Books I Read (& Listened To) in 2024: A Doozy of a List

Yes, I read and/or listened to all of these books (my daughter's first response after seeing this post was, "MOM, you really read ALL of these?!". I did. And it's not enough. I can never read enough books. I shall die with a stack of unread books on my bedside table.

It is quite encouraging to know that my perimenopausal brain is still capable of absorbing information and entertainment.

Books are the best things in the world, and anyone who wants to ban them isn't a friend of mine. My aunt was a librarian, and my Grandmommy took me to the public library every week, where I'd load up on books and excitedly read each one. I was an English teacher. I am an English literature major. This book reading stuff is in my DNA. I am an admitted book sniffer. Curling up in my bed every night with my book is heaven on Earth.

I get book recommendations from many coveted sources, but my favorites to heed are from Ann Patchett (best selling author and owner of Parnassus Books--she posts weekly on Instagram and I keep a running list in my planner of these titles so I always have books to put on hold at my local public library), Oprah (she is still the queen of choosing good books), and Lucy from The Literary Edit (on Substack). I also frequent local book sellers and peruse the shelves, reading recommendations from the booksellers.

Magic happens when you stop looking at Amazon recs and actually walk your actual body into a bookstore.

If you scroll, you'll find the list of Books I Listened To as well as Books I Read for My Business.

Enjoy! And, please send me an email with your book recommendations. I would love nothing more. [email protected]

Books I Read for Entertainment

The Gilded Leaf by Patrick Reynolds

This book hit home as I grew up right outside of Winston-Salem, NC, in tobacco country. My grandfather was a Baptist preacher and tobacco farmer. I live on an historic Forsyth County Landmark property, which protects the tobacco barns on our farm. It's quite personal. But, who knew the Reynolds family was so licentious? Peeling back the layers gilded with mansions and conglomerations to see the Reynolds' meager beginnings shows how sometimes the best intentions of our ancestors go awry. Too bad the decendents of the first RJR were so greedy. My great grandfather worked on the estate of the Reynolda House during its prime--wish he could tell us stories now!

One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall

Honeslty, I don't remember much about this book. I do, however, have a hard and fast rule that I don't have to finish books I don't like. So, I must've liked it well enough. Give me the coast of England as a backdrop for a novel and I'm typically game. I think I didn't like the character development and the murder plot was lacking. Don't recommend.

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

I love a coming of age (bildungsroman) book, and this one fit that bill. Angsty teens who are passionate and impulsive with the Maine coast flanking their escapades make for good reading. This one is kind of a mind bend because the narrator is writing a novel about a murder that happened in the past, so you go in and out of current reality. It's gripping and fast-paced, and one day I'll get a deep New England summer tan that only the super wealthy get (yeah, right).

Still Life by Sarah Winman

This is my favorite read of 2024! I almost bought a plane ticket to Italy after reading--the imagery of Italian landscapes and cityscapes is unparalleled. But, even better, the characterization of each player is so spot on. And, such INTERESTING and diverse and quirky and sad and loyal people they are! This is ultimately a book about friendship and accepting people for who they are. It's a love story about friends, but a motley crew of friends. Recommend 110%.

Bluebird Bluebird by Attica Locke

Set deep in the heart of Texas, a hot Texas Ranger (Darren) drags himself through a murder case wrought with systemic (and blatant) racism, a failing marriage, corruption in the Ranger office, and sweaty Texan summer heat. Locke's descriptions are spot on and the angsty passion of the main character drives the plot. I loved it and read the sequel (coming later in this list).

Father of the Rain by Lily King

Man, this book got me on many levels. The main character, Daley, is a girl growing up in a wealthy Massachusets neighborhood while dealing with (and attempting to manage--girls, why do we try to manage everything?) her parents' divorce and her father's alcoholism. Her dad makes wild swings from the happy, social drunk who invites neighbors for a cookout and swimming in their pool, to a sloppy, mean-spirited mess. Even thoguh this read is painful, it is absolutely stunning. Daley grows up and learns really difficult lessons about love, addiction, self-reliance, and hope. Highly recommend.

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

This book was lent to me by a reader friend with the warning of it being raw and totally weird. I heeded the warning, but still couldn't have been prepared for this gut-wrenching journey. A girl escapes some kind of dystopian settlement with only herself and a few meager provisions. She sets out to find comfort in another place to live or with people who will love her. Her journey through the wilds is raw, sometimes painful to read, yet absolutely redemptive. I found myself rooting for this sweet girl, whose tenacity beats that of anyone I've ever known. Nature isn't forgiving, yet it sustains. Her journey substantiates what happens when greed rules a "civilization".

