Henry. 5. Literary agent and editor enemies-to-lovers while trapped in a small town neither of them want to be in. The dialogue is just so sparky.

84. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach. 4. The first chapter, about a forensics course for people trying to figure out which species of animal is responsible for various murders, maimings, and property destruction, is hilarious. The rest is still interesting if somewhat less witty.

85. The Roommate by Rosie Danan. 3.5. Prissy trust fund heiress falls for male porn star. Very hot, as is appropriate. But on the other hand, some of the threads of the plot are resolved in a kind of slapdash way I found unsatisfying.

86. Well Met by Jen DeLuca. 3.5. Well darn, now I want to go to the Renn Faire. I didn't love the male lead's being an asshole for most of the first half of the book, and the plot requires him to insert his head in his butt too frequently. But there were enough flashes of good humor to keep me going, and I love the trappings.

87. Musketeer Space by Tansy Rayner Roberts. 5. Ok, so I have a love/hate relationship with The Three Musketeers - love the swashbuckling plot, hate the unbelievably rampant macho sexism. (I read a lot of old fiction. This one is so bad, guys, even for the time.) Gender flipped version with cleverly done SF trappings? Yes, please.

88. A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean. 4. There are so many ways for the grumpy-guardian, fiery-ward trope to go bad, but this one pulls it off.

89. The Grid: Electrical Infrastructure for a New Era by Gretchen Bakke. 5. Really fascinating exploration/explanation of how our electrical grid is set up and why it needs to change.

90. The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan. 5. Re-read. He's a scandalous geneticist, she's a proper lady...who secretly is the one who did all the research.

91. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. 4.5. World-hopping where that's barely the point - the point is more the story-within-a-story, the bounds of love, and the dismantling of colonialism. And an awesome heroine.

92. Speed & Scale: A Global Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis by John E. Doerr. 5. Is this terrifying? Yes, it should be. Is it kind of weirdly self-congratulatory, and focused on the companies this dude's VC firm funds? Yes, that too. It's also...weirdly hopeful? Like, you know how bad things are. But this actually does lay out an extremely ambitious but actually pretty rational plan, and shows where we're making a lot of progress. Enough progress to get you fired up on the "oh crap we gotta get moving here" level, rather than "we're so screwed there's no point" level.

93. Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire. 4. Cora the ex-mermaid got captured by Lovecraftian elder gods in the last book, so in this one she signs herself up for a significantly shittier school than Eleanor West's to get free. I suspect this isn't the last we'll see of the Whitethorn Institute.

Stress levels = not better. Combo of stuff I can't talk about and stuff I'm not ready to talk about and stuff I'm too tired to talk about. Have short book reviews instead.

72. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. 4. There are middle grade books that are equally appealing to adults, and middle grade books that are excellent for what they are, and this summer camp for Greek gods' kids leans towards the latter. But I hope my kid picks it up.

73. Still Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton. 3.5. So Wheaton wrote a lot of blog posts, and then annotated them into a book, and then re-annotated that. Honestly, a bunch of the earlier posts are not particularly well written and come off as whiny and kind of prejudiced. But he's cringing even more than you can, so it's forgivable. Also, damn, this dude's parents suck.

74. Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire. 3.5. Not as strong as the first in the series, which was heavily experimental and brilliantly conceived. I found the degree to which the info dumping was lampshaded and spread out irritating, and the pacing of the ending just didn't really work for me. I realize it was kind of horror pacing versus fantasy pacing, but it was pretty obvious things weren't resolved.

75. A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams. 3.5. Sweet little love story, but the barriers she put in the way were kind of infuriating. (And I specifically mean the way the job and the daughter were handled.) On the other hand, I appreciated how (minor spoilers) chronic illness was handled as a whole - there's no impossible magical fix, but the protagonist is still worthy of (and gets) love even if she knows she's looking at a likely early death.

76. Last Tang Standing by Lauren Ho. 4. On one hand, this is a pretty obvious imitation of Crazy Rich Asians with its status-obsessed, brand-name dropping, outrageously wealthy Singaporeans. On the other, it's still loads of fun.

77. Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat. 5. One of the best cookbooks I've ever read, ever. Incredibly detailed and factual and yet still compulsively readable.

78. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. 4. This science fiction novel of a missionary on an alien world while our own collapses into apocalypse was fascinating in that I utterly could not predict the plot arc. I had NO idea where the author was going, in a good way.

79. I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider. 3. These mostly single-page comics about books and reading are entertaining as standalones, but were clearly meant to be read days apart on social media. They get pretty repetitive all in a row.

Like, I read these months ago. Chipping away at the pile.

#64. Fool by Christopher Moore. 2. Somewhat clever spin on Lear from the fool's perspective, but humor is undercut by rampant misogyny. Also, the more you think about the "happy" ending, the grosser it is.

#65. Witchmark by C.L. Polk. 4. WWI-esque fantasy world with a crackling mystery.

#66. Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher. 4.5. Another Saint of Steel romance, this one between one of the aforementioned paladins and a geeky, gawky medieval fantasy pathologist. Great little mystery, crackling tension, sweet romance.

#67. Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai. 4. Not only does the sister from earlier in the series get her confidence back and land her man, the awful father finally gets his comeuppance.

#68. Things Hoped For by Chencia C. Higgens. 3. This is a spin-off novella, and there are some nice little bits to the romance. But overall, the story doesn't really hang together and the plot kind of lacks tension.

#69. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. 3.5. Really charming story about a hopeless geek trying to logic his way into love. On the other hand, he's clearly neurodivergent and I'm not sure I'm convinced the author has fully done his research.

#70. Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. 4. Solid YA Star Wars tie-in. Look, it's very much what it is - if you're not looking for Jedi written for a YA audience, this isn't for you. If you are - we've got swashbuckling, fantastic world-building, and yet another period in the chronology opened up for exploration. Delightful.

#71. Lying Awake by Mark Salzman. 5. Lovely literary tale of a modern nun who discovers her visions are actually a medical issue.

Ok, that gets me to 71. I'm actually...halfway through 94. oops.

54. Monster in My Closet by R.L. Naquin. 3.5. Points for urban fantasy where the heroine isn't hard-bitten or ass-kicking. Extra point for some less obvious monsters instead of the overdone vampires/werewolves/elves. Subtract points for the part where she's a total moron about what's going on with her best friend when it's painfully obvious.

55. How to Marry a Werewolf by Gail Carriger. 4. She's a disgraced bluestocking sent to make a good match, he's a grumpy furry government agent, they unite to put their tragic pasts behind them and also humiliate her asshole parents.

56. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. 5. Romance featuring an autistic heroine written by an actual autistic woman, so this smart, sweet romance feels nuanced and authentic and doesn't leave you with that icky feeling that maybe the author is exploiting someone else's story. Also, really hot sex scenes.

57. The 5th Gender by G.L. Carriger. 4. Fizzy SF mystery with a lot of alien sex in it. Yes, it's a weird place, genre-wise.

58. Moby Dick by Herman Melville. 3...5...? I dunno how to even rate this thing. Foundational, deeply weird classic. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes amazing action scenes, with an experimental post-modern thing going half a century too early and infamously too much detail about whales. Some of it hilariously incorrect. The second time I've read this thing, took longer than the first. (In my defense, I started it, got halfway through, slid into a depression that has nothing to do with poor Ishmael, and really haven't been in the headspace to deal with this and limped through the second half this time.)

59. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. 5. An alternative take on Lovecraft's "Horror at Red Hook" but largely from the perspective of a Black musician/con artist, written by a Black author. Actually addressing the crimes of racism at the time, this is significantly more nuanced, terrifying, evocative, and interesting story than the original it's based on.

60. Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. 5. Real person Game of Thrones Jaime fanfic with the serial numbers filed off wait no come back it's great I promise. He's a star in a smash hit fantasy TV series with terrible showrunners that outpaced the book, she's a fat scientist who writes fanfiction, oh wait but HE SECRETLY ALSO WRITES FANFICTION ABOUT HIS CHARACTER and he totally starts dating her but doesn't tell her they're actually friends online and really, I promise, it's great.

