The books I read this year (2024)

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This is a list I’ve started compiling every year. Here’s 2023, 2022, and 2021. I’ll include the titles, authors, and mini-reviews here. I won’t include links, because y’all know where to buy a book! If you live in proximity to a local bookstore, I really encourage you to buy your books there (shoutout to Boulder Bookstore, where my family buys all of our books!).

I read 16 books this year (one more than last year!), and here they are, with four standouts, and then the others in the order in which I read them.

Top four!

Of the books I read this year, four really stood out as must-reads. Here they are, in no particular order:

Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan. I’m obsessed with Claire Keegan’s novella-like novels, and I love everything she writes. Her books are really short (like under 100 pages); I often think that she’s the alter ego of the late Hilary Mantel; Claire Keegan writes short books about the social issues in modern-day Ireland, while Hilary Mantel wrote very, very long books about the social issues in medieval England. If you’ve never tried Claire Keegan, start with her book Foster, and then watch the movie The Quiet Girl, based on the book. Then read this! It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking story about a coal merchant in a small Irish town who uncovers some dark secrets in the local Catholic church.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. My husband has been a Tokarczuk fan since before she won the Nobel Prize, and he talked me into reading this book. Sooooo good; this book seriously has it all: a murder-mystery plot, the inner life of a woman aging alone, animal-rights stuff, small-town drama. I loved it!

Everyone Who is Gone is Here: The United States, Central America, and the making of a crisis, by Jonathan Blitzer. An outstanding non-fiction book by a New Yorker writer, about the origins of the current immigration situation in the U.S. The author combines very detailed reporting about U.S. immigration policy going back to the 1970s, with personal stories of Central American immigrants.

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Jerusalem tragedy, by Nathan Thrall. This book won the 2024  Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a meticulously reported account of a school bus crash in Gaza and the aftermath, weaving together Israeli and Palestinian stories.

The rest!

I honestly didn’t read any duds this year; here’s the rest of the list, in the order in which I read them.

Midwives, by Chris Bohjalian. This isn’t a new book, but my sister-in-law gave it to me because it’s set in the part of rural Vermont where she and her partner live part-time. It’s good! A novel about a rural midwife caught in a moral, ethical, and medical dilemma, told from the viewpoint of her daughter.

The Great Displacement: Climate change and the next American migration, by Jake Bittle. Obviously kind of a downer given the subject matter, but this book is really well-researched, and looks at the ways in which climate migration may reshape the geography of the U.S.

Olav Audunsson IV: Winter, by Sigrid Undset, translated from the Norwegian by Tiina Nunnally. OK folks, you’re done hearing me talk about the Olav Audunsson tetralogy, because this is the final volume! I went on (and on!) about how much I love this series, in my reviews from previous years. It’s one of those “love it or hate it” books, and I’m honestly so bummed that it’s over! Set in 13th century Norway, this series follows Olav from childhood into old age.

Scene of the Crime, by Patrick Modiano, translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti. I read this book for the American Translators Association’s literary translation competition, and I really wanted it to win! This book is sort of a time-bending novel focusing on the narrator’s childhood home. It’s so well-written, and Mark Polizzotti’s translation is really masterful. I read both the French and English and didn’t get sick of it!

Rogues: True stories of grifters, killers, rebels, and crooks, by Patrick Radden Keefe. I read this because of the author: Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing (about an IRA murder during The Troubles in Northern Ireland) is still one of my favorite books of the past few years (and now a Hulu miniseries!). This book is an easy read; it’s a collection of stories about scammers, and it’s not what I would call a literary masterpiece but it’s fun and interesting.

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. OK, don’t judge, this book is kind of like Danielle Steel meets Hilary Mantel. I ended up reading it because we went on a trip, I finished the book I had with me, and this book was on the AirBnB “take one, leave one” shelf. It’s well-written, and gripping, and trashy, focusing on the adventures and misadventures of Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary during the era of Henry VIII.

On the Edge, by Nate Silver. I really like Nate Silver’s stuff, but/and this book is very long and a bit of a slog if you don’t know or care much about poker. Ostensibly about risk-taking and gambling, it has some really interesting parts, including the author’s multiple in-person interviews with disgraced crypto trader Sam Bankman-Fried. But I really struggled with the technical parts about poker; if you read this, I’d give yourself permission to just skip the parts you’re not interested in, and the rest of it is good.

Pineapple Podcasting:The ultimate beginners guide to creating, launching, and monetizing a podcast, with zero experience and a shoestring budget , by Samantha Lee Wright. A good book if you’re thinking about starting a podcast, with lots of practical information and good ideas! If you’re not starting a podcast, no need to read it!

The Art and Business of Ghostwriting, by Nicolas Cole. Similar story here: excellent book if you’re interested in doing ghostwriting, otherwise no need to read it! As someone who writes business books, I thought this book did an excellent job of combining the “what” and the “how” of ghostwriting.

Free Money: Nine counterintuitive moves for life-changing freelance income, by Austin Church. I’ve recommended this book a bunch in my classes. Particularly if you feel that you’re “not good with money,” if you grew up in a financially dysfunctional family, or if you struggle to set income goals as a freelancer, this is an excellent book. Austin Church is a good writer and really makes what can be a dry topic very interesting and approachable.

Trust, by Hernan Diaz. This book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and I found it interesting but not amazing. It’s essentially the story of a young Italian immigrant woman who wants to be a writer, told from four different points of view. It’s creative, but I liked the first section the most (IMO it kind of went downhill from there), and I found some of the creative aspects to be a little try-hard (this will make more sense if you read the book). Personally I wouldn’t have given it the Pulitzer Prize, but it was worth reading.

On deck

I’m taking two weeks off over the holidays, and I’m planning on reading Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, a short novel that just won the Booker Prize, and Hampton Sides’ The Wide, Wide Sea, about the final voyage of Captain James Cook.

Thanks for reading, and happy reading of your own!

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