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Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles, and happy New Year’s Eve! 2024 was…well. It sure was a year, wasn’t it? Things happened! Too many things. Man.

I’ll keep it short, because I’ve said something along the lines of the same thing for several months now. I like doing these wrap-ups, but they’re certainly time-intensive, so I doubt I’ll be able to keep up with the monthly schedule going into 2025. However, my brain does like sorting things into silly little lists with bullet points and whatnot, so I thought I would throw this together for the end of the year. Even though I was working so much, I did get to a lot of fun reads, and I didn’t want to leave them out! As I said in my 5-star Reads post, it’s been a rocky and anxious year, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t populated with good reads—and moments in general—throughout. So, for the last time in 2024, here’s a wrap-up of everything from August to December.

Enjoy this massive wrap-up!

WRAP-UP: EVERYTHING I’VE READ SINCE AUGUST

AUGUST

I read 17 books in August! I don’t think anything for the rest of the year will measure up to having two 5-star reads back to back, but either way, this ended up being a lovely month for reading. Also, before everybody comes after me for DNFing Remarkably Bright Creatures…you can’t blame me after this line was said by a supposedly 30-year-old character: “bicep day was lit at the gym today.” How do you do, fellow kids?

Book Reviews:

• 8/6/24 – The Stardust Grail
• 8/13/24 – Beautyland

1 – 1.75 stars:

• Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt (DNF – ⭐️)
• Shark Heart – Emily Habeck (DNF – ⭐️.75)

2 – 2.75 stars:

• The Prince and the Coyote – David Bowles (⭐️⭐️)

3 – 3.75 stars:

• The Worst Ronin – Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Faith Schaffer (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Icon and Inferno (Stars and Smoke, #2) – Marie Lu (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• So Let Them Burn (Divine Traitors, #1) – Kamilah Cole (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Catherine House – Elisabeth Thomas (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Agnes at the End of the World – Kelly McWilliams (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

4 – 4.75 stars:

• A Short Walk Through a Wide World – Douglas Westerbeke (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Patricia Wants to Cuddle – Samantha Allen (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Navigating With You – Jeremy Whitley and Casio Ribeiro (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Book of Delights – Ross Gay (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Book of (More) Delights – Ross Gay (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Oye – Melissa Mogollon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Contact – Carl Sagan (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

5 stars:

• The Stardust Grail – Yume Kitasei (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Beautyland – Marie-Helene Bertino (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

SEPTEMBER

I read 15 books in September! I was so caught up in my reading schedule being disturbed (somewhat) by school starting that I didn’t even realize that I didn’t have any 1 or 2-star reads! Miraculous. Either way, between my work, I was able to squeeze in some great reads for both Bisexual Visibility Week and Latinx Heritage Month.

Book Reviews:

• 9/10/24 – The Sun and the Void
• 9/17/24 – The Crumrin Chronicles, vol. 1: The Charmed and the Cursed
• 9/24/24 – Some Girls Do

3 – 3.75 stars:

• Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space – edited by Zoraida Córdova (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Some Girls Do – Jennifer Dugan (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• The Girl, the Ring, & the Baseball Bat – Camille Gomera-Tavarez (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf (read twice – for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)
• If You Still Recognize Me – Cynthia So (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

• Rakesfall – Vajra Chandrasekera (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Sun and the Void (The Warring Gods, #1) – Gabriela Romero Lacruz (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Richard III – William Shakespeare (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Richard II – William Shakespeare (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Death’s Country – R.M. Romero (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Ander and Santi Were Here – Jonny Garza Villa (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

5 stars:

• Radiohead – Climbing Up the Walls – Tom Sheehan (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Crumrin Chronicles, Vol. 1: The Charmed and the Cursed – Ted Naifeh (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Crumrin Chronicles, Vol. 2: The Lost and the Lonely – Ted Naifeh (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

OCTOBER

I read 15 books in October! Spooky season, busy as it was, another great month for books—new Crumrin Chronicles, new books from Amie Kaufman and Eliot Schrefer…oh, and I finally read Hamlet after all these years. I’ve seen so many adaptations that I just found myself going “HE DID IT!!! HE SAID THE LINE!!! HE SAID THE LINE!!” whenever I saw a passage I recognized.

