2024 Books Read
The books I read for 2024. Just like I did in 2023.
The Books
I read a total of 15 books this year, slightly more than I did last year. I mixed in a few more non-fiction books this time around but I’m still trying to stick more to the fiction since I’m reading for enjoyment, not just learning. I also read several more physical books this year, too. The Dune books, Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago were all physical copies. Yay libraries and copies given to me by friends!
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- The Staff Engineer’s Path by Tanya Reilly
- The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
- How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais
- the lost cause by Cory Doctorow
- Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
- Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
- Dawn by Octavia E Butler
- Adulthood Rites by Octavia E Butler
- Imago by Octavia E Butler
- Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
The Children of Time Series
I really liked Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time series. I found the characters fascinating and the worlds he built with various genetically enhanced species and alien species were varied and very cool.
The Terraformers
A book I picked up after the author, Annalee Newitz posted it was on sale on Mastodon. I really liked the book! Its a hopeful book about our future and I loved her concept of “The Great Bargain.”
Lilith’s Brood Series
I had never read any of Octavia Butler’s work and decided to change that by reading her Lilith’s Brood series. I was so hooked on Dawn that I finished it in just a few days time. Normally it takes me about two weeks to read a book, but I couldn’t put this one down. The Oankali are such different aliens than I’ve read before, it was quite a thought provoking book. I was both fascinated by the Oankali and angry that they never gave Lilith a true choice of her own.
I’ll definitely be reading more of Octavia Butler’s work next year.
The Dune Series
Yes, I re-read Dune because of Dune Part 2 coming out. This time, though, I also read Dune Messiah and Children of Dune which I had never read before. I honestly went into them with somewhat low expectations but I found them to be quite enjoyable. Neither hit quite as hard for me as Dune but each does do interesting world building and poses some interesting questions. Re-reading Dune also makes me really appreciate what Denis Villeneuve did with Chani. In Dune Messiah, Chani feels like a very passive character even though she’s a badass Fremen warrior. I’m still deciding if I want to read God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune. Maybe if Denis Villeneuve gets a chance to make Dune Messiah I’ll give those books a read.
Ammonite
I picked the book up on a whim when it was on sale based of a random recommendation on Mastodon. I’m glad I got it because it was a thoroughly enjoyable book to read. The world building is superb and I love that even though the premise of the book is that all men on the planet have died due to a virus native to the planet, that’s really all there is to that. The rest of the story is of the women of the book being, you know, people.
Next Year
I’ve got no plans to stop reading next year but I might be looking specifically for more hopeful books about our future. For learning I’ve been practicing reading more papers about computer science, distributed systems and programming lanugages. It is taking some effort to do it, but I’m finding it to be rewarding to really try and dig deeper into concepts I haven’t learned yet. Maybe I’ll write up what I’m learning as I go more!