Here are the books that I read in 2024, somehow more than I thought I’d read, yet also less than I wish I’d read. You may notice that I continue to read books by women, which I don’t plan on stopping any time soon as there are just so many amazing women writers! I’ve put a double asterisk next to books which stood out for me.
I’m not including the multiple books that I started and didn’t finish, even when it wasn’t my choice due to an audiobook automatically returning to the Libby app. This happens a lot for me.
Each and every one of them a library book!
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The Saints of Swallow Hill — Donna Everhart**
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The Daydreams — Laura Hankin
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See You Yesterday — Rachel Lynn Solomon**
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Possum Living –Dolly Freed
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Remarkably Bright Creatures — Shelby Van Pelt**
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The Immortalists — Chloe Benjamin
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The Wishing Game — Meg Shaffer
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Weyward — Emelia Hart**
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Homecoming — Kate Morton**
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The Summer Book Club –Susan Mallery
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When Katie Met Cassidy — Camille Perri
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Happy Place — Emily Henry
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Time After Time — Lisa Grunwald
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The Book of Two Ways — Jodi Picoult
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I Must Be Dreaming — Roz Chast
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The Women — Kristin Hannah**
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Going To Town: A Love Letter to New York — Roz Chast
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Wish You Were Here — Jodi Picoult
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Little House in The Big Woods — Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Sleeping Giants — Rene Denfield**
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The Last Train to Key West — Chanel Cleeton
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A Tree Grows in Br0oklyn — Betty Smith**
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Iona Iverson’s Rules For Commuting — Clare Pooley
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Yours, Truly — Abby Jimenez**
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Where The Forrest Meets The Stars — Glendy Vanderah
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Tom Lake — Ann Patchett**
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The St0ried Life of A.J. Fikry**
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Just For The Summer — Abby Jimenez
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Funny Story — Emily Henry**
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVED “The Women”. I still think about it and recommend it to everyone.
I read several of the same.
I’ve read 3 books already this year and none really stood out.
A Walk In The Park Kevin Fedarko I know, a male author…. but a good book.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, one of the protagonists is an octopus named Marcellus. A story of loss and grief, hope, and abalone.
And they’re making a movie of this starring Sally Field!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is tied for my favorite book of all time with William Leastheat Moon’s Blue Highways. I used to read it once a year and this reminds me I haven’t read it in several years. Now off to go find it on my shelves.
I just finished “A Well-Trained Wife” by Tia Levings. I started out listening to the audiobook, and enjoyed it so much that I checked out the ebook as well, so I could alternate between the two formats!
Great list! I deleted my Goodreads account with a lot of other accounts meant mostly for “tracking” but I am back to keeping a personal list of books read so I can estimate how much my library is saving me each year. Our library system doesn’t have the nifty receipts showing estimated savings. Looks like the library saved you a good deal of money in 2024!
I have done so little non-school reading in the last year, but I did just read Tia Levings “The Well-Trained Wife”. And I am very very slowly making my way through Eat, Pray, Love.
I will get back to other reading once I graduate! It’s just right now the amount of assigned school reading is WILD.
I had to DNF Eat, Pray, Love. I just could not get into it! I wanted to love it but it just wasn’t for me.
I keep expecting it to be more revelatory than it is. It’s so well-loved!
I am sure there’s a little more as I was sloppy about noting what I read in just one spot:
Fiction:
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O’Nan
Best American Mystery Stories: The First Ten Years
A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
The Siberian Dilemma and Independence Square by Martin Cruz Smith
Poetry:
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda by Pablo Neruda
Self-help:
Reasons Not to Worry: How to be Stoic in Chaotic Times by Brigid Delaney
For When Everything is Burning by Scott Eilers
Perfectly Hidden Depression by Margaret Rutherford, PhD.
Memoir:
Commited: Dispatches from a Psychiarist in Training by Adam Stern
My Beloved Monster by Caleb Carr
Cooking:
Ratio: The Simple Code Behind the Craft of Everday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman
The Bear Season 1 and 2 Unofficial Cookbooks by Hank Finnegan
Re-read:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
That should be Committed. Lost a “t” somewhere.