61. Empire State by Adam Christopher. 2.5. Christopher really wants you to question what's really going on, but to the point that I just couldn't care about most of the twists by the end. When all our information about what will or will not happen when the maguffin maguffins comes from people who have repeatedly lied and who you can't figure out whose side they're on, it's hard to tell if you want the hero to succeed or not...or whether they succeeded in the end. Anyway, Prohibition, private eyes, superheroes, pocket universes, doppelgangers, shadowy conspiracies blah blah blah. Stylish but too convoluted.

62. Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey. 4. At this point, Carey's clearly tired of the kinky-sex-and-convoluted-politics she built this series on, because this one's almost straight adventure. But it's cool Renaissance-in-the-Americas, with magic and real gods and oh, someone manages to cure smallpox so the Spanish-analogues fail to topple the Aztec-analogues. And the creepiest use of ants ever.

63.The Devil's Delilah by Loretta Chase. 2.5. The plot, revolving around a stolen manuscript changing hands, is dizzy enough to irritate but not dizzy enough to rise to the farce it wants to be. I really, really wanted to like the sweet, bookish hero. But while he struggles to break free of the old school alpha male role, he keeps falling back in because the author doesn't seem to be able to think of a hero as sexy unless he's lost control with lust or is secretly masterminding while refusing to give the heroine useful information. Which means that the poor dude keeps breaking his own character.

44. The Astronaut and the Star by Jen Comfort. 4. She's a super competitive astronaut, he's a goofy movie star with undiagnosed ADHD. They fight sort-of crime, mostly bad parents and stupid YouTubers. Sweet and charming.

45. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. 5. Somewhere between self-help and philosophy, a musing on what we should actually think about doing for a meaningful life from someone who fully admits he doesn't have neat answers.

46. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. 3.5. I adored this as a kid, and have always had a soft spot for castaway narratives. As an adult, this is a little on the smug side. Usually, the castaway has a good reason they have to do the survivalist thing; in this, the kid runs away and the parents are genially cool with it. Also, it's unbelievable in how easily everything works out for him. But the falcon's cool.

47. Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. The first of the Penric novels (it took me a little while to find my copy). Painfully innocent nobleman accidentally gets possessed by an incredibly powerful demon, and instead of freaking out or going on a rampage, decides to make friends with her.

48. Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey. 4. There's a lot of rehashing the previous book, but given that I had more than a decade between the first and second books, that's probably a good thing. As is typical of the series at this point, we have a major travelogue with a meandering plot (punctuated by plenty of sexytimes). All of which is genuinely enthralling world-building and pretty great sexytimes.

49. The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook. 3.5. Steampunk swashbuckler with a very convoluted backstory involving the Golden Horde taking over Europe via nanobots and zombies but is mostly about the sexy sexy air pirate-turned Duke. I feel like there were some cool themes that kept getting brought up and then not fully exploited.

50. The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer. 3.5. I feel like Heyer usually gets filed under Regency Romance, but this one is really a Regency mystery in which a minor character eventually ends up with the hero. The romance part is pretty underdeveloped, but the mystery is fun. The snark is top notch.

51. Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer. 2. In which Heyer shows her age unfavorably. Minor bits of ugly racism. But mostly a domineering hero and a completely idiotic damsel in a very old-school romance arc. Tries to do a bunch of misdirection with a mystery, but it's pretty obvious where it's going, and almost everyone needs to be slapped upside the head with a rolled up newspaper. Did Not Age Well.

52. Planesrunner by Ian McDonald. 3. The first couple chapters promise reality hopping, but 9/10 of the book is bogged down on one (admittedly cool) electropunk world. There's some cool stuff here, but the plot of the book are really disconnected from the plot of the trilogy in a way that kind of turned me off.

51. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. 5. A small not-quite-literary, not-quite-romance contemporary fiction about rock and roll and comic books and being a teenager and abusive parents and falling in love. The author's voice is just so compelling, though, I felt like I was half in the characters' heads hours after I finished reading it.

20. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis. 4.5. Fascinating delve into the relationships between the US Founding Fathers. Note, however, the publication year - 2001 explains both the end-of-history self-laudatory intro as well as the treatment of Hamilton (pre-Hamilton).

21. Burning Bright by Melissa McShane. 4.5. Rare female firecaster joins the British Navy in a fantasy take on Napoleonic Age of Sail. Pirates, romance, assholes, assholes getting set on fire. What else could you want?

22. Penric & the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. (re-read) The second novella in the Penric series (which is very much part of the larger World of Five Gods), this might be a little confusing for a newbie. But Penric the not-quite-naive sorcerer and the demon who lives in his head are delightful.

23. Penric's Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. (re-read) Stakes get a little higher for Penric when someone murders another sorcerer. (And the tone gets a little darker, but still delightful.)

24. Penric's Mission by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. (re-read) Up until now, Penric's stories were pretty episodic. But the next three really need to be read together, as Penric has a spy mission go terribly wrong and picks up some dependents. (The great scolding of the enemy sorcerer is fantastic.)

25. Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. (re-read) Mid-point of this arc plot-wise, but suddenly significantly lighter in tone.

26. The Prisoner of Limnos by Lois McMaster Bujold. 4. (re-read) Completion of the rescue of Nikys and her family.

27. The Orphans of Raspay by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. Penric gets loose in a pirate base. Chaos ensues.

28. The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. Less cheerful chaos, more leaning into Penric's trauma as a plague threatens the city.

29. The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. Chaos, skullduggery, and moral philosophy in the first full-length Penric novel. The climax is deeply satisfying.

30. Knot of Shadows by Lois McMaster Bujold. 4. Twisty little mystery, laced with philosophizing. It's a fundamentally tragic piece, well done, but deliberately lacking in the zing of earlier parts of the series.

31. The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan. 5. (re-read) This is not a high-stakes romance. Most of the potential conflicts are swiftly undercut by people refusing to pick up the Idiot Ball. Instead, it's sweet, and small, and gentle, and full of decent people being decent. It's a little breath of fresh air.

32. How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole. 3. I really wanted to like this one. I actually really did like it, all the way until the last chapter. Which is rushed and confusing, and while it wraps up one character's threads, completely fails to wrap up the other's. At all.

33. Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai. 4.5. While I would have loved just a little more food porn in a romance featuring a chef, this generally worked for me. Jackson always loved his brother's wife, but ran after being accused of a crime he didn't commit. They've got just enough reasons to stay away from each other to keep the plot burning, but not so many reasons that it's unbelievably when they finally come together.

34. Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher. 5. He's a paladin whose god is dead. She's a nun who turns into a bear. They fight...well, not exactly crime, but kidnappers and necromancers. What's not to like?

35. The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe. 3. Dreamy, literary, and intricate, I can see why this would get a lot of accolades. (I'm side-eye looking at you, lovers of Gormenghast.) But it's also misogynistic and navel-gaze-y in a really dated way, and despite having an omnibus edition that includes the next book in the series, I'm done.

36. Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett. 3. One of the earliest Pratchett books, it both establishes a number of his long-running characters, and kinda contradicts a lot of the later, better works. Funny, but mediocre, and honestly, deservedly somewhat forgotten.

37. Crudrat by Gail Carriger. 3.5. Very much the beginning of a longer series, this is a departure from Carriger's existing published style. Less witty, more YA-y, an interesting SF dystopia-turned-found-family kind of thing. Ends a bit abruptly.

38. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. 5. Aww, Murderbot made a new friend! While trying to figure out exactly why it murdered all those people, Murderbot meets an inquisitive and pushy science vessel and accidentally takes on clients.

39. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. 5. Murderbot does not like Miki the pet robot, which is unfortunate, because now Murderbot has to keep Miki's friends from getting killed.

