Thanks to a more relaxed year and some long flights, 2024 was a banner reading year for me. I read 29 novels (23 last year), with three authors making multiple appearances.
Once again following the lead of my eldest son, Zachary, here is a list and brief comment about this year’s reading list; books appear in the order in which they were read. Asterisks represent stars, with five stars being the highest rating. Because of the length of this list, I will split this post into two parts. Hope you will be inspired to pick-up a few of these titles.
*****Boys in the Boat, 350 pages, Daniel James Brown. An inspiring story about the grit of the 1936 Olympic crew team from the University of Washington. Loved the movie as well, but book gave a fuller picture of these young men’s lives from childhood. Read and see.
****The Bird Hotel, 401 pages, Joyce Maynard. A beautiful read from start to finish with a surprising twist. Loved this book and Maynard’s writing.
***Life and Other Love Songs, 322 pages, Arissa Gray. Another lovely read of one man’s struggle to overcome his past, and how that affects his present and future family. A tender family story of love, loss, and redemption.
**Someone Else’s Shoes, JoJo Moyes, 435 pages. Four women are thrown together by a twist of fate form a bond that supersedes race, class, age, and other social norms. Found the book too long, at times incredulous and almost slap-stick. I was anxious to get this one done.
***Kantika, Elizabeth Graver, 282 pages. Interesting tale of one family’s displacement, focusing on the mother/wife who built a life for her family in Turkey, Spain and the US. Story is the tale of resilience of a Sephardic family, interesting to me because it is difficult to find a novel from the Sephardic point of view (versus Ashkenazi, northern European Jews of my family’s heritage).
****Resurrection Walk, a Lincoln Lawyer novel by Michael Connelly, 403 pages. A quick-reading thriller with a plot twist on every page. While not my typical genre, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, just as I enjoy the Lincoln Lawyer television series.
*****Count the Ways, Joyce Maynard, 444 pages. Novel has a slow start that turns into a sweeping saga of one family’s dissolution, tragedy, growth, and ultimate forgiveness. As with all of Maynard’s novels, in my opinion, this one once again offers up much wisdom about parenting, friendship, family and forgiveness.
****Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano, 387 pages A lovely story about the ties that bind four sisters (a modern-day Little Women) and the tough choices we make as parents. Very similar in theme to Count the Ways (above).
*****A Sudden Light, Garth Stein 396 pages. Another 5-star read about a family in the Pacific Northwest. Story is full of mystery, plot twists, spirituality, and naturalism (a must read for lovers of trees). I was sad when I came to the end of this novel.
**This Disaster Loves You, Richard Roper, 351 pages. Story traces one man’s quest to find his wife, who disappeared seven years earlier, by following reviews on TripAdvisor. A light, beach read that was rather predictable.
***We Are Water, Wally Lamb, 550 pages. This novel is the story of an entire family that has “come undone” in typical Lamb fashion. Found this to be an exhausting read that was at least 100 pages too long. I always considered myself a Lamb fan, because of his ties to UConn (my undergrad alma mater) and his work with female prisoners. Maybe it is time for me to be “undone” with Lamb (readers of his will understand these references).
***The Rumor Game, Thomas Mullen, 356 pages. An interesting crime-suspense-WWII story that brought to light the anti-Semitism in Boston at the outbreak of the war. Found the book enlightening and fast-paced, as told through the eyes of a Jewish reporter and an Irish FBI agent, both of whom wished they lived and met under different circumstances.
*****Magic Hour, Kristin Hannah, 391 pages. I can’t remember the last time a book brought tears to my eyes. Enough said.
***Caleb’s Crossing, Geraldine Brooks, 320 pages. Brooks’ writes beautiful novels, but this one just didn’t grip me as much as her other titles. Tale is based on the true story of a colonist’s attempts to convert Indians to Christianity, focusing on one young man, Caleb, who “crossed” from the Indian world of mythical and magical gods and cures to the Christian world of monotheism.
***Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano, 336 pages. This story is a coming of age story about a young boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash. Found this book very difficult to read and not nearly as enjoyable as Hello Beautiful.
This concludes Part 1 of my 2024 reading list. Stay-tuned for Part 2.
The Accidental Blank 