every book i've read this year, ranked from worst to best (51 books!!)

This is a book that I didn't expect to enjoy anywhere near as much as I did. It's the kind of book that I just gobble up because there's so many fascinating conversations between kind of unlikely characters.

It is very beautiful at times, but the stories are all quite different. Some are a lot better than others.

I wish it had been a little bit more descriptive, but I really liked the themes.

And it's horrifying, but really hypnotic.

And I enjoyed reading this, but I'm not 100% convinced that the style was the most effective one.

It just took too much big brain energy. I was mentally drained after trying this.

The descriptions are stunning and mouthwatering, and it's super sad. This ripped me to pieces. So, it's getting a good review from me.

Very interesting, very intriguing, took me a while to get into it. But once it gets going, it's definitely worth the read.

It's shocking, it's provocative, but completely unforgettable. I think that's a sign of brilliant writing, to be able to provoke such a strong response.

But it has these really heart-wrenching scenes and quite long conversations, which do make it worthwhile. The reason I didn't rate this higher is because of the pacing.

Next we have Heaven, which is a really poignant story about bullying.

This has so many characters who serve no purpose, even the main character isn't properly developed.

It's hot. This is a good book.

This is a real exploration of modern-day, contemporary South Korean culture from plastic surgery to family expectations, to K-pop fandoms and beyond, this book covers it all.

But I did think it was excellent storytelling. Everything is very intentional.

And I'd love to say that there are no skips, but, like, there are definitely skips. Some of these essays are absolutely phenomenal and stunning.

Letters to a Young Poet made me have so much respect for Rilke. This is a collection, obviously, of his letters, where he wrote so generously and openly and thoughtfully about his creative process, and that makes it fascinating to read.

However this book is so repetitive. It goes round and round and round in circles.

It's a pretty good exploration of masculinity and coming of age, as well as including a little bit of magical realism. It's aimed at a much younger audience than I am, and as a result, it did just feel really immature, I suppose.

This is an incredibly provocative book about masculinity, sexual assault, and also guilt.

This is just so superb. It's a collection of poetry, completely vulnerable and unshrinking. It's kind of brutal at times and so memorable.

This is a sapphic romance, but also a hugely important theme here is friendship. And I love stories about a really good group of friends who are just there for each other and support each other.

the writing is just stunningly beautiful. I thought it was so great. Yeah, I think it's a really special book.

It's just harrowing. It's a dystopia based on the climate crisis.

I liked this. It was very sweet.

It's very funny. It sort of leans into the fact that it's a little bit silly, I guess, but it's also really sad. Tell me why this book had me crying over an alien. Please read it, it's really good.

There are some beautiful lines in here.

I would say that I just found it a little bit oversimplified at times and maybe even a little bit cringey.

This completely knocks the wind out of me. It's a book I can't stop thinking about.

I would highly recommend listening to it as an audio book because at least on Audible, it has a full cast and it's genuinely like listening to a Netflix documentary. It's so good.

The book is a little bit silly and cheesy, but it's also fun.

I didn't find the characters or the storyline at all engaging. I found the humor was quite cheap, and it was always punching down rather than punching up, which I think is actually funnier.

It's such a magical book. It's about love and trauma, and identity and belonging, and growth and regrowth, and traditions. I was a big fan. I loved this book.

The Kiss Quotient, is a brilliant, little romance.

It was still good and I wanted to get to the end, but holy hell, it took me a while to get there.

But it's a bit more of a slow burn, but it was still good.

The two characters lack depth. There is nothing to them aside from just being conventionally attractive.

And I thought it was great, very strange, but, like, in a cool way.

It's very interesting, very pertinent, very relevant.

I think they forgot the masterpiece 'cause I didn't see that bit, but it was fine.

So I can see why it's critically acclaimed because it's such a singular book, but I personally just didn't enjoy reading it.

Time is a Mother did not disappoint. It's tender and intimate, but also unflinching. And his command of the English language is just unmatched.

It's an intimate, layered portrait of this family, and the final lines just wrecked me.

I think it's one of his more fun plays. It's all built on kind of misunderstandings and playing around a bit with gender and class, and it's pretty good.

Upstream and this made me fall in love with Mary Oliver. She speaks about art and the creation of art in the most perfect, brilliant way.

The book is very sharp and cynical, and it's sort of about humiliation, but also sex, and the messy complications of certain relationships.

Now, the problem with this is that we, as the reader, now have to experience every single event twice, and their fallout, to me, just wasn't interesting or explosive enough to justify that.

I really love her style of writing. It's such easy reading, but it also packs such a punch.