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What I Read in 2024

Best book of 2024: The Women by Kristin Hannah

Overall favorite fiction book of 2024: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Overall favorite nonfiction book of 2024: White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad

Overall favorite romance of 2024: Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Quick stats: 

  • # of books read: 110
  • format breakdown: 47% print, 31% audiobook, 22% print
  • most-read genre: romance (37%)
  • average star rating: 3.8

my favorite reads • reading stats

FIVE-STAR READS

  • Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake
  • Cover Story by Susan Rigetti
  • Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
  • Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
  • How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety by Ellen Hendrikson
  • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
  • You, with a View by Jessica Joyce
  • Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa
  • White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad
  • The Women by Kristin Hannah
  • All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
  • Planes, Trains, and All the Feels by Livy Hart
  • Go as a River by Shelley Read
  • Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
  • The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
  • Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
  • This Spells Love by Kate Robb
  • Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg
  • Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
  • Act Like It by Lucy Parker
  • What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
  • At First Spite by Olivia Dade
  • The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
  • Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
  • The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
  • Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
  • When in Rome by Sarah Adams
  • Ready or Not by Cara Bastone
  • Pretty Face by Lucy Parker
  • Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman
  • The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
  • The Wedding People by Alison Espach

FOUR-STAR READS

  • Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory
  • White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind by Koa Beck
  • The Honest Enneagram: Know Your Type, Own Your Challenges, Embrace Your Growth by Sarajane Case
  • Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale
  • Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
  • Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan
  • The Art of Scandal by Regina Black
  • A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
  • Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks
  • The Seven-Year Slip by Ashley Poston
  • The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford
  • Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
  • The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline
  • Heartbreaker by Sarah MacLean
  • Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
  • About That Night by Julie James
  • The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher
  • The Comeback by Lily Chu
  • A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
  • Knockout by Sarah MacLean
  • Victim by Andrew Boryga
  • Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
  • Zorrie by Laird Hunt
  • A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
  • Love Irresistibly by Julie James
  • Finley Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano
  • Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
  • The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson
  • The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
  • Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
  • His & Hers by Alice Feeney
  • The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
  • A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas
  • You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
  • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
  • Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
  • Funny Story by Emily Henry
  • It Happened One Wedding by Julie James
  • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
  • Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano
  • The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
  • The Spectacular by Fiona Davis
  • Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams
  • The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
  • The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak
  • Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
  • Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor
  • You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto

THREE-STAR READS

  • The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
  • This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens
  • The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley
  • How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly
  • The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian
  • Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
  • Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
  • Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
  • All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay
  • I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
  • An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera
  • The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle
  • The End of Her by Shari Lapena
  • The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
  • Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradel
  • Humor Me by Cat Shook
  • The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith
  • The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
  • Suddenly One Summer by Julie James
  • A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd
  • The Fall Back Plan by Melanie Jacobson

TWO-STAR READS

  • Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen
  • Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
  • The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi
  • What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
  • The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
  • The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett
  • Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
  • Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams
  • The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | July 2024

Books

In July, I read 8 books. My favorite was This Spells Love by Kate Robb and my least favorite was What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall. Some other stats:

  • 88% fiction, 12% nonfiction
  • 3 print, 2 e-books, 3 audiobooks
  • 3.9 average star rating
  • 12% diverse
  • Abandoned books: 3 (The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney, and Family Family by Laurie Frankel)

This Spells Love by Kate Robb (print, owned)  ★★★★★ | The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson (audiobook, library) ★★★★☆ | Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (print, owned) ★★★☆☆ | Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert (e-book, library) ★★★☆☆ | Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg (audiobook, Spotify) ★★★★★ | Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez (e-book, library) ★★★★★ | What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall (audiobook, library) ★★☆☆☆ | The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (print, owned) ★★★★☆

Media

  • Big Brother – It’s summertime so I am all about Big Brother once again! I am loving this season so far. It’s been delightfully messy with lots of complex houseguests—and there’s even a local guy on the show, so that’s been fun!
  • The Paris Olympics – Like the rest of the world, I’ve been enjoying the Paris Olympics! I have been deeply invested in gymnastics and it’s been really fun to watch Simone do her thing. Mostly, I’ve been watching the primetime coverage on Peacock, although every now and then I’ll turn on a random sport to watch (like women’s rugby). And now it’s track and field’s time to shine, and I am really enjoying watching those races!
  • Survivor: Tocantins – I’m trying to watch older seasons of Survivor to familiarize myself with people and storylines that are still talked about today. I decided on Tocantins (which is season 18 and released in 2009) because one of my favorite current Survivor podcast co-hosts, Stephen Fishbach, was on that season and it was so much fun to watch him play!
  • Two Guys, Five Rings (podcast) – This has been a pretty fun podcast to listen to! It’s hosted by Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers and talks about all different Olympics topics. It was a little more active before the Olympics surprisingly, but has a fun, light-hearted feel.