Meant to add: Everything listed was a good read. I don’t stick with bad books. The Caleb Carr memoir should come with a whole box of Kleenex warning, though, especially for devoted cat lovers.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is my favorite book of all time. I recently introduced it to my teenage granddaughter. I also loved The Women. I belong to a book club and probably would not have selected the following book on my own: The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. Nonfiction and fascinating.
I read The Other Wes Moore a couple years ago. He’s a good writer. It was a really fascinating book, but sad too.
I am currently reading a book called “Empire of the Summer Moon.” It is the history of the Comanche Indians and it also focuses on Cynthia Ann Parker, who was captured by the Comanches as a child and became part of their tribe, and her son Quanah, who was the last great chief. This is the side of history that you are not taught in school: how “Comancheria” (Spanish for Commanche Territory) was their land, and how Manifest Destiny and white settlement ruined their way of life. The Plains Indians, not just Comanches but Apaches, Tonkawa, Utes, etc., were nomadic, very warlike, and relied on buffalo herds to keep them alive, and truly their way of life conflicted with white farmers’ and ranchers’. It is an impartial viewpoint, but it shows both sides of the conflict and explains a lot of what history texts just mentioned in passing. Highly recommended!
Our church book club read “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and that book is just outstanding. Worth a re-read.
I just finished a Longmire murder mystery by Craig Johnson, “Kindness Goes Unpunished,” and earlier this year I read “The Cold Dish.” If you’ve seen the Longmire TV series, you’ll know that the characters are very realistic and the whole thing is enjoyable.
I would also recommend just about anything written by historian David McCullough — thoroughly researched and reads like a good novel. I’ve read John Adams and Truman and “The Pioneers” and the one about the Wright Brothers. Not all in the same year, though.
And for a good belly laugh every chapter: the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. LOL!!
Oh, I think I need to warn you, though, that the “Empire of the Summer Moon” talks about warfare and Indian raids and has full descriptions of some bloody massacres and such. Not for the squeamish!
Mockingbird is my all time, hands down favorite,my 10th grade teacher did an amazing job on it.
I have my grandchildren read it and we discuss it.
I live in upstate NY and the Stanley theater in Utica,very well known had a performance last year,my daughter got us tickets to see it,over the moon!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m reading The Women now, and holy cow…..I haven’t been this totally absorbed in a book in a very long time. Definite two asterisks.
Tried Weyward….not my thing, I guess. Not yucking anyone’s yum.
Loved the books by Abby Jimenez and Emily Henry. Although, side note.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is on my list….just waiting my turn on Libby.
I read a lot of other books, too, but I need to complie my list.
I loved the audio version of “Funny Story”. I don’t think I would have loved it as much if I had just read it.
Jean C.,
Now that I think about it, I listened to it on audiobook, too! I started reading the ebook from my library, but life happened, and it expired before ai could finish it.
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert – I recommend this to everyone who’s looking for a great book.
Because so much of my current reading is Jane Austen-related, I haven’t done much with modern fiction these days. And I have found myself gravitating in recent years toward nonfiction rather than fiction, truth being stranger than fiction these days.
However, a short book that I’m finding unexpectedly helpful is one I recently grabbed out of a Little Free Library: Anne Lamott’s “Help, Thanks, Wow”–an informal guide to informal prayer. As noted in earlier comments, I’m a lapsed Episcopalian and no longer believe in a Judeo-Christian God–but I do walk down to the end of my cul-de-sac every morning, look across to the next hill to the south, and send up an informal but heartfelt petition to the universe for strength, wisdom, and guidance (especially re: the evolving situation with NDN).
I am a somewhat lapsed Presbyterian and just love Anne Lamott. Was so fortunate to attend one of her talks in person at Emory University some years ago.
She writes lovely fiction, although not as much any more, and her book on writing titled “Bird by Bird,” is wonderful.
