Ten books I liked this year
Okay: it's going to be a tad more than ten, but ten book ideas in case you are looking for suggestions!
If you missed that this is written by The Library Doctor, and that I spent my summer traveling to libraries all across the country, you might be surprised that I’m such an avid reader! (Welcome to your first day, I guess?) But the rest of you already knew that I like books. I like to talk about books. I like to read about books. It would make me happy to share book ideas with you!
And I like arbitrary time breaks. Here we are at the end of a calendar year. It doesn’t have a lot of independent meaning (I’m the same person Dec 31 that I am Jan 1); but I like the arbitrary stop point and the restart next year. (I love this about working in academia too! When the semester is over, it’s done. Then we move on to the next batch of time. Nice!)
And I’d like to talk about books right now. While I’d never be able to identify my All Time Favorite book (I’d be lucky to narrow to about five authors), I’ve read some good books this year. You might be looking for some book ideas for 2025, or for January, or for whatever makes you happy. That is the point of books: they should make you happy. Even when they make you cry, you should be glad you went on the voyage.
Note: in case you are the kind of person who feels badly if you stop reading a book, let me give you absolution. With my amazing cosmic powers as a Library Doctor, I give you absolute authority and permission to stop reading any book, any time, for any reason. A million books are published every year; you will never have time to read all the good ones. So, don’t waste your time on junk that isn’t bringing you book happiness!
These books are not necessarily my favorites, or my favorites for 2024. Again: how can people even rank like that? I’m impressed, but lack that ability. So these were ten that I liked. They are in no particular order here. I gave them five stars on Goodreads, and then picked them out from the pile of other five star books. (If you don’t like any of these and want other suggestions: leave a message below, and let me see what I can do to find you a lovely book!) But the books (or the series) made me happy to read; so I’m happy to share them with you, in case they bring you happiness also.
The links for the books go to my favorite independent bookstore, that I use for about every book link: Drury Lane Books, in Grand Marais, MN. Please be encouraged to browse around on their website - lots of great book suggestions there! - or to buy things online or visit them in person. It’s just a lovely place.
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales, by Ray Bradbury: “For more than sixty years, the imagination of Ray Bradbury has opened doors into remarkable places, ushering us across unexplored territories of the heart and mind while leading us inexorably toward a profound understanding of ourselves and the universe we inhabit. In this landmark volume, America's preeminent storyteller offers us one hundred treasures from a lifetime of words and ideas.”
I love Ray Bradbury. Of course, he was a huge proponent of libraries - always a winning stand. And I used to read his book when I was in high school, hanging around libraries after school while waiting to be picked up. I was always interested in the worlds he created. Reading through this was so fun for all the memories it brought me! (It’s VERY long; but of course you can just read it in parts - no need to rush.)
Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett: “In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.”
I started with Bel Canto, and then proceeded to love nearly everything by Patchett. Tom Lake was a lovely look at a family, secrets, cherries, and local theater. You may not know that you needed that combination of ideas, but when you read this book you will realized that you life was poorer without them!
Tales of the Black Widowers, by Isaac Asimov (Link is to GoodReads, because it’s out of print) “There were six of them. Professional men and their waiter. They gather at the Milano Restaurant once a month for good food and good conversation. But lately the Black Widowers have added a new entertainment to their meetings. They have begun to solve mysteries, murders, and conspiracies of seemingly impossible dimensions. With all the skills of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot combined, these six men and their ever-faithful waiter, Henry, take on challenging cases that will tease your deductive skills to the limit and keep you guessing to the very end.”
This is the first book in the series, and I binged through the whole thing - ILL-ing it through my local library, because they are all old and out of print. I found these in college and really enjoyed them. Rereading them now, I see all the blatant sexism that I missed the first time. (It was the 80s; everything was sexist - who even noticed?) But I didn’t care, and I loved reading these short stories. Each chapter is a new mystery, and it’s not really a spoiler to tell you than Henry, the waiter, is the one who solves every one of them.
Book Lovers, by Emily Henry “If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.”
This was my first Emily Henry, and the start of my romance reading binge. And I LOVED IT! Her characters are smart! I hate books that have main characters whose defining quality is “I’m just so stooopid!” The characters in all of her book, yes I read them all, were people I’d enjoy knowing. The situations were a little romanc-y but still felt pretty real. (These are romances, after all.) And I was hiking in a state park while I listened to this one - and had to stop a couple of times while I laughed. Aaaahhh…a good book recommendations right there. It was my first and favorite Emily Henry - but not my last.
The Lantern's Dance: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, by Laurie R. King “After their recent adventures in Transylvania, Russell and Holmes look forward to spending time with Holmes’ son, the famous artist Damian Adler, and his family. But when they arrive at Damian’s house, they discover that the Adlers have fled from a mysterious threat. The secrets of the past appear to be reaching into the present. And it seems increasingly urgent that Russell figure out how the journal and lantern are related to Damian—and possibly to Sherlock Holmes himself.”
I love this series. Looooovveee. I’ve bought every single one of them, preordering them months in advance so I get them the moment they drop. It’s a different take on the Sherlock Holmes books. The main character is his much younger, equally brilliant, wife: Mary Russell. They have adventures all over the place, and Russell is just awesome.
By Motor to the Golden Gate, by Emily Post (Linking to a paper copy here, but if you want a cheaper ebook copy, because this is out of copyright, grab it at Amazon) “This classic book contains Emily Post's investigation into whether or not it was possible to drive comfortably across America from New York to San Francisco in an automobile. Written before automobiles were widespread and accessible to all, this charming book is a personal account of elite automotive transportation before World War I, also detailing the history of the southwest and offering comments on ethnicity and class. It delineates Post's travels with her son and cousin, illustrating the vagaries and travails of their time spent on the road playing the role of American tourists.”
