Small Things Like These

What Hacker News says

1. tra3Dec 2025
   Couple of books from this year:

   - A short stay in hell (sci-fi): A modern take on Library of Babel. Pretty dark. Quick read.

   - The Burried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Nominally fantasy, but not really. Great, like his other books.

   - Small things like these (fiction). Set in 1900s Ireland, atmospheric. I learned about Magdalene laundries from this book.

   - Parable of the Sawer by Octavia E. Butler, science fiction. Collapse of society, survival etc. Pretty bleak.

   - Lonely Kind of War (biography). Author was a forward air controller during the Vietnam war. His job was to direct air strikes from jets and bombers on enemy positions and then confirm the kills. Interesting and depressing.

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2. crackedbassoonDec 2022
   I’ve listened to 130 audiobooks in 2022 so far. I think I’ll get one more in before the new year but it won’t make this list. Some stood out:

   Greek Mythology series by Steven Fry. Not literary adaptations nor scholarly treatises; just accessible, fun reads with enough accuracy and attention to detail for a layman like me.

   I’m working my way through Cormac McCarthy. This year I read Suttree and The Crossing, which are both excellent IMO.

   I discovered these beautifully written character observations: Matrix (Lauren Groff), Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan), and The Crimson Petal and the White (Michael Farber).

   Not exactly unknown in the fantasy genre, but Joe Abercrombie’s Age of Madness trilogy is great. I think Abercrombie is actually an awesome writer. For instance, he has this trick for composing his big action sequences almost entirely through POV vignettes from disposable characters, which I think is a remarkable idea that essentially fixes one of the commonest problems in fantasy (plot over characters).

   On Writing (Stephen King). I read a few writing guides this year and was by far freshest.

   Collected Fictions (Borges).

   Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler) is a classic in the same vein as One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

   Shadow Divers (Robert Kurson) is a true-life story about divers discovering and exploring a remarkable wreck. Read this by accident, turned out awesome.

   A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (George Saunders) was one of those times where I knew little about a topic going in but got swept up by the author’s eloquence and enthusiasm.

   I rediscovered Michael Moorcock’s Elric series thanks to new audiobook recordings. The Witcher but good.

   Second Place (Rachel Cusk) was a batshit boilerroom melodrama. My first Cusk, will read more.

   The first three books of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series are great, but particularly The Eyes of the Overworld, which I was surprised to find was hilarious.

   I reread some classic Philip K Dick, including Flow My Tears and Stigmata, and More than Human (Theodore Sturgeon).

   The first two books of The Dark Star trilogy by Marlon James are both huge things, but worth it for fans of super dark fantasy. The setting really works for me, as far too much of this genre is basically set in a hyper caricature of medieval Europe.

   Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle might be the best fantasy series for me. Tenahu might be one of my favourite books of all time.

   The first two books in Gene Wolfe’s Latro series are superb and perhaps just as good as his New Sun novels.

   Gateways to Abomination by Matthew Bartlett is a gross, super dark, and fun little horror collection.

   I read East of Eden for the first time.

   Here are some books that were enjoyable but had some problems for me:

   The Royal Game (Stephan Zweig) was a super interesting novella that just sort of stopped.

   The Elementals (Michael McDowell) was an awesome horror novella with a mostly excellent cast of characters and plot, whicho was almost totally let down by an unsavory trope that’s unforgivable in something written in 2014.

   The Blacktongue Thief (Christopher Beuhlman) is the first novel in a new grimdark series with some interesting variations on familiar tropes, although the characters were somewhat flat overall.

   Here are some books I read in previous years but have stuck in my head: Grief is the Thing with Feathers and Lanny, Roadside Picnic, The Vegetarian, The House on Vesper Sands, My Name is Red, The Lathe or Heaven, The Gloaming, The Worst Journey in the World, The Fisherman, At Night All Blood is Black.

   Things I read this year I wouldn’t recommend: Lord Foul’s Bane (offensive, poor writing), The Cement Garden (tries to be shocking but is quite boring), Lapvona (major disappointment), Them: Adventures with Extremists (superficial), The Wrack (feels trivial post COVID).

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3. I_complete_meOct 2022
   I read the following "interesting" books this year and what I learnt is that "life is big". Meaning that my mind has been expanded in some intriguing way by reading each of these books. I have also read some thrillers and other rubbish but I observe that you did not request those so I omitted them. You're welcome.

   Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

   The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland

   The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

   Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

   The Endurance by Carloine Alexander

   How To Live by Sarah Bakewell (Life of Montaigne)

   Now Way Down by Graham Bowley

   The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor

   The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall

   How to be a Liberal by Ian Dunt

   Short Stories by Brian Friel

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