I’m a church-going atheist and I love everything that Anne Lamott writes.
I identify as a Roman Catholic atheist who skews Buddhist &Anne Lamott is my queen!!!
Anne Lamott is one of my heroes. I love how she is so matter of fact about what a mess she was prior to getting sober, and what a mess she still sometimes is. That imperfect humanness is so attractive and appealing, her frankness draws me in. Her faith is also something that seems accessible to me. I just found an Anne book when I was looking for poetry for my daughter – might pull it out for a heart-softening moment.
On Katy’s recommendation, I’m currently reading “ The Echoes of Old Books”, by Barbara Davis. Enjoying it but it’s not a “wow”.
I just finished a non-fiction book, “Invisible Women” which is sub-titled “ Exposing Data Bias In A World Designed for Men”. Fascinating stuff, such as that car crash testing dummies are man-sized, so the interior layout of cars and their safety features such as airbags, suit man-sized occupants. So what? In serious accidents, women are 47% more likely to be seriously injured. Fascinating issues which are fact based and require us to recognise and press for change.
Bella Mackie’s two books were terrific fun, especially the first one, “How to Murder Your Family”.
I’d also recommend anything written by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling’s nom de plume”), about a London-based private detective who is a former Army veteran. Brilliant plots and incredibly evocative of London.
And my next read is a book called “How to Sleep At Night” by Elizabeth Harris – a happily married couple end up in turmoil because of their diverging political views…
Great list Katy. I don’t buy books either, I borrow from the library.
I just finished The Cure for Women by Lydia Reeder and highly recommend this non-fiction book.
This has inspired me to start a list for 2025–it would be really fun to look back next year and see what I’ve been reading and thinking. I’ll have to let the first half of January be a sort of guessing game since I’m not sure about a lot of it. (As a retired professor, now that I have the time to read for pleasure I read a LOT, especially in Vermont in winter, in bed, at night.)
I also like the idea of including a category for books ReRead. As long as I don’t read something I read the month before without realizing it, I’m OK.
I read many of the same books as Katy and some of you. Now that I no longer keep a list of what I’ve read, I can only remember some of the more recent and would recommend all of them.
1. Moon River and Me by Andy Williams (the song was played at my parents’ funerals; I can’t sing it without tearing up – and apparently I can’t type about it without tearing up either!)
2. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
3. James by Percival Everett
4. Little Faith by Nickolas Butler
If we ever have a memorial for my mom, “Moon River” would be a good choice. I truly dislike Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but Mom evidently liked “Moon River,” since she taught it to both my children as toddlers.
That said, I am flummoxed at people who 1. keep lists of the books they’ve read and 2. have goals for reading books. Reading to me is like eating or breathing. I don’t keep track. Usually I have 3-4 books going at once, depending on my mood. Currently: The Galloping Gourmet (BFF sent me while clearing out her mother’s stuff). 10 Shillings a Head for House Books. Can You Forgive Her? that’s a repeat. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, also a repeat but sometimes you need some Wimsey comfort.
That said, I loved the Roz Chast, but generally I love her anyway.
Rose: I have cleared out a good number of books over the years, but kept the Wimseys. The paperbacks are coming unglued, but I just hold them carefully. “Talboys” is my favorite short story.
Rose,
Is this the same Galloping Gourmet that had a TV show on -do I have this right – PBS? My sisters and I used to watch that show all the time when we were kids!
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is on my TBR.
I read 38 books in 2024, a good mix of fiction and nonfiction. I’ll just note the ones I enjoyed most!
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Desmond
How Not to Die and How Not to Diet by Michael Greger (life changing! I made significant changes to my diet based on these books and even though I didn’t have any health issues, I still feel so much better all the time now)
Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food by Chris van Tulleken
The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Oh I read Pachinko as well and loved it. One of the best of the year for me.
I read 67 books in 2024, here are some that I loved:
The Women – Kristin Hannah
The Small and the Mighty – Sharon McMahon
James – Percival Everett
Horse – Geraldine Brooks
Brooklyn – Colm Toibin
Long Island – Colm Toibin
Remarkably Bright Creatures was in my top 5 this year. Loved it!
