#i guess cursed bunny used grotesque imagery and disgust to really Make the Reader Think but it didn't work on me

[dillydedalus]

for the book asks: 3, 4, 11, 12, 16!

3. what were your top 5 books of the year? i feel like i had a kinda solid-to-good reading year where everything is p good but few things really stand out so this list is cheating a lil

1. JJEU (james joyce extended universe): rereads so they shouldn't count BUT by far my favourite reading experience of the whole year was reading ulysses (novel of all time) along with burgess's book on joyce & frank delaney's lovely lovely lovely podcast re:joyce (& a bunch of other stuff). also i'm pivoting from portrait to ulysses but stephen is still my babygirl. i haven't finished finnegans wake yet but we don't talk about that. 2. palliser/parliamentary series, anthony trollope. technically read half of these last year. i don't think this series is as consistent as barsetshire but it's also in some ways more interesting (especially re: women). but like i'm mainly here for silly soapy victorian comfort reading about thee #1 iconic girlboss/malewife couple of all time, lady glencora & planty 'most principled & delicate of men' pal (blorbo from my books) 3. solitud, víctor català. no freedom as wide-reaching & no captivity as total as the catalonian mountains (& being a woman, but that's mainly column b). don't remember this in great detail but remember loving the landscape writing & interiority of main character mila. 4. games without rules: the often interrupted history of afghanistan, tamim ansary. just a really good, compelling history of afghanistan that i enjoyed & learned a lot from. 5. broken earth trilogy, n.k. jemisin. everyone in the SFFsphere already knows this series rocks but yeah it really really does. also it allowed me to be a [redacted] truther & be right which is always fun.

4. did you discover any new authors that you love this year? i've had jo walton on my radar for a while but she literally wrote a book (tooth&claw) that can only be described as 'trollope but everyone's a dragon' bc trollope pissed her off so much. i love trollope obviously but that's valid & it was fun, so i shall read more from her. i also had a lot of fun with t. kingfisher's nettle & bone so i will be reading more from her as well.

11. what was your favourite book that has been out for a while, that you just now read? 'out for a while' is so broad how do i even answer this. the posthumous memoirs of brás cubas by machado de assis has been out long enough to become a newly rediscovered gem several times over and it is genuinely a lot of fun (& much shorter than tristram shandy) so that's one

12. any books that disappointed you? the undercurrents by kirsty bell combines memoir and the history of berlin through one specific building next to landwehrkanal (where the author lived for a while) & there's some interesting stuff in it but also the memoir parts feature a lot of complaining about how her altbau apartment (which she owns) is too big & has bad vibes and leaking pipes bc of historical trauma or whatever & sorry but in this economy???

16. what is the most over-hyped book you read this year? cursed bunny by bora chang (tr. anton hur) is a fine if not especially memorable collection of short stories. it's fine - *single pistol shot*