Books 2024: Part 1

2024 was my year to read! Wow, I even impressed myself. Audio books make such a difference. So although my physical reading speed may not be the fastest, (I don't think it ever was), I've still been able to enter many magical worlds and play movie filmstrips in my head for every book I've listened to. 

This year I read nearly 3x as many books as I did last year. They spanned all genres from fiction, nonfiction, biography, and even some children's books - the longer ones. I will split my books into four groups and post them in chronological order which they were finished. Bolded books were read physically.

1. Every Good Boy Does Fine - Jeremy Denk 

I saw this book posted in one of my teaching forums and decided to give it a read. I really enjoyed it. I especially loved the audio book because they inserted excerpts of the pieces he was referring to. It was wonderful to be able to get a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like for a concert pianist to grow up, experience piano lessons, and see their struggles. Too often, we see the finished piece performed on stage to perfection, and it's hard to imagine someone so well-known or experienced can struggle just like the rest of us.

2. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto - Mitch Albom

I looked up Mitch Albom books randomly and saw this listed as one. I wasn't excited starting it, but I actually ended up really enjoying it. About halfway through I wanted to put the book down and stop reading because I was so affected by something I never saw coming. But I'm glad I finished it. This is a book I now recommend to my high school students and even gift to some graduating students. I do tell them to read with discretion and wouldn't hand it off if I didn't think they were mature enough to handle.

3. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig 

I was recommended this book by a friend who read it. I enjoyed the beginning. The middle had some slow parts, and the end was okay. I read a very similar book last year (2023) so the idea wasn't actually new to me. Personally, I liked the other book better. Or maybe it just happened that I read it first so this one didn't seem as insightful. 

4. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus - Nabeel Qureshi

This book was recommended by a few friends. Good read. As someone of faith, I'm a little jealous at all the ways he received dreams and visions from God. At the same time, I have my own moments in life when I'm sure God was there lending a hand into the situation. Although not as profound as the ones shared in the book, they are still impactful and part of my own story. I was sad when I learned he had died 7 years ago. If someone asked me if I could talk to someone who's already gone for a day, I might pick Nabeel. His book had so much conviction. I can only wonder how dying and entering the afterlife has affected that conviction. I want to hear how much he got to experience its truth.

5. Tom Lake - Ann Patchett 

I saw this book on a reading list online and finally read it this year. "Good marriages are never as interesting as bad affairs." We need to remember that when everything is fine, days are "the same", and when nothing interesting happens, it isn't a bad thing.

6. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing - Matthew Perry 

 

I didn't really have a desire to read this book until after his death. Then I waited for it on hold from my local library. I don't know how to feel about it. Honestly, I can't say I enjoyed it. He had a hard life and hard struggles. I'm sad for him that the help he got couldn't help him in the ways it needed to. He had big demons to fight.

7. Democracy Awakening - Heather Cox-Richardson

I can't say I enjoyed this one because history is not my thing. But maybe that's why it was helpful because a lot of it was summarizing the past history of our country and then explaining how much of it is replaying out now in today's world. I would have probably learned a lot more about our country's history by reading this book rather than reading the textbooks we were given. Supplement with a few extended details and I think it would make a successful history course.

8. Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom 

This is a reread. I read this in high school for the first time. I remember liking it, but besides knowing the premise about a guy (the author) meeting with his old professor who was dying and writing this book on life lessons, I couldn't remember any more details. This time, I remembered that Morrie's mother died when he was young and it affected him his entire life. This time, I picked up on the theme of Mitch bringing food to the house even though Morrie couldn't eat any of it. Being an audio book, the new 25th anniversary included an excerpt of his original tapes and hearing Morrie's voice. That was special. 

9. Little Penguin Rescue - Rachel Delahaye 

I checked this book out from the library for my children to read only to realize it was above their reading level. Well, I ended up reading it to my daughter and she sat through every chapter with me over the course of about a week. It was actually kind of nice reading a little-kid chapter book again. Some moments felt a little contrived, but I don't think my five-year-old (now six) picked up on it.

10. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller 

I read his book Blue Like Jazz about a decade ago and really enjoyed it. Sadly, I can't remember much about the content, but I remember enjoying it. I should put it on my reread list for next year. This one honestly was hard to get through at first. Maybe it felt like that on purpose because of what the author was trying to explain - it didn't feel like he understood the purpose of life until he discovered what it meant to live in a way with meaning. "You can't have a story without conflict...if you don't make the story hard on your protagonist, your story will never inspire anybody." 

Stay tuned for part 2!