I had a goal of reading 20-24 books this year and I read 24! Yay!
Below you will find the books I read in order of my ranking of them:
1 and 2. Fables Comic Series by Bill Willingham (American, 1956- )
-90 comics and 1 short prose story (2009-2014)
-The Wolf Among Us (2014) - video game
-Werewolves of the Heartland (2012) - graphic novel
I have no ranking on this one due to the series being too long. Nonetheless, this is an incredible series that retells the stories of fairy tale characters. It is a long series with multiple spin-offs... and there are a LOT of characters. Part of what I love is learning about characters I'm familiar with from my childhood, and another favorite part is learning about other fairy tales from around the world that I'm not familiar with. I also like how, though it's mostly comics, the series is very much mixed-medium. I'm hoping to finish this series over the summer of 2025!
Here's a quote from Bufkin the Flying Monkey, Baba Yaga, a djinn, and the Magic Mirror:
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3. American Gods (2001) by Niel Gaiman (English, 1960- )
8.6/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
This is actually a bit similar to Fables, except instead of retelling fairy tale character stories and saying where they are now. We get where the Old Gods (such as Odin) are now and who the New Gods are (such as Technology). The story is good and I plan to read the other book in the series and possibly the two novellas.
"There's never been a true war that wasn't fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe that they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous."
Bonus (just because I love the imagery and how poetical this feels):
"The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies."
4 and 5. Angels and Demons (2000) and Da Vinci Code (2003)
by Dan Brown (American, 1964- )
8.3/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
I love the puzzles and insights enclosed within these books. They're controversial and very thought-provoking. I enjoyed these a lot and plan to read more of the 7-book series next year.
"Very little in any organized faith is original. Religions are not born from scratch. They grow from one another. Modern religion is a collage... an assimilated historical record of man's quest to understand the divine." -Angels and Demons
"History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books - books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napolean once said, 'What is history but a fable agreed upon?' By its very nature, history is always a one-sided account." -Da Vinci Code
6. The Narrow Road Between Desires (2023) by Patrick Rothfuss (American, 1973- )
8/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
This is a part of the Kingkiller Chronicle series and is actually an expansion of a novella (The Lightning Tree) that I read last year. You really only need to read one of the two, so I would recommend this one due to it having more details. It tells the tale of what a day in the life of Bast looks like.
"Bast laughed again. He knew he shouldn't, but there were times when it was either laugh or break wide open because he was too full. It would have been like holding back a sneeze. Sometimes the world was so perfectly revealed to be a joke, a picture, and a puzzle all at once. Laughter was the true applause you offered to the world for being beautiful."
7, 8, 9. The Mage Storms Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey (American, 1950- )
7.9/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
This trilogy is part of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar Universe. I love this fictional universe, but I will likely take a break from it next year to finish up another deep-dive series and allow some of her new book/s in the series to be published.
"It is a man's deeds that define him. A good deed done in the name of the Dark is still done for the Light, but an evil one done in the name of the Light is still quite evil, and a soul could be condemned to Darkness for it. I have always felt that, before I passed judgment on any man because of the god he swore by, I would see how he comported himself with his fellows - what he did and how he treated them. If he acted with honor and compassion, the Name he called upon was irrelevant." -Storm Warning
"I want to make my own decisions, and if they're all the wrong ones, then I'll learn from them. I want to be an adult, not a child. I don't want to be led along the safe path! The safe path is never new, and the safe path never teaches you anything others don't already know!"
-Storm Rising
"Please remember that religions are made up of people, most of whom have very little control over what their priests decree is doctrine. Keep in mind that given that the priests and the people have free will and the means to exercise it, gods may not always be able to control their priests either. So what the priests say, and the people believe, is not always the whole truth. Any God is far more than His people make Him. It is the responsibility of the priest to lead them to that understanding, so that they do not attempt to limit Him to what they know."
