Melody's 2024 Reading

I started out the year with a 48-book goal and a mentality of grace. I didn’t want to strive for it. Just be chill.

Apparently chill is 74 books, the most I’ve read in a year since 2012.

How to account for this metoric rise?

My initial guess was a combined explanation of more print books (due to vacation time and improved time management) and more audiobooks. But let's look at the data.

Turns out, my print-book reading didn’t change much from last year! However, I did intentionally increase my audiobook reading this year--and it shows. I’m really grateful for the ability to adjust playback speed…for most of my life, audiobooks and I have had a tenuous relationship. The speaking speed of most narrators is slower than that of my thoughts, and this means I lose focus very quickly. Yay for 1.5x!

The e-book reading increase I don’t really have an explanation for, other than…I really love Libby. It’s is the most-used app on my phone on any given week, by far.

Shameless and apparently annual shout-out: The Libby app is available through your local library (yes, even yours). It allows you to borrow e-books, audiobooks, and even magazines for free. Every single e-book and audiobook I read in 2024 was free through Libby. To get started, visit your local library website or just walk in and ask them how to access their online library!

Okay. Let’s get to the books, shall we?

Fiction

Gold

The best fiction book of the year was Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. Literary fiction is not my typical genre, but I could not resist the passion of Emily McDonald Writes for this Pulitzer-prize winning book. The story doesn’t sugarcoat things, and I won’t either: set in the early waves of the opioid epidemic in Appalachia, it is a gritty and painful read. When it resonated with me, it resonated fiercely…when it challenged me, it challenged fiercely. There are moments and tragedies in this book that will stick with me forever, I think, additional lenses with which I now see the world.

A note on the fascinating story structure of this book, and one of the many reasons it was the best novel of my year. Most stories are at their darkest at the end of the second (of three) acts: the so-called “dark night of the soul.” In most books, the first two-thirds of the plot are nothing compared to this “all is lost” moment. However, while Demon Copperhead holds to this pattern on a technical level, it is (in my opinion) actually the first act where all feels lost. The second and third are the climbing out of the darkness and, finally, into the light.

Silver

I’ve had Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier, on my list for years, but at the urging (and “here borrow mine”) from K, I can finally say I’ve read it. If you like what I affectionately call “princess” books--those stories of clever heroines, descriptions of dresses, a dusting of magic, and a slow-burn or otherwise hidden romance--you’ve got to add this to your repertoire. But this isn’t on the list because it is a truly lovely addition to the princess genre.

Wildwood Dancing is here because I HAVE NEVER HATED A VILLAIN AS MUCH AS I HATED CEZAR. I’ve encountered a lot of villains in my reading, and honestly I don’t think I’ve ever responded to one so viscerally. Cezar is unique in his conviction: he patronizes and controls because of his genuine belief that he is better than Jena and her sisters. It was maddening, which made the ending that much more satisfying.

Bronze

In my quest to read more classics, I started out the year with All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, which I knew only by name. Published in 1928, it is the story of a young man’s experience fighting for Germany during World War I. “I did not expect it to be so very, very sad,” was my review at the time. “But in its sadness it was very, very good.” It’s a hard book to read, a slow testament to the horror of war and its effect on the soul. Remarque balances the in-the-moment world of trench warfare with the processing that occurs on leave and while reassigned.

All Quiet on the Western Front was written by a German author in Germany in the German language. Considered anti-war propaganda, the book was quickly banned in Germany and other European countries soon after its release. (The Nazis really didn’t like this book.) Remarque was himself a veteran of World War I, and it is said that All Quiet on the Western Front “created a new literary genre of veterans writing about conflict” (Wikipedia).

Non-Fiction

Just telling you in advance, it was very difficult to choose three here. I read some really good non-fiction this year.

Gold

Every time I start explaining how good this book was, I get that glazed-over gaze once I mention property law. But I promise! This book is so good! The authors of Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives use relevant examples and plain language to showcase the six ways we think about ownership. Which is “right” and which is “wrong”? What happens when they conflict with each other? How are they affecting every.single.thing? Forget the illuminati: property law explains it all.

Silver

It started as a simple to-read add from Christianity Today’s list of best books from 2023, and it turned out to be the most timely book I read in 2024. John Andrew Bryant’s A Quiet Mind to Suffer With: Mental Illness, Trauma, and the Death of Christ is part memoir, part musing. I could tell you it is the simple story of one pastor’s stay in the psych ward, but that would be a disservice to Bryant’s poetic and theologically grounded reflection on what it means to follow Jesus when your brain struggles to tell truth from lie. This is a beautiful book, and I highly recommend it.

Bronze

I sought out Dreamland, by Sam Quinones, after reading Demon Copperhead. There were gaps in my knowledge of the opioid epidemic that I wanted to fill. Quinones masterfully weaves together the stories of those involved--the dealers, the marketers, the doctors, the addicts--somehow able to humanize each person while unapologetically (and yet also somehow delicately) calling out evil. He is willing to spend time in the tension between victim and villain, willing to offer grace to repentant offenders, and the narrative is better for it. I couldn’t put Dreamland down, and I cried through its final, redemptive chapters.

Non-Fiction Categories

It was way too difficult to select those non-fiction winners. Allow me to share with you my top non-fiction books this year, by category. All of these, I heartily recommend if you have interest in the topic! (Above winners not included for space purposes.)

Adulthood

• The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Now, by Meg Jay

• Honorable Mention: If you are in your twenties or early thirties, or you know someone in that age, don’t wait. Read this now. I needed this. Jay respects her readers too much to pander to them.

• How to Keep House While Drowning, by K.C. Davis

Bible

• In the Bosom of Abraham: Reflections of a Gentile on the Fatherhood of Abraham and His God, by Amy Cogdell

• Honorable Mention: What a marvelous book. Amy is very wise, and the revelation she shares in this book gave me much comfort this year.

• Let God Be God: Life-Changing Truths from the Book of Job, by Ray C. Stedman

• The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy, by Timothy J. Keller

Church

• Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church, by Michael J. Kruger

• Honorable Mention: I deeply appreciated Kruger’s ability to engage this topic with maturity and Lord of the Rings references.

• Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works, by James K. A. Smith

Economy

• An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith

• Y’all. This was so long, but I will forever feel smarter because I can say I’ve read it.

Health

• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Besser van der Kolk

• Honorable Mention: In addition to learning about the titled topic, I learned a lot about the history of treating mental illness from this book.

• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, by Emily Nagoski

• Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free, by Caroline Williams

• The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, by Alex Korb

• Honorable Mention: This is one of the few books I’ve read on mental health that felt both science-based and attainable.

History

• The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim DeFede

• Honorable Mention: It’s true! It’s inspiring! It’s heartwarming! There’s a whole Broadway musical about it!

• Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History, by Nellie Bowles

• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand

• Honorable Mention: I’m very late to this, but it was as good or even better as everyone said. I love stories of redemption.

Memoir

• Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear, by Jinger Duggar Vuolo

• Beyond the Wand: The Magic & Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard, by Tom Felton

• Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated, by Alison Arngrim

• Counting the Cost, by Jill Duggar

• Fashion is Spinach, by Elizabeth Hawes

• Honorable Mention: This book was published in 1938, and fashion designer Hawes was so ahead of her time. She wittily argues against fast fashion, uncomfortable clothes, and celebrity trend-watching.

• Ghosted: An American Story, by Nancy French

• Honorable Mention: What a great title. Does it refer to how the Holy Ghost has moved (many times) in Nancy’s life? Or is it about the fractured friendships now common within the conservative sphere? Or is it about her experience as a ghostwriter? Yes, yes to all.

• The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store, by Cait Flanders

Closing

And that’s how I read 74 books in a year! You can take a look at all the books I read here, and if you want, you can friend me on Goodreads to keep up with my reading in 2025. I’m not planning to hit any crazy numbers, but neither was that my 2024 plan, so…