2024 is over! My goal of reading 52 books? Not accomplished. 21! A new low. I’ve reset my expectations and my goal to 36 for 2025. We’ll see how it goes. These were the last books I read of 2024. A couple horror novels (old and new), a mediation on life (I think?), and a writing craft book.
This was for a book swap for the Writer Syndrome podcast (if you don’t listen you should!). It’s a love letter to Stephen King, but with an additional layer of gross that will leave you squirming. It reads quick, it’s terrifying, and visceral. As I said on the podcast, I liked it, but didn’t enjoy it. Once you read it, that’ll make sense.
The Passenger – Cormac McCarthy
Big Cormac McCarthy fan. Finally, got around to reading The Passenger and it reads more like a Suttree than The Road, or No Country for Old Men. It felt like a meditation on life, dreams, death, and the mind. It’s slow paced, and if you’re a McCarthy completionist then read it. Otherwise, you’d be ok to skip. I’m debating if I want to read the follow up Stella Maris, but felt like some things were setup in The Passenger that didn’t get resolved. Surprising for a McCarthy novel.
The Science of Storytelling – Will Storr
I’d come across this one on a few writer blogs as a must read. I really enjoyed the neuroscience aspect and connecting story telling to how humans interact and our expectations in different situations. Long of the short, understanding human behavior helps make us better story tellers. I plan to keep this one in the writer craft book rotation.
I’m working through the King classics and The Shining was next in line. I’ve seen the movie a million times and wow, I had no idea how different the book and movie are. The basics are there of course, but character development, and the family unit development is very different in the book. Much more in depth (as King does) and explores abuse and assumptions people make without communicating. I rewatched the movie, it’s still terrifying and great. I recommend both, because they are so different.
