Alan’s Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2023

21,307

pages read

books read

Alan

2 likes Like

Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones

Shortest Book

104

pages

The Big Book of Cyberpunk by Jared Shurin

Longest Book

1,116

pages

Average book length in 2023

343

pages

Most Shelved

4,123,476

people also shelved

Pete French Cattle King by Elizabeth Lambert Wood

Least Shelved

people also shelved

Alan’s average rating for 2023

3.9

Mostly Void, Partially Stars by Joseph Fink

Highest Rated on Goodreads

4.44 average

Alan’s first review of the year

really liked it

Rec. by: MCL; Nataliya; Peter; previous work
Rec. for: Carriers of a secret light

Remote Control turned out to be a charming amuse-bouche with which to begin my new year of reading, especially after I started—and stalled out on—a very different book. I'd missed seeing Nnedi Okorafor's recent sf novella when it came out in 2020, so I'm glad I ran across it now, while perusing the general fiction shelves in my local branch library.

More than anyth Rec. by: MCL; Nataliya; Peter; previous work
Rec. for: Carriers of a secret light

Remote Control turned out to be a charming amuse-bouche with which to begin my new year of reading, especially after I started—and stalled out on—a very different book. I'd missed seeing Nnedi Okorafor's recent sf novella when it came out in 2020, so I'm glad I ran across it now, while perusing the general fiction shelves in my local branch library.

More than anything else, Remote Control seems to me to be a superhero origin story—and I'm only one of the readers (another is my Goodreads friend Peter T.) to have noticed this. Little Sankofa, just seven years old (her name was Fatima then) finds—and then loses—a glowing green seed, one of a mysterious shower that fell from the sky one night into the shea tree orchard of her home town of Wulugu. (Sankofa goes through a lot of moisturizing shea butter, by the way, throughout Remote Control.) The alien seed gives her special powers... destructive powers, that Sankofa cannot fully understand or manage at first.

I did think the title was somewhat ambiguous, though—there doesn't seem to be any remoteness to Sankofa's control.

What happens in Wulugu when Sankofa's parents receive an important visitor sets her wandering across Ghana, her birth name and family lost to her as she seeks the seed that glows so brightly in her mind.

Along the way, Sankofa protects herself from predators large and small with her powers, and can occasionally provide release for those who are suffering. Her reputation spreads—but not everyone believes, and not everyone appreciates the gifts she can bring even if they do believe.

Like any superhero-in-the-making, Sankofa must resist the temptation to abuse her powers. She must grow into them, despite having no one to guide her, no companion other than the miraculous fox Movenpick, who appears along with her transformation. Movenpick provides comfort for Sankofa on her journey, but even a miraculous fox cannot speak...

This is a short review, I'm afraid (well, it is a short book!), but brevity should not deter you from reading Nnedi Okorafor's Remote Control. ...more

ALAN’S 2023 BOOKS

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

it was amazing

Summer in the City of Roses by Michelle Ruiz Keil

it was amazing

Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore

it was amazing

Houses Under the Sea by Caitlín R. Kiernan

On Earth as It Is on Television by Emily Jane

it was amazing

it was amazing

The Epiphany Machine by David Burr Gerrard

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Speculative Los Angeles by Denise Hamilton

A Brief History of Living Forever by Jaroslav Kalfar

The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente

it was amazing

The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar

Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling

Willard and His Bowling Trophies by Richard Brautigan

No One Will Come Back For Us and Other Stories by Premee Mohamed

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell

it was amazing

The Star and the Strange Moon by Constance Sayers

Alan’s last review of the year

really liked it

Rec. by: MCL
Rec. for: Would-be practitioners

"If there's one thing a watchman can't stand, it's being watched,"
—p.308

Although its title could be from a Jeff VanderMeer story, Relentless Melt contains a very different sort of tale. As Jeremy P. Bushnell's novel begins, the year is 1909—but not exactly our version of that year. The differences are subtle, especially at first, but Bushnell builds on them skillfully, sidestepping historical accuracy w ...more

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