So I did not manage to keep up with my lists from 2022 and 2023 just because I was lazy, so picking up with 2024. In 2022 I finished a total of 7 books; 2 fantasy, 2 non-fiction (political science and history), and 3 science fiction. In 2023 I read a total of 9 books evenly split across genres; 3 science fiction, 3 non-fiction (popular science) and 3 fantasy. 2024 was an even better year with a total of 13 books as follows (in order of reading):
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children [Ransom Riggs]
Book one of a lot of books. Picked up the hard copy in a hotel in Lenzerheide while on a trip for my birthday. Kept me amused enough to finish it and buy the second.
![Hollow City [Ransom Riggs]](https://www.broccolifamily.net/wp_blogs/tmik/files/2024/12/hollowcity_-660x1024.jpg)
Hollow City [Ransom Riggs]
Book 2 of the series, good ending, may pick up book 3 some day.
Ancillary Sword [Ann Leckie]
Book 2 of the series, read book one in 2023. Great book, told from the perspective of a former AI.
Ancillary Mercy [Ann Leckie]
Third and final book of the series. Not often I go back to back in a series, so that is something.
Binti [Nnedi Okorafor]
One of a couple of alternative culture books I read. This one a novella about an African woman who ends up fighting aliens in space. Interesting perspective since today’s astronauts do not retain any outward cultural identity.
Empire of the Damned [Jay Kristoff]
My least favorite book of the year after being so excited with the release. A lot of whining and repetitive introspection by the protagonist, could have been a hundred pages shorter.
Churchill Walking with Destiny [Andrew Roberts]
The first of two biographies I read this year. This one inspired by watching Dunkirk and then wondering whether he really was as great as they said. Very educational, especially around the events of both WW I and WW II. Strangely, although I knew how it ended, I was sad when he died in the end.
King a Life [Jonathan Eig]
Learned a lot about the civil rights movement and the segregation era. Although he accomplished so much, I can’t help feeling a lot is still left to do, even after all this time.
Adventures in Space [various short stories]
More alternative culture science fiction, this time from Chinese writers. Wasn’t sure I would like reading short stores but ended up enjoying it. The stories were all very different, some were deep, some not so deep.
On Trails [Robert Moor]
Bob and Amy left a hard copy behind after babysitting Rosie and the cat, thinking it was something I would enjoy. They were right, it was a very interesting and entertaining story on how trails are formed and followed, not just by humans but by all creatures (past and present).
The Saint of Bright Doors [Vajra Chandrasekera]
The last of my alternative culture adventure, this time fantasy. Very different to anything I have read before, the Indian perspective made the whole story hard to relate to, but still an entertaining book.
Some Desperate Glory [Emily Tesh]
I cruised through this book in a just a week or two. I really enjoyed the twists and turns, the AI aspect and the perspective on how humanity really would be if let loose on the universe.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell [Susanna Clarke]
Still working on this one at the time of this writing… the sample kept my interest and it continues to get better the farther along I am getting.