Books I Read in 2024

I keep thinking about reworking this list -- maybe even changing it to an academic year instead of calendar to more accurately reflect the topics of books I read -- but this is not the time for change. This is the time for taking an hour to do something that amuses me in between all of the other things of life. So be it.

As usual, I gave brief explanations when possible. I highlighted in green books that I especially loved, highlighted in blue books that my kids especially enjoyed, and highlighted in red books I do not recommend. Books we (or I) read as part of our history studies have one asterisk (*); books I listened to as audio are marked with two asterisks (**). Feel free to ask if you want more nuanced opinions on anything!

The Bible: the whole thing, using the M'Cheyne plan as found in the Be Thou My Vision liturgy

Christian Non-Fiction
Sacred Influence
Even Better Than Eden
**Hard is Not the Same Thing as Bad
Bumps, Babies, and the Gospel (for a friend, not me!)
Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship
God of All Things
The Great Sex Rescue

Adult Non-fiction
*,**Lives Like Loaded Guns (on Emily Dickinson -- so much unexpected drama!!)
*A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War (on Tolkien and Lewis and their WWI experience)
Humble Pi:  A Comedy of Math Errors (also recommended by Levi)
*,**Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder
**Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts
*The Demon of Unrest (on the Civil War)
Why Fish Don't Exist
*Renoir, My Father
I'll Have What She's Having (on Nora Ephron)
How to Stay Married

Adult Fiction
*Main Street (Sinclair Lewis)
*,**One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Russian gulag)
*,**James (retelling of Huck Finn)
Cloud Cuckoo Land
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #21-24
**The Island of Sea Women
**Tom Lake (narration by Meryl Streep is excellent, obviously)
**The Thursday Murder Club #1
**Wuthering Heights
**Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey #1)
**A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock #1)
Abigail (Magda Szabo)
**China Dolls
**Lessons in Chemistry
**The Enchanted April
Lady Clementine
**A Disappearance in Fiji
**The Diamond Eye (Kate Quinn)
Britt-Marie was Here
The Women of Brewster Place
Book of the Dun Cow
The Silver Chalice (early church historical fiction)
Note: While I liked several of these, I didn't really love any of them. Tom Lake and Lady Sherlock were probably my favorites from this list.

High School Non-Fiction
*,**Flowers in the Gutter (teenage resistance in Nazi Germany)
**Longitude (literally, the discovery of longitude . . . recommended to me by Levi)
The Disappearing Spoon (on chemistry -- really fascinating)
A Field Guide to Lies

Big kid reading to his little sister 🥰

High School American Literature (roughly 1800-1915)
Seeds of America trilogy (L.H. Anderson)
**Tales of the Alhambra (Washington Irving)
**Moby Dick
Uncle Tom's Cabin
**The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Red Pony (Steinbeck)
**Daisy Miller (Henry James)
The House of Mirth (Edith Wharton)
**The Great Gatsby

Reading is so frequently a group activity here. 

Middle-Grade Non-Fiction
*The Faithful Spy (Bonhoeffer, also recommended by Silas and Toby)
*They Called Us Enemy (recommended by Toby, but take note of a few brief mature themes)
*,**Boy on the Wooden Box (Schindler's list, recommended by Silas and Mom agrees)
*One Last Word (Harlem Renaissance)
Extra Life: Young Reader's Version (science)
*On the Way Home (Laura Ingalls Wilder, recommended by Owen, who loves most LIW)
The Ultimate Guy's Body Book
*Lifting As We Climb (black women's suffrage)
*The Woman's Hour (women's suffrage)
*Lincoln's Last Days (assassination)
*Iron Thunder (Civil War, recommended by Owen and Silas)
The Radical Book for Kids
*Race to the Bottom of the Earth (Antarctic exploration)

Books for Teens (meaning my preference is for 12+, but my 11yo has read most)
Stowaway/Homebound (sci-fi)
**Wildwood Chronicles (fantasy, recommended by Toby but some dark themes)
*In Search of Honor (French revolution)
Beast Rider (Mexican-Americans)
Ground Zero (Alan Gratz, a new favorite historical fiction author for tween/teen boys)
Time Traveling with a Hamster (just a bit of light language)
Once a Queen (fantasy)
In the Hall of the Dragon King (just not that well written)
Defiant (Brandon Sanderson's Skyward series, book 4)
A First Time for Everything
The Rithmatist (fantasy; we all loved it but are irritated by the lack of a sequel!)
The Case of the Left-Handed Lady (Enola Holmes)
*Hattie Big Sky (Montana pioneer life)
Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place (the story is silly but the characters are delightful)
Calvin (schizophrenic teen -- for older readers)
Seaward (Susan Cooper fantasy)
The Monkey who Fell from the Future
*Stay Where You Are and Then Leave (WWI)
*Love to Everyone (WWI)
Orbiting Jupiter/Jupiter Rising
*Winterkill (Stalin-era Ukraine)
*,**The Boy Who Dared (WWII Germany)
*Salt to the Sea (WWII Poland, Lithuania)
*The Librarian of Auschwitz graphic novel (some mature images)

