A Year of Reading: 2024

I'm never quite sure how to review my year in reading, but I'm happy with what I've done in the past couple of years, so I think I'll stick with it. I set an arbitrary goal of reading 50 books on Goodreads back in January, but the number of books I read isn't terribly meaningful to me. This fall and winter there seemed to be lots of enticing books recommended by various Goodreads friends and also available from my libraries, so I kept borrowing and reading. And then reading some more. Goodreads tells me I've read 104 books so far, but I'm still reading two books right now and I'm not sure if I'll finish them tonight. And like I said, numbers aren't what really matter to me. 

It's the enjoyment of the books, what I've learned, and where the books have transported me that matters most to me. I don't want to bore you with numbers, statistics, and ratings, so I'm just going to write about some of my highlights. The links will take you to Goodreads so if you are so inclined, you can read more about the books and decide if they might be for you. 

Some of the books I've enjoyed the most include:

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Table for Two by Amor Towles

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

 

A few of the books I have learned from:

Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Small Rain by Garth Greenwell

Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves by Nicola Twilley

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie

Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Underwater by Amorina Kingdon

 

Special books that transported me:

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

That last category is a little bit different. I think of it as books that made me want to keep reading along with those that took me to different countries, places, and times, even if I didn't end up awarding the book too many stars. That's how I ended up with a memoir, a book that's a mix of a linguistic treasure trove and a philosophical journey, and fantasy together in one list. 

For the sake of some conciseness (and because I don't want to bore you!), I've limited my list to 15 of my favorites. This is not exhaustive by any means, especially because it only includes about 15% of the books I read. The books I'm currently reading are This Is Happiness by Niall Williams and Winter Morning Walks by Ted Kooser. This Is Happiness is a reread before I start Time of the Child. I think these are all wonderful books to both end my 2024 reading year and begin 2025.

 

I would love to hear about the book(s) you enjoyed in 2024, what you are reading now, or the ones you can't stop thinking about. I need to make sure I've got some good books lined up for 2025, and many of the best recommendations come from you! Some books slated for publication in 2025 that I am really looking forward to are The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova, and The Names by Florence Knapp. Here's to another enjoyable, educational, and immersive year of reading for all of us in 2025!

 

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A reading reminder: The Zoom discussion for our current Read With Us book, Intermezzo, is scheduled for next Tuesday, January 7, 2025, at 7:00 pm Eastern time. You can RSVP (by email or in a comment) to Kym, Carole, or me and let us know that you'll be attending. You can find my email in the upper right hand corner. Thanks and I hope to see you there!