I’m in the middle of a book that I’m dying to talk about — no suspense here, it’s Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle — but then I thought it would be weird to ramble about that, I only really talk about books at the year-end round-up when I dump out all the graphics from Goodreads and talk about all the books I read that year at once.

And then I thought, why in the world do I do that, anyway?

So I’m going to catch up on what I’ve read this year so far, more or less (rounded down to an arbitrary point, so I can pick it back up next time). It’s been a more themed year than usual, which has been kind of wearing; I usually jump around genres more than this. But it’s also been interesting in its own way.

Here we go.

The white space is the tail end of 2023, which I’ve already talked about. 2024 hit the ground running.

I did actually read the Greenwing and Dart series in order, but sometimes I finish a book while offline and it doesn’t update in the right order. Anyway, I loved Greenwing and Dart, and it helped get me through the worst part of the year.

Quill and Still marks the beginning of S.E./Cage Tries To Understand LitRPGs, Does Not. The three I’ve read have been fine; I just don’t get the draw of numbers/stats/fourth-wall-breaking. I accept it. Obviously it appeals to a lot of people. I just don’t feel it myself.

American Sirens is a terrific nonfiction book about the first modern American ambulance service.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is a manga from several years ago (but new to me) about a robot who runs a coffee shop as the world slowly winds to a halt. It is not light and fluffy, and yet it is calming and life-affirming. That is what I came to “cozy media” for, whatever anyone else’s motivations might be, and so I enjoyed it a lot. (It’s complete, but the omnibus editions have been coming out in English lately. — Just checked; the last volume comes out in early August. Click, preordered.)

Wyngraf‘s 2024 Valentine’s Day edition was delightful; it consists of three novellas(?) / long stories, all of which I enjoyed. I still really appreciate what Wyngraf is doing in this space, incubating new talent and creating a space for experimentation within its definition of what the genre can be.

I rambled a bit about Filterworld when I read it, but in short: A little hipstery / judgy in its tone toward certain types of media (look, even if I want to be challenged a little bit, I don’t begrudge anyone else their soothing “wallpaper” media). But I have keenly felt the frustration it talks about to want to wander around media I don’t already know and to discover something I didn’t already expect. I respect that a lot of people don’t want that, and congrats: The world is now made for you. But it isn’t made for me. So this book was validating in that respect.

Here we see me making an effort to read more cozy fantasy, which will become the theme of this year.

The English release of I Want to Be a Wall wrapped up later this year with its third volume, and while the ending was (intentionally?) ambiguous in some respects, I found it a thought-provoking short series. The premise is that an aromantic, asexual woman and a closeted gay man (infuriatingly fixated on his childhood friend, don’t get me started) enter into an arranged marriage, and build their own kind of partnership outside the bounds of what a “normal marriage” usually is.

In a weird way it’s an inverse/mirror of Ladies on Top — a sex comedy about a straight couple trying to build a relationship that works for them outside the bounds of what a “normal relationship” usually is.

I read through the rest of the Steerswoman series in March or so, here — yes, it ends before it’s done. I can let it be what it is. (I was reading the middle of this series during a very strange road trip we took to see a great band in an unexpected place, and so those memories are bound together for me.)

The Foz Meadows duology was recommended to me in passing when I expressed frustration about not fitting into cozy fantasy, but also having no interest in war-and-dudely-shit fantasy or straight-fae-and-Mary-Sues romantasy. And yeah, I still have a taste for angst, so sue me. The lead with PTSD gave me that reaction you get when you see yourself reflected and don’t like it. Something something Jungian shadow self something something.

(And look, if you like wars and dudely shit or straight fae and Mary Sues, have fun. You don’t need me to like the same things you like. I’m not stopping you.)

Here’s where we hit the first Cozy the Day Away sale; almost all of these were part of it. (The Lost Steersman is another one that didn’t update properly.) And even then, I’m pretty sure my Kindle didn’t update everything, because I distinctly remember at least one book that isn’t listed here.

I Ran Away to Evil is probably my favorite of the three litRPGs I’ve tried. I still don’t get how adding stats makes a story superior, but hey, people are enjoying them.

How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster) was short and sweet and, unusual in the cozy fantasy space, based on horror tropes instead of D&D with the serial numbers filed off. I’m always here for cozy horror, to be honest. I wouldn’t call myself an encyclopedic horror reader overall and hardly ever watch horror movies, but I do like to dip in every now and then.

The CTDA sale got me to pick up a lot more urban fantasy than I usually read — it turns out that the cute-witchy side of that genre dovetails nicely with the Legends and Lattes descendants with D&D settings. And some people aren’t doing either of those things, like Celia Lake, who is just out there doing something entirely out of left field and awesome like mannered romances with amazing characterization about people in Fantasy World War I.

And that’s where the nice round numbers end; I’ll pick the rest up next time, which gets into the phase I’m currently in where I’m reading a whiplashy mix of cozy fantasy and the Chainsaw Man manga. (Look, I’m not curating this for anyone else’s benefit. This is just how my brain works.)

I still have about 10 books from the original CTDA sale on my pile, plus three more I bought in the second sale and a few books I picked up that were unrelated to either. I used to practice TBR Zero, y’all. I really did. For quite a while. But that’s okay. I’m getting a broader view of this genre as I try to figure out if my work belongs in it or not. (Verdict: Still maybe.)