Thank you for the fantastic list! I love getting lost in a novel, and reading more of them is helping me finish writing the first draft of my own, so I will add a bunch of these to my list. :)
Here are some of my favorites (fiction and nonfiction) for 2024:
Robinson, Roxana, Cost (2008). What an incredible undertaking and story by one of my favorite authors. Robinson has a unique talent for moving from one character’s private thoughts and insights to several others. This is a family story, one way too common today and only growing exponentially as more and more people become entangled in the deadly web of drug addiction. Julia and Wendell are divorced but share their deep concerns and engagement in the lives of their two adult sons. When concerns about the youngest, Jack, arise, a family often distant with each other, somewhat detached, comes together in a common cause and step into a world so alien to them that each member struggles with coming to terms with it. Highly recommend! (R2024)
Rushdie, Salman, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder (2024). Finally, Salman Rushdie felt safe, free from the fatwa that had threatened his life after his book Satanic Verses came out and he needed to go into hiding. But on the morning of August 12, 2022, as he rose to address a substantial crowd at Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, a man in black wielding a knife rushed the stage and hacked, slashed, and tried his best to murder the author. This is his response, his experiences as he barely survived and had to deal with a loss of his right eye and many other medical emergencies. Trauma. How we are changed by it, for better or worse. What we become following an experience that shakes us to our core. An interesting read. (R2024)
Mockett, Marie Mutsuki, The Tree Doctor (2024). What a delightful book! The unnamed narrator of this story returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother just as the covid pandemic begins. She leaves her husband and two daughters behind in their home in Hong Kong thinking she’ll soon be reunited with them or they can fly out to be with her in the US. Her Japanese mother declines and must be moved to a facility and the world goes into lockdown, with everything closing, including businesses and borders, and she must hunker down in her childhood home. She becomes preoccupied with the multi-faceted beauty and care of her mother’s garden, including a dormant cherry tree she calls “Einstein.” In the long months of the pandemic, she teaches her Japanese students via zoom, discovers a passionate self she’d thought lost forever, and refurbishes her mother’s garden. The time alone allows her to evaluate her previous life, free herself sexually, and rediscover what has real meaning in her life. (R2024)
Goodwin, Doris Kearns, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s (2024). Doris Kearns Goodwin has top credentials as a historian, particularly as a presidential historian. Her first book was Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, followed by the Pulitzer Prize-winner No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Homefront in WWII. Many more followed as well as a History Channel docuseries that she executive produced. This is the first of her books that I have read and it is right up there with the best I’ve read about politics in the 1960s. As with all of her books, this one is fully and carefully researched and annotated. Her husband Richard Goodwin played a critical behind-the-scenes role as a key speechwriter in both John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson’s administrations. As I always say, words matter, and his brought profound speeches to both presidents’ speeches as they worked to pass some of the most important social accomplishments in US history on civil rights, voting rights, and other social net protections for every citizen. This is not a dry recitation of events; it’s filled with important backstories to these administrations that still have resonance in these chaotic times. I feel it sets the scene for where we are today and highly recommend it, especially for those wondering how we got here and how we get back on track with US goals and dreams. https://doriskearnsgoodwin.com/ (R2024)
Moore, Liz, The God of the Woods (2024). In August 1975 a camp counselor discovers that one of the girls in her group is not in her bunk. After an extensive in-camp search, worries mount. Barbara isn’t one of the regular 13-year-old campers, she is the daughter of the very wealthy Van Laar family, owners and supporters of the entire camp property and surrounding woods. As a broader search proves unproductive, panic and chaos mount and law enforcement, investigator Judyta Luptack among them, arrive on the scene. Soon people are telling Luptack that Barbara’s brother, 8-year-old Bear, also disappeared without a trace ten years earlier. Moore keeps us guessing as she agilely switches back and forth between time periods and various key characters, ultimately bringing the action to a surprising and dramatic conclusion. (R2024)
Love Hello Beautiful and Home Baked. I will check out your other recos. I agree that Libby is wonderful -- so grateful to have this resource from my local library. If I really want something on audio and there's a long wait on Libby, I buy the audiobook from libro.fm, which supports indie bookstores -- so that is another option.
When Breath Becomes Air (You've probably read/listened to this. I loved it) by Paul Kalmanthi, Horse by Geralding Brooks. Thanks for your list! My Libby hold list is full, but I added yours to my list!
