I use Goodreads to log, organize, and learn about books, but when it comes to rating books, sites like that have lost personal utility to me. On Goodreads, Amazon, and other public platforms where sales and exposure are directly impacted by quantifiable review data, I feel obligated to rate all books I view as having some merit as a full five stars, which doesn’t necessarily accurately reflect my experience of their relative power. So! I made this page to rank books I’ve read (or dipped into maybe?) each year in order of most favorite to … not as favorite. I’m not sure how integrated these lists will be with the idea or goal of “destination reading”, but they are one way of looking at ports I’ve stopped in on each annual cruise around the sun, and which spots I loved visiting the most, or am most glad I ventured into at least once.

These are just my subjective rankings. Titles towards the bottom / less favored books are often still much-loved by me, just not as much as ones I ranked higher. I guess I’m still not sure how to approach this: by some objective standard of “excellence” or by personal subjective favor? Might take some trial and error. 

In this current year, with these books so recently read, it’s hard to know which books will mean the most to me years down the line: the true test of a book’s value, I think, beyond entertainment. 

Quite likely I’ll revisit and rearrange these rankings more than once in future. Also intend to add a line or two to each year about what is/was going on my life for context. For example, this year my mom’s pancreatic cancer came back and my brother-in-law’s battle with melanoma is likely coming to its inevitable end. I am struggling to adapt to my own aging, and accepting my limitations and unfixable failures with some kind of … grace? I don’t know. I do know that reading is a nutritious priority I must prioritize, and I’m fortunate and grateful for my wife’s love, support, understanding, and sense of humor. Even if she doesn’t want to lie around and read with me!

01 – Brightfellow

By Rikki Ducornet
My favorite book read this year so far, by one of my favorite authors. Unusual for being the closest-feeling location to my departure station in the US compared to other places she’s taken me in her books and stories that I’ve read so far. Familiar-feeling setting and strange MC.

Read my “review”/notes of Brightfellow on Goodreads

02 – Moth Smoke

By Mohsin Hamad
!!!!!

03 – Arlington Park: a Novel

By Rachel Cusk
Not my favorite Cusk, had moments that really grated on me, but … so so good. Standing alone, and probably even more as a port on my personal cruise through Cusk’s work, and where it’s located relative to her other books I’ve read before this one. Another one where she puts a piercing, wicked, pointed, little brand on the last words of a book in ways I will never forget.

Read my “review” of/notes on Arlington Park on Goodreads

Parade

By Rachel Cusk
!!!!!

History of Wolves

By Emily Fridland
Let me tell you something; I actually think this is, overall, a better book than Cusk’s Parade. I read it right after finishing Parade, and it covers some of the same important ethical and existential issues about reality/truth/fiction, parenthood, justice, blah blah blah, but with a truer POV and more accessible impact. I might have to slide this one up a notch. 

Sister Snake

By Amanda Lee Koe
I *love* this book. Love love love!! So many exceptional things about it. I hate having it appear so far down on my list. Definitely looking forward to reading more by her. One of these where when I read someone’s bad review of it, I think of that person “you sound like a stupid cunt.” This book and Moth Smoke are, so far, probably the books I’d be most likely to recommend people read as most likely to elicit all kinds of satisfaction.

Read my “review”/notes of Sister Snake on Goodreads

07 – The Owl Cries

By Hye Young-Pyun – translated by Sora Kim-Russell
Very glad I read this book (the first I finished this year) – so many unusual stand-out things I loved, and elements I crave in stories. Contains the weirdest, spookiest atmosphere.

More lists of books to come ranked within years I read them