my 2024 reading wrapped

Jan 8, 2025

This is extremely late, but it's still January, so it still counts!

I originally planned to write individual posts about the books I was reading throughout the year, but for one reason or another, that didn't happen. So here are the notable reads¹ of 2024, all stuffed into one post:

S tier

books

• The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow: Almost all my favorite things about fantasy, rolled into one book.
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (reread): One of my all-time favorite books. Always fun!
• Babel by R. F. Kuang: Made me cry. As usual for R. F. Kuang.

manga

• Spy × Family by Tatsuya Endo: One of my longtime favorites!
• Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama: Absolutely beautiful

A tier

books

• The King of Scars duology by Leigh Bardugo: Nikolai Lantsov!!
• The Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett: I gasped when I realized the series wasn't over yet and I had to wait for the next book to come out.
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (reread): The childhood favorite that helped push me into science!
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: Literally what the fuck
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, translated by David Magarshack and Priscilla Meyer (reread): The book with the most annoying but gripping characters. Extremely long read, but worth it
• The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (reread): Once again, an extremely long read, but worth it
• Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum, translated by Shanna Tan: so good I even have highlights in the Author's Note
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: an Experience

manga

• The Apothecary Diaries written by Natsu Hyūga and Itsuki Nanao, illustrated by Nekokurage: Local apothecary forced to play detective, shenanigans ensue

B tier

books

• The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. MacLean
• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
• The Secret Shanghai universe by Chloe Gong
• The Legends of Lor'yan universe by Elizabeth Lim
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (reread)
• What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts
• Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa
• Beach Read by Emily Henry
• The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
• The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
• House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (reread)

manga

• My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 by Mashiro
• My Happy Marriage written by Akumi Agitogi, illustrated by Rito Kohsaka

did not finish :(

• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
• The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
• Artemisia by Alexandra Lapierre, translated by Liz Heron
• Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

bonus category: really made me Think

• Babel by R. F. Kuang
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath²
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, translated by David Magarshack and Priscilla Meyer
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd³
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

notable reading eras

• high fantasy⁴
• cozy fantasy
• (mostly clean) romance⁵
• historical fiction
• literary(?)
• classics

2025 reading goals

I personally don't like setting a specific number of books to read, because sometimes the rest of your life happens, and I don't want to make myself feel bad for not being able to read as many books as I was able to when I was a kid/teen with more free time. (And quality > quantity!) So here are my goals instead:

• read more classics
• read new-to-me fiction from all over the world
• read more local books
• actually write and post book reviews (or monthly wrap-ups, maybe)
• actually use StoryGraph

#reading