2024 Reading Review

Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but I’m so happy we’ve made it here. We all know that the work doesn’t stop on the weekends but it’s still something to look forward to. And this weekend will be a mixed bag of weather: rain on Saturday and snow on Sunday with lots of clouds throughout. So I’m going to make sure I have enough espresso, a fresh pair of socks on my knitting needles, and a couple of good books to get me through (After Me Comes the Flood and The Bluest Eye).

Today’s post is my 2024 Reading Review. I’ve put this off for so long because picking a Top 10 felt impossible. I really enjoyed my reading life last year and it was so varied, given that I started the year in a Romantasy phase before shifting back to more literary fiction. Those genres are hard to compare and I wasn’t sure where my Top 10 would land. But I spent the first couple of weeks of January rewriting lists and feel good about what I have.

Overall Statistics

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The only data point that I think about is the number of pages read. Over the summer, I set a goal to read an average of 150 pages/day. 150pages x 360days (to give myself a few days grace) = 54,000 pages. I fell short of that goal in 2024 and even still, I read a whole lot of pages last year! 48,052pages / 360days = 133 pages/day. I was pretty darn close.

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Favorite Books of 2024

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This list could be different with every shift in my mood, but this is where I finally landed. Here’s my quick pitch for each book, in no particular order:

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor – a young girl on an isolated Welsh Island in the days leading up to WWII who dreams of more.

Held by Anne Michaels – Fragments of life from 1912 France to 2025 Gulf of Finland. Read with pen and paper nearby to keep up.

Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy – One of the most true and poignant stories of early motherhood.

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates – Collection of essays about civilization’s war on Blackness, censorship, and a first hand description of Israel/Palestine.

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak – Follow a drop of water as it connects characters from Ancient Mesopotamia, to mid-19th Century London, to early 21st Century Iraq, to more modern day London. My favorite book of the year.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar – A young Iranian-American poet grapples with the loss of his parents and addiction when he decides to visit an artist in Brooklyn who has made her imminent death an art installation.

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry – A book about friendship, unrequited love, and forgiving others, with a touch of gothic and lots of heart.

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead – The story of two boys sent to a reformation school in Florida in the 1960s. This was my second reading and it still ripped me apart.

Paradise by Toni Morrison – Brilliantly structured novel about a town deemed paradise by its occupants and what happens when a threat is perceived.

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout – Lucy and Olive in a room together!

Honorable mentions: The Ministry of Time, Stoneyard Devotional, Priory of the Orange Tree and Day of Fallen Night, The Safekeep, The Familiar, The Book Censor’s Library, and Blood Over Bright Haven. (See? I told you I couldn’t pick a Top 10.)

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It feels good to have wrapped up my 2024 reading, despite how impossible this post has felt. What do you think about my list? Were any of these your favorites? Are you planning to read any in 2025?

My weekend plans are to work at the library tomorrow, take a walk or two, sit on my yoga mat, start another pair of socks, and read in all of the crooks and crannies I can find. And given that it’s a long weekend and there’s snow forecasted, I’m sure we’ll spend quite a bit of time outside around the firepit and playing frisbee.

Whatever your weekend brings, I hope you can find some time for the things you need. Take good care.