"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Saturday, December 28, 2024

2024 End-of-Year Book Survey



My Head Is Full of Books: 

The 2024 End-of-Year Survey of Books


 


  • Number of books read and completed:  122
  • Number of re-reads: 1
  • Genre you read the most: Adult fiction 
  • Number of books started but not finished: 4
  • Number of children's/YA books: 20
  • Number of poetry books: 13
  • Number of memoirs, biographies, and nonfiction books, including children's:  30
  • Number of graphic or illustrated books read, not children's: 2



 1. Best books read in 2024:

·    Literary fiction: James by Percival Everett

2. Book(s) I thought I'd love, but didn’t:

  •  Bee Sting by Paul Murray -- the book is a beast at over 650 pages and I just couldn't make myself care about the characters. I didn't finish it.
  • Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel --- This was my 2024 One Big Book, a personal challenge. I've heard so much about the book over the years, so I was pretty disappointed to find out I really didn't like it. You should read my review, it's find of funny how much I didn't like it.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book: 

·  Orbital by Samantha Harvey -- Wow, just wow.


4. Book(s) I "pushed" many people to read:

  •  James by Percival Everett

5.  Best series--

6. Favorite new author I discovered in 2024:

  •  Claire Keegan (Books: Foster and Small Things Like These) 

7. Best book from a genre/type I don't usually read:

·       Killer Angels by Michael Shaara -- Novel about a war battle, specifically the Battle of Gettysburg and the soldiers/officers involved in it. 


8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year:

9. Favorite book club selection(s) based on the discussion(s):

10. Favorite book cover: How to Be Both by Ali Smith (the cover is part of the story and I kept looking at it.)


11. Most memorable characters of the year:

12. Most thought-provoking/ life-changing books of the year:

13. Most beautifully written book read in the year:

· The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty  

14. Book I've never read UNTIL 2024:

15. Favorite passage(s) or quote(s):

  • "One thing is certain: Love is our only hope. Love springs from new life, love springs from death. Love acts like Ghandi and our pets and Jesus and Mr. Bean and Mr. Rogers and Bette Midler. Love just won't be pinned down. " -- Anne Lamott, Somehow: Thoughts on Love.
  • "You couldn't go anywhere in this town without bumping into God." -- Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch
  • “The only way to understand the world as something other than a tale of loss is to see it as a tale of change.” ― Daniel Mason, North Woods 
  • "How should we respond? It has been said, I have said it myself, that the powerful may own the present, but writers own the future, for it is through our work, or the best of it at least, the work which endures into that future, that the present misdeed of the powerful will be judged...Even after Orpheus was torn to pieces, his severed head, floating down the river Hebrus, went on singing, reminding us that the song is stronger than death." ― Salman Rushdie, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
  • "If the younger ones in our lives can remember only this one idea, that they are here, briefly, a little space to love and to have been loved, they they will have all they need, because love is all they need, rain or shine...good old love, elusive and steadfast, fragile, and unbreakable, and always there for the asking: always, somehow."  -- Anne Lamott, Somehow: Thoughts on Love.

16. Shortest and longest book read in 2024, not counting children's books:

17. Book which shocked me the most:

·  Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan   


18. Best audiobooks of the year:

·  Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench, with Brendan O'Hea. Two old friends chatting about Ms. Dench's roles in Shakespeare's plays.


19. Favorite novella/short book read for 'Novellas in November':

·   A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf


20. Favorite book by an author I’ve previously read

21. Best book I read this past year based SOLELY on a recommendation or peer pressure:

·  When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill -- Strongly recommended by daughter.


22. Newest fictional crush:

  •  I always think this is a dumb question. Why don't I just removed it from the list? 😂

23. Best 2024 debut: 

  • The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. I think it is the only debut book I read in 2024, luckily I really liked it. (Review pending.)

24. Best world-building/Most vivid setting I read this year:

25. Book which put a smile on my face/was FUN to read:

· When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill  


26. Books which made me cry:

27. Hidden Gem of the Year? There are several:  

28. Anything odd about this year's reading list:

·  I don't think my reading was as balanced as for usual. I only read two graphic novels, when I usually read a half dozen or more. I read less adult nonfiction this year than in years past. I decided to NOT participate as a Cybils Award judge this fall which left me room to participate in the novellas challenge. I learned I really like that form and enjoy reading short books.

29. Most unique book(s):    

30. Book which made me angry (due to the topic):

·     Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow 


31. Favorite short story collection -- I didn't care for either of the short story collections I read this year but I did like some of the short stories themselves: 

  • Short Stories: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King; The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy; A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote; Signal Moon by Kate Quinn.

32. Favorite re-read of 2024: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. I've probably read or had read to me at least 50 times in my life. It is a wonderful Christmas story for the whole family. This year my daughter is introducing it to her son who is a seven-year-old.

     

33. Favorite classic book read during the year:


34. My year in books at Goodreads. A visual of all the books I read this year and a few stats. 


1. Favorite Book Club selections of 2024.

2. Best Audiobooks consumed in 2024.

3. Best Nonfiction of 2024

4. Favorite novels read this year:

a. James by Percival Everett
b. North Woods by Daniel Mason
c. Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
d. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
e. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
f. The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea
g. When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill 
h. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
i. I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
j. The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
   
 

 


1. Favorite reviews written in 2024

2. Most popular reviews of the year based on stats:

  • Review: Night Watch: Where I Try to Figure Out Why It Won the Pulitzer Prize -- 851 page views, 9 comments.
  • Review: The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty -- 545 page views, 4 comments
  • Review: I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger -- 293 page views, 3 comments
  • Review: Orbital by Samantha Harvey -- 179 page views, 20 comments

3. Best discussion/non-review post:   

4. Best bookish event that you participated in?

·   Novellas in November -- my goal was to read 2-4 novellas, I read 19!  


5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2024

  •  Kind comments and encouragement from you, my readers.

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

  • Staying up for blogging. Blogging takes time and effort, and it is hard to keep going when I get few page views and even fewer comments. But I have joined some supportive on-line communities and the other book bloggers I’ve “met” keep me going.

7. Most meaningful posts for me:

8. Posts I wish got a bit more love:



 1. Bookish goals for 2025

  • Read a minimum of 100 books.
  • Write reviews for all book club selections.
  • Complete "My One Book" challenge: The Brothers Karamazov
  • Read two of the five National Book Award winners. (Announced in November)
  • Read the Pulitzer Prize 2025 winner for literature (announced in March or April) plus read three past winners or finalists. 
  • Read the Booker Award winner or a finalist.
  • Read two Women's Prize winners or finalists (announced in April)
  • Read at least five classic books from my list. (See list here.)
2. Books I didn’t get to in 2024 are now top priorities in 2025:
  • The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
  • The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
  • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  • Playground by Richard Powers
  • The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie

       

3.  How did I do on my reading challenges or goals for 2024?

  • Read 100 books this year. ✔ (120+ books)
  • My Own Personal ‘National Book Award’ Challenge to read two of the five winners or finalists each year. ✔
  • Read the Pulitzer Prize winner and past winners:   ✔
  • Completed four of the five books I listed as books I wanted to read in 2024: ✔- 
  • Read 5 Classics ✔
  • Big Book Summer Challenge. Six completed ✔ 
  • I completed my 2024 'One Big Book' Challenge:  Wolf Hall ✔
  • Read 2-4 novellas for Novellas in November: I read 19!  ✔


-Gratefully turning the page on 2024.

 

-Anne






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