I would recommend “Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food and Love” by Kim Fay. It’s pretty short and I listened to it on audio and it was wonderful.
If you like thrillers with ghost themes, Simone St. James’ “Sundown Motel” and “The Broken Girls” were great reads.
You may have read “The Great Alone” and/or “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah. I also read “Home Front” by her and it’s excellent too.
The best thing I have read in a long time is This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. It is about parentingʻ a transgender child. It also has so much parenting boys humor.
It’s a dangerous thing to ask a librarian for book recommendations.
Of the books I read this year by women, the ones I think you might like the most are both biographies:
Breaking Through: my life in science by Katalin Kariko
Having Our Say: the Delaney sisters first 100 years by Sarah & Elizabeth Delaney with Amy Hill Hearth
However, if I’m wrong and you like fantasy, I can give you a much longer list.
My top read of the year was Andrew Clement’s The Frindle Files, a posthumous sequel to a long-time favorite of mine, Frindle.
Ooh, yes please to fantasy! I’m reading some Raymond Feist – enjoyable yarns, but thin on characterisation. My fave is Ursula Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness. Read it when I was in my teens. Reread it two years ago – hadn’t grasped its depth and subtlety on gender roles, capitalism etc. Brilliantly written.
I’ve never kept a list on what I’ve read.Though I know its probably a lot. My Kindle is what I use. My library is rural and doesn’t have much of a variety.. So my towns free little library, and free books on Kindle prime
The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, ant the “Into the Forest “ series by Sara Donati ( No fantasy, but also set in early America, and also about the crossing and merging between two cultures
Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon was absolutely amazing! The author is just a beautiful storyteller.
I’m joining in because I’m trying to contribute more to the blogs that I regularly read. Reading highlights of the year;
The Hero of this Book by Elizabeth McCracken. A slim but thoughtful book with some really memorable writing.
As noted above, Pachinko. An absorbing novel covering several generations of a Korean family. It’s well known for a reason.
Several books by Barbara Pym, the Jane Austen of mid 20th C England. Made me laugh out loud.
Most impactful book of the year; 4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman . A modern philosopher with a guide about how to live in the world. I’m now reading his follow up book Meditations for Mortals which I’m also enjoying very much.
One thing which has really helped me get back into reading is listening to podcasts about books. I particularly like a podcast called Backlisted which highlights underappreciated books. The presenters also have beautiful voices which have helped send me off to sleep on a few nights!
I looked up 4000 Weeks– That should have some interesting insights!
I’m finding it really thought provoking, especially about dealing with the current state of the world
Barbara Pym is fab. You should try Dorothy Whipple and The Diary of a Provincial Lady.
Thanks! Another one to go on the list!
Thank you all for taking the time to share. I’m taking screenshots of your recommendations and will hunt them down.
Here are my 5*
– Saving Noah (L. Berry)
– We need to talk about Kevin (L . Shriver)
– Unspeakable things (J. Lourey)
– She’s come undone (W. Lamb)
– Madness : a bipolar life ( M. Hornbacher)
– Midwives (C. Bohjalian)
– The fisrt time she drowned (K. Kletter)
– Troublemaker : surviving Hollywood and scientology (L. Remini)
– The farm ( J. Ramos)
– Those who prey (J. Moffett)
– Love lives here : a story of thriving in a transgender family (R. Jette Knox)
– My dark Vanessa (K. Russell)
– Playing nice ( JP Delaney)
– The shadow man ( H. Fields)
– The stalker ( S. Alderson)
– The lobotomist’s wife (S. Woodruff)
What did you think of The Farm?! I was so surprised by what didn’t happen that I was expecting!
In Five Years – Rebecca Serle (I haven’t cried so hard in a long time!)