The Body in Question by Jill Ciment

Another recommendation by Ann Patchett, this little beauty is brief (I got into reading short books for awhile this year, and it was so much fun). Writers who can keep it short are the most brilliant. This book follows a sequestered jury who are living in a hotel during a weeks-long murder trial. There is an unusual affair, loads of questioning looks and paranoia, and a general view into the human psyche when we're removed from our real lives and living with others. Excellent read!

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney

What a delightful and surprisingly uplifting book! Goodness, I loved this little gem, which is another shorter book that reminds me of the hopefulness and dedication of our human spirit. I don't want to give any of it away, as the twist toward the last third of the book gave me such a start that I had to stay up later than normal to finish. Who knew a grumpy old lady befriending a little mouse could bring people together and warm your heart? Brilliant.

Long Island by Colm Toibin

Man, this book will make you feel all the middle aged feels. Ellis, the main character, learns of her husband's affair and is broken. She goes back to Ireland to reconnect (with what I don't really remember), but she ends up falling back in love with her high school boyfriend. This novel felt dark to me in some ways because I hate affairs--I don't particularly like to read about them because they make me uncomfortable and feel betrayed while my sweet husband is just lying right beside me, quiietly reading his own book. I have problems, lol. This book reminds you of the ridiculous devotion we have as women. It's a good book, especialy if you like the tension between people who want to do it with each other (the problem is that her ex-boyfriend is engaged to be married to her best friend--pretty nasty, huh?).

The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon

Set on an elite college campus, three characters navigate some seriously bizarre stuff (suicide, rape, bombings, cultish religious ridiculousness). All are super academic and their conversations are spunky and intelligent.That is about all I liked, to be honest. Wouldn't recommend, and that hurts because I love a campus novel.

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

This sequel to Bluebird Bluebird is set in Texas again, and hot Ranger Darren is investigating a missing boy. Dripping with moonlight and magnolias and lost dreams of the Confederacy, the town where the missing child resides is divided. One incredibly wealthy female land owner lords over the people: toothless white rednecks living in trailers, a secretive community of freed black slaves, and the other locals who depend on the tourist market to survive. Hot Darren ends up saving the day (and not his marriage). I do love these books and plan to read the third.

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

Martha struggles so intensely with her mental health that it's sometimes hard to stomach her misery. Yet, she carries on through the breakdown of her marriage and frequent flashbacks to her very difficult childhood. Martha pushes away everyone who loves her, but eventually she learns what she needs to recover from her suffering. Set in Oxford and London, I am always here for all matter of things British. Also, I laughed out loud a few times reading this--Martha's blunt retorts and observations are hysterical.

Pet by Catherine Chidgey

New Zealand in the 1970s provides a fascinating backdrop for this strange little book. Girls at a primary school fall head over heels in love with their new teacher, Miss Price. A motherless student, Justine, cannot get enough of this teacher, but ooooh there is so much freakiness underground. Part psychological thriller and part suspenseful teasing, this book is well written and a solid read. My mind liked it more than my heart did--teachers and schools and education are the fabric of my being, so when someone doesn't treat kids well it really gets my goat.

Prep by Crutis Sittenfeld

Clearly you're understanding my trending love affair with boarding school and college campus books. The. Best. This one delivers as a lower middle class student gets a full ride to a premier prep school (her scholarship title gives away her family's money woes, so she's automatically tagged as a poor girl who is smart). This pretty pathetic kiddo, Lee, really frustrates me because she is lazy, she's hooking up with a boy who is using her, and she makes the dumbest decisions. It's a long book and became quite a slog toward the end, but I wanted to know how Lee was going to fair. I kept rooting for her.

The English Understand Wool by Helen Dewitt

This novella does not disappoint! What a gem of a wee book: 70 pages total. Marguerrite is born to an incredibly wealthy family (think tailors in Paris and wool from the Outer Hebridies--one of my favroite places on Earth--, a full staff with their own staff flat in Morocco), and she stumbles upon the cruel and heartbreaking truth about her parents. I wish I could have taught this book in my English classroom, and if I ever teach again, it will be on my reading list.

