I read 66 books to completion in 2024. The best novel was Before the Dawn by Toson Shimazaki, the best non-fiction book was a draw between Princes of the Yen by Richard Werner and Absolutely on Music by Haruki Murakami. The worst novel was an easy decision this year as John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces was a long and tedious waddle through an extraordinarily unpleasant Gamma’s perspective. The best new-to-me author was Rika Ondu, as her Honeybees and Distant Thunder was very good indeed.
I’m hoping to actually write a few book reviews in 2025, starting with The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Haruki Murakami’s latest, which I’ve just finished.
The WoW Diary, John Staats
50 Years of Text Games, Aaron A. Reed
Losing Military Supremacy, Andrei Martyanov
Shitamachi Scam, Michael Pronko
The Final Curtain, Keigo Higashino
Disintegration, Andrei Martyanov
The Wizard of the Kremlin, Giuliano da Empoli
Strange Weather in Tokyo, Hiromi Kawakami
The Nakano Thrift Shop, Hiromi Kawakami
Monster Hunter: Vendetta, Larry Correia
Monster Hunter: Nemesis, Larry Correia
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Fever, Jason Cordova
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge, John Ringo
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners, John Ringo
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints, John Ringo
People From My Neighborhood, Hiromi Kawakami
Dragon Palace, Hiromi Kawakami
Practicing History, Barbara Tuchman
House of Assassins, Larry Correia
Destroyer of Worlds, Larry Correia
Breasts and Eggs, Mieko Kawakami
The Viceroys, Federico De Roberto
Beer in the Snooker Club, Waguih Galil
La Fleur de Illusion, Keigo Higashino
Princes of the Yen, Richard Werner
The Aosawa Murders, Riku Onda
Dappled by Sunlight, Riku Onda
Honeybees and Distant Thunder, Riku Onda
The Jack Vance Treasury, Jack Vance
How to Talk to Girls at Parties, Neil Gaiman
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
Where Angels Fear to Tread, E.M. Forster
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Araminta Station, Jack Vance
Ecce and Old Earth, Jack Vance
Throy, Jack Vance
The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu
The Dark Forest, Cixin Liu
Death’s End, Cixin Liu
Shogun, James Clavell
Gai-Jin, James Clavell
Noble House, James Clavell
Gai-Jin, James Clavell
Tai-Pan, James Clavell
Disintegration, Andrei Martyanov
Margin of Victory, Douglas MacGregor
N.P.: a novel, Banana Yoshimoto
Pirate Freedom, Gene Wolfe
The Last Yakuza, Jake Adelstein
The Dragon Waiting, John M. Ford
The Speculative Short Fiction, John M. Ford
The Sound of Waves, Yukio Mishima
The Land of Blood and Honey, Martin van Creveld
Un Lun Dun, China Mieville
Absolutely on Music, Haruki Murakami
The Forbidden Worlds of Haruki Murakami, Matthew Carl Strecher
After Dark, Haruki Murakami
The Complete Stories, Evelyn Waugh
Newcomer, Keigo Higashino
Before the Dawn, Toson Shimazaki
Tales of the Sun Eater Vol. 1, Christopher Ruocchio
Tales of the Sun Eater Vol. 2, Christopher Ruocchio
Demon in White, Christopher Ruocchio
City of Refuge, Kenzo Kitakata
Invisible Helix , Kenzo Kitakata
The Silent Cry, Kenzaburo Oe