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!)