I have never done this before. Let's see how it goes.
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse - Epic fantasy in a world inspired by Native American legends and lands. There was a lot of world-building in the first half that landed kind of hard, but this is the first in a series and now that the setting is established I'm going to check out the rest. It's heavily about political intrigue, which I'm not used to reading, and has a huge cast, which I always kind of get lost in, but that's all on me and reading more stories like this is a good exercise. It'd be fun to play an RPG campaign in this setting for sure.
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - I've read this a few times before, but wanted to get a fresh read in to compare with Wicked. The scene I'd forgotten entirely is the land of porcelain people. There's a part where the Cowardly Lion leaps over a wall, but knocks over a church in the process. I don't know, it felt like someone was describing a black and white inscrutable political cartoon but I couldn't figure out what it would be about.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - An otherworldly excursion and mystery, with beautiful, evocative writing. It's needed if you're describing statues for pages and pages. The ending kind of went awry for me on a few points, but I thought the way the main character's internal conflicts were reconciled was a different take than I'd ever seen before.
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark - Presenting the KKK as literal monsters is fantastic. I've read a couple other stories by Clark before but this has been my favorite. So many scenes and characters that popped clearly in my mind, and three women protagonists written well by a male author, which is refreshing. Would love to see the mythos presented here explored further, it's a rich vein.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire - My friend Jen mailed me this. I had never thought to read it before because the snippets of the musical I'd heard were ear-rendingly awful, but this was some of the best fan fiction I've read. Jen and I talk about world-building sometimes, and we both though this handled the task deftly, never forcing characters to speak about things in a stilted way for the sake of the reader. And we all know what's coming at the end, basically, but that short chapter is a real fine death scene.
The Drac by Felice Holman and Nanine Valen - A small collection of short stories inspired by French folklore. The authors appear to be scholars of the subject. Gameable.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow - This was an interesting one to read in the same month as Piranesi. Not much I can say without spoilers, but this was an intricate story, and I usually have trouble following those, but I sailed right along with this. Another masterclass in world-building here.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo - More fantasy intrigue. A delicately crafted little setting, much implied by what's not said, and a clever titular character who is met only through many layers of memory and mementos. A tidy novelette that uses its form well.
Our Oldest Companions by Pat Shipman - A popular history of the domestication of dogs. The author must be interesting at certain dinner parties. I could not at first figure why she was making some of the points she was making, but it all sort of came together in the last chapter. She's clearly passionate about the subject. I also learned a truly horrifying method of hunting polar bears!
The Bright Ages by David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele - A broad study of medieval history with a focus on dispelling popular conceptions of nations in the past as static and insular. The afterward states the authors were at least partially focused on tearing down myths used to support nationalism and white supremacy - I would have liked that stated up front, it made the text clearer in retrospect. What I learned from this book is that I have not read enough history books.
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