40. Exit Conditions by Martha Wells. 4. Murderbot has to rescue people, because people are stupid. A little more frantic than previous novellas, which isn't actually to its benefit.

41. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. 5. Scalzi's trademark wiseass characters have to basically save Mothra and Godzilla from capitalism.

42. How to Life Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. 3. Extremely literary take on the time travel paradox. There's some beautifully expressed thoughts here, but the navel gazing was a bit much for me.

43. Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik. 4. Will the last sister fall for another genetically enhanced supersoldier? You betcha. Will she save the universe while also wearing cute outfits? Yup! Will her asshole dad get his comeuppance? Duh. Will it be exactly what you were looking for, if you bothered to start? Yes.

14. The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. 5. Waking up with no memory in a dangerous situation is a running trope, but this one adds superpowers and shadowy government agencies in a particularly delightful way.

15. A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar. 3.5. Dreamy and wandering, this fantasy kind of reminds me of Wild Sargasso Sea in tone and disillusionment.

16. The Afterward by E.K. Johnston. 3.5. I liked the characters, and I really liked the hook of the aftermath of the big fantasy battle against the evil god. But the two plots really had nothing to do with each other, and one resolved so incredibly conveniently for the character that it felt a little cheap.

17. The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan. 4.5. Really fascinating historical overview trying to take the Middle East and Central Asia as the center of the story instead of Europe. (I say "trying" because it's still unbalanced - we get a bunch of asides about what's going on in backwater England, with surprisingly little about what's going on in China or Southeast Asia to balance.) Still, it's phenomenally well done and a perspective Western audiences don't usually get exposed to.

18. The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley. 5. Hidden history in which the fortune-tellers of Louis XIV were real magicians. It's not a spoiler, since his name is in the cast, but the demon who shows up towards the end and is petulantly funny is my favorite.

19. The Silk Road by Captivating History. 2.5. Bought this by mistake when I was trying for Frankopan's book. Reads kind of like a lot of Wikipedia articles strung together. There's some interesting info here, but it's rather slim for the topic, especially given that about half of it is about Ghengis and Kublai Khan. (Poor Timur/Tamerlane and Zheng He each get, like, a paragraph, in comparison.)

1. Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. I had trouble getting into this one - the first couple chapters really lean into the "science so far into magic that we'll deliberate make this borderline incomprehensible". But once the protagonist gets herself haunted by a long-dead war criminal to tap into his strategic brilliance, things pick up significantly.

2. Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur. 3.5. Korean American expat physicist finds herself haunted by her mother's folktales while stationed in Antarctica. Interesting and compelling, although I think I actually would have liked even more fantastic elements.

3. Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente. 4. Deeply weird and nonlinear tale set in a golden age of the silver screen if Jules Verne-style planets had actually been a thing. It's one of those super navel-gazing "what does story mean" kinds of things (with a hyper-meta climax that turns into a musical), so if that's your thing, this is amazing, and if it's not, you're going to pitch it across the room.

4. Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik. 4. Very SF romance - helps to have read the previous book but not 100% necessary. I called Ian's secret back in the last book (it's super obvious) but I'm a sucker for Bianca's hyper-competent woundedness and tragic backstory.

5. Touch by Claire North. 3.5. By itself, this story of a ghost who can possess people by touching them makes a very nice thriller. The problem is, it's nearly the same basic story as her previous book with a different supernatural mechanic, which makes it feel a little too repetitive.

6. A Sweet Mess by Jayci Lee. 3. I loved the premise - a Anthony Bourdain-style celebrity chef (only younger and Asian American and less drug-addicted) gets the stunt cake a small town chef made by request for a six year old and pans her bakery. Then finds out that he destroyed her business over a mistake and tries to make amends. But the hurdles thrown up are all self-imposed (they're immediately ignored when it no longer works for the plot for them to be hurdles) and the characters make some spectacularly bone headed decisions.

7. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie. 3.5. This is right on the border between actual thriller and total satire of the thriller. The language is so very purple, but generally quite entertainingly so. And why just stop at one femme fatale? (Important note: this was published in 1996 and is VERY much of its time, and I hadn't really checked the date. You'll like it better knowing the political situation and tech level going in.)

8. Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. 4. While Dealing with the Dragons is my favorite, my family still thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Cimorene, this time from Prince Mendandbar's perspective. Kazul has been dragon-napped!

9. The Clergyman's Wife by Molly Greeley. 5. Pride & Prejudice's Charlotte gets her own story. Sweet and thoughtful and just a little devastating, while (uncommon among P&P inspired stuff) still thoroughly faithful to the original characterizations and historical milieu.

10. City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin. 4. A mystery starting in 1922 Berlin, around a young woman claiming to be Anastasia. Well structured with a couple good twists, but a warning - it continues into the 1930s and if you're already anxious about the recurrence of actual goddamn Nazis in the US, this lands rather differently than it might have when published in May 2006.

11. Clementine by Cherie Priest. 4.5. Brisk and fun, a Southern belle/spy (based on an actual person) is sent after an airship pirate chasing after a mysterious weapon in a stolen vessel.

12. Jade City by Fonda Lee. 4.5. Wuxia meets Godfather in a gangster-family noir full of jade-driven magic set in a fictional city not unlike Hong Kong.

13. Thrilling Adventure Yarns ed. by Robert Greenberger. 3.5. Like many anthologies, a mixed bag. In this case, quite the mix of pulp style detective, romance, war, and sword and sorcery stories, some of which are definitely stronger.

( All the books )

115. Faux Ho Ho by ‘Nathan Burgoine. 3.5. Cute little gay romance featuring the fake boyfriend/horrible family tropes. Knocking off a half point because despite being aggressively marketed as holiday themed…it’s really not? Like, changing three lines could have made this happen any time of year. Especially after making a big deal of the character liking to ski, going to a ski chalet, and then never actually getting to ski.

116. Briar Girls by Rebecca Kim Wells. 4. Not nearly as Sleeping Beauty pastiche-y as I feared. Coming-of-age when your parents got you cursed, so you have to rescue the sleeping princess. Bonus points for bi character who gets to actually make a real decision in her love triangle.

117. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. 3. I read this when it first came out, and recently stumbled on it and realized I couldn’t remember a darn thing about it. Re-read. Apparently I liked it 4 stars before, and the prose really is lovely, and the story about twins being haunted by their dead aunt is intriguing. But I think I must have blacked it out after the infuriating ending.

118. Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik. 3.5. Fun SF romance romp featuring a runaway princess and a renegade whose eyes glow in the dark. Everything you’re thinking, but reasonably well done.

119. Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton. 3.5. Dude gets dumped by his fiancee, decides to hit every national park in one year. The book is a little uneven - for some parks, he clearly has very little to say, which is kind of a shame. A couple of the early chapters have so little in the way of details for the individual parks covered that it feels like his trip there was a waste of time, but that improves in later chapters.

120. Across the Green Grass Field by Seanan MacGuire. 3.5. Another standalone story from the Wayward Children universe. In this one, a girl gets transported to Horse World and doesn’t agree with what they want from a hero. Honestly, the pacing feels off on this one–there’s an awful lot of hanging out with centaurs for the middle half of the book and then an entire quest compressed into the last quarter, which also doesn’t feel like it particularly addresses the themes raised in the first quarter except in the loosest sense.

121. Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke. 5. A guy at an NYC PR/marketing firm accidentally gets his consciousness uploaded into Slack. The entire book is literally Slack messages. It’s completely absurd (one of their big emergencies is that their dog food client has accidentally poisoned several dozen Pomeranians and they have to somehow do damage control and also the CEO would really like to know who broke his standing desk), and it’s also EXACTLY what workplace Slack threads are like. If, you know, one of your coworkers had been uploaded into Slack.

122. All Systems Red by Martha Wells. 4.5. Murderbot hasn’t gotten around to killing all its squishy human coworkers yet because it’s busy watching entertainment videos. If only its squishy human coworkers didn’t need to be rescued.

