Best of 2024: Books

Happy New Year! According to Goodreads, I read 173 books in 2024 and DNFed 27, which comes out to roughly 70,300 pages. Here are a few stats.  

Breakdown by star rating:
5 stars (loved/it was great): 8 (4%)
4 stars (liked a lot/it was good): 82 (41%)
3 stars (liked a little/it was okay): 68 (34%)
2 stars (barely liked/it was not that good): 15 (7.5%)
1 star (it sucked but I finished it): 0 (0%)
0 stars (DNF): 27 (13.5%)

Average rating including DNFs: 3.01
Average excluding DNFs: 3.48

As you can see, this year if it sucked, I did not finish it, which contributed to a high amount of DNFs compared to most years in the past. Also four stars was my most common rating, but still there were enough threes and twos that the average was not that great. 

You can find a list of all of my favorites from prior years on my bookshelf page or on Goodreads. 

My two favorite books this year were: 

The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown: As a California native, we heard about the Donner party a lot! Any time we cross over Donner pass, we think of how they had to eat each other to stay alive. Any time we pass by Donner lake, we stop at the plaque and read about their struggles. I have heard it a million times. However, the author has a way of telling a story that just resounded with me. I really enjoyed this book (side note, see below for another one of my favorites by him) and the way he detailed the struggles of the Donner party. 

The Mountains Sing by Phan Quế Mai Nguyễn: This book tells the story of the Vietnam war and more, as seen from the point of view of a Vietnamese native. It is a multigenerational story and starts with the mother in the early 1900s and details the conflicts within both the country and the family as time goes by. Another book by the same author, Dust Child, was a four star read for me but didn't quite make the top cut.

The following books (in no particular order) were all five star reads: 

The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patty Callahan Henry: A teenaged girl loses her sister during the evacuation of the children of London during WWII and she is traumatized for life. Then, as she is reading a manuscript for her job in editing, she reads a story that only her and her sister would know. This sparks a renewed search for her sister and we go through twists and turns to find out whether or not her beloved sister is still alive. 

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell: Who doesn't love a good thriller. I am constantly entertained by this author, and this book was no exception. It is the story of a true crime podcaster who interviews an interesting women, who later turns into a liability and the podcaster becomes the subject of her own podcast. Twists and turns at every corner make this an entertaining read. 

The Women by Kristen Hannah: I probably don't need to say much as this was a hot book this year, but I enjoyed learning more about the women who went to Vietnam to serve in the war. Also the story of how they were treated when they returned, as well as the mental struggles they had in both places were heartbreaking. 

Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown: If you have not heard about the Nisei soldiers, you have to read this book. This details the struggles that the first generation Japanese Americans had when they went off to fight in WWII against the Japanese. Many of them were sent on fool's errands, and they were treated badly by their own countrymen (Americans) even though they were fighting alongside them. 

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: I already did a write up on this, but in case you missed it, the book goes into some of the issues that the younger generations are having due to the amount of screen time they are using, as well as the platforms and apps that they are using on their phones/screens. 

The Wedding People by Alison Espach: Here is another book that will probably be a best of book on many people's lists. A woman goes to a hotel to kill herself and realized that there is a week long wedding party taking place at the same hotel. She is understandably annoyed, but things take a turn and the end is not what you think it will be. 

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The following (in no particular order) were at the top of my four star reads for the year: 

Outlander (#1, #2, #3) by Diane Gabaldon: Men in kilts, romance, war. Need I say more? 

Kill Show by Daniel Sweren-Becker: A 16 year old goes missing, and a television network decides to make a reality show about trying to find her. It is written in interview form, which I liked, and also keeps you guessing what really happened until the very end. 

Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford: Basically the Great British Bake Off, as told from a very lovable older woman's perspective. However, we do find out that more lies beneath the surface than expected. 

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell: Basically the Great British Bake Off, but with murder. 

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger: A high profile townsman is murdered, a Native American man is blamed, and the sherrif has to sort it all out. 

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters: A four year old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from a Maine berrry field, and her family searches for her for years. Cut to the future, when a girl named Norma grows up in Maine and doesn't feel like she quite fits in. The author does a great job of detailing the trauma involved, as well as the struggles and love that bring the whole thing together in the end. 

All My Rage by Saaba Tahir: Told from the perspective of a young Pakistani boy whose family moved to America to open a motel, it is a tale of struggles and family and love and regrets. 

Never by Ken Follet: What would it be like if WWIII was on our hands? Follet does a good job of creating an event that many may be dreading. Also there is a woman president. Yay. 

Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall: Stories about the taboo subject of abortion and how girls would have to sneak around to try to get someone to help them in their time of need. Alongside this, we also have children that were taken from their parents by force at birth and the stories of trying to figure out later what had happened in those desperate times. 

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: A wealthy teenager goes missing at summer camp, but the kicker is that she is not only the daugher of the camp owners, but her little brother went missing from nearly the same spot many years ago. We spend our time trying to figure out who took her or whether or not she has been killed, and of course there is a twist at the end. 

What was your favorite book of 2024? Do you mostly read audio, eBook or paper books?