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

What a funky and mystical love letter to books and reading! Set in Paris, Dublin, and London, this book contains many features booklovers dream of: old world bookshops, a lost Emily Bronte manuscript, PhD candidate studying literature, mercurial theater maven who clearly lives in another time, two people who fall deeply in love...so much good stuff!

Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

I picked up this book during the election when I was in desperate need of a quick read and diversion. Hilderbrand never disappoints. Two friends who haven't spoken in years are forced to reconnect after a husband is arrested and charged with some kind of hedgefund madness. The friends end up making ammends, and I was happily distracted for a short time

The Beach House by Jane Green

This is my second favorite book of 2024. What a delight this book is!! I'm honeslty annoyed I was not recommended it sooner--how did I miss this one?? Nan's gorgeous seaside home in Nantucket provides the housing for a motley crew of summer boarders who end up teaching us about love, authenticity, and learning to let go. Such an amazing book!

Within Arms Reach by Ann Napolitano

While this book is narrated by several different people and that structure can drive me insane sometimes, it works. This Irish Catholic family is steeped with drama and a cast of pretty diverse characters. A surprise pregnancy requires all to reconsider their sometimes dogged views and open their hearts to each other. Ultimately a nod to the craziness of our famlies, this book eventually stole my heart.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

This precious novel is in my top three of the year. I read this book while on Jeckyll Island, Georgia, so the plot intertwines in my brain with real life (imagine combining Cape Cod with a Georgian Sea Island) and makes me smile a goofy smile every time I recall it. A family goes on vacation to Cape Cod as they have for years and years. Rocky is the mother, and there is no doubt she is devoted and holds her children and husband dear. Yet, she feels the weight of being in the "sandwich" generation and she is suffering from the glorious symptoms of menopause. She feels stuck and anxious and also deeply grateful. I laughed out loud and I cried. I felt her feelings very deeply as a woman in that same season. SO GOOD.

Bloom by Delilah Dawson

I don't know who recommended this book, but boy did it have the stupidest ending everrrr. It starts with some great tension between two women who are instantly attracted to each other at a farmer's market. One charracter is an academic at UGA and the other a soap-maker with commitment issues living on an old family farm. The writing is solid. Then, it gets really dumb, in my opinion. If you like creepy gore books, read this. If not, please don't waste your time.

Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan

Just like the book above (Bloom), this book has a ridiculous ending. There's not much I love more than a book about friendships which begin in college, and this one does such an impressive job developing the characters. I feel like I know the girls and understand their relationships. Then, the feminist activist of the group goes missing, and it all goes downhilll from there. Such a shame because the first 75% was really good.

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

Stacey Abrams is a real life bad ass because she's a brilliant attorney, leader, and writer. Wrought with tension, an intricate plot, and insider knowledge of Washington, D.C., a Supreme Court clerk gets herself involved in a very fast-paced, fight-the-clock mission to prevent a huge biotech merger that threatens lifesaving medical support for people.

My daughter and I purchased this book (we typically use the public library because our book habit is expensive) from the Bookmarks Book Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. You should go one day! Or go support your local booksellers!

Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

This book was recommended by my cousin who told me she thought she'd hate it (she had to read it for her book club), but she was pleasantly surprised and told me I should give it a go. Totally agree with her--it seems rather uneventful (a wildlife researcher lives in cabin in the woods by herself), but then an injured little girl appears and says shes from another planet. Add to this a love interest with wonderful sexual tension and crazed attackers in hulking trucks, and I don't know how this plot works, but it just does.

Until August by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Another addition to my novella obsession this year, Until August is a true masterpiece. A woman in middle age travels to an island each August without her husband or children. She finds a new lover each time. She goes there to visit her mother's grave (which she actually does). I love this book as it explores freedom, lost dreams, and yearning to find yourself as a woman when you've given your all to your husband and kids.

If We're Being Honest by Cat Shook

This book is so funny! It begins at a beloved man's funeral in Georgia (he's married with kids and grandkids and he dies suddently of a heart attack). No one is ready for his best friend to share DURING his euology that he and the dead guy were lovers. Say what? These Southern people's heads explode as the wife and kids and grandkids and neighbors try to navigate this curve ball. It's truly heartwarming.

Push Off From Here by Laura McKowen

I love anything Laura McKown writes! I stopped drinking alcohol in 2022 and haven't looked back. I used to love chardonnay. But, as I got older, it made me feel like crap and gave me anxiety. Not until I stopped drinking did I realize how nasty people can treat you when you quit! Here's my advice if you're one of those people who shame others for not drinking: look into your own habit as this behavior is a direct result of YOUR problem. Non-drinkers unite! It's such a better life (and because people always want to know: no, I didn't have a problem. I just stopped drinking. It can be that simple).

