There are a million places to find professional book reviews. Mine are decidedly non-professional; they’re really just short bursts of what hit me hardest or tickled me pinkest or made me wish most ardently that I had an actual book club. My star ratings are imprecise and subject to change:
I loved this book! Let’s gush about it!
This was great! Lots to talk about! Let’s meet up for beers!
This was good! So glad I read it. And you?
Meh. Or did I miss something?
Actively disliked. How sad!
I loved so many of the books I read in 2024!
Demon Copperhead
| Barbara Kingsolver
Read: Dec. 2024, finished at Chris and Nan’s in Upstate NY on Dec. 31
Rated:
Reviewed: Geez, Barbara Kingsolver! This only covers about 20 years, but it reads like an epic saga. Kingsolver doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to diving deep into the pain of a downward spiral, but somehow she conveys the beauty of life and human connection at the very same time.
Everything Sad Is Untrue
| Daniel Nayeri
Read: December 2024
Rated:
Reviewed: Can I just say… anyone who doesn’t give YA a fair shake is missing out. This is a beautiful, unique telling of an immigrant story, from the perspective of a middle school kid. Well, an adult narrator remembering his childhood. I’d recommend for the rumination on memory vs reality alone. Oh, and for the ferocity and tenderness of the kid for his “unstoppable” mother.
A Visit from the Goon Squad
| Jennifer Egan
Read: December 2024
Rated:
Reviewed: Oof. The plot can be a little hard to follow since it jumps all over the place in time, telling the overlapping stories of a slew of characters over a couple of generations. But if you’re in the mood to be gut-punched about the way time kicks everyone’s ass, in the end, don’t miss it.
Bel Canto
| Ann Patchett
Read: November 2024
Rated:
Reviewed: The world Patchett creates is so beautiful it hurts, in unexpected ways. I got so caught up in the spell of it that I wanted to stop 3/4 in, be suspended there.
The Puppets of Spelhorst
| Kate DiCamillo
Read: October 2024
Rated:
Reviewed: Everything Kate writes breaks my heart exquisitely. (Even her picture book, Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken.) She’s done it again here. Makes me wish I had a wide-eyed child to read aloud to.
Utopia Avenue
| David Mitchell
Read: October 2024 (bought a used copy at Green Apple on the way to meet Caiman at Hardly Strictly, which seemed fitting; finished while in Mass.)
Rated:
Reviewed: David Mitchell often blows my mind (Cloud Atlas, Jacob De Zoet!), but this one had lots of clunky bits.
What I Talk About…
| Haruki Murakami
Read: September 2024 (full title: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running)
Rated:
Reviewed: I really enjoy being inside Murakami’s head, as much as he’ll allow it.
The Ink Dark Moon
| Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu
Read: August 2024, leading up to our trip to Japan, where we walked the Kumano Kodo.
Rated:
Reviewed: Love poems by these two amazing Japanese women, around 840 AD (Ono) and 1000 AD (Izumi)
Tokyo Ueno Station
| Yu Muri
Read: July 2024, finished in Jersey – on our trip for Jesse’s wedding!
Rated:
Reviewed: So glad I found this little unique gem of a book! I was looking for something set in Tokyo and otherwise probably wouldn’t have come across this one. The narrator is the ghost of a man who became homeless and lived in Ueno Park.
South of the Border, West of the Sun
| Murakami
Read: July 2024, finished on the plane to Jersey
Rated:
Reviewed: So glad I found this little unique gem of a book! I was looking for something set in Tokyo and otherwise probably wouldn’t have come across this one. The narrator is the ghost of a man who became homeless and lived in Ueno Park.
To the Lighthouse
| Virginia Woolf
Rated:
Read: June 2024 (first read in college)
Nine Stories
| JD Salinger
Read: June 2024 (first read in high school)
Rated:
Prophet Song
| Paul Lynch
Read: May 2024
Rated:
Reviewed: OH MY GOD, THIS BOOK DESTROYED ME!! Russ had recommended it, and gave me no clue that there would be scenes I would hate to have to read, so freaking painful. I threw the book across the room at one point, my heart was ripped open. Deciding whether or not to finish the book was difficult, but I felt I needed to somehow, owed it to the characters, as silly as that seems. So I did, and I’m glad I did, but it wasn’t easy. I consider this the “BEST” book I read in 2024, but I recommend it with the caveat that if you get deep into books and feel them almost as if they’re real, especially if you are a mother, proceed with caution. Maybe I’ll go back and write a post about this one someday…
The Extinction of Irena Rey
| Jennifer Croft
Rated:
Read: May 2024
Reviewed: Loved the concept (the characters are all translators of fiction, and they’re investigating the disappearance of their “beloved author”), but it got convoluted and ended up feeling contrived.
How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart
| Florentina Leow
Rated:
Read: May 2024
Reviewed: Sweet collection of reflective essays on living in Kyoto, from the author’s perspective as a 20-something figuring out her life. A really great little thing to read before visiting Kyoto!
Northwoods
| Daniel Mason
Rated:
Read: April 2024
Reviewed: Another top book of the year for me (and Rusty, too)! It has stuck with both of us – some of the stories/scenes/characters, but also the overarching idea of how a place, a spit of land, has it’s own life, in a way, seasons coming and going, inhabitants living their varied lives and sometimes sticking around after they die, buildings developed, lived in, falling into disrepair. Beautiful, beautiful book!
The Gathering
| Anne Enright
Rated:
Read: March 2024 (picked up and read while in Rarotonga)
Reviewed: Pretty harrowing story about family. This one thing has stuck with me the most, I end up using it when conversation turns to aging: the main character sees this unremarkable middle aged man from a distance, writes him off, basically. But when he comes closer she sees he’s [INSERT NAME] from high school, and the age melts off him and he’s just [NAME], and it’s wonderful to see him.
The 1000 Autumns of Jacob De Zoet
| David Mitchell
Rated:
Read: February 2024 (Oahu and Rarotonga – and left it in Raro)
Reviewed: Yet another favorite of 2024. Loved nearly everything about this book. I’ll pick up another copy one day so we can have it in the house!
The Wager
| David Grann
Rated:
Read: February 2024 … for the first (and last?) convening of the Gingerpants Memorial Book Club
Reviewed: This non-fiction book reads like fiction (which I love best). I’ll always associate it with my mom, since this is the book my five sibs and I chose for the book club we attempted to establish in her honor. It was a blast, but have yet to pull a second meeting together (or even to agree on a second book). I suppose that’s one reason I decided to start this site — it’s such a hassle getting everyone on the same page!
Great Circle
| Maggie Shipstead
Rated:
Read: January 2024
Reviewed: Loved this book!
No Ordinary Assignment
| Jane Ferguson
Rated:
Read: January 2024
Reviewed: This is the memoir of journalist Jane Ferguson. I was fascinated by the whole thing, but especially her tale of breaking into her role as a war correspondent as a young woman. Intense!
Lessons in Chemistry
| Bonnie Garmus
Rated:
Read: January 2024
Reviewed: A really fun read!
If I Had a Book Club 