I wrote a draft of this where I explained why I read so few books this year in comparison to last year and the year before that. But I erased it because I don’t need to make excuses! Seventy-seven books is nothing to sneeze at!
Here’s the breakdown:
Thirteen audiobooks, three of which were excellent memoirs, though my favorite has to be From Here to the Great Unknown, by Riley Keough and Lisa Marie Presley. I’m not a big Elvis fan, but I thought the production and the shaping of the book was fascinating (and Julia Roberts does not disappoint).
About half of this year’s books were written by women/non-binary folks. A quarter of the total were written by people of color. As always, I aim to do better, and will in 2025.
On the list, there are only four books by Georges Simenon, which has to be an all-time low since I found him. The fact is, I’m running low on Maigret novels (at least those translated into English), and I discovered Alan Furst this year. His books are very different, but they take place in 1940s Europe and must scratch the itch. Six of this year’s books were written by him.
I’m proud to say that I read quite a few books this year put out by small, independent presses like Stanchion and ELJ Editions, written by friends (or at least, parasocial friends), including the lovely Something I Might Say by Stephanie Austin, and Wild Plums by Patricia Q. Bidar. I plan to include more small-press-published books on my list, and to review them, at least on this blog, in 2025.
This year’s all-time favorite was Yawn: Adventures in Boredom, by Mary Mann. It feels appropriate that this year’s favorite is a memoir, because I read a lot of them this year. Yawn does a lot more than a typical memoir as it explores the concept of boredom, and what being bored can do for us. I’d love to read more by Mary Mann, so Mary, if you’re reading this, please consider it!
My wish for 2025? More books, more words.