We Are the Luckiest by Laura McKowen

After reading and loving Push Off From Here, I had to re-read this beauty. If you are considering a life without alcohol, I recommend finding books about it. I have always admired women who choose not to drink or drink rarely, and when I recognized that the women I most admire don't indulge, I started reading and really considering it. Some of these women are Laura McKowen, Brene' Brown, Glennon Doyle, Cheryl Strayed, and Holly Whitaker. Anyway, this book is essential for anyone looking for a raw, authentic, and absolutely beautiful story, whether you want to stop drinking or are just curious about it.

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

What an amazing book for my last read of 2024! I got to visit the English countryside and be reminded that humans have always toiled and somehow survived. Part satire (think aristocracy), part interwar strife, part youthrful lust and longing, it is written in such elegant prose and follows two cousins who live very different lives.

Books I Read for My College & Teen Girl Life Coaching Business

I recommend alllllll of these for anyone wishing to learn more about themselves and/or how to better support teen and college girls. I'm not going to write reviews, as each live on my work desk and are stuffed with post it notes. I refer to all of them often and depend on their content to inform my work.

Books I Listened To

I walk miles each day (as exercise and therapy and connecting with nature) and feel very lucky for that opportunity to listen to more books.

North Woods by Daniel Mason

This book is nothing short of brilliant and I loved every minute. It's impossible to explain this beauty, but at it's most basic level it follows a cabin in the North Woods and all of its inhabitants through the centuries. I LOVE THIS BOOK. It is scientific, filled with glorious descriptions and intelligent yet understandable prose, and truly a masterpiece of writing. Daniel Mason, the author, is wildly articulate and his knowledge is beyond measure.

Something Rich and Strange by Ron Rash

I've loved Ron Rash for years (I actually taught down the hall from his wife at Daniel High School in Clemson, SC) and always make sure to read his books and support him. These short stories do not disappoint--I listened while picking blueberries this past summer (I picked so many gallons my hands were blue) and Ron Rash's Southern short stories were the perfect backdrop.

The Christmas Party by Mikayla Davids

I didn't love this book but it was compelling enough for me to finish. I thought the murder plot fell apart a bit and was rather goofy. I love Christmas and Scotland (the setting) so that's why I started it in the first place.

The Women by Kristin Hannah

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!! I cannot emphasize enough how much this book moved me--I frequently stopped in my tracks while walking because I was either stunned, heartbroken, or felt deep emotion for the amazing characters. The Vietnam War and the horrendous behaviors displayed on our homefront (to include civilian behavior and governmental lies and betrayals) are just not taught enough in schools. I found myself researching Vietnam for weeks and asking my parents many questions about their experience with the war and those they knew who died or who returned home never to be the same again. This book is mostly about the women who served and their plights. Women who served as combat nurses are absolute heroes, as are the other warriors who fought for our very unappreciative country. This book is a must read.

The Caretaker by Ron Rash

Rash's new novel is set just outside Blowing Rock, North Carolina, so, as a N.C. native who grew up traveling around the Blue Ridge Mountains, I felt like I could visualize each moment. A polio-scarred graveyard caretaker's life luckily gets intertwined with a war widow (1950s during the Korean War), until we learn some dark family secrets.This is a well-developed story about love, families choosing to follow societal norms instead of supporting their own, and redemption.

Hello, Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Man, this book warmed my heart and broke it all at once! The Patavanos, an Italian-American family, is made of four sisters who are wildly different, yet share the gene of having big, passionate feelings. William, the sweetheart who ends up creating a love triangle, is the character who stole my heart: I still want to grab his kind face and kiss it and help tend to his internal wounds. This book will pull at your heart strings but it's beautiful. Napolitino's handling of a mental health crisis is brilliant.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Here we are again, a New England summer setting, but this time it's a decades old summer camp for the wealthy where there are many secrets. A camper disappears, but she's not any camper, she's the daughter of a super rich family with heartwrenching and greedy backstories. Suspense keeps this novel moving quickly and who doesn't love a setting in the Adirondacks?

