What I read/heard in 2024 ...

A few good books, and more ...

Re-sharing some introductory words I wrote last year …

Hi Readers,

I’m not quite sure I’m ready to sum up 2024 yet - but one thing I always enjoy at the end of each year is looking back at the books I read.

(I use Goodreads to track my reading each year and find it really helpful, with the caveat that I have to manually enter audiobooks and/or books I didn’t read via Kindle).

This year (again), I wanted to share images of the books I read as well as a short sentence/blurb about them. Please note that this list is *not* all-encompassing — I read several more books for research purposes as well as several other books that I was sent for review purposes and will be sharing separately! This list is a bit more of a pleasure/literary list, and it’s a mix of fiction and non-fiction - contemporary and historical.

Also, as many of you know, much of my reading is comprised of daily news and other Substacks. You can find my Substack recommendations here - just scroll down to the bottom-right side. I also subscribe to the Minnesota Star Tribune and the daily newsletter from the Minnesota Reformer. I share a lot of those best reads in my News with Nuance biweekly newsletter.

If you want to be a better writer, my best advice is to be a better reader! Read widely, read critically, read for pleasure, just read - read - read. I’m so grateful to have the ability to read widely each and every day, and I’m constantly strategizing the rest of my schedule to make sure I have lots of reading time available. It’s one of the most important things I do.

Please do comment on this post with your favorite reads of 2024!

*A note that the below images from Goodreads include audiobooks I listened to in 2024. And a final note that not included in these images are the many, many books I started and did not finish for one reason or another.*

You can find all of these books in your local bookstore or library! A great way to support authors is to request their books in your library, too, as well as frequently local bookstores (please do start requesting my new book, Disciples of White Jesus!). But Amazon and Bookshop.org are also fine options (Bookshop.org is best for authors if possible!).

Books, in order of images from upper-left to bottom-right

Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin

Kicking it off with James Baldwin, just like last year. Always read Baldwin if you need a sermon that will make you rise up out of your seat.

You Could Make this Place Beautiful, by Maggie Smith

One of a few “divorce novels” that came out in 2024, this one by poet Maggie Smith. I especially loved the parts about writing and being a mom, and making space for love and creativity.

The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears

Listened to this one upon recommendation. A necessary re-understanding of Britney for those of us who grew up with “Hit me baby, one more time”

The Lager Queen of Minnesota, by J. Ryan Stradal

This one has been on my list for a while, and I finally read it. A thoroughly enjoyable read with a complex plot. Minnesota references a bonus.

The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis

I’