123. The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison. 4.5. A follow-up set in the world of The Goblin Emperor (although you don’t really have to have read that one) following the adventures of a cleric who casts Speak with Dead a lot. Similar to Goblin Emperor, more episodic than linear, but engaging and thoughtful.

124. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. 5. Devastating mindtrip of a historical novel. Two women, a pilot and a spy, crash in Gestapo-controlled France and one is promptly captured. How much of the truth will she reveal?

125. Come Tumbling Down by Seanan MacGuire. 4. When we last left Jack, she was carrying the dead body of her twin Jill back to her world to revive her with mad science (after stabbing her, ‘cause really, her sister’s awful.) Jack’s back…but not as she was. The expected combination of fun and horror.

107. The Silence of Bones by June Hur. 4. Historical mystery set in 1800s Korea. Most of the noir tropes hit in a very different way (a good way!) with a female protagonist and a wildly different culture from the typical noir setting.

108/109. Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis. 3.5. They're two different books, but really, it's just one split in half. Time traveling historians stuck in WWII is a great hook, and a bunch of this is fantastic. But at the same time, a lot is really repetitive and the number of problems that could be solved by a simple conversation is far, far too high. I realize that the author is going for certain themes in the repetition and the number of near-misses and coincidences has a point...but I can't help but feel like the same effect could have been accomplished with a third less total book.

110. What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon. 3.5. Painful but thoughtful discussion of how Americans view fatness and fat people, and exactly how messed up that all is. I'm not sure how much was entirely new to me, but it was worth challenging some of my own assumptions.

111. Innate Magic by Shannon Fay. 3.5. This is interestingly set in a magic-filled alternate London right after WWII, but somehow feels more like the more typical magic-filled Victorian London. Maybe because of a similar pre-occupation with the peerage and social events that I associate with Regency and Victorian settings (that may well be perfectly suited to the time, I'm afraid I'm hopelessly American). The cloth magic the protagonist openly practices is not well exploited but the innate magic he hides is intriguing.

112. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. 2.5. Shteyngart is clever, very clever, but he's so delighted with his own cleverness that the first chapter becomes wearying. This is probably one of the first serious literary books out that wrestles with the events of 2020, mostly through a tiresome author and his eccentric-into-irritating friends. Some of the prose is lovely (but I can't help but find the number of hallucinatory dream sequences at the end exhausting). Many of the characters are finely drawn (but I can't help but wonder if this is a person who actually likes even his own friends).

113. Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. 5. Ignore the hilariously dated cover art. This is competence porn at its finest, as a younger daughter of a noble house unexpectedly inherits and then goes about overcoming all kinds of difficulties in ridiculously clever ways. From marrying a bitter enemy and cleverly turning things to her own benefit to walking into a house party that's entirely intended as an assassination, Mara is endlessly resourceful. So much fun.

114. The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders. 5. Thoughtful, brilliant, devastating, and hopeful. A city sits on the edge of twilight on a tidally locked planet. Two women who do not fit at all into its draconian social order take to the deadly open road. The imaginative societies and the strange ways they interlock are gorgeous and inventive and true and sad. Honestly, this is what I'd want out of literary fiction - I can see why people are comparing Anders to Le Guin.

93. Ambush or Adore by Gail Carriger. 4. The interstitial backstory of two characters who have haunted the Parasol Protectorate universe. Absolutely delightful if you've read the rest of series, likely to be baffling otherwise.

94. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. 5. This is the definition of Not For Everyone. A drug addict reconstructs the notes of a dead blind man obsessed with a documentary that didn't exist about a family whose house has an interdimensional portal. The entire book is a puzzle box. It's for people who loved The Eleventh Hour as kids but want more code-breaking; people who thought the dream atmosphere of Sleep No More didn't go quite far enough. Pretentious as hell. Loved it.

