Some lists of the stuff I read, watched, and played in 2024.
Read
This year, I read 46 books. Here are the ones I liked most:
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers: A cute, cozy story about a tea monk who befriends a robot. Dredged up my conflicted feelings about techno-optimism vs. techno-pessimism.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Mizuki Tsujimura, trans. Philip Gabriel: A sweet Ghibli-esque mystery about a group of lonely kids who meet each other in a magic castle.
Obfuscation: A User's Guide for Privacy and Protest, Finn Brunton: An interesting look at the practices and ethics of data obfuscation and data privacy. I like that there’s lots of examples.
Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett: My first Discworld book. A humorous commentary on misogyny, although a little excessively long.
Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter: Carter writes such rich, vivid prose that I’d read her grocery lists. Enjoyed the Manic Pixie Dream Girl deconstruction (featuring a protagonist with actual wings!).
Hench, Natalie Walschots: Hilarious superhero workplace comedy about being an NPC temp for supervillains. Relatable to anyone who’s ever felt stuck in a job they hated.
The Unpassing, Chia-Chia Lin: A heartwrenching story about grief and moving on, centered on a Taiwanese-American family in the Alaskan wilderness.
Penance, Eliza Clarke: It’s about murderous teenage girls obsessed with true crime and Tumblr.
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (Neapolitan Novel #3), Elena Ferrante, trans. Ann Goldstein: Every Neapolitan novel makes me progressively more insane about Elena and Lila. I’m excited to read the final novel in the quartet, but braced for devastation.
User Friendly, Cliff Kuang: A history and exploration of how human-centered design came to be. It’s targeted at people who have no idea what UX design is, but as a UX designer, I like that it’s thoroughly researched, written in simple and accessible language, and has lots of compelling stories (the quality of writing in most tech books I’ve read is quite poor).
Hangsaman, Shirley Jackson: Teenage girl from a dysfunctional family has a hard time adjusting to college. No one writes neurotic women like Shirley Jackson.
Fingersmith, Sarah Waters: The first half of this was a slog, but I’m glad I pushed through. Some of the weirder lesbians I’ve read. This book inspired the film The Handmaiden.
Paradise Rot, Jenny Hval, trans. Marjam Idriss: A short fever dream of a novel about a girl going off to college and having a weird homoerotic friendship with her roommate.
The Lonely City, Olivia Laing: Essays about different artists and their loneliness in New York, written while Laing themselves was lonely living in New York. Loneliness has a lot of cultural stigma attached to it (unnecessarily so, IMO), so I liked Laing’s levelheaded examination of it.
Love in the Big City, Sang-Young Park, trans. Anton Hur: The life of a dysfunctional gay 30-something in Seoul. Both funny and sad.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon: In an alternate history where Jewish people settled in Alaska post-WWII, a detective investigates a mysterious murder. Great attention to worldbuilding and clear inspiration for Disco Elysium. One of the most Jewish books I’ve ever read.
Blockchain Chicken Farm, Xiaowei Wang: Essays about technology and its impact on the Chinese countryside. Much of it sounds fascinatingly dystopian and/or cyberpunk, although I was relieved it doesn’t have a particularly Orientalizing gaze. Moved me more than I expected, as my dad is a tech worker from the Chinese countryside.
The Rings of Saturn, W. G. Sebald, trans. Michael Hulse: Professor wanders through English countryside contemplating random historical / literary / cultural anecdotes, which I think is great.
Radiance, Catherynne M. Valente: Alternate history space opera mystery about the disappearance of a documentary filmmaker. Extravagant prose and worldbuilding. Probably has every genre in this somehow.
How Far the Light Reaches, Sabrina Imbler: Essays on marine creatures and the author’s experiences as a queer biracial Chinese-American. Lots of cool ocean science facts.
Jawbone, Monica Ojeda, trans. Sarah Booker: Teenage girls start a cult at their private school in Ecuador. (Latin America seems to be having a fantastic horror renaissance right now!) If you liked Penance, you’ll like this one.
Beloved, Toni Morrison: What could I possibly say about Beloved that hasn’t been said? Toni Morrison deserves every accolade she’s received and more.
The Possessed: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, Elif Batuman: Essays on her experiences as a PhD student in Russian literature. Like her novel The Idiot, it’s excellent, witty, (even more) replete with literary references, and filled with interesting anecdotes about colorful characters.
Watched
I really don’t watch stuff much. When I do, it’s because my partner says, “Hey, [x] just came out, want to watch it?” Anyway, here’s what I remember watching this year:
Arcane (season 2): Jinx lives in my head rent-free. I see a blue-haired girl With Problems and I’m instantly obsessed.
Frieren: The art is very pretty and I really enjoy Frieren as a character.
Played
Here’s all the games I played. I like good art and strong narratives. I do not like combat, grinding, or unforgiving death mechanics.
Spiritfarer: Lives up to the hype and more. It’s amazing how much story and gameplay is packed into this. It contains multitudes.
Dredge: Great art, great atmosphere. You’d probably be into this if you like Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation.
Papers, Please: Somehow makes admin work both oppressive and enjoyable. A simple game with complex social messaging. Play with a mouse.
Unpacking: Short, sweet, and satisfying game about the experience of unpacking your belongings. In a time where everything is increasingly going digital, I appreciate the emphasis on physical objects and spaces.
Donut County: Possibly the silliest game I’ve ever played. You’re a raccoon that makes huge holes in the ground in order to swallow things up and add to your trash empire. Hilarious cartoon physics and sound effects.
A Short Hike: Short, cute coming-of-age game about a bird journeying up a mountain.
What Remains of Edith Finch: I love media where the house is a character. Need to finish playing this, but I’m enjoying the unfolding of the Finches’ story so far.
Death and Taxes: Still playing this one. Great art and hilarious dialogue, though the gameplay itself isn’t complex enough to be that interesting.
Monument Valley 3: Having been a big fan of MV 1 and 2, I’m really impressed by the creative risk and art direction this game takes. This It’s Nice That article is a good read about that.
Happy holidays, and see you all in 2025!