Middle Grade Fiction (meaning my preference is for 9+)
*Alone Yet Not Alone (colonial America/Native Americans)
Erik vs. Everything (recommended by Silas and Toby, and Mom agrees)
The Lost Library
*Amos Fortune, Free Man
The Prince and the Blight (Dream Keeper's Saga book 2, Silas recommends the whole series thus far)
**Cookies and Milk (fictionalized account of the creation of Famous Amos cookies)
*Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (Civil War)
*Not-So-Boring Letters of Private Nobody (Civil War)
*,**Yonder (WWII, but from a distance, recommended by Levi)
Shadow of a Bull
Sasquatch (Roland Smith is a favorite author for tween/teen boys, recommended by Silas)
*The River Between Us (Civil War)
*Red Moon at Sharpsburg (Civil War)
*An Acquaintance with Darkness (Civil War)
*The Storm Before Atlanta (Civil War)
Nothing Else but Miracles
The Book Scavenger
*,**Elijah of Buxton (Civil War)
The Many Assassinations of Samir, Seller of Dreams (recommended by Toby)
The Sweetest Sound
Loot and Sting (2-book series)
The Light in the Forest (Native Americans)
The Girl Who Could Fly/The Boy Who Knew Everything (we mostly agree that the sequel disappointed)
**Glitch (Laura Martin is a favorite author here, mostly fantasy/sci-fi, recommended by Silas)
Mister Max series (Cynthia Voigt)
**Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs
**The Van Gogh Deception (and two sequels: we all liked the first, but I think each book got dumber)
**The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain
*One Big Open Sky (western migration)
The Most Perfect Thing in the Universe
*,**The Great Trouble (London cholera epidemic)
Wander Lost (recommended by Levi, Silas, and Toby)
*The Devil's Arithmetic (WWII)
Final Word (spelling-bee themed mystery)
*Iceberg (Titanic historical fiction, recommended by Silas)
*,**Lines of Courage (WWI, recommended by Silas)
The Secret Language of Birds (HIGHLY recommended by Owen)
*Dragonwings (Chinese-American California, recommended by Owen)
*May B. (pioneer life)
El Deafo
*The Storm in the Barn (Great Depression graphic novel, but with a slightly scary twist)
*,**War Horse (WWI)
The Cloak Society (three-book series)
The Minor Miracle (recommended by Silas)
*,**Two Roads (post-WWI, Great Depression)
*The Lost Year (Stalin-era Ukraine, recommended by Owen)
Found (Margaret Peterson Haddix fantasy, recommended by Silas)
*,**Allies (Alan Gratz)
*,**Enemies in the Orchard (WWII POW in America)
*,**Adam and Thomas (WWII)
*The Victory Garden (WWII, recommended by Levi)
*,**A Place to Belong (WWII Japan)
*The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
*Shadow on the Mountain (WWII Norway, also recommended by Toby)

Choose-your-own-adventures were all the rage this fall, 

including a whole set of WWII interactive books. 

Upper Elementary Chapter Books (for strong 7-10yo readers)
Cody and the Fountain of Happiness
The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic
The Boy, the Cloud, and the Very Tall Tale
*The Captain's Dog (Lewis & Clark expedition)
The Wild Robot Protects (#3 in the series, we recommend the whole series)
Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The Next President (picture book overview of presidents past)
Ferris (Kate DiCamillo)
*The Great Wheel (building of the Ferris wheel)
Almost Super/Searching for Super (Calvin's favorite this year)
*,**Rascal (also recommended by Calvin)
*,**Twenty and Ten (WWII France)

In her room tent reading B is for Betsy 🥰🥰

Read-Alouds (whole family or just Calvin and Tessa)
All-of-a-Kind Family
The Ogress and the Orphans (my favorite read of 2023, which we listened to a 2024 road trip)
The Phantom Tollbooth
Wishtree
Wind in the Willows
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Julie of the Wolves
True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp (my #1 favorite read of the year, unanimously approved)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (recommended by Calvin)
*Strawberry Girl (Lois Lenski)
*Blue Willow (Great Depression)

Looking very long here, reading Calvin & Hobbes for the first time 😍

We're still in the middle of our World War II book challenge, so next year's list will have even more from that time period! I should mention that Levi read a lot of books this year that I didn't, both historical fiction and fantasy, so if you need teen boy recommendations, let me know and I'll have him make a list. 

I'm contemplating a switch from Goodreads to Storygraph . . . anybody have an opinion on that? 

Happy reading!