february: 6, 7 & 8

one of our kind, by nicola yoon (i had read this author's YA fiction before and really enjoyed it - this is her first adult fiction and it was creepy and interesting.  the main character is a black woman who moves into an all-black country club community with her husband and child.  and then weird stuff happens.  i would recommend it!  but her YA stuff is the tip top so you should read that first.)

all-american boys, by jason reynolds and brendan kiely (i read this as we were contemplating whether to give it as a summer reading option at school - spoiler alert, we decided not to - and i don't think i would have picked it up otherwise.  two YA authors, one black and one white, write two teenage boy characters in this novel, one black and one white.  the plot centers around police violence from a white police officer towards the black teen.  it was a pretty heavy topic and revisited the same scenes multiple times as the characters reckon with it.  i'm glad this book exists, but i'm not rushing out to recommend it.)

the wide wide sea, by hampton sides (i listened to this audiobook that the nytimes called one of the 10 best books of the year, and i was so glad that i did.  it follows captain james cook's third (and final) voyage around the world as he attempts to find the northwest passage from west to east.  this is impeccably researched narrative nonfiction at its best and i loved it.  highly recommend!)

january: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

the mighty red, by louise erdrich (this is the first louise erdrich book that i've read and it definitely made me want to read more of her books.  compelling story but with a lot of characters and i finished kind of feeling like i didn't know any of them well.  this won't be a favorite book of the year, but was a good start.)

definitely better now, by ava robinson (this was a book of the month club pick that i really enjoyed - the story of a one-year-sober woman's first relationship post-sobriety, as well as the story of her relationship with her estranged father.  very readable but hard to know who to recommend this to - don't read if you've had a parent with a serious illness.  it surprised me by making me cry at the end.  was glad i read it!)

hidden potential, by adam grant (i listened to this one and really enjoyed it, as i did grant's previous book think again.  my favorite pop sociologist right now.  is that such a thing - to be a pop sociologist?)

entitlement, by rumaan alam (i eagerly awaited this book from the library, as i loved his previous book, leave the world behind...but this one didn't hit me in quite the same way.  i'd still recommend the previous book, if you haven't read it.  this one did hit some interesting themes of race and, per the title, entitlement and i did enjoy reading it but i won't be rushing out to recommend this to anyone.)

eve, by cat bohannon (i listened to this book and loved it, the story of how different parts of human women's biology evolved.  from breast milk (was first sweated through pores and licked by early rat-like mammals) to the use of tools by female mammals in history to menopause (humans and whales are the only species to experience this), i found it super interesting and the author was able to condense a ton of research into a really readable book.  would highly recommend this for all women and all non-women interested in biology!)

2024 in books

this year i read 46 books, 7 more than last year.  13 of those books meet some sort of diversity standard (as in, the main character or author is not white).  and 36 (wow - all but 10!) of those books were from the library. 

my favorite books of 2024:

tom lake, by ann patchett 

the best minds: a story of friendship, madness, and the tragedy of good intentions, by jonathan rosen

rough sleepers, by tracy kidder 

shark heart, by emily habeck

the god of the woods, by liz moore

gather, by kenneth m. cadow

brooklyn and long island, by colm toibin

december: 44, 45 & 46

i finished up the year with:

help wanted, by adelle waldman (ultimately, i didn't love this book, the story of an overnight crew at a target-like store and social dynamics between them.  i found it not terribly uplifting and the drama between the characters wasn't fun, it was sort of like being at my own job and navigating group dynamics.  i'd pass on this one, though it does have a very fun cover.)

anita de monte laughs last, by xochitl gonzalez (i started this book of the month book in the spring and kept putting it down, but i'd think about it occasionally and when i picked it back up to finish it in december it was easy to continue right where i left off.  i ended up really liking this book, even though i got stuck halfway through.  it's the story of two famous artists who are married and one dies by falling out a window...and then it flashed forward 20 years to an art history major who is rediscovering the female artist.  i found the main character very relatable and well-crafted - she came alive on the page.  there was definitely enough here to keep me interested, and i'd recommend this one!)

long island, by colm toibin (i loved this, the second book in the series.  just as much tension as the first book, and the author strings you out over a believable story that is super intriguing and keeps you wanting to find out how it will play out.  i highly recommend this, but read brooklyn first!)

november: 40, 41, 42 & 43

in november i read:

the thursday murder club, by richard osman (i had heard good things about this book, about a group of senior citizens who solve a murder.  while there was nothing wrong with this book and it was a relatively easy read, i didn't love it and i'm not rushing out to read the others in the series.  mystery isn't my go-to genre, which might have something to do with it, but i also found it hard to distinguish the characters early in the book (wait, who's this?), which didn't make it the most fun to read.)

the berry pickers, by amanda peters (i really liked this book, the story of a family of seasonal fruit pickers in maine and nova scotia whose daughter goes missing one season.  you flash back and forth between the season it happened and the present day, where one of the siblings is an old man and dying.  i won't say more because i don't want to spoil it, but i really liked this book and was intrigued by the story and the characters and the vivid setting.  i'd definitely recommend!)

the loneliest americans, by jay caspian kang (we read this for our faculty book club at school and i'm glad we did - it is part memoir, part history that explores what it means to be asian-american and what it means to "belong" in america.  definitely thought provoking and we had a good discussion.  i'm not rushing out to buy it for other people because i think it's imperfect but if this topic interests you it's absolutely worth a read.)

on the banks of plum creek, by laura ingalls wilder (book 4 in the series, a fast read while i was home with my parents over thanksgiving break.  i'm continuing to enjoy revisiting this series and learning more about wilder and the time period when her books were set.)

october: 37, 38 & 39

still catching up!  october's reading:

a court of thorns and roses, by sarah j. maas (yes, i got sucked into this series and yes i will absolutely be reading the next book in the series.  fairies.  romance.  what can i say.  i think it's worth giving this a whirl!)

the demon of unrest, by erik larson (i always like erik larson's books - this one is about fort sumter and the start of the civil war.  i listened to this - the audiobook narrator is great - and would recommend it if you're into narrative nonfiction!)

brooklyn, by colm toibin (this author came out with a sequel to this book, which i had never read but had seen and really enjoyed the movie.  so i decided to read the book, and found his writing style different from most books i read but really really lovely and easy to get into.  his narrator, eilis, is matter of fact and makes interesting choices (and has interesting choices thrust upon her).  i really enjoyed reading this and would highly recommend it!)

september: 35 & 36

all the colors of the dark, by chris whitaker (this was a read with jenna book club pick and i read it for that reason...but i found it really weird and hard to figure out what was real and what was happening in a character's mind - which i think was sort of the point but i didn't love that element of the book.  the middle of the book kind of dragged for me and i guess ultimately i wouldn't recommend this one.)

the wedding people, by alison espach (also a read with jenna pick, but one that i liked a lot more.  a few improbable elements but ultimately i was charmed by this book - vivid setting, interesting and likable characters, quick read.  this would be a great book to take on vacation! i should also mention that it just won the goodreads best fiction book of the year, and while i don't *always* agree with goodreads, this is a good choice.)

august: 30, 31, 32, 33 & 34

oh boy, i am quite behind on reporting out on my reading!  time to catch up.  in august i read:

the color of sundays, by andrew conte (this was one of six choices that our students had for a summer reading book, and the librarian (who is a friend of mine) asked me to read it so i could help lead a book club discussion on it.  the book is nonfiction, the story of the pittsburgh steelers beginning to recruit black players from hbcu colleges...and the history that led up to it.  it was written by an author who teachers at a college locally, and he's coming to school to speak in assembly next month.  as a person new to being a steelers fan, there was a lot in this book that i think locals would grab onto that just didn't mean much to me, but i did enjoy reading it and learned a lot!)

little house on the prairie, by laura ingalls wilder (the third book in the series, and part of my re-read.  like the others, i enjoyed this but didn't necessarily fall back in love with it.)

the golden thread, by kassia st. clair (this is the story of different fabrics that humans have made and used throughout our history - from microscopic scraps of fabric found by archeologists in caves to wool used for viking sails to fabrics that have gone into outer space.  for the immersives class that i am teaching in may, we are going to have the students read this book so i needed to preview it.  it was really interesting and is going to be a great pick for our class.  the kids will read a few chapters all together and then will pick one to focus on and present to the rest of the class.)

madness: race and insanity in a jim crow asylum, by antonia hylton (this author is coming to pittsburgh and i have a ticket to see her speak this spring, so i wanted to read the book before i went.  i found it really interesting - the story of segregated asylums, focusing on one in maryland.  you learn a lot about how the mental healthcare industry has changed over time, and also about how problematic (shocker) the management of all-black institutions was in the first half of the 20th century.  i listened to the audiobook, which is well-narrated.  definitely recommend this!)

stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers, by mary roach (this was recommended to me by a coworker and i really enjoyed it - nonfiction but with a playful take it it.  this book made me want to read more books by this author - having seen how many books this author has written, i can't believe this is the first one i've read!  would definitely recommend.)