Books 2024: Part 2

 I posted part one here. These are the next 10 books I read and the order I read them.

11. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Somehow I escaped the need to read this in high school English class. Maybe it's a good thing. I think had I read it too early, I may not have understood the depth of the themes within this book. At the same time, because I read it in my 30s, it left a deeper impression on me, one I will probably never shake off completely. It's not a book I could ever reread.

12. Everything Sad is Untrue - Daniel Nayeri 

This was a recommendation from a book swap I attended this year. It was a really hard book for me to follow. I liked some of the stories told within, but the author's style was way too confusing for me. Honestly, as I write this 6+ months later after reading, I actually forgot I had read it this year. I think the cover art is beautiful and the title is intriguing, but the story didn't stick with me.

13. The Unfinished Angel - Sharon Creech 

 

Saw this randomly on a shelf at the library. I've always been a fan of Sharon Creech's books. This one was hard for me to get into at first, but once the story started, it was a fast read. I think it's best left for the children. I'd peg this as a more advanced 2nd-3rd grade read or a less advanced 4th-5th grade read. Being an adult, you just know too much and it's not as novel anymore. 

14. Our Missing Hearts - Celeste Ng

 

I had seen this book in someone's reading list and looked it up. It sounded somewhat interesting so I gave it a read. It ended up different than how I thought it would be, but it was a good book. While reading this book, it felt like nonfiction to me. Maybe I wanted it to be nonfiction. The author wrote a note addressing this at the end of her book.

15. Artifacts of an Ex - Jennifer Chen 

This was a random find from the library one day. The cover and title seemed interesting so I gave it a read. Definitely YA literature. I think 15-year-old me would have enjoyed it. As an adult it's a good "brain break" book. But it didn't have content which stuck with me.

16. Anxious People - Fredrik Backman 

From the title, I really thought this was going to be some kind of nonfiction self-help book. That's not at all what it was. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and stayed up far too late to finish it in about two days. It was one of those books which made me want to keep reading to find out what happened next. I think it was also very complex and the closest version to a Korean drama in book form. Kdramas are notorious for adding extra story-lines and problems throughout the series, even close to the very end. The successful ones resolve them all at the end. This book did just that. The complexities increased as you kept reading and made you want to read more and more to figure out how it ended. 

17. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng

When I saw another book she wrote in someone else's reading list, I searched the author and saved a few of her other books. This was one of them. Backstory: When the hold became available at the library, it became my backup book because the book I was listening to was returned before I was able to finish it. I put myself back on the waitlist for the book I needed to finish, but in the mean time, I started this one and finished it before my other book became available again. I liked it. It was an exciting read. One of those books which made me want to stay up at night just to finish another chapter. The ending was slightly unsatisfactory. The book did such a good job building up all the complex story lines woven into each other that the ending didn't seem to match up. It ended....too simply.

18. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus

Finished this book in just over 24 hours. The beauty of an audiobook and being able to change the playback speed. I enjoyed this book. Lots of deeper topics within. It almost ended too soon for me. I wanted to keep going with the character's stories. I wonder if there will be a sequel. I kind of hope there is. Who knows.

19. Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann

The further I read into this book, the more infuriating it became. Ironically though, I can't say I was surprised. From what I know of the legal system today, much of what happened 100 years ago is a mere foreshadowing to what the future today holds. It's sad, nonetheless. I'm pretty sure Osage was never mentioned in my US history textbook though. 

20. The Little Liar - Mitch Albom

This book was supposed to be book number 17, but it was returned before I finished it as audiobooks do not renew if there are holds. So alas, I had to get back on the waitlist in order to finish the remaining 30% of the book. It took about a month, but I was finally able to finish (and read 3 books in the interim). I didn't realize this book was historical fiction when I started reading. It was just another Mitch Albom title I put a hold on and started reading to see what it was about. The reading level of this book is probably equivalent to YAL, but the themes you can analyze go well into an entire lifetime of wisdom.