Recommendations - UC Berkeley Library Update

2024 Speculative Fiction Read and Enjoyed

Posted on January 14, 2025March 10, 2025 by Bee Lehman

Some of you know that I (Bee, the Lit Librarian) read heavily in speculative fiction. For our mutual enjoyed, I’ve compiled a list of some of my colleagues and my favorite 2024 reads in the genre. Please note that most of these books are from 2024, but a few were published earlier. Please note that this list is far from comprehensive.

Here they are!

Woman looks up, face hidden behind a half mask, clutching two stiletto daggers with arms crossed. — Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clar

Famous detail of an ancient Chinese bridge with specific people x-ed out in red. — 清明上河圖密碼 : 隱藏在千古名畫中的陰謀與殺局 =The secret code of “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”: Conspiracy and murder hidden in famous paintings through the ages by Wenbiao Ye

Black cover with gold trees growing up the sides. — A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Anthropomorphized animals in a pink room. — 偵探冰室・疫=Detective ice room・Epidemic by Ho-kei Chan

Brightly colored image of a man facing away from the viewer, hand raised toward a mountainous skyline. — Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

Cover with a window and silhouette of a person with a hand pressed to dingy gladd. — Ulit︠s︡kai︠a︡, Li︠u︡dmila. The Kukotsky Enigma : A Novel by Ludmila Ulitskaya ; Translated from the Russian by Diane Nemec Ignashev

Book cover with blue background, author name and title spread across the cover with a sword blade in the background. — The Bright Sword by Lev Grossmann

White, decorative cover with red eye, centered, peering at viewer. — Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi

Sepia toned image with parallel stripes running across the cover with three, brightly colored dots. — Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie

Cover in oranges emphasizing a city amid the sands with a person positioned upside down. — The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi

Cover with an image of an island with a ship next to it. — Island of Whispers by Frances Hardinge, UC Berkeley Library Search

Blue cover with red, bleeding sun in the middle surrounded by blue-green toned fungus and other plants. — The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

Cover with bird of fire leaping into the sky near a house on a cliff. — Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T. J. Klune, UC Berkeley Library Search

Cover emphasizing Roman classic style architecture in flames. — The City in Glass by Nghi Vo, in UC Berkeley Library Search

Cover of person with green skin standing in a bookshop. — Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree,

Illustrated hands spread out with stems of thyme laid across them. — Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction, edited by Sonia Sulaiman

Sepia-toned cover with black shapes and red highlights. — Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Picture of a fallen, lighted sign crashed into the dirt with a tentacle wrapping around it from the right. — Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky

Book cover of The Familiar — The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Disability Awareness Month 2024

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Literatures at the Library

Disability Awareness Month 2024

Celebrate Disability Awareness Month by exploring powerful stories and insights from disabled authors. Discover more diverse perspectives that inspire and educate on UCB Overdrive!

The Country of the Blind — The Country of the Blind
Andrew Leland

Disability Intimacy — Disability Intimacy
Alice Wong

The Year of Magical Thinking — The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion

In the Lives of Puppets — In the Lives of Puppets
TJ Klune

Life on Delay — Life on Delay
John Hendrickson

Parable of the Sower — Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler

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