Admittedly, I kind of live under a rock, so peak-of-her-hype Rooney was mostly just me seeing Normal People in every bookstore I entered and I only realised how HUGE she is, like, maybe last year or the one before that?
You're lucky. The discourse has been unsufferable. I particularly dislike how she's been hailed as this revolutionary (also in the political sense!) writer when she's at best an okay contemporary romance writer. She may have a better skillset than most and she's been chosen to be marketed as literary but... it's all very basic. And it's okay, but the "literary readers" want to have an easy hero. When the marketing for one of her book included pop-up shops, decorated mini vans and bucket hats... I'd keep her politics out of it. I hope she will keep being private and keep away from all this commodification of everything; I don't like her as a writer but it's better if she can live well off of this (but not ridiculously).
Andddd, I have to ask, are there books you've really liked this year? I've evidently been making the wrong choices lately, so I'd love recs!
I am not making the best choices either, but 2024 was the year I read all of MXTX novels apparently ^^'' so at least that has been fun.
Best noirs: the Milanese Quartet by Giorgio Scerbanenco (read 3 of 4)--he was so so great at character writing and at understanding social settings, very gorgeous writing (at least in Italian), but mind the homophobic bits (heh).
Decent (adult, but very YA-adjacent) fantasy: The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz (interesting, complex world building inspired by the conflicting cultures and religions in South America).
I enjoyed Gideon the Ninth but I don't feel the need to continue the series for now. (maybe when the last one comes out I'll feel more compelled? I also got a lot of spoilers.)
Murderbot I've listened to quite a few installments (up until the first novel?). I think it may do great as a tv series, but as novellas and novels... I find it terrible. You too may have called it toothless.
Piranesi, which I needed to read for role-playing reason, was also terrible.
So, yes, these are the highlights, good and bad.
But I saw that you enjoyed The Taiga Syndrome (also a favorite of mine when I read it!) and I recommend The Iliac Crest (and after that, I recommend reading Amparo Davila's fiction!). I'm looking forward to Cristina Rivera Garza's next book that is coming out this year.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2025-01-01 02:28 pm (UTC)You're lucky. The discourse has been unsufferable. I particularly dislike how she's been hailed as this revolutionary (also in the political sense!) writer when she's at best an okay contemporary romance writer. She may have a better skillset than most and she's been chosen to be marketed as literary but... it's all very basic. And it's okay, but the "literary readers" want to have an easy hero. When the marketing for one of her book included pop-up shops, decorated mini vans and bucket hats... I'd keep her politics out of it. I hope she will keep being private and keep away from all this commodification of everything; I don't like her as a writer but it's better if she can live well off of this (but not ridiculously).
I am not making the best choices either, but 2024 was the year I read all of MXTX novels apparently ^^'' so at least that has been fun.
The best books I've read: I'd say Blue Lard by Vladimir Sorokin, The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf by Kathryn Davis, Memorial del Convento by José Saramago (I think it's titled "Baltasar and Blimunda" in the English edition). Butter by Asako Yuzuki was a bit too "explainy" but also quite gripping expecially in voice and charisma of the central character.
Best noirs: the Milanese Quartet by Giorgio Scerbanenco (read 3 of 4)--he was so so great at character writing and at understanding social settings, very gorgeous writing (at least in Italian), but mind the homophobic bits (heh).
Decent (adult, but very YA-adjacent) fantasy: The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz (interesting, complex world building inspired by the conflicting cultures and religions in South America). I enjoyed Gideon the Ninth but I don't feel the need to continue the series for now. (maybe when the last one comes out I'll feel more compelled? I also got a lot of spoilers.)
Murderbot I've listened to quite a few installments (up until the first novel?). I think it may do great as a tv series, but as novellas and novels... I find it terrible. You too may have called it toothless.
Piranesi, which I needed to read for role-playing reason, was also terrible.
So, yes, these are the highlights, good and bad.
But I saw that you enjoyed The Taiga Syndrome (also a favorite of mine when I read it!) and I recommend The Iliac Crest (and after that, I recommend reading Amparo Davila's fiction!). I'm looking forward to Cristina Rivera Garza's next book that is coming out this year.