On The Friendship Paradox, we came back from our summer break with three great episodes in July. We released episodes about the Predictive Index Assessment, subtypes of the enneagram, and how personality plays into our food choices.

Buying

  • Cordless vacuum ($100) – This purchase was so worth breaking my No-Spend July rules. I am so happy with it! It’s so nice to be able to zoom around my apartment with it and collect all of the cat hair and dirt that accumulates in my little apartment.
  • Can opener ($8) – A boring purchase but when my can opener broke near the end of No-Spend July, I immediately purchased a new one on Amazon. I really like it – and I got it in a fun color (pink).

Moments

In July, I met up with two friends twice for hair color night! The three of us have been going to the same (very expensive) salon for many years and it’s time to start cutting back on expenses, so we decided to learn how to color each other’s hair. It’s been so fun! Our first time around, we messed up so many things. We didn’t have a proper cape to protect K’s clothes, we only had one pair of gloves to use between two of us (so we left with very stained hands and arms!), we didn’t have clips to keep hair separated. We had a lot of learning to do, but judging from the photo above, we had a lot of fun doing it! Plus, K’s hair came out great and I might have a new future as a hair stylist? We decided that my name would be the Silent Stylist because you could come to me and just read your book while I colored your hair. Ha! I am hoping to get my hair colored at our new “salon” this month, so hopefully it goes just as well!

I love this picture of the three of us! For my mom’s birthday, we went to The Candle Pour to make candles (I made a coffee-scented candle that smells divine) and then went out for dinner and ice cream. It was such a great afternoon/evening with my favorite people!

I had a fun day at the dog beach with my favorite doggos! They are not huge water dogs so we brought out the float so they could hang out in the water but be protected from the scary ocean! Lucy spent most of her time on the float barking at all the birds. While on the beach itself, Chip enjoyed exploring and meeting all the other dogs. Lucy stayed by our setup and barked at any dog who tried to get close. (I’m more of a Lucy than a Chip.)

I had my CPAP Titration Sleep Study done in July and my doctor has ordered an APAP machine for me to use at night. APAP stands for automatic positive air pressure and differs from a CPAP in that it adjusts the pressure automatically throughout the night as my breathing patterns change. I am still unsure if this will also help the blood oxygen issues I had while on the CPAP machine at the sleep clinic, which is a question I need to ask my doctor about. But at least I have some therapy headed my way soon!

Mikaela treated me to my first pedicure in over a year! I used to get them regularly but then I started dealing with ingrown toenails, which made getting pedicures very unpleasant! While I still hate when they scrub the bottom of my feet to remove all of my dead skin (I’m so ticklish!!), but it’s so nice to have painted toes again.

What’s the best book you read in July? What was a highlight of your month?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.24.24)

The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2021

Short synopsis: Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother.

This was such a lovely little book. It was the audiobook I chose after slogging through Detransition, Baby. I needed something light-hearted and sweet, and this novel absolutely fit the bill. I loved June so much. Her character growth throughout the novel, as she found her voice and learned to stand up for what she believed in, was beautiful and I was rooting for her all along the way. I loved the eclectic cast of characters that accompanied her throughout the journey, and the emphasis on libraries and the way they become community centers for so many people. Libraries are so much more than places to borrow books. They are places for people to access the Internet, for kids to have a safe space to do their homework, etc. I loved this book and it would be a great addition to anyone’s TBR—it’s a good book to pick up the next time you need a palate cleanser!

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (★★★☆☆)

Print • Owned (indie bookstore) • Mystery • 1942

Short synopsis: It was an open and shut case. All the evidence said Caroline Crale poisoned her philandering husband, a brilliant painter. She was quickly and easily convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Now, sixteen years later, in a posthumous letter, Mrs. Crale has assured her grown daughter that she was innocent. So, Caroline calls on Hercule Poirot to open the case and find out what really happened.

