2024 Reading List

It wouldn't feel like a new year without a fresh new list of books to read. Most of the books on my list this year have been recommended to me by a friend, a blogger, an article, or one of my own children. 

Fifteen of my choices are sequels or additional books written by authors who I have already enjoyed. Too often I have "saved" these books for some future date when I have time to be frivolous. But it isn't frivolous to enjoy what you enjoy. Maybe it is even necessary and healthy!

On to the list . . . 

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Memoirs

Acceptance: A Memoir by Emi Nietfeld

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

When the world didn't end by Guinevere Turner.

Maid by Stephanie Land

Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton 

Fiction, including Victorian literature and classics

Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes

Hornblower and the Hotspur by C.S. Forester

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

River Thieves by Michael Crummey

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Phantom by Jo Nesbo

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

The Pit-Prop Syndicate by Freeman Wills Croft

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen 

The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

I'll also be finishing two of my books from last year's reading list:

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset translated by Tiina Nunnally

The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott

Nonfiction

The Forger's Spell by Edward Dolnick

Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow  by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Walking the Americas: 1,800 Miles, Eight Countries, and One Incredible Journey from Mexico to Colombia by Levison Wood

Captain James Cook by Richard Hough

Skeletons on the Zahara by Dean King

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration by Edward J. Larson

Indra's Pearls: The Vision of Felix Klein by David Mumford, Caroline Series, David Wright

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel 

Annals of the Former World by John McPhee 

Little Sprouts: Ancient Chinese Philosophy and the Art of Raising Mindful, Resilient, and Compassionate Kids by Erin Cline

I only own six of these books. All of the rest will be either borrowed as an ebook through Libby or Hoopla or downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg. I'm so thankful for ebooks because my reading life is so much richer for it. 

Another long list! But this year it feels like the choices are more doable. I predict the most challenging reads will be Captain James Cook because I usually shy away from adult biographies and Annals of the Former World, which is a long, dense, science read. 

I would love to be the type of person to write regular updates about what I'm reading, so we'll see if that happens. I've already read Britney Spear's memoir, which had me watching her videos in bed one morning with tears streaming down my face. And I've also finished Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which my older kids had recently enjoyed. They were both a breath of fresh air after all the brainy books I finished in December. 

Any of these you have already read and loved or hated? Any you'd like to recommend? I keep a list of titles running for future years and I love recommendations!