My Favorite Books of 2024
2024 was actually one of the lowest volume reading years I've had in a while. Turns out having a small human to keep alive will really cut into those lazy Sundays doing nothing but reading a good book. But despite the lower number of books this past year, I still read some really fantastic books.
Here's a round up of all my five-star reads.
Nonfiction
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reading this book made me a little bit sad about how we destroyed an entire generation of children with screens and social media. But there was so much good food for thought about what we can do to change the tide and create healthier relationships for our kids with the Internet. I appreciated the practical tips especially at the end of the book. I'd say this is a must read for any parent trying to figure out how to manage devices for their kids.
The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Like many others, I've been following Sharon's corner of the Internet since 2020. I've learned a lot from her, and she's introduced to many new authors and other great books. She's also an excellent storyteller on her podcast, so I was looking forward to her book release. Her strong storytelling continues here. In many sections, I could hear her voice in my head as if she was narrating this on her podcast. I enjoyed the stories she shared in this book, each one infused with hope.
The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Even though this memoir is more than 10 years old, it still feels like an important story given all the conversations today around immigration. This is the story of Reyna Grande, who as a child is separated from first her father and then her mother as they came to the United States looking for a better life than what they had in Mexico. Her mother eventually returns to Mexico, and Reyna makes the trip across the border with her father when she's 9 years old. Separated from one of her parents, she grows up in the U.S. with the other. The book is equally really heartbreaking and hopeful. It's not an easy read, but it's a good one.
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is so wild it’s hard to believe it’s nonfiction. It tells the story of the KKK’s resurgence in the 1920s, and the woman who brought them down. The way the author wrote some of the court scenes made it feel like a thriller and I just kept reading to find out what happened next. It’s hard to make a story that compelling when people already know the outcome. But this was so good. Highly recommend.
Fiction
James by Percival Everett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This will likely be one of my favorite books of the year This retelling of Huck Finn is so good. I loved to see Jim as a full person, with this whole big life that’s just not there in the original and building such kindness into him, even though he had no real reason to be kind to any of the white people in the book. I couldn’t put this book down and I was sad to leave Jim when it ended.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Even though I definitely thought the first half of this book was stronger than the second half, this is a five star book. It was beautifully written. I keep telling everyone to read it and I keep wanting to talk about it. After her brother is killed in the Vietnam War, Frankie McGrath signs up to be an Army nurse. The first half of the book covers her time during the war, and the second half covers life when she gets home. Parts of this book made me so mad I wanted to chuck it across the room, but I loved it. I also felt a really personal connection to this story since my aunt served as an Army nurse in Vietnam -- in one of the hospitals mentioned in this book -- and it was something that I didn't know much about. This book touches a lot on how the women who served in Vietnam were often unseen and their service was unvalued when they came home. It's a must read.
Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Five stars largely in part because I thought this was a lovely send off for the characters from Nantucket that I've grown to love over the last many summers. All of my favorites were back to celebrate the police chief's retirement, but of course, one last case lands in his lap before his retirement date at the end of the summer. I will miss Elin's books every summer.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was just a lovely book to read. My favorite character was an aging octopus that had found ways to escape his enclosure. He was fun and charming, and I wish he had more chapters in the book. The humans in the book were just the right amount of flawed and broken for them to be endearing and lovable without tipping into completely annoying, though at least one of the characters had his moments.
The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I cannot stop thinking about this book, and I really want to talk about it with people (good thing it was my book club read for the month). It reminded me a bit of The Displacements in that Florida gets hit with devastating hurricanes. I liked how this book imagined what could happen if the storms became too much that it was impossible to repair critical infrastructure. I loved many of the characters in this book and despised others. All around a great thought provoking book.
Gone Missing by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I tore through this book in like a day and a half. It’s another great mystery thriller featuring Detective Kate Burkholder trying to find three Amish girls that have gone missing. This book is five stars despite the fact that I hated the ending and that I felt one of the characters ended up with an unresolved storyline.
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