Thank you for the fantastic list! I love getting lost in a novel, and reading more of them is helping me finish writing the first draft of my own, so I will add a bunch of these to my list. :)
Here are some of my favorites (fiction and nonfiction) for 2024:
Robinson, Roxana, Cost (2008). What an incredible undertaking and story by one of my favorite authors. Robinson has a unique talent for moving from one character’s private thoughts and insights to several others. This is a family story, one way too common today and only growing exponentially as more and more people become entangled in the deadly web of drug addiction. Julia and Wendell are divorced but share their deep concerns and engagement in the lives of their two adult sons. When concerns about the youngest, Jack, arise, a family often distant with each other, somewhat detached, comes together in a common cause and step into a world so alien to them that each member struggles with coming to terms with it. Highly recommend! (R2024)
Rushdie, Salman, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder (2024). Finally, Salman Rushdie felt safe, free from the fatwa that had threatened his life after his book Satanic Verses came out and he needed to go into hiding. But on the morning of August 12, 2022, as he rose to address a substantial crowd at Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, a man in black wielding a knife rushed the stage and hacked, slashed, and tried his best to murder the author. This is his response, his experiences as he barely survived and had to deal with a loss of his right eye and many other medical emergencies. Trauma. How we are changed by it, for better or worse. What we become following an experience that shakes us to our core. An interesting read. (R2024)
Mockett, Marie Mutsuki, The Tree Doctor (2024). What a delightful book! The unnamed narrator of this story returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother just as the covid pandemic begins. She leaves her husband and two daughters behind in their home in Hong Kong thinking she’ll soon be reunited with them or they can fly out to be with her in the US. Her Japanese mother declines and must be moved to a facility and the world goes into lockdown, with everything closing, including businesses and borders, and she must hunker down in her childhood home. She becomes preoccupied with the multi-faceted beauty and care of her mother’s garden, including a dormant cherry tree she calls “Einstein.” In the long months of the pandemic, she teaches her Japanese students via zoom, discovers a passionate self she’d thought lost forever, and refurbishes her mother’s garden. The time alone allows her to evaluate her previous life, free herself sexually, and rediscover what has real meaning in her life. (R2024)
Goodwin, Doris Kearns, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s (2024). Doris Kearns Goodwin has top credentials as a historian, particularly as a presidential historian. Her first book was Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, followed by the Pulitzer Prize-winner No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Homefront in WWII. Many more followed as well as a History Channel docuseries that she executive produced. This is the first of her books that I have read and it is right up there with the best I’ve read about politics in the 1960s. As with all of her books, this one is fully and carefully researched and annotated. Her husband Richard Goodwin played a critical behind-the-scenes role as a key speechwriter in both John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson’s administrations. As I always say, words matter, and his brought profound speeches to both presidents’ speeches as they worked to pass some of the most important social accomplishments in US history on civil rights, voting rights, and other social net protections for every citizen. This is not a dry recitation of events; it’s filled with important backstories to these administrations that still have resonance in these chaotic times. I feel it sets the scene for where we are today and highly recommend it, especially for those wondering how we got here and how we get back on track with US goals and dreams. https://doriskearnsgoodwin.com/ (R2024)
Moore, Liz, The God of the Woods (2024). In August 1975 a camp counselor discovers that one of the girls in her group is not in her bunk. After an extensive in-camp search, worries mount. Barbara isn’t one of the regular 13-year-old campers, she is the daughter of the very wealthy Van Laar family, owners and supporters of the entire camp property and surrounding woods. As a broader search proves unproductive, panic and chaos mount and law enforcement, investigator Judyta Luptack among them, arrive on the scene. Soon people are telling Luptack that Barbara’s brother, 8-year-old Bear, also disappeared without a trace ten years earlier. Moore keeps us guessing as she agilely switches back and forth between time periods and various key characters, ultimately bringing the action to a surprising and dramatic conclusion. (R2024)
Love Hello Beautiful and Home Baked. I will check out your other recos. I agree that Libby is wonderful -- so grateful to have this resource from my local library. If I really want something on audio and there's a long wait on Libby, I buy the audiobook from libro.fm, which supports indie bookstores -- so that is another option.
When Breath Becomes Air (You've probably read/listened to this. I loved it) by Paul Kalmanthi, Horse by Geralding Brooks. Thanks for your list! My Libby hold list is full, but I added yours to my list!