Every year for over a decade, I’ve participated in the Goodreads challenge, where I challenge myself to read a certain number of books and then go about trying to achieve it. However, at some point this year, I learned that many authors hate Goodreads (for good reasons) and decided to switch my book-tracking to an app called Bookshelf.
Thankfully, Bookshelf includes a feature similar to the Goodreads Challenge, which it gives the imaginative name “Reading Goal.” I set this year’s goal to 40 books. As of today (Dec 27, 2024), I’ve read 54 (though I expect to finish at least one more book before the new year) for a total of 19,478 pages. According to Bookshelf’s “Reading Type” feature, I am a “Marathoner…an elite reading athlete… Others can’t even keep up with [my] dust trail.”
Woo hoo, I guess?
My Favorite Books of 2024
The Overstory:
A Novel
Winner of 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, Richard Powers' The Overstory is a beautifully written and insightful book that provides a glimpse into humanity’s long murder of life and our own inevitable death. A book of enlightenment, sadness, moral horror, and character.
(512 pages)
Nuclear War:
A Scenario
A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Annie Jacobsen's Nuclear War: A Scenario is absolutely terrifying. Jacobsen describes in accurate, highly researched detail what will happen in the handful of minutes after a nuclear missile launch.
(400 pages)
Ours: A Novel
Phillip B. Williams' Ours is American-made magical realism at its finest. Taking place in the 1800s, the story follows a group of former slaves living in a town named Ours, a town magically concealed from outsiders by a fearsome woman named Saint. The book is long, but it also spans four decades, and after a while, picking up the book feels like coming home.
(592 pages)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Read by Elijah Wood (who starred in the 1993 Disney movie), this audio version of Mark Twain's classic was a delightful listen. This was my first reading of Huckleberry Finn, and it was every ounce of great. Wood brings his acting experience to Twain's words, making the reader feel like you're floating along the big river with Huck and Jim.
(10 hours 10 minutes)
Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral
"Good morning," I wrote in an email to the author, "I literally just finished reading... Epitaph, and...I just want to thank you for writing such a beautiful book that helped remind me of the tragic complexity of America’s heroes and the fierce and unflinching empathy of its most talented writers. You brought tears of grace...when grace is desperately needed. So, thank you."
(618 pages)
The Mezzanine:
A Novel
A man crosses a lobby in an urban office building and ascends up an escalator. That's what this book is "about," but it's also a beautiful, funny, and poetic meditation on the objects of the late 20th century. This book is incredible, with perfectly timed sentences and observations that anyone from Generation X or older will appreciate about the objects of the analogy 20th century.
(145 pages)
Some Runners Up
Joseph Smith and the Mormons
Written by a former member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, this graphic novel provides an unflinching history of the founding of the LDS community, treated with respect for its subject as well as respect for the genres of history and graphic novels.
If you’re interested in the history of religions, this is a great addition to your library.
The Book of Job
This translation by Stephen Mitchell is worth every minute of reading it. Filled with incredible poetry — “Like a cloud fading into sky, man dissolves into death” — Mitchell’s version of this heartbreaking story reinvigorated my love for the book. As a young Catholic, I convinced the monsignor of my Church to allow me to adopt the name of Job at Confirmation over the objections of the nuns; I thank Mr. Mitchell for bringing this book home to me.
Klara & The Sun
Written by a Nobel prize winner, this quiet story written in the first person by an artificial friend — an android — explores the nature of friendship, love, and loneliness.
This book draws you in like a warm bath with its unromantic yet deeply idealistic and tragic optimism.
The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan)
This was a Sherlock Holmes kind of story that takes place on the dangerous edge of a fantasy world of giant monsters—we’re talking Godzilla-style giants. Charged with solving a series of mysterious deaths, the narrator is the assistant to a brilliant detective who is ostracized by her peers.
The Tainted Cup is the first novel in a planned series, and I, for one, cannot wait for Book Two in April.
The Rest of the List
Here are the rest of the books in the order I read them. I’ve bolded the books I recommend.
- The Measure, by Nikki Erlick
- Where Monsters Lie, by Kyle Starks
- Green River Killer, by Jeff Jensen
- Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Club: Roll Call, by Molly Knox Ostertag
- Why the Bible Began, by Jacob L. Wright
- The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins
- How to Be Eaten, by Maria Adelmann
- Dreadnought, by April Daniels
- C.O.W.L., Volume 1: Principles of Power: A Massive-Verse Book, by Kyle Higgins
- Salamandre, by I.N.J. Culbard
- The Third Policeman, by Flann O’Brien
- The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
- Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendency, by Timothy Zahn
- Seconds, by Brian Lee O’Malley
- Always Never, by Jordi Lafebre
- Godkiller, by Hannah Kaner
- Sunbringer, by Hannah Kaner
- Marbles, by Ellen Forney
- The Ferryman, by Justin Cronin
- Tiger Chair, by Max Brooks
- After World, by Debbie Urbanski
- The Lost Cause, by Cory Doctorow
- The Making of Biblical Womanhood, by Beth Allison Barr
- Building A Second Brain, by Tiago Forte
- Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, by Rebecca Thorne
- The Origins of Totalitarianism, by Hannah Arendt
- Trotsky, by Rick Geary
- Rabbits, by Terry Miles
- Prequel, by Rachel Maddow <- A must read for all Americans!
- Jonathan Abernathy, You Are Kind, by Molly McGhee
- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers
- A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara W. Tuchman
- Starter Villain, by John Scalzi
- Lost & Found, by Shaun Tan
- The Swarm, by Frank Schatzing <- Quick warning: It’s 900+ pages
- A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers
- Creation Lake, by Rachel Kushner <- My least favorite book that I finished
- The Witches, by Stacy Schiff
- The Intuitionist, by Colson Whitehead
- The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States: A Speculative Novel, by Jeffrey Lewis <- Scary as shit, especially following the re-election of Pres. Trump
- Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman <- The best performed audiobook, and a lot of fun
- Still the Sun, by Charlie N. Holmberg
- Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, by Matt Dinniman
- Star Wars: The Rise & Fall of the Galactic Empire, by Chris Kempshall <- Highly recommended for Star Wars nerds and history buffs
- Before the Dawn: An Autobiography, by Gerry Adams
And that’s it: 54 (not including the Gerry Adams autobiography, which I expect to finish today or tomorrow).
If you’re interested in my previous years’ roundups, here are some links for ya: