Books Read in 2024

The full list and a few standouts

Looking back over the books I read in 2024, I was surprised how many 5-star books there were. In an effort to leave my comfort zone at least every once in a while, I wound up reading some really great poetry, graphic novels, science fiction, non-fiction, and Russian classics.

Below you’ll find the full list as well as some quick synopses of three of my favorites.

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The Cream of the Crop

Do Not Sell at Any Price is a glimpse into the secretive, competitive, often-antisocial world of 78 rpm record collectors. Prior to the introduction of vinyl LPs in the 1940s, music was sold on fragile 10 inch shellac discs that played at 78 revolutions per minute. Although she begins the book an outsider looking in, author Amanda Petrusich quickly eschews any pretense of objectivity, drinks the Kool Aid, and finds herself resolved to kickstart her own 78 collection. A brilliant piece of non-fiction that raises intriguing questions about the difference between physical and digital music, the allure of rare objects, white mythologizing of Black musicians, the effects of neurobiology and gender on collecting, the roles public and private archives play in the preservation of American culture, and many more fascinating topics.

Grey Bees is a novel set in the “grey zone” of Ukraine’s Donbas region during the Russo-Ukrainian war that resulted from Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Despite everyone in his village having fled (save his childhood bully, Pashka), divorced bee keeper Sergey Sergeyich has remained and tried his best to maintain a semblance of normal life. But, as spring arrives, he embarks on a search for a place his bees can do their job in peace. Sergey finds himself on a road trip to Russian-controlled Crimea where he encounters great generosity, frustratingly bureaucratic checkpoints, and even a bit of romance. Introspective, gentle, and often funny— Grey Bees reminds the reader that while war often appears intense, violent, and full of action; the daily reality for the local population is often better characterized by confusion, boredom, and absurdity.

The Violent Bear it Away is a Southern Gothic novel by Flannery O’Connor. In high school, I had to write pages and pages of literary analysis for O’Connor short stories so reading this book for pleasure and leaving the margins bare helped heal my inner child. This book tells the story of an orphan named Francis Tarwater who was kidnapped and raised by his great-uncle Mason Tarwater— a religious zealot and self-ordained prophet who has prepared Francis to take his place upon his death. However, when the day of Mason’s death arrives, Francis flees to the city to visit his uncle Rayber— the anti-religious schoolteacher resolved to deprogram him. As Francis is torn between the teachings of Mason and Rayber, he finds that the key to his own destiny lies with Rayber’s son, Bishop.

5 Stars ★★★★★

• Taste of Cherry - Kara Candito

• A Ballet of Lepers - Leonard Cohen

• The Blind Owl - Sadegh Hedayat

• Motherthing - Ainslie Hogarth

• Grey Bees - Andrey Kurkov

• The Monk - Matthew Lewis

• The Violent Bear It Away - Flannery O’Connor

• Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records - Amanda Petrusich

• Chilean Poet - Alejandro Zambra

4 Stars ★★★★

• The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

• Bloodchild and Other Stories - Octavia E. Butler

• Nestlings - Nat Cassidy

• Our Share of Night - Mariana Enríquez

• The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

• Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir - Tessa Hulls

• Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan

3 Stars ★★★

• Ubik - Philip K. Dick

• Poemas de amor - Pablo Neruda

• Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse - Alexander Pushkin

• Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut

• The Book of the Dun Cow - Walter Wangerin Jr.

2 Stars ★★

• Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather

• Bad Cree - Jessica Johns

• Lanny - Max Porter

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Did you receive any books for the holidays that you’re excited to read? What was your favorite book that you read this year?