Inventories

End-of-year lists are my thing. This year's reading roundup? Mixed bag. Read a ton of books. Wrote barely any reviews. Most posts stayed in draft limbo. And honestly? Not many standouts. But here's what mattered from a year that tested us all through page after page.

Another year done. Time for the tally. I read more than last year. Lots of big books. Mostly digital—my e-reader went everywhere I did. When you're constantly moving around, having your entire library in your pocket changes everything.

Not my best reading year. Spent most of my energy planning a move to La Rochelle. Reading time took a hit, and finding books that grabbed me? Even harder. But I still found some gems worth remembering.

Year's over and here we are again. Contrasts defined this year: started with a serious reading slump, ended with a string of great novels. 72 books total—better than before. 22 in English. Started rough but finished strong.

Didn't read much this year. Barely fifty books. Currently stuck in a reading slump where everything falls flat. Waiting for that spark to come back. Meanwhile, here's what actually worked from this year's stack.

Hard to sum up 2024. One of our darkest years collectively. But personally? One of my most rewarding—both work and life. Proof that the personal and the global don't always sync up. Here's what reading meant to me this year.

Jean-Marc started it, Cuné picked it up: list your 100 favorite novels. I'm in. Can't resist a good list challenge even with constraints. Two rules here: only novels, only one per author. Let's do this.

Like every year, here's my rundown of what I read from the fall literary releases. French fiction led the way this year with some real standouts that made wading through the season's massive output worthwhile.

Continuing my deep dive into Antoine Bello and Eric Reinhardt's literary universes. "To create is to live," says Reinhardt. He only writes what he knows, mining his own life for material. That rawness shows.

I gravitate toward foreign lit, especially Anglo-Saxon stuff. French fiction usually doesn't do it for me. But I've obsessed over American authors—Fante, Roth, Auster—reading everything they've written. Now two French writers have grabbed me the same way.