I grabbed an ebook copy of this, and was glued to it! I was prepping for my Lincoln Highway trip (Did I mention that? Or talk your ear off about it endlessly?), and reading this was fun - and scary. It was Post’s first nonfiction book, her only travel book. She wanted to go on the Lincoln Highway, but it wasn’t done enough yet to be safe. They had to be pulled out of mud pits in Iowa by teams of horses. (This apparently happened to everyone! I felt lucky to make it through Iowa unscathed!) They had to wear goggles, because they had no windshield. They had to have car parts delivered by train. They had the constant issue of “ladies” not being allowed to eat or sleep some places where “people” were allowed. After reading it, I was sure that I could survive my summer trip; Post gave me courage!
Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies (Yes, That's a Thing.), by Trae Crowder, Corey Ryan Forrester “Trae and Corey will take you from the smallest of small towns to major US metropolises (or is it metropoli? We haven't a fartin' clue ). They'll even cross the pond to sip tea in some of them fancy kings-and-castles places that PBS Viewers Like You can't stop yapping about. From Chickamauga to Cheyenne, New York to New Orleans, Seattle to Scotland--no matter where these two wandering jesters go, there's something to roast, something to toast, and something to learn about what ties us together as humans. Even the most outrageous of us.”
I listened to this book (definitely the best format!) while I was hiking state parks and driving between two of them. And I literally laughed until I cried! While I’m definitely a Yankee, I am Southern-adjacent enough that I recognized a lot of this. And it is always, always a good idea to listen to smart people who have had different experience and different ideas from you - and these guys definitely fit that definition. I now listen to their podcasts “Putting On Airs” and “wellRED” I also listened to their first book: The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin' Dixie Outta the Dark while I was in Georgia this summer. It’s definitely not as funny, but still really good - a look at what it’s like to be in abject poverty, Southern, and absolutely overlooked by everyone.
Shards of Honour, by Lois McMaster Bujold “When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual admiration and even stronger feelings emerge.”
This is the first book in a series, and I had the absolute fun and pleasure of relistening to the entire series this summer! LOVED IT! The description doesn’t really give you information about the series - it’s about Cordelia’s son Miles; but it is so well done, so interesting, and such great world-building with wonderful characters - it doesn’t even matter what it’s about. Just enjoy it! AND Bujold is a Minnesota author!!! That’s always worth a bump up the happiness chart! Even if you think space operas aren’t for you- this series might be perfect. Definitely listen to it; the reader is Grover Gardner and he’s just wonderful.
I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This [But I'm Going to Anyway], by Chelsea Devantez “Then there are things Chelsea really shouldn't be telling you: like the time her biggest family secret was publicly outed, or about the drive-by shootings and the precipitating domestic violence she survived. Yet through it all, it's the women in Chelsea's life who kept her going - from the lowest points of her childhood when she and her mom had only $100 left to their name, all the way to her career highs as the Emmy-nominated Head Writer for The Problem with Jon Stewart and sensational podcaster deemed "the celebrity memoir whisperer" by her fans.”
It’s getting repetitive, but I love Chelsea! I listen to her podcast every week (I’m on the Patreon!): Glamorous Trash! She features a different female celebrity memoir (and the occasional mensmoir), and I feel bad that I used to be snotty about this genre - the discussions are great. And I preordered both the Kindle and the Audible versions of this book, in case one was delayed. I listened to it while driving across the country, and finished it while sitting in a camp chair outside my tent - looking off into the fields and watching the sun go down for the last couple of hours.
Small spoiler here: her publisher forced her to redact big chunks of the book, to avoid upsetting the abusive men in her life. (Sure, she had all the court papers; but nobody wants to upset abusive men - the poor little things.) She decided not to completely rewrite the book, and to cover up the violence committed against her. Instead, she drew lines through the words; and in the audio version she just says “redacted” when she has to hide words. It’s worth reading because it’s a good book (she can write!); and because it’s yet another reminder that women never count as much as violent men do. And still: she is awesome!
And let’s wrap it up on a cheerful note: Winter Lost (Mercy Thompson #14), by Patricia Briggs. “In the supernatural realms, there are creatures who belong to winter. I am not one of them. But like the coyote I can become at will, I am adaptable. My name is Mercy Thompson Hauptman, and my mate, Adam, is the werewolf who leads the Columbia Basin Pack, the pack charged with keeping the people who live and work in the Tri-Cities of Washington State safe. It’s a hard job, and it doesn’t leave much room for side quests. Which is why when I needed to travel to Montana to help my brother, I intended to go by myself.”
This is another series that I love and preorder every single one! I listen to books while I’m going to sleep, and because I’ve listened to all of them so many times they are often my going-to-bed books. They take place in the Pacific Northwest, mostly in Eastern Washington and in Montana. When I visited Mercy’s hometown on a trip, I was pretty geeked out with joy! This one was really fun; an adventure in the snow - which I really REALLY enjoyed as I slept in my hammock in the 100 degree temperatures. Yay: snow!
If you have read books that you loved this year, or read a series that you loved - share it! I’m always looking for more book ideas. And if you haven’t read much that was interesting lately - dive into something. No pressure to read 500 books; just find a couple that are fun and get into it.
Happy end of year! Happy reading! And let’s enjoy a new year, and a new opportunity to find exciting new books!!!