This was such a unique story! I appreciated what Agatha Christie was trying to do with this mystery—to show us how our perception of an event can be drastically different based on our biases. Unfortunately, it started to feel a bit repetitive when the same story was being told over and over again. I also found the mystery at the heart of the novel to be a bit hard to follow at times, but maybe that was the purpose because it wasn’t until the end of the novel that I could fully grasp what had happened. In this novel, there are five important players (aside from the victim, Mr. Crale, and the assumed murderer, Mrs. Crale): two friends of Mr. and Mrs. Crale who were around on the day of the poisoning, Mr. Crale’s mistress, Mrs. Crale’s younger sister, and the sister’s governess. Hercule meets with each one to get their side of the story and then asks them to write down their knowledge of the events. The result is a story that is told over and over again, and left me feeling rather bored by the plot. The ending was a bit convoluted and not as satisfying as I had hoped. But, hey, not every Christie novel can be a slam dunk, right?

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert (★★★☆☆)

E-Book • Library • YA • 2023

Short synopsis: Bradley and Celine are former best friends who had a falling out when they started high school and Brad abandoned her for the “cool kids.” (Or at least, that’s how she sees it.) When Celine signs up for a survival course that comes with a college scholarship, she’s surprised more than anyone to see Brad right by her side. As this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?

I was a little surprised that this was a YA romance because, so far, all of the Talia Hibbert books I’ve read have been adult. But I do love a good YA romance so I quickly got over my surprise and settled in for a cute read. It was an enemies-to-lovers trope and I loved the rapport between Bradley and Celine when they were enemies. They were so mean to each other (but not in a problematic way); they were so funny, though! I didn’t care all that much for the survival course scenes (they were kind of boring) and thought the chemistry between Bradley and Celine was just so-so. I liked the themes explored in this novel, especially because Celine is estranged from her father and I could wholly relate to her desire to show him what he’s missing out on. (And for Engie: No teens having sex in this novel!)

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (2.12.25)

Good Material by Dolly Alderton (★★★☆☆)

Audiobook • Spotify • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: After Andy’s long-term girlfriend Jen breaks up with him, he is heartbroken and adrift. As he pieces together their past, he may finally learn that love stories have more than one ending.

I would give the first 90% of this book 1.5 stars and the final 10% of the book 5 stars. This book is mainly about Andy pining after his ex-girlfriend and doing increasingly weird things to try to figure out where their relationship went wrong (very weird: meeting with a therapist to pretend to be Jen to see what kind of advice the therapist would give him). The last chapters of the book switch to Jen’s perspective and oh, that’s when things got so interesting! I loved being in Jen’s head and learning more about what she was thinking in the days and weeks leading up to the breakup and her reasons for the breakup. I could wholly relate to Jen and I wanted more from her. I don’t know why the author decided to spend 300+ pages in the head of a sad white male comedian who was just so bland. At the very least, she could have made him slightly funny but we didn’t even get any good jokes out of him! Ugh. I don’t know if this was a gender-switching sort of thing (instead of the man being the one to break up with the woman and the woman being heartbroken, we get the male perspective), but it just didn’t work for me. (2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.)

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston (★★★☆☆)

E-Book • Library • Contemporary Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: Two estranged exes, Theo and Kit, accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and challenge each other to a hookup competition to prove they’re over each other—except their old feelings refuse to stay in the past. 

This is a steamy, steamy book, my friends. Please steer clear if you don’t love open-door romances because this book had a little bit of everything: straight sex, gay sex, sex toys, threesomes… whew. This is a book about finding yourself after a lifetime of feeling less than perfect. It’s also a book of second-chance love and taking the brave act of putting your heart back into the hands of someone who hurt you deeply. The book is split into two sections: the first half of the European tour, which we get from Theo’s perspective, and the second half from Kit’s perspective. I enjoyed being in Kit’s head much more than Theo’s, and perhaps that’s because they finally admitted their feelings for one another. Before they did that, this book was a straight-up orgy of them hooking up with random people every night and trying to one-up the other. It was fairly exhausting! But once they came together as a couple, swoon. I just loved everything about it! I also could have done without all of the long descriptions of food and wine and the places they were visiting, but I imagine that is a huge highlight for other people. I just find all of that pretty boring so I skimmed a lot of it. All in all, not my favorite romance but a solid one.

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (★★★★★)

Print • Owned • YA • 2020

Short synopsis: After their father dies in a plane crash, Camino in the Dominican Republic and Yahaira in New York discover they are sisters, forcing them to navigate grief, family secrets, and their newfound connection.

This was a novel-in-verse, which is what Elizabeth Acevedo is known for. I’ve read another book by her (The Poet X – also 5 stars) and I am just consistently impressed with the way she’s able to create a complex, compelling narrative through poetry. There was so much happening in this book – grief and poverty and lies and trauma and queerness and culture and love – and somehow this author weaves all of it together in such a beautiful way. These two young girls are navigating the hardest loss of their lives (their father) without knowing that they are sisters, and when they do learn about each other and begin the tentative work of exploring a new relationship together, it’s magical. I just loved this book from beginning to end.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (12.9.24)

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak (★★★☆☆)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Thriller • 2024

Short synopsis: Frank Szatowski is stunned when his estranged daughter invites him to her wedding, only to discover she’s marrying into a wealthy tech family, and he must navigate his discomfort and uncover unsettling secrets while trying to reconnect with her. 

I’ve been on the record that Jason Rekulak’s novel, Hidden Pictures, is one of the worst thrillers I’ve read (although everyone raves about it). But I wanted to give him a second chance when everyone was raving about this novel. And I just need to accept that Rekulak’s writing is not for me. While this novel wasn’t quite as bad as Hidden Pictures, it still wasn’t very good with a deeply unsatisfying ending. Parts of this novel were appropriately creepy (as anything involving a billionaire family and a destination wedding at their property would be!) and I was definitely turning pages quickly to find out what was really happening with this odd family. And it was a shocking reveal, so I’ll give the author props for that! But once the reveal happened, the plot fizzled for me. The pacing of the novel slowed down and I couldn’t see where the author was going with the ending. I also found just about everyone in the novel (even Frank) to be wholly unlikable and that made it hard to find anyone to root for. A lackluster thriller, in my opinion, but your mileage may vary.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Little Free Library) • Contemporary Romance • 2021

Short synopsis: Olive Smith, a Ph.D. candidate who doesn’t believe in love, pretends to date her arrogant professor, Adam Carlsen, so that her best friend Anh will feel comfortable dating Jeremy, a guy Olive dated for a few weeks. (Anh doesn’t want to break girlcode to date Jeremy, but Olive has zero feelings for him.) But as their fake relationship deepens, Olive unexpectedly falls for Adam, complicating her career and heart.

For some reason, this very popular romance hasn’t been on my TBR list because I thought it had very mixed reviews. (It has a 4.1 star rating with 1.5 million reviews, so I was mistaken!) I saw it in a Little Free Library earlier this year so I picked it up for myself. And I was delighted by it! It was so much fun and smart and I just adored the relationship between Olive and Adam. It was a bit of the grumpy/sunshine trope because, as a professor, Adam is not very well-liked by his students because he’s a bit brusque in his critiques. And Olive is a happy-go-lucky Ph.D. student who breaks down his walls. I loved the friendships in this novel (including the male friendships!) and also really enjoyed how the author explored demisexuality and how everyone’s sex drives can be different. I just really enjoyed this novel. It was a satisfying romance.

Humor Me by Cat Shook (★★★☆☆)

Audiobook • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: Presley Fry, a jaded assistant at the Late Night Show, finds solace in the stand-up comedy world but struggles with her mother’s loss. When her late mother’s best friend, Susan, introduces her to her son Lawrence, Presley is forced to confront her emotional walls, discovering that laughter and unexpected connections may offer healing and new possibilities.

This book is essentially a love letter to New York City. It should also be a love letter for therapy because omg does Presley Fry need therapy more than any character I’ve ever met. This girl is depressed to the max, and she needs to deal with her grief, her avoidant attachment style, and her traumatic childhood with a licensed therapist. Instead, Presley does not get therapy. She deals with her grief with an unhealthy attachment to a coworker, throwing herself into her work, and avoiding any semblance of healthy friendship. I wanted so much more from Presley, but she was very hard to like and I think the author did a disservice with her character. Read this book if you love NYC and stand-up comedy, but not if you’re looking for character growth. (2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.)

What are you reading?