mid-year, best ten + worst five books

 I'm going to say that re-reads do not count, because if they did, then, well, it would be a whole lot of re-reads. But I just figured--let's see where we're at. 

10. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I just read this one like, last week because I saw the trailer for the movie and was like, inspired, also it's been in the book wall for literal years, and yes. Yes. It's as cute and fun as everyone says it is. 

9. Babel by RF Kuang

Another one that yes, everyone is right about. God, this was good. Fun times reading a fiction book with footnotes but yeah, this spoke to my humanities degree. 

8. The Binding by Bridget Collins

This one threw me for a loop. Dense, a little hard to get into at first, but I was not expecting how impactful this motherfucker would be. 

7. Theme Music by T Marie Vandelly

YES!!! Yes this was so good. Probably the best "tik tok" book I've ever read; this one was pretty popular on horror booktok like, last year? So much fun. Had no clue what was happening. So good.

6. The Ruins by Scott Smith

You know what's going to get me every time? A character carving themselves up because they have something inside of them (whether they actually do or not, it's good either way) and they NEED TO GET IT OUT. It got me in The Troop, and it got me in The Ruins. It doesn't help that it's always my favorite character that does it, too.

5. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison

This one was a surprise. I won it from Goodreads years ago and it just sat there but it... was... phenomenal. Well-written, funny, had a lot of heart. Would recommend. 

4. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I thought everyone was exaggerating. They were not.

3. Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

Again, Mr. Jones makes me bawl my eyes out in the span of one page because of motherhood in these books. God damn it. At least that little gay kid lived. 

1. The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis

Well of course it had to be Ellis. GOD this was good. I think I like Glamorama more, maybe, but if I have two years in a row of Ellis having my top book of the year I might have to rethink my favorite authors. 

 

 

And, just for fun, the five worst books I've read this year, so far. 

5. House of Shadows by Andre Norton (1.5 Stars)

This was a stupid little horror novel from like, the 80s or 90s, and it was just. Blehhh. Didn't even have the decency to be entertainingly horrible. 

4. The Keeper's Son by Homer Hickam (1.5 Stars)

I'm pretty sure this is just a case of 'it's not you, it's me.' But still, deeply boring.

3.Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover (1.5 stars)

I gave it a .5 extra (1 stars are books with absolutely ZERO redeeming qualities) because it did almost make me cry, even though it was terrible, so obviously she's doing something right. 

2. Strawberry Panic by Sakurako Kimino (1 star)

Like, I've read a lot of terrible manga in my day. I've read a lot of like, taboo or controversial manga in my day. This? Was just bad. 

1. Dial L for Loser by Lisi Harrison (1 star)

Is this sort of cheating? God, this book sucked. Preteens suck.