Year in Review - 2024

After a reading goal slump since 2019, I finally cracked the number I set all the way back in January and slipped that 20th book in at the eleventh hour. Nowhere near my peaks in pages or books, but I’m happy to have a solid roster of books to claim for 2024. And dang did the rush to the finish have me reading some high quality pieces I may not have reached for otherwise!

This year was a better one than 2023 in and out of my reading world. I took my own words from last year’s review to heart and put effort into myself again. That included my own writing journey, some of my short story work nearly winning a big contest and a few pieces finding publishing homes online. I’m officially a writer now, baby! Maybe if dreams come true I’ll have my own book on Goodreads one day for people to rip apart. If anyone from the future comes back to discover this post, you’ll know the hard work paid off. Here’s to living in whatever timeline that is.

Dad life and the highs and lows of parental free time are evident in my reads this year, a modest improvement from 2023 but still a low in many ways. If anything, the main drive this year was to immerse myself in good writing. I wanted inspiration for my own growth and I wanted to maximize the quality of books I spent time in. That brought me some truly fantastic reads, a few that will forever be in my Favorites folder now. I started the year with what I believed WAS my favorite of all time, found out it may not meet the mark anymore, and then combed through some epic sci-fi worlds, a modern literary masterpiece, a few impactful short story collections, some unique horror efforts, a personally important bestseller, a dash of nonfiction, a string of incredibly impressive quickies, and not one single Stephen King entry in search of where my favorite may land these days. I didn’t name a new all-time winner, but I did read some damn good books and focused on the fun picks with solid results. That’s a win in any year.

I was generous with ratings it seems, but I believe I genuinely read some of the best out there. Out of 20 books, I handed out 8 five stars, all fiction (though one was a semi-memoir). A few I’d heard about for years and some just wouldn’t go away until I devoured them myself. I cut back on parenting books in favor of experiencing things firsthand, and I think that made a difference in the ratings and the revitalized idea that I’m more than just a dad. I’ll keep working on that balance, whatever it is.

The Best of the Year are all five star reads and all rocked my world. I’m going to start narrowing it down to a top 5 this year for some semblance of organization. The four runners-up in order are:

5 - Dark Matter (reread)

4 - The Dark Forest

3 - The Things They Carried

2 - City of Thieves

And the best book of 2024, an unexpectedly close call, is:

DEMON COPPERHEAD

I’ve recommended it to just about anyone I’ve seen. It’s one of the most authentic voices in fiction I’ve ever read, and it’s so intimate and grand at the same time. It won the Pulitzer for god sake. Recency bias almost had me picking a dark horse winner out of City of Thieves, but while both are amazing, Demon was just too big to beat.

This year was about recapturing hobbies and habits. Writing, reading, running, breathing. Next year may see some big changes and distractions for us if things go as planned, but I’d like to keep the ball rolling on the progress made. If 2024 was the year of doing what I’d been meaning to since becoming a dad, then 2025 is the year of doing what I’ve been meaning to since we moved to KC four years ago, and maybe even longer. All that plus the giant stack of books on my nightstand. The future looks bright.