2024 In Books

2024 was the first year in which I managed to go over 100 books. This was a major achievement for me and a result of several circumstances:

• I reengaged with the gamebook community, which is full of voracious readers (and writers)
• I discovered the Thraxas and Stephanie Plum series that are super interesting and each book is short, single-thread, bubblegum-ish
• A few of my friends were inspired to read a lot this year so I was not alone on this journey
• I ignored several of the latest books by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Zachary Pike, J.K. Rowling, Liu Cixin just because they were too long. Maybe I go back to these works in 2025. Or 2035. Not soon. Ignoring enormous books by otherwise great authors seems to be a good strategy. TL;DR.

Here are the best finds from reading 111 books and 36217 pages:

Best Series

• Thraxas by Martin Scott – a Pratchett-style comic fantasy series, which I completed entirely in 2024. There are some hints of exploitation in the first 2-3 books.

Top 5 books

1. We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor – Bob starts exploring the galaxy and the opportunities are endless
2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
3. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
4. Conquer Yourself by Silvia Azdreeva
5. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Best Gamebook

• Goblins Return

Trends

• Kobolds are everywhere
• AI is human and should be treated as a life form (yet to find a book say otherwise)
• Pretty covers sell well

2025

I’m not sure if I’ll try to keep the pace for 2025 yet. I’ll set an official goal to read 52 books, or 1/week for the year.