That One Ryan鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

10,868

pages read

books read

That One Ryan

Shortest Book

pages

Longest Book

832

pages

Average book length in 2024

271

pages

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Most Shelved

1,154,394

people also shelved

LGBTQ+ Trailblazers of San Francisco by Dr. William Lipsky

Least Shelved

people also shelved

That One Ryan鈥檚 average rating for 2024

3.6

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.56 average

That One Ryan鈥檚 first review of the year

really liked it

As much as we want to believe gay history is only filled with heroes. It鈥檚 just as important to understand how some of the 鈥渧illains鈥� helped to shape our narrative as well.

What an intriguing and informative read this was. Well researched, and compelling. This book gave me a lot of new historical events and people to continue on reading about and learning more.

THAT ONE RYAN鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

really liked it

The Best Strangers in the World by Ari Shapiro

really liked it

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

A Crown of Iron & Silver by Hailey Turner

If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

it was amazing

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran

it was amazing

Ten Bridges I've Burnt by Brontez Purnell

The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark by Warren Wagner

it was amazing

That One Ryan鈥檚 last review of the year

really liked it

If someone were to ask me, what was the plot of this book, I would say to them, who cares. What Taylor does, that I love so much, is write about people. About human nature, about fear and love, and desire, and thoughts, and trauma, and every single human condition these cast of characters might feel. No one is good or bad, they just are. Just like any human trying to navigate this world, through the various challenges we face, Taylor's characters If someone were to ask me, what was the plot of this book, I would say to them, who cares. What Taylor does, that I love so much, is write about people. About human nature, about fear and love, and desire, and thoughts, and trauma, and every single human condition these cast of characters might feel. No one is good or bad, they just are. Just like any human trying to navigate this world, through the various challenges we face, Taylor's characters are walking, breathing, feeling their way through this novel.

I am drawn to a writer who focuses more on character over plot, and Taylor is all about character. Flaws and all. You are drawn in as a reader, and you care about these fictional people. That to me, is what drives me as a reader.

Where in "Real Life," the focus is mostly on a single character, "The Late Americans" expands to a larger circle of characters that interweave between each other's narratives, and cross paths, or beds often. I enjoyed having a more expanded narrative, though I wish we could have spent more time with certain characters, and less with others. The blurb for this book led me to believe we would focus more on the characters listed, but Fatima for example is barely a focus until near the end, only showing up in smaller moments throughout. Though I would say, she was one of the most complex of the characters and I would have loved to spend more time with her.
The group of characters we do follow though felt vivid and real in a way I have experienced. Crisscrossing through each others lives either through sex, or relationships, or parties, etc. Sometimes only by a brief mention, and other times, through larger, more important ways. This feels true to social groups that I know and have been a part of, and allows me as a reader to connect in a profound way.

There are times where I feel like some of the dialogue feels a bit pretentious, and I often wonder, do people really talk like this? These moments, though not the entirety of the writing, sometimes took me out of the narrative. For me, though, it is when characters aren't talking where the magic of Taylor's writing lies. When we are gifted the characters thoughts, and feelings. These raw and vulnerable moments where we get a glimpse at what makes them who they are, these are what connects me to Taylor's writing. That understanding of emotion. It feels unmatched at times by other authors.

I find Taylor a gifted, and important writer of our time. One who isn't afraid to look at racism, homophobia, gender issues, and one who isn't afraid to speak on these plainly and without shame. There are times as a reader I'm left reflecting on how I view these things in my world, and how I react to them. It can feel like reading Taylor is a mirror and I'm looking back at myself wondering, would I have said the same thing, or reacted the same as this character or that.

There is a bleakness to Taylor's writing, true, but also, there is a profoundness that leaves me not sad, per say, but maybe, more educated. More aware of how everyone, even the people we dislike, are moving through this world with their own hurts, their own past. Nobody, is cut and dry, and I am grateful their are writers willing to explore even the worst of people with a level of nuance.

Taylor is going to be a must read author for me going forward.
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