2024 is off to a great start, at least in terms of my reading. Despite many competing demands on my time and other distractions, I managed to read a diverse group of books outside of my usual preference for literary fiction. I hope you find something interesting to add to your reading list or see a book that you also read and enjoyed.

Throne of Glass — Sarah J. Maas

Yes, that’s right. I finally succumbed to the Maas Mania and decided to try one of her books. The consensus was that the Throne of Glass series was more fantasy and less romance than the ACOTAR or Crescent City books. I had my doubts, but TOG is a fast-paced, thought-provoking, fun read with some nice world-building and intriguing characters. I’d give it a solid B. Now I have to decide whether to continue with the series or just leave it at this one sample.

The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir — RuPaul

I don’t read many memoirs, but as a big RuPaul fan, this was a must. We learn about his upbringing in San Diego and how he developed his approach to art, creativity, and gender. It’s a balanced mix of introspection and humor, with that unique RuPaul wisdom in abundance. It’s a fast read (only 256 pages) that ends 20 years ago when RuPaul got sober, so you won’t anything about recent events here. I’m predicting we’ll see Part 2 in 2025.

Babel and Yellowface – R. F. Kuang

Babel was on my TBR for a long time, so I decided it was finally time to read it. I loved it so much that I went straight into Kuang’s latest novel, Yellowface. It’s a testament to her immense talent that these two books are so different yet equally brilliant. The fact that she is only 27 makes her achievements even more impressive (she published The Poppy War trilogy starting when she was 22).

Babel is an inventive fantasy retelling of the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, in which linguists around the world engage in a competition to create a universal language but instead end up in a world where they are unable to understand each other because translation has become impossible. It’s a parable for our time.

Yellowface explores the history of discrimination against Asians, particularly in the entertainment business. It’s a multiple viewpoint narrative that shows just how pervasive anti-Asian sentiment has been in the last 200 years and how it took on a new life during the Covid pandemic of 2020-21.  

No Potential: The Science of Being a Hopeless Failure – Adam Grant

You can’t go wrong with an Adam Grant book. He has so much insight into what makes people tick, both as individuals and in groups, and I always learn a lot. While he usually writes about self-realization intellectually and emotionally, No Potential finds him exploring people who just can’t quite get it together and go from one failure to another. Why does this happen and what can they do to turn things around and become a mediocre person who just manages to get by? Grant reviews the latest research and has some suggestions for the feckless among us. (graphic courtesy of Adam Grant’s Instagram account)

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If you made it this far without throwing your phone, iPad, or laptop across the room, congratulations! April Fools!