Every Book I Read in 2024

Apparently, sending out a 2024 wrap up on the 7th day of 2025 is almost too late to even bother doing it at all. Everybody else did this like 2 weeks ago, which I honestly don’t quite understand because aren’t you still reading at that point? Spotify Wrapped coming out in Early December has shifted our cultural expectations around year-end write ups to the point that I’m SURE we’re missing data.

Anyway, I’m here with a very belated 2024 reading wrapped because I was too busy milking every last minute of reading/birdwatching/holiday-lounging-potential out of the year to even start to think about it any earlier. I am here to say that is okay. If you haven’t done any reflection on last year yet, you’re good. Post your 2024 photo dump in February. Set your 2025 resolutions in June. Expand into the spaciousness of time!!

I read 58 books (and DNFed 2) in 2024 and had such a good time. 6 of those were stand out favorites that are going to get their own little love letter here. The rest will be presented without commentary, just a rating. This might be long enough that it gets cut off in your email inbox, so please take that as an excuse to come read this on the Substack website or app and drop a comment telling me about your favorite read of 2024. I’ve read a total of 3 pages in 2025 so far so obviously I could use the inspiration!

6 favorites, in no particular order:

The Overstory by Richard Powers

God. How to even describe this book? A love letter, a tragedy, a sweeping, century-long tale of despair and striving and the indomitable human spirit. Power’s prose is patient and straightforward, full of deep devotion to the scientific wonder and mystical romance of both trees and people. I found myself both devastated and strangely comforted by this story. It’s an unflinchingly honest reckoning with what we’ve done, what that’s cost, but also what we are still hold and are capable of.

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

Enlightenment is for neurodivergent nerds who never get enough time to talk about their special interests and gay people who can’t stop loving God and as such it should be surprising to no one that it made me cry. A story of a sad man’s love affair with the cosmos. Haunting, funny, tender.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Like, of course!!!!!! There’s a reason why Braiding Sweetgrass is a modern classic that you’ve had recommended to you like 50 times already. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s call to return to active relationship with the earth knit me back together again. You should for sure read it, and you should definitely start talking to plants more.

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

A bracing heartbreak. This is the story of a woman in the occupied West Bank who becomes obsessed with the story of a Palestinian woman who died decades ago, and goes on a quest to find out more about her. Shibli deftly sheds light on the mundane and existential indignities of life under occupation, in just a few short chapters.

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

I wanted this book to be 5,000 pages long! Greta & Valdin is about two queer siblings living in New Zealand and romping around finding themselves, with the help (or at least the commentary) of their vast, diverse, hilariously witty family. Just utterly incredible banter all throughout this book. I had so so much fun.

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

The book that ruined Good Luck Babe for me. It’s a cautionary tale about the caustic effects of swallowing your truth. I read it shortly before Chappell Roan released the best song ever. I cried so much during both.

Here are the rest of 2024’s books! I split them into fiction, romance (yes, that’s technically fiction, but feels like a fully different category), non-fiction, and poetry. A smiley face means I liked it, a frowny face means I didn’t, a question mark means I have complicated feelings that I don’t even know how to sum up with a single symbol, a shrugging dude means it didn’t really make an impact on me one way or another. If you want more detailed thoughts on any of them I would LOVE to yap forever!! Just lmk!

Fiction:

Romance:

Non Fiction:

Poetry:

I simply cannot wait to see what I read this year. Thank you for being around for it!!