The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny

I love Armand Gamache and this series so much I honestly can hardly handle it. When a new book releases, I download as quickly as possible--I've listened to, instead of read, this entire series as I adore the narrators. I envision myself in Three Pines often and crave cafe au lait and a warm, crackling fire, even whilst listening and walking in North Carolina's 110% humidity in August. Never disappointing and always acting with the utmost class and style, Chief Inspector Gamache finds himself solving a murder that uncovers a police precinct full of backstabbing hypocrites. Gamache is my hero: I wish male leaders would pattern themselves after his humble and always morally sound decision making. He is a true gentleman.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Okay, the dude who narrates this book on Audible (Zachary Webber) has the sexiest voice everrrr, so I don't know if this book was that great or if I just wanted Zachary to talk to me. I love Michigan in the summer, so the setting made my heart happy: think tart cherries and pasties and the Great Lakes. What is supposed to be a quick summer fling turns into something more, and I'm here for a light summer listen.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

This is a well-written, witty book, and some of the dialogue had me cracking up--it's truly hysterical. I love to laugh, and it's rare for a book to deliver realistic and smart banter. A downtrodden and severely depressed Phoebe goes to a posh Rhode Island seaside inn to commit suicide. It sounds entirely unreadable and depressing, but Phoebe immediately meets her foil character, Lila (who is the reason I laughed so much), and gets invited to her rich-girl wedding at the inn. The story becomes truly delightful from there...promise.

Sullivan's Island by Dorthea Benton Frank

If you want a sultry Southern read that promises a love story, lasting family ties, and Lowcountry landscapes, any novel by Dorthea Benton Frank is a perfect choice. Susan is the mother of a bratty teenage girl and is also dealing with a failing marriage. She retreats to her childhood home on Sullivan's Island, S.C. and is reminded of the island's storied history and finds herself druing her stay. You can actually feel the Southern humidity and smell the Lowcountry boil cooking as you read--it's always a wonderful retreat to dive into Frank's works.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

One of my faves of 2024, I honestly don't know how to properly explain or describe this beauty of a story. It's incredibly imaginative, yet feels 100% real. Set in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in the 1920s, two very different communities (Jewish and Black) converge to save Dodo (who is mostly deaf) from a mental institution. I hope that our communities can still come together like this to do what is morally and ethically sound. I felt a renewed hope in the human spirit after this listen.

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

What a DREAM of a book! This is one of my faves and was listened to at the perfect time in my life (the narrator is amazing as she has a perfect British accent and the acting is marvelous). Ibiza is the backdrop (a stunning tropical island that houses some of the rarest plants and animals in the world as well as funky natives, yet provides a holiday destination for wealthy travelers). A widowed and retired math teacher is surprisingly gifted a rather dumpy home on Ibiza, but this is no regular home nor is this experience anything she has bergained for. I am an environmentalist at heart and ache for any animals or trees or water that is treated poorly, so I honestly feel like Matt Haig understands this and understands me. I've never felt more seen or heard. Must read.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Emily Henry's books uplift me as she is the maestro of romantic tension coupled with always having somebody in the cast being literary. Daphne gets dumped and her fiance decides to immediately start dating his childhood best friend, Petra (of course she's gorgeous and wealthy and everything Daphne is not). Daphne takes a job at a library in small town Michigan and ends up living with Petra's ex-boyfriend. That sounds quite ridiculous after typing, but it's really a wonderful story and plot!

The Terminal List by Jack Carr

I'm not typically a thriller reader (fast-paced action with lots of guns and espionage-type ish) because they make me nervous and who needs more nervous system stimulation these days, but this was fun. I tried the sequel but couldn't do it. Military and political thrillers just aren't my thing. This one, though, follows a Navy SEAL whose entire squadron is killed in an ambush overseas. The hot SEAL comes back to America and is hell bent on getting to the bottom of the murder plot.

Books I Tried to Read But Quit

I think it's important to include these as well. I tried, but couldn't do it. I had a professor at UNC tell us one time that life is too short to give a book more than 30 pages unless you really love it--there are too many great pieces to read. I took that advice seriously. I know within a paragraph if I'll finish it, but I usually give it about 10 pages.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Wellness by Nathan Hill

The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell (this book is amazing but when I realized that a damn rattlesnake was a main character, I couldn't do it--snakes haunt my dreams so I had to quit)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (yes, I know. An English major set down a classic. But, good grief the world is full of whiny men who demand their way and I just couldn't stomach Heathcliff acting like a turd.)

WHEW!!! That's it. Thank you for reading!!

Please email me with your book recommendations! [email protected]