Book Reviews:

• 10/1/24 – Death’s Country
• 10/15/24 – The Heart of the World (The Isles of the Gods, #2)
• 10/22/24 – The Brightness Between Us (The Darkness Outside Us, #2)
• 10/29/24 – The Book That Wouldn’t Burn

1 – 1.75 stars:

• The Book That Wouldn’t Burn – Mark Lawrence (DNF – ⭐️.5)

2 – 2.75 stars:

• The Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare (for school) (⭐️⭐️)

3 – 3.75 stars:

• Red in Tooth and Claw – Lish McBride (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Fiasco (Uncharted Hearts, #2) – Constance Fay (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Sun of Blood and Ruin – Mariely Lares (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• The Hours – Michael Cunningham (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Scout Is Not a Band Kid – Jade Armstrong (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

4 – 4.75 stars:

• The Ministry of Time – Kailane Bradley (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Wishing Game – Meg Shaffer (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Hamlet – William Shakespeare (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Heart of the World (The Isles of the Gods, #2) – Amie Kaufman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

5 stars:

• The Brightness Between Us (The Darkness Outside Us, #2) – Eliot Schrefer (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Crumrin Chronicles, Vol. 3: The Wild & the Innocent – Ted Naifeh (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

NOVEMBER

I read 14 books in November! I shouldn’t have to explain why I decided to read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet on Election Day. Jesus fucking christ. Also, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but either I’ve grown out of Rachel Caine, or I just read her better books in high school…maybe I should’ve read Ink and Bone when my taste was less discerning.

Book Reviews:

• 11/19/24 – Loka (The Alloy Era, #2)
• 11/26/24 – Countess

1 – 1.75 stars:

• Ink and Bone (The Great Library, #1) – Rachel Caine (DNF – ⭐️)

2 – 2.75 stars:

• Timon of Athens – William Shakespeare (for school) (⭐️⭐️)

3 – 3.75 stars:

• Pericles – William Shakespeare (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Gwen & Art Are Not in Love – Lex Croucher (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Time and Time Again – Chatham Greenfield (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

• The Girl and the Galdurian (Lightfall, #1) – Tim Probert (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Shadow of the Bird (Lightfall, #2) – Tim Probert (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Loka (The Alloy Era, #2) – S.B. Divya (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Brooms – Jasmine Walls (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Countess – Suzan Palumbo (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don’t) Say About Human Difference – Adam Rutherford (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Nightward (The Waters of Lethe, #1) – R.S.A Garcia (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Becky Chambers (re-read) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

DECEMBER

I read 13 books in December, and rounded out my Goodreads challenge with 199 books read this year! I’d say that’s pretty impressive. December proved to have a solid bunch this month (to say nothing of the pretentious, 212 pages of nothing that was Orbital).

Book Reviews:

• 12/17/24 – Can’t Take That Away
• 12/24/24 – The Lost Story

2 – 2.75 stars:

• Orbital – Samantha Harvey (⭐️⭐️)

3 – 3.75 stars:

• Can’t Take That Away – Steven Salvatore (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• The Library of the Unwritten (Hell’s Library, #1) – A.J. Hackwith (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace – Iman Vellani, Sabir Pirzada, and Scott Godlewski (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Full Speed to a Crash Landing (Chaotic Orbits, #1) – Beth Revis (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)
• The Lost Story – Meg Shaffer (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)
• A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers – edited by Victor LaValle (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

• Inciting Joy: Essays – Ross Gay (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Starling House – Alix E. Harrow (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism – Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Between Perfect and Real – Ray Stoeve (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Dark Times (Lightfall, #3) – Tim Probert (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Tempest – William Shakespeare (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

In lieu of my usual songs/albums that I’ve been listening to lately, enjoy some selections from my Apple Music Replay. It appears I’ve lost my hypothetical Welsh street cred (no longer in the top 100 listeners for Super Furry Animals…it’s been an honor), but it’s been replaced by being in the top 500 for XTC? I did listen to “This is Pop?” and “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” an unhealthy amount…

In addition, here are my Sunday Songs for each month:

AUGUST:

• 8/4/24
• 8/11/24

SEPTEMBER:

• 9/15/24
• 9/22/24
• 9/29/24

OCTOBER:

• 10/13/24
• 10/20/24
• 10/27/24

NOVEMBER:

• 11/3/24
• 11/24/24

DECEMBER:

• 12/1/24
• 12/22/24
• 12/29/24

Today’s song:

Now, how to wrap up a wrap-up…all I can say is that I love you. My blog may not have the numbers of views and likes that it used to (even though the follower count has gone up…620 of y’all, oh my god, thank you!), but I treasure the small community that I’ve got here. I write these things mostly to write out into the world what I want to see and ramble about the things I love, but I’m grateful that, through it all, you’ve all stayed to stick it out and listen. I’ve always done it for myself and not in the service of getting more likes or views, so I’m glad that someone’s listening anyway.

I hope you all find love, solace, hope, or whatever it is you need in this coming year. In the grand scheme of things, I’m frightened (and hoping that my Canadian cousins have a room to spare up north, hahahahaha [SCREAMING]), but on the smaller scale, with the things I can control, I’m glad to be turning over a new leaf. It’ll be difficult, but I’ve built up the tools to go forward in a healthier, compassionate, and more loving way. Whoever you are, I hope 2025 brings what you need, big or small. As always: spread love, not fear or hate. Look at the stars. Keep on reading, watching, listening, and engaging with what you love. And most importantly, be kind—to others, and to yourself.

Lots of love,

Madeline