-Storm Breaking
10. Greymist Fair (2023) by Francesca Zappia (American, 1993- )
7/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
This is a fairy-tale-esque story that was more teen/young-adult than adult. I was expecting it to be more gritty and for adults, but it was still good overall. Through personification, there's an approachable understanding of the concept of Death for teens, which was neat for me to see.
"Death comes for us all, eventually. Forgetting your fear of it can help for a time, and you can live, but Death is not evil. We will all go with Death one day. We don't have to fear them until then, but we also shouldn't ignore them. Death exists just as we do."
11, 12, 13. Father Brown Collections by GK Chesterton (English, 1874-1936)
-The Donnington Affair and Father Brown's Solution (1914) - shorter
-The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926)
-The Secret of Father Brown (1927)
-The Scandal of Father Brown (1935)
6.9/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5
These are collections of short mystery stories based on the detective Father Brown. It's a good occasional read if you're looking for something quick to read.
"You must remember that in a murder case the guiltiest person is not always the murderer."
-The Donnington Affair, Father Brown's Solution
"Beware of the man you forget, he is the one man who has you entirely at a disadvantage. Beware of the woman you forget, and even more so. A lot of men, especially men like you and your employer, could go on saying for days that something ought to be done, or might as well be done. But if you convey to a woman that something ought to be done, there is always the dreadful danger that she will suddenly do it."
-The Secret of Father Brown, The Song of the Flying Fish
14. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) by Stieg Larsson (Swedish, 1954-2004)
6.6/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5
This book sucked me right in with its mystery - it's very intriguing and draws readers in. Unfortunately, it's way too violent, gory, and sickening for me. I will not be continuing the series and have no interest in watching the movie.
"Friendship - my definition - is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don't have trust, the friendship will crumble."
15, 16, 17, 18. The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce (American, 1954- )
-Wild Magic (1992)-Wolf-Speaker (1994)
-Emperor Mage (1995)
-The Realms of the Gods (1996)
5.9/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5
I enjoyed the Tortall Universe when I was a kid, but, unfortunately, I'm not enjoying them as much as an adult. Nonetheless, I hope to finish off the books in this universe next year.
"Evil people say evil things to make good people cry and doubt. Don't let them get that hold on you." -Wild Magic
19. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (2023) by James McBride (African-American, 1957- )
5.7/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5
This was an OK story to, but not what I normally read - fantasy. I know many people have really liked this one and it deals with many issues such as racism, ableism, sexism, religious discrimination, and classism. What McBride tried to do was admirable, but I don't think he quite pulled it off.
"She spent hours reading about socialists and unions and progressives and politics and corporations, fighting about a meaningless flag that said 'I'm proud to be American,' when it should have said, 'I'm happy to be alive,' and what the difference was, and how one's tribe cannot be better than another tribe because they were all one tribe."
20, 21, 22, 23. Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce (American, 1954- )
-Alanna: The First Adventure (1983)-In the Hand of the Goddess (1984)
-The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (1986)
-Lioness Rampant (1988)
4.9/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5
I enjoyed the Tortall Universe when I was a kid, but, unfortunately, I'm not enjoying them as much as an adult. Nonetheless, I hope to finish off the books in this universe next year.
"You're brave to admit you don't know everything and then do something about it."
-The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
24. I Saw Three Ships (1969) by Elizabeth Goudge (English, 1900-1984)
4.4/10 - ⭐⭐/5
This is a very short Christmas story. If it was twice as long so the characters could've been fleshed out more, it would've been a really good story. As it is, it leaves much to be desired.
"Her spirits, which had been high, fell a little as a sense of time touched her. How slowly it crawled and yet how fast it flew. She had been young and now she was old and the years between had vanished as though they had never been."
Other books I read, or started and decided to not finish:
-Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale (2010) by Joss Whedon and Zack Whedon - comic, finished
-You Were Born for This (2020) by Chani Nicholas - astrology, finished
-The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge (2001) by Mark Brown / Charles Dickens - play, finished
(I played Mrs. Cratchit!)
-Idylls of the King (1859) by Lord Alfred Tennyson - King Arthur, didn't finish
What was your favorite book you read this year?
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