A big reading year for both of us! We are going to use this column to share our 2024 reading stats, superlatives, and our Top 10 of the year. NOTE: Not all the books we are discussing were published in 2024. 

Let’s Dive In

READING BY THE NUMBERSJENNIFERLARA
Total books read in 20247565
Female Authors2743
Authors of Color2112
LGBTQIA Authors73
SciFi/Fntsy/Mag. Realism24
Suspense/Mystery/Thriller315
Literary3426
Non-Fiction365
Memoir125
Romance/Chick-Lit12
Audiobooks3233
eReaders012
Physical Books4320

The most hyped book read that LIVED UP to the hype…

Lara: Tied between Hello Beautiful and In the God of the Woods by Liz Moore. Both have dysfunctional families which are my favorite kind to read about.

Jennifer: Well, it’s a little tough to say because I read it right away, but James by Percival Everett would be hyped-up, and I agreed. 

The most hyped book read that DID NOT live up to the hype…

Jennifer: Oh no! Well, Salman Rushdie’s Knife, in my humble opinion, was a bit, um, overblown. I understand, almost stupidly, the need for writers to write in order to process their thoughts and traumas. I guess I wanted more. (I also gotta say that Entitlement by  Rumaan Alam–who wrote Leave the World Behind, which I loved–was also not very good.)

Let’s not forget the Margaret Atwood-edited Covid collection, Fourteen Days. Just read our review here. 

Lara: East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Yes, I said it. So many rate this as a 5-star or all-time favorite read. I’ll give him the narrative descriptions (beautiful). He lost me at the dialogue (forced and unnatural). Should I see myself out?

The book that should be required reading for every American…

Lara: The Small and the Mighty: 12 Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon. Amazing stories of resiliency. It’s here where I learned about the young woman who first refused to give up her rightful seat on a bus (and it wasn’t Rosa Parks).  AND The Son Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton, a memoir of faith, hope, and tenacity by a man who spent decades behind bars for a murder he did not commit.

Jennifer: James by Percival Everett, of course. I’d teach it in high school with Huck Finn. And I was on a little Percival Everett-kick this year, also reading Erasure and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. I’d say that he’s kinda important–experimental but not, smart, funny, strong. But, hey, EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN should ABSOLUTELY read J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Like, it PAINS me a little when people don’t want to.

The best retelling of an American Classic…

Lara: James by Percival Everett, hands down. Everett’s reimagining of Huckleberry Finn’s Jim the Slave as James, a three-dimensional man with intellect, awareness, and empathy may be the best in this genre, and certainly one of the best (if not THE best) books published this year. 

Jennifer: Yeah, James by Percival Everett. (Please note, also, I’m not a fan of this trend–retelling or “‘fanfiction” takes on Classics–but this book is simply beyond the trend, above the ordinary; it’s a new Classic.)

The best book showcasing the worst of humanity…

Jennifer: So you got me hooked on John Boyne’s quartet, making up the “Elements” series (I think it will actually be published as a novel in 2025). In 2024, I read the first three of four: Water, Earth, and Fire. Air is forthcoming. These are short, addictive, brutal novels. You said it correctly below. 

I also want to mention Shalom Auslander. I went on three weird reading-kicks, apart from my normal reading, this year. I read a lot of Percival Everett, a lot of contemporary Irish lit, and a lot of Shalom Auslander (Mother for Dinner, Foreskin’s Lament, and Feh). He grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family–and, in the same way you see kids reject their parents’ Christianity, he’s pretty devoted to rejecting his Judaism. I will say that he’s a good writer and I was intrigued, but it got too much for me. 

Boyne gets the award, though.

Lara: The literary “Elements” series by John Boyne is like driving by an accident that you can’t look away from. An accident purposely caused. An accident designed to inflict harm. We know the phrase, “Hurt people hurt people,” and that’s what we have here in these compact stories (under 200 pages). So why read Water, Earth, Fire, and the soon-to-be released Air? Because Boyne’s writing is exquisite, doing what art is supposed to do—elicit a reaction. 

The best book showcasing the best of humanity…

Lara: The Funny Thing About Norman Forman by Julietta Henderson is the book you haven’t heard of and need to read. Especially if you need to be reminded that there is so much good in the world—especially when we step outside of our comfort zone. 

Jennifer: It has to be the late Amy Krouse Rosenthal and The Book of Eleven. She just wrote stuff that I find, um, non-toxic. I think people call things toxic way too much. But Amy was smart, sweet, fun, and real. Not toxic. 

An amazingly written book I didn’t like…

Jennifer: You will hate me. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. Here is our review. I also didn’t love The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich, which we reviewed here. Please know I think both are well-written. (And I love John Steinbeck!)

Lara: All Fours by Miranda July. I think July is the Wes Anderson of the publishing world. A critical darling that isn’t really accessible to the masses because she’s just… weird. But her writing is incredible; and, she’s positioning an eccentric, unlikeable, middle-aged woman as the protagonist of her latest book. While it may leave a complicated aftertaste, we need more stories of women at these ages and stages of life. 

And, yes, I hate you.

An amazingly written book I loved…

Lara: You Could Make this Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith. A reflective memoir on the devastation of divorce and the importance of living your authentic self both in and outside of a marriage.  

Jennifer: I loved Maggie Smith too! (Here’s our review.) I think J.D. Salinger wrote one AMAZING sentence after the other. It’s hard to believe it. I’ve read and reread and reread it. I’m stunned by his writing. 

