Since I started keeping my annual Book Lists, I believe 2024 is my most "readingest" year. 54 total. A strong year. And yet, upon scanning it's clear the list is lopsided. It looks as if perhaps I did nothing but feverishly read the first half of the year, slow and steady through the summer, but once fall hit, essentially fell off. It's these types of details that make the annual lists so compelling to me year after year. Sometimes the interest is with a certain dominating genre or type of author, sometimes memories of where I was physically or emotionally when I chose the titles. This list provides information in a different way. I've tried to explain to folks how much more busy life has become with a child in high school, one in middle school, and one still in elementary, the wonderful chaos of running here and there and everywhere. This list provides a picture! It's not so much that I don't have time to read, it's that I don't have time to think. And for me, thinking is the whole point of reading!
Onto the books. As always, I don't necessarily recommend every book I've read. This is just a straightforward recording with favorites bolded and italicized. A few things to note. For a while, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles has been my favorite book, but it was topped this year by Rose Nicolson by Andrew Greig. Honestly, I'm not sure this book is for everyone, but if you love a great story, artful storytelling, and might be interested in the integration of the Reformation to Scotland, I may have just introduced you to a real delight! I finally read Demon Copperhead, and it was as fantastic as everyone said. In August, I highlighted Jacqueline Winspear's final novel in the Maisie Dobbs series called The Comfort of Ghosts. This series has been a consistent part of my life since I discovered it with newborn Emmett in tow in 2014, and it was sad and sweet for it to come to a close.
Over the summer, I began a practice of entering a thrift store and grabbing lots of titles from the shelf based on recognizable names or appealing cover art, coming home with ten or so novels. I'd then just pick them up one at a time and read. The second half of the list reflects this haphazard approach. Most of the books are older and truly were enjoyable, but there aren't any shining stars among the set.
The most important book I read this year was You are Not Your Own by Alan Noble. Highly recommend.
Finally, in September I compiled a separate book list centered around Emotional Intelligence. This is a category of study I've undertaken over the last five years and I wanted all the titles in one place for my own reference and also in case someone else in interested. Here's the link.
Enjoy!
January
* The Deepest Place by Curt Thompson
* Beautiful People Don't Just Happen by Scott Sauls
* Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
* Love Does by Bob Goff
* The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson
* A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
* For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
* Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker
* She Deserves Better by Sheila Wray Gregoire
* The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell (reread)
* Made For People by Justin Whitmel Earley
* Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
* Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
* Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero (reread)
* Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church by Michael J. Kruger
February
* Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris
* My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
* Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
* Congratulations, Who Are You Again? by Harrison Scott Key
* The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine
* Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar
* How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key
March
* Wholeheartedness by Chuck Degroat
* Maid by Stephanie Land
* Class by Stephanie Land
* Women Who Risk by Tom and Joann Doyle
April
* The Soul of Desire by Curt Thompson
May
* Desiring God's Will by David G. Benner
* What Happens When Women Say Yes to God and Walk in Faith by Lysa Terkeurst
* This is Where You Belong by Melody Warnick
June
* Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan
* A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
July
* The Women by Kristin Hannah
* Deeper by Dane Ortlund
* Rose Nicolson by Andrew Greig * NEW FAV ALERT!!
* The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly
August
* Chateau of Secrets by Melanie Dobson
* It. Goes. So. Fast. by Mary Louise Kelly
* Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up by Abigail Shrier
* The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
* Creativity, Inc by Ed Catmull
* An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
* The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear
* On Getting Out of Bed by Alan Noble
September
* Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger
* You Are Not Your Own by Alan Noble
* The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith
* The Booklovers Library by Madeline Martin
* The Great Dechurching by Jim Davis and Michael Graham
October
* One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell
November
* Wurmbrand by The Voice of the Martyrs
* The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
December
* Hey, Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson (reread)
* The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
* How to Know a Person by David Brooks
