Gab's quick rundown!!! Semi-recommendations because I have a lot to say about each of these but there are too many to actually sit down and do full reviews. I just put in bold the ones that I personally liked. ok and maybe one or two quick sentences.
Also these are in the order I read them, I skip around alot so don't judge.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Imaginary Friend, best horror of the year, super long but creepy in the best way. A little boy goes missing and comes back hallucinating, but we don't know if what he sees is real or not. Weirdly enough, same authors as Perks of Being a Wallflower.
A Flicker in the Dark
Carrie
The House Across the Lake
Under the Whispering Door, this is from the same author as the House in the Cerulean Sea, little more grown-up and deals with grief in a really powerful way
Daughter of the Deep
How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, this one reminded my of my family. It's a generational story surrounding immigrating to the U.S and trying to hold on to one's identity.
The Vanishing Half
The Midnight Library
The Humans
How to Stop Time
Tender is the Flesh
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Lessons in Chemistry
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
World War Z
How I Live Now
Parable of the Sower, if you want some good dystopia, these two are good ones. Octavia Butler describes Trump's America decades before it comes to pass.
Parable of the Talents
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I don't usually love prequels, but this one was great, fully recommend reading it even if you watched the movie.
Discourse on Colonialism, she's an academic text that I had to print out and underline things because it was mind blowing. I understood from this one that generational trauma is not just for POC but also for the perpetrator's of those horrors.
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
1984
A Deadly Education
Inkheart
Inkspell
One of Us is Lying
Just Like Home
Yellowface
The Dinner, read this one, its quick and absolutely horrid, It just takes place over the course of a dinner and the revelations that come out are quite literally psychotic.
Anatomy: A Love Story
A Tale of the Time Being, this one stayed with me. A teenager's journal is found in the the ruins of a tsunami. A writer finds that journal and doesn't know how the girl's story ends.
The Last Graduate
Babel: An Arcane History
Maame
The Golden Enclaves
The Lost Girls: The True Story of the Cleveland Abductions
All Good People Here
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
Weyward
Avalon High
The Princess Diaries
Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, super good as an audiobook, like a long podcast. The story of the mine collapse with an in-depth look at what was happening during the days they were trapped in there. This book was made in collaboration with the miners so it was a captivating account.
Princess in the Spotlight
Princess in Love
The Duke and I
The Viscount Who Loved Me
An Offer from a Gentleman
It's in His Kiss
Romancing Mister Bridgerton
Coraline
To Sir Phillip, With Love
When He Was Wicked
On the Way to the Wedding
Princess in Waiting
Tell Me Lies
My Murder
Because of Miss Bridgerton
Daisy Jones and The Six, written like a memoir, this one is captivating. It follows a band, who's members come back to recap the creation of the band, it's climax and downfall.
Speaker for the Dead, this series and its parallel series, is amazing, I'll eventually make a post going into it. It's the continuation of Ender's Game, very anthropology, philosophical and political with tons of great sci-fi and world building.
Lady Killers
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, another really intense audiobook that was captivating. Journalist interviews North Korean refugees which leads to real life stories of how it was like to grow up in North Korea.
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
First Meetings
The Last Shadow
None of This is True, a podcaster's new subject turns out to be puppeteering what is going on in the podcaster's life, turns out to be a true crime podcast, cannot recommend enough.
The Lost Gate
The Gate Thief
Gatefather
Ender's Shadow
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Shadow of the Hegemon
The Postmortal
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant
Shadows in Flight
The Reading List
The Guest List
Flowers for Algernon
Our Missing Hearts, this one stayed with me as well. Anti-Asian propaganda leads the U.S to persecute anyone suspected of being anti-american. Follows 12-year old boy whose mother is suspected of being a terrorist because her poetry became an activist's banner call.
Midnight Sun, Twilight from Edward's perspective is such a good read because he is an incel trying to be a gentleman and also trying to be young and hip. I recommend strongly the audiobook version because the reader has a Canadian accent that just adds something to the story.
Counting the Cost: A Memoir, This is a memoir from one of the Duggar children from 19 Kids and Counting. I didn't think I would ever feel bad for a missionary, but I did.
Happy Place
Homegoing, This is a highly recommend, each chapter is a different generation stemming from the same family from Africa, Ghana more specifically. One side of the family is sold into slavery and the other side marries a slave trader.
American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century
The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man
My Year of Rest and Relaxation, I couldn't place how I felt during or after reading this book, I just kept going back and devoured it very fast. Protagonist decided to medicate herself into a year of sleep and it's just spiraling.
The Secret Adversary, despite being published in 1922, this book is was an easy read. Yes it's in old english, but I laughed out loud at the dialogue and gasped at the twists and turns. This was a better mystery book then alot of the others I read this year, it's evident still why Agatha Christie is a master of her genre.
Filthy Rich: A Powerful Billionaire, the Sex Scandal that Undid Him and All the Justice Money can Buy: The Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein
Death in the Clouds
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life, the Universe and Everything
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
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