Garth Coghlan<p>Somehow it's already March, but here is my <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BookReview" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookReview</span></a> summary for 2024.</p><p>69 books this year! Which is getting up towards the glory years of the late 2010s. In last year's summary I noted that the number of books I had read had dropped, possibly due to reading more news & articles. I went cold-turkey on the news for a good chunk of 2024, so perhaps that helped get my numbers back up.</p><p>I read 25,486 pages (70 pages/day), compared to 20,500 in 2023 (56 pages/day).</p><p>My average rating is up to 3.6 stars, which is amongst the highest since records began in 2009. This is due to an unusually high proportion of 4 star books (33%, compared to 20-25% typically), and low proportion of 3 stars books. This isn't explained by a shift in genre, so I've either made some good book choices or was feeling particularly generous.</p><p>In keeping with the zeitgeist, I partly fell off the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DEI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DEI</span></a> bandwagon by reading more male authors than I have been. But I maintained my level of non-White authors. I had thoughtlessly stopped explicitly selecting from my To Read list based on gender, but had continued to do so based on diversity. Just goes to show that it requires effort to push back against the systemic biases of society (did someone mention DEI?).<br>My slide into fiction dominance continues. I blame <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BrainFog" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BrainFog</span></a> and the fact that life is too short to beat yourself up about reading choices. </p><p>Notables:<br>* Cosy fiction is a thing, and it's great: Try "A Prayer For The Crown-Shy" by Becky Chambers (5 stars) and "Legends & Lattes" by Travis Baldree.<br>* Fun Times in Hobart Town: "The Angry Women's Choir" by Meg Bignell (4.5 stars)<br>* Too Close to the Bone: "The Deluge" By Stephen Markley (4.5 stars)<br>* Traumatic Youth: "Lola In The Mirror" by Trent Dalton (5 stars), "Young Mungo" by Douglas Stuart (4.5 stars), "Jasper Jones" by Craig Silvey (4.5 stars)<br>* Horrifyingly Fascinating: "Plagues Upon The Earth" by Kyle Harper (4 stars) and "Nine Lives" by Aimen Dean (both 4 stars).<br>* Most Somnolent: "The Silmarillion" By JJR Tolkein (3.5 stars)<br>* Underwhelming: "Leviathan Wakes" by James Corey (first in The Expanse series, 3 stars)<br>* Formulaic Time-Suck: "An Ember In The Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir. As I finished it I really liked it, but as time passed I realised how empty my absorption had been. <br>* Most Controversial: "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (2 stars)</p><p>See the full list here:<br><a href="https://wildwoila.blogspot.com/2025/03/book-reviews-2024.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">wildwoila.blogspot.com/2025/03</span><span class="invisible">/book-reviews-2024.html</span></a></p><p>Follow me on <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BookWyrm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BookWyrm</span></a> here:<br><a href="https://wyrms.de/user/wildwoila" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">wyrms.de/user/wildwoila</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Bookstodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bookstodon</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Books" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Books</span></a></p>