The book that surprised me most…

Jennifer: Um, for sure, Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting. Our review contains our surprise.

Lara: The Wedding People by Alison Espach’s cover presents as your standard summer rom-com fare, and it’s so much more than that. A woman is at the end of her rope and checks into a fancy hotel with a singular focus. She quickly gets swooped up in the lives of the guests who are all there for a wedding. In a wild turn of events, her agenda is interrupted, and she, and the wedding people, will never be the same. 

The best from across the pond (aka An Irish invasion)…

Lara: I was kind of obsessed by the Irish experience this year and all of these books by Irish authors are worth reading: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (best ending I have ever encountered); The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donahue (great depiction of twenty-somethings navigating life and love). Claire Keegan is everywhere right now because of her tremendous novella Small Things Like These that I read last year. This year, I read So Late In the Day: Stories of Men and Women and her precise and concise stories blew me away. 

Jennifer: Yes, Lara and I did a lot of Irish reading this year. John Boyne really blew me away. I’m still trying to figure out how he manages to suck readers into very ugly stories about not-good people. I will say that there’s quite a bit of true human nature/authenticity, and the writing is understated–not garish. I don’t know; I’m still trying to figure this out. Paul Murray, Claire Keegan, and Colm Tóibín all have that understated thing going for them. (Read our Colm Tóibín reviews here.) Caroline O’Donahue, who I counted in my chick-lit/romance tally, isn’t so understated but her book was considerably “smarter” than the average rom-com offering? P.S. I also read Edward Burns–American, Irish, a New Yorker; he also had some of that great Irish prose going with the added bonus of New York Charm.

A book that worked for many, but not me…

Lara: Tie between Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino. Both were picks for my community’s indie bookstore book club and that was the only reason I stuck with them.

Jennifer: Deanna Raybourn’s Killers of a Certain Age. I feel bad about this one. It’s just not really my thing. Was I supposed to treat this like a game of Clue? Mrs. Peacock in the library? Whodunnit? Who cares? I’m not fun at parties, either.

A celebrity book club pick that was actually really good…

Lara: Do I sound like I don’t love celebrity book clubs? Well, let’s just say they are often hit or miss for me. I find Jenna Bush Hager’s Read with Jenna picks are more my jam and All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker was a gem. Just read it. 

Jennifer: Like I have any clue which celebrities have book clubs! President Barack Obama and I both loved The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. I think Oprah and I probably work together the most. Seriously, I can’t say. 

A cilantro book (you know, a polarizing read)…

Lara: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. For as many Rooney fans as there are, there seem to be as many who don’t love her. This departure from her standard fare—to write from the perspective of two very different adult brothers and the different ways they show up in the world while mourning the loss of their father worked for me. 

Jennifer: Well, I never thought of him as a cilantro-read (you either like cilantro or you don’t), till you mentioned that you didn’t love him. I read two books by Dave Eggers this year (Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? and Heroes of the Frontier). I just eat them up. I read them and they inevitably end up on my Top 10. I guess he’s cilantro, which I love.

Books everyone else adored that I was not that into… 

Jennifer: Knife by Salman Rushdie, All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker, The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters, Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn, and Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red. 

Lara: The biggest one for me was Verity by Colleen Hoover. Over the top ridiculous. 

And now, our Top 10 lists!

Lara’s Top 10 – In Date Read Order (too hard to rank)

  1. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
  2. You Could Make this Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
  3. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
  4. James by Percival Everett
  5. The Funny Thing About Norman Forman by Julietta Henderson
  6.  We Are the Light by Matthew Quick
  7. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
  8. The Elements Series by John Boyne
  9. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
  10. The Safekeep by Yale van der Wooden

Lara’s Honorable Mentions (not included in superlatives section)

  1. Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
  2. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
  3. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
  4. Table for Two by Amor Towles
  5. Weyward by Emilia Hart
  6. Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story – Remaking Life from Scratch by Erin French
  7. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
  8. Bear by Julia Phillips
  9. Colored Television by Danzy Senna
  10. Twenty-Four Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds

Jennifer’s Top 10:  Not in Order (though Number 1 IS Number 1 and Number 2 IS Number 2)

  1. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  2. James by Percival Everett
  3. You Could Make this Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
  4. The Elements Series by John Boyne
  5. The Book of Eleven by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
  6. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
  7. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
  8. A Kid from Marlboro Road by Edward Burns
  9. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? By Dave Eggers
  10. Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers

 Jennifer’s Honorable Mentions: Not in Order  

  1. Splinters by Leslie Jamison
  2. I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
  3. Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
  4. Long Island by Colm Tóibín
  5. Colored Television by Danzy Senna (see our review here)
  6. Mother for Dinner by Shalom Auslander
  7. War Dances by Sherman Alexie
  8. Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow by Steve Almond
  9. Acid for Children by Flea
  10. What Time is Noon by Chip Leighton

Next-Tier of Honorable Mentions

  1. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka  
  2. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
  3. Table for Two by Amor Towles
  4. Bear by Julia Phillips (see our review here)
  5. 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s by Rob Harvilla 

Famous Last Words

Lara: This was my most accomplished reading year, not just in quantity (65 books), but in quantity. I loved most of what I read.

Jennifer: I do want to give a little shout-out to that Chip Leighton book. It would be in my Top 10 if fun were the main factor in my consideration. I loved it. 

Next Up!

We are kicking off a new year of reading with We Burn Daylight by Bret Anthony Johnston.

Until then, happy reading!