Mid-Year Book Freakout 2024

Mid-year has come and gone and it is again time for looking back at this year's reading and draw a balance. There's a bitter-sweet feeling though, there haven't been too many good books that impressed me greatly, though I have to admit, because I have been struggling a little bit privately, I have read a lot of non-fiction and self-help books which don't really flow into this balance. And in the end, they didn't really help a great deal, so they were kind of wasted reading time.

So, my friends, here's this year's mid-year freakout, in the hope that the really good stuff is yet to come!

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2024?
Through the Night Like a Snake: Latin American Horror Stories or Myrrh.

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2024?

The only sequel I've read so far is The Angel of Indian Lake, the last installment of The Indian Lake Trilogy, by Stephen Graham Jones.

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to?
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?
House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias.

5. Biggest disappointment?
Flesh Communion and Other Stories. Based on the cover I was expecting something else and although I started, I ended up not finishing it.

6. Biggest surprise?
I wasn't expecting a second book this year by Stephen Graham Jones, so I was nicely surprised by the publication of I Was a Teenage Slasher.

7. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)?
Mine Söğüt.

8. Newest fictional crush?
I liked Arthur Less but he's gay.

9. Newest favorite character?
Eszter Encsy in Magda Szabó's The Fawn.

10. Book that made you cry?
The Angel of Indian Lake was very emotional in the end and made me cry 🥲.

11. Book that made you happy?
The Creeper because at some point it ended.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)?

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
Too many. I have lots of review copies I need to finish; Blood from the Air, Welcome to Your Body: Lessons in Evisceration, Woodworm, The Night Doctor and Other Tales. These are just few.

14. Worst book you've read so far?

Hands down, The Creeper.

15. Have you joined any Shine & Shadow reads this year? Which one has been your favorite?
I did. I liked Make Room! Make Room! and Heart-Shaped Box.

Comments

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