My 2024 Reading Round-up: Intro

Now that the new year is in full swing, I’m finally pulling the trigger on a post I’ve been looking forward to for a while – a recap of alllllll the books I read (and listened to) over the course of 2024! According to my Goodreads, I read/listened to a total of 63 books last year! Compared to the last decade of desert-wasteland-level book consumption, I’m not gonna lie – I’m pretty proud of myself. Let’s get into it.

My Reading History

When I was younger – elementary through middle school, I’d say – I was a voracious reader and completely obsessed with it. No joke: despite generally being a goody-two-shoes rule follower, I would get in trouble in class for trying to sneakily read books tucked under my desk. So rebellious, I know! Sadly, once I discovered the dopamine high that is *binge-watching TV shows*, I fell away from reading for quite a while and lost my attention span for it. But in mid 2023, when I started my career nannying journey, my love for reading was reignited when I was realized I could get free audiobooks through the library system to occupy my days with a baby (tooootally late to the game on that, I know lol). Listening to books slowly gave way to reading physical books again as well – which brings us to today, where I usually have at least one audiobook and one physical book going at any given time.

Another unfortunate factor in my fall from reading was having a harder and harder time finding books that were appropriate for me as my reading level grew faster than my age. Still to this day, one of my biggest reading challenges is finding adult books that don’t have explicit material in them. I can handle my fair share of language and gore, but what I really don’t like is being surprised by a graphic sex scene in a book I’m already invested in. It’s just something I’m personally convicted on, because I know that the effect it has on me is not healthy for my heart. But you’d be surprised (or maybe not…) how difficult it is to find adult level books on a whim where that isn’t a risk.

I know many people out there aren’t as affected as I am by that type of content, but if that’s something you feel convicted about, too, I got ya covered! Over on Instagram, I cooked up a little content rating system and was attempting to share little book reviews as I go… but honestly, I haven’t been able to keep up with my own reading pace and get them out fast enough! I get a little too caught up on the visuals and the posts take me too long to put together, which is entirely the fault of my perfectionism in this case.

That’s especially why I wanted to put together a post (or series of posts) detailing the books I’ve read this last year and what I recommend. I’m hoping this can turn into a slightly more regular thing, maybe monthly or quarterly, instead of just once a year? Not totally sure yet what pace I can keep up with – but, either way, I know at least several of you are book lovers like me, and that’s something I’d love to share in!

My Reading Preferences

Now let’s get a couple things straight here. I am no literary snob; I don’t need advanced plots or flowery language to enjoy reading a book. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a beautifully-written book! But when I read, I’m just looking for a good time – you won’t hear me complaining about plot holes or writing styles unless a book is genuinely painful to read. That being said, I do tend to seek after books that make me feel specific types of things (and avoid books that make me feel other things), which usually lands me in the same few genres over and over.

Here’s a little preface on what kinds of books I am usually drawn towards:

1. Romantic comedies (low/no spice): Bonus points for a series with overlapping characters
2. Convoluted mysteries: Think Agatha Christie
3. “Life discovery” books: This one is more based on feeling – I love a main character who is on a journey of self discovery, where the whole plot is centered on them learning to appreciate or romanticize life in a new way. Bonus points for being set in a small town.
4. Whimsical books: Although I’m not usually drawn to fantasy, I really enjoy realistic fiction that has a distinct whimsical or magical element to it. This can extend to full-on fantasy series like Harry Potter, but usually looks like a single “suspending disbelief” element in an otherwise realistic plot.

You might think that’s a pretty narrow focus… and you wouldn’t be wrong. I’m not specifically averse to other kinds of books, but the main point is that I like to come out of a book either being wowed by an unexpected plotline (mysteries) or having a new appreciation for life. I have enjoyed the occasional fantasy book or series, but I have to be in the right mood to really wrap my head around a different world. I feel the same way about historical fiction… it’s probably one of the few genres that I actively avoid because usually the work of putting my mind in a different time period doesn’t feel worth it in the end (to me).

I will also occasionally “DNF” a book (which just means that I choose to stop reading it) for any of these reasons:

1. Painfully bad audiobook narrator: There are just some voices and cadences that I can’t stand. I usually give it a couple chapters before deciding for sure, but I won’t hesitate to stop a book for the narrator alone. However, if possible I’ll often try to find it in physical book form if I like the premise.
2. Explicit sex scene: This almost always makes me DNF if it happens in the first few chapters of the book because it usually indicates a pattern. If I’m already invested in the story and am more than halfway through, I’ll usually do my best to skip over it and finish up anyway.
3. Boring: Sometimes I literally just get bored and don’t find it worth slogging through to get to the “good parts”.
4. Predicting a bad/sad ending: Okay so this is probably my least valid reason for DNF… but I simply am not interested in anything other than a happy ending. It doesn’t have to be happy on all fronts, but if I catch wind of a beloved main character dying or a melancholy parting of ways at the end, I am out. You don’t have to agree with that choice, haha, but it’s true for me nonetheless.

So when I release my 2024 reading list, you’ll definitely see these things reflected in the books I loved and the books I didn’t love. If any of those notes resonated with you, you’re in the right place for book recommendations!

Reading List Structure

I was debating between a couple of different formats for presenting all my reads. I even put a poll out on Instagram in hopes that it would help, but it was honestly a pretty even split! So, I’ve come up with a compromise.

For the sake of some who don’t really care about the details of each book, I’m going to put together a straightforward list of alllll the books and assign each one a basic rating out of 5 stars. I’ll probably order them by rating from favorites (5 stars) to least favorites (DNFs). This should be a streamlined way to get some reading recs at a glance without having to trudge through a bunch of details on each one.

For those of you who are interested in details, I will also make separate posts organizing the books by genre to give room for more info on each read. These won’t be full on reviews of each book (that would take FOREVER), but rather a little blip of highlights and content warnings to give you a picture of what to expect. These will be for the reader who is more concerned about content, or more interested in knowing specifically why I loved some books or didn’t love others.

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I’m gonna work on getting those up soon, so you shouldn’t have to wait to long! I won’t make any promises on exactly when, because I kinda suck at following through on my own expectations lol, but it’s on my mind and I’m excited to do it!

Super excited to share these with you. You’ll be hearing from me again really soon!