2024: Year in Review

I'm feeling in that middle ground a lot when I'm reading books now. Yet another book slump. There are plenty that are fine, but they also feel forgettable. Where's the literature enrapture? Given the general malaise, I suppose it's even more remarkable when a book does break through.

In 2024, that book was probably Miranda July's All Fours, which I hated and loved at the same time. It's insane, she's insane, it's a bonkers plot with no connection to reality--and yet it's the realest thing I've read in awhile. There's that famous quote by Graham Greene where he says, "For writers it is always said that the first twenty years of life contain the whole of experience—the rest is observation." I typically bought that line, believing that meaning was mostly constructed in youth and adulthood was sort of trudging along. So I loved July's book for suggesting middle age was something amazing and unpredictable all on its own, even if I'm not going to spend $10,000 to renovate a crappy motel room for an erotic affair.

After reviewing my list, I realize there were a few others that stood out. Justice marked my entry into a new career, and it's a readable and thoughtful intro to ethics. North Woods is a compelling ghost story of sorts. Eve made biological history fascinating. Trust was good old-fashioned fun.

I read 40 books, just one short of what I read in 2023. 

Books Read:

1. The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck
2. Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal
3. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders (reread)
4. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
5. So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
6. Foster by Claire Keegan
7. Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
8. Land of Milk and Honey by Pam Zhang
9. Y/N by Esther Yi
10. Justice: What's the Right Thing To Do? by Michael Sandel
11. How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur
12. North Woods by Daniel Mason
13. Chain-Gang All Stars by Kwame Nana Adjei-Brenyah
14. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Evolution by Cat Bohannon
15. James by Percival Everett
16. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
17. The Fraud by Zadie Smith
18. Valley of Giants: Stories from the Women at the Heart of Yosemite Climbing by Lauren Delaunay Miller
19. Blackouts by Justin Torres
20. Martyr! by Kaven Akbar
21. Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
22. A Light Through the Cracks: A Climber's Story by Beth Rodden
23. The Money Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
24. The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen
25. Contested Terrain: A New History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks by Philip Terrie
26. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
27. All Fours by Miranda July
28. Pastoralia by George Saunders
29. A Night Boat to Tangiers by Kevin Barry
30. Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
31. Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
32. The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan
33. Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo by Boris Fishman
34. Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett
35. Trust by Hernan Diaz
36. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
37. War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans
38. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
39. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
40. Good Material by Dolly Alderton

Goodreads gave me some stats that I thought were fun:

• Total pages read: 12,835 (though it's actually more than this because Goodreads thinks I only read 39 books)
• The Bee Sting was my longest book (656 pages)
• So Late in the Day was my shortest book (128 pages)
• Average book length: 329 pages

In other stats news: I hiked 500 miles (for a total of 190 hours--destroying last year's numbers) and watched 94 movies (a little down from 2023). I own 38 houseplants--31 at home and seven at work, also slightly down from last year.

Here's to 2025.