My 2024 Book Report

2024 was a year of 56 books and 18,779 pages.

I ended the year with A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan which is about the Ku Klux Klan and a particular Grand Dragon in the 1920s. I was struck by how often the content of the book - the actions, statements, and sentiments expressed by leaders and members of the Ku Klux Klan - were practically a copy and paste to some prominent politicians and their followers today. “This is still happening in 2024” is not the takeaway you hope to get from a book about the KKK. But there it is. We really are not that far removed from history.

Looking back at my list, my reading this year included much learning about painful experiences, corrupt systems, and those working diligently towards justice despite the frustrating walls of self-interested power. Thankfully, it also included beautiful stories of love, community, and perseverance

Books and baby monitors <3

Favorite Fiction

• Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

• The River We Remember by William Kent Kreuger

• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

• Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Favorite Non-Fiction

• Spare by Prince Harry

• How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key

• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

• Eve by Cat Bohannon

• A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan

• The Violence Project by Jillian Peterson and James Densley

Other Fiction

• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

• The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

• The Trees by Percival Everett

• Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey

• The People we Keep by Allison Larkin

• Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

• The Antidote for Everything by Kimmery Martin

• Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

• Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

• Horse by Geraldine Brooks

• Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea

• Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey

• Keep it in the Family by John Marrs

• Staking his Claim by Tessa Bailey

• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

• Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

• The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by Indio Holton

• An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson

• The Guest by Emma Cline

• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

• Same Time Next Year by Tessa Bailey

• I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

• The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

• None of this is True by Lisa Jewell

• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby VanPelt

• The Second Mrs. Astor by Shana Abe

• A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Other Non-Fiction

• Congratulations by the Way by George Saunders

• Screaming on the Inside by Jessica Grose

• Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel VanDerKolk

• What the Eyes Don’t See by Mona Hanna-Attisha

• Hey Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson

• Cooked by Michael Pollan

• The Twenty Seventh Wife by Irving Wallace

• The Wager by David Grann

• Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

• How to Survive History by Cody Cassidy

• Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford

• The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell

• I’m Glad my Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

• The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon

I hope my 2025 reading includes more coziness, more being whisked away, more learning about stuff both trivial and difficult, and more understanding about how I can uphold justice, truth, and love within my sphere of influence.