The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden (Russian folkloresque)
The Book of Thorns + The Last Heir to Blackwood Library – Hester Fox
The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and Its People – Stuart Maconie
House of Trelawney – Hannah Rothschild
Babylon’s Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo – Graham Spence, Lawrence Anthony
The Witches of Thistle Grove series by Lana Harper
Book Lovers – Emily Henry
The Family Compound – Liz Parker
Good Neighbors – Sarah Langan (Octavia Butler + Shirley Jackson vibes)
The Dawn of Everything – David Graeber, David Wengrow
Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh – Rachael Lippincott
The Summer of the Bear – Bella Pollen
Community Board – Tara Conklin
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence – Kristen R. Ghodsee
The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society – Eleanor Janega
In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss – Amy Bloom
Evening – Nessa Rapoport
Re: “The Dawn of Everything”
Unfortunately, that book lacks credibility and depth.
In fact “The Dawn of Everything” is a biased disingenuous account of human history (https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-flawed-history-of-humanity & https://offshootjournal.org/untenable-history/) that spreads fake hope (the authors of “The Dawn” claim human history has not “progressed” in stages, or linearly, and must not end in inequality and hierarchy as with our current system… so there’s hope for us now that it could get different/better again). As a result of this fake hope porn it has been widely praised. It conveniently serves the profoundly sick industrialized world of fakes and criminals. The book’s dishonest fake grandiose title shows already that this work is a FOR-PROFIT, instead a FOR-TRUTH, endeavour geared at the (ignorant gullible) masses.
Fact is human history since the dawn of agriculture has “progressed” in a linear stage (the “stuck” problem, see below), although not before that (https://www.focaalblog.com/2021/12/22/chris-knight-wrong-about-almost-everything ). This “progress” has been fundamentally destructive and is driven and dominated by “The 2 Married Pink Elephants In The Historical Room” (https://www.rolf-hefti.com/covid-19-coronavirus.html) which the fake hope-giving authors of “The Dawn” entirely ignore naturally (no one can write a legitimate human history without understanding and acknowledging the nature of humans). And these two married pink elephants are the reason why we’ve been “stuck” in a destructive hierarchy and unequal 2-class system , and will be far into the foreseeable future (the “stuck” question — “the real question should be ‘how did we get stuck?’ How did we end up in one single mode?” or “how we came to be trapped in such tight conceptual shackles” — [cited from their book] is the major question in “The Dawn” its authors never really answer, predictably).
Worse than that, the Dawn authors actually promote, push, propagandize, and rationalize in that book the unjust immoral exploitive criminal 2-class system that’s been predominant for millennia [https://nevermoremedia.substack.com/p/was-david-graeber-offered-a-deal]!
“All experts serve the state and the media and only in that way do they achieve their status. Every expert follows his master, for all former possibilities for independence have been gradually reduced to nil by present society’s mode of organization. The most useful expert, of course, is the one who can lie. With their different motives, those who need experts are falsifiers and fools. Whenever individuals lose the capacity to see things for themselves, the expert is there to offer an absolute reassurance.” —Guy Debord
A good example that one of the “expert” authors, Graeber, has no real idea on what world we’ve been living in and about the nature of humans is his last brief article on Covid where his ignorance shines bright already at the title of his article, “After the Pandemic, We Can’t Go Back to Sleep.” Apparently he doesn’t know that most people WANT to be asleep, and that they’ve been wanting that for thousands of years (and that’s not the only ignorant notion in the title) — see https://www.rolf-hefti.com/covid-19-coronavirus.html. Yet he (and his partner) is the sort of person who thinks he can teach you something authentically truthful about human history and whom you should be trusting along those terms. Ridiculous!
“The Dawn” is just another fantasy, or ideology, cloaked in a hue of cherry-picked “science,” served lucratively to the gullible ignorant public who craves myths and fairy tales.
“Far too many worry about possibilities more than understanding reality.” — E.J. Doyle, American songwriter & social critic, 2021
“The evil, fake book of anthropology, “The Dawn of Everything,” … just so happened to be the most marketed anthropology book ever. Hmmmmm.” — Unknown