95. Elements of Style by Wendy Wasserstein. 3.5. Comedy of manners set among asshole socialites in late 2001 New York City. Loved some of the biting satire, but it nearly develops heart towards the end and then shies away. I suppose "awful rich people stay awful" is a realistic turn of events, but it felt a bit like the author lost her nerve. Whether that's by starting to make characters learn or not letting them complete that, I'm not sure.

96. The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. 4. Elegaic coming of age set in Socrates' Athens.

97. Defy or Defend by Gail Carriger. 4. Cold Comfort Farm, with vampires. Charming and delightful.

98. Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey. 3. It's kind of a retread of a quarter of By the Sword. Not her strongest work, but kind of a cozy return for Valdemar fans.

99. Bastion by Mercedes Lackey. 3. Honestly, Mags' cousin is probably a far more interesting story, but we're probably not going to get it. More of the same, if that's what you're on board or.

100. The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. 4. The prequel to Practical Magic, this is lovely and a bit haunting. Three witch-children growing up in 1960s New York City.

101. The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. 5. Novik has the good sense to shake up the social order and the rules of the Hogwarts-but-malicious school in book 2, and I can't wait to see what she does with book 3. Especially because this ends on a hell of a cliffhanger.

102. Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. Klune excels at softening unlikeable protagonists. A jerk of a lawyer dies and finds himself trapped in an unconventional tea shop.

103. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. 2.5. Loosely joined short stories about six people, strung together into the guise of a novel about a book club. Parts are charming, but the inconsistent voice is pretentious and the whole thing doesn't really hang together thematically.

104. Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg. 3. A young woman is chosen by a god to basically be a sacrifice but survives. Most of the book is her faffing about in the woods with a godling, though. On one hand, I did it engaging and bonus points for the end not quite going where I expected with the love triangle. But I kind of felt like the parts of the story I was most interested in were off happening elsewhere.

105. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall. 5. This is basically Great British Bake-Off fanfiction and I am HERE for it. Laugh-out-loud funny, nuanced take on romance. The warning for sexual assault at the beginning is wise, though (not graphic and sensitively handled).

106. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. 5. Bitter but clever send-up of superheroes and capitalism, from the perspective of a henchwoman betrayed by supervillain HR after being injured by a hero.

84. So Forward by Mina V. Esguerra. 2.5. The Manila setting and the ice hockey trappings are intriguing, and some of the conversations between the romantic leads are great. But the author is frustratingly prone to diffusing all tension and sets up three or four great potential set pieces which she then promptly avoids, the potential lessons for each person aren't learned, and the final conflict is just a random potential argument that has nothing to do with previous themes and is immediately diffused. I don't mind low-conflict, but this one threatens conflict and then side-steps it. It mostly feels avoidant.

85. Putting the Science in Science Fiction ed. by Dan Koboldt. 4. An anthology of essays for writers about topics that are frequently gotten wrong. Mixed authors, so a mixed bag, but most are pretty interesting.

86. Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin. 2.5. A collection of Le Guin's non-speculative fiction. (Well, fictional country, but there's no otherworldliness here.) They didn't win me? Very literary, with mostly unlikeable characters brooding a lot.

87. Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher. 5. Delightful if somewhat dark fantasy romance featuring a perfumer and a berserker paladin whose god died and left him broken.

88. Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood. 5. Short story collection full of wicked black humor.

89. The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy. 3. History of the Punic Wars that isn't sure who its audience is. Surely too much of an overview for serious historians of the era, but much seems to be stating his beliefs in long-standing arguments I have never heard of. Ends up comprehensive and clear, but a little like a very long Wikipedia article.

90. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. 5. Foul-mouthed Gormenghast with actual stakes. I can see how this would be divisive. It's a total mind trip, but after the first book in the series, I was willing to extend Muir the trust. I'm...still not sure how I feel about the ending, but I'm looking forward to the last book!

91. Changes by Mercedes Lackey. 3.5. Third in the Collegium chronicles, does exactly the job it sets out to do.

92. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. 4. Red Riding Hood's story gets twisted in with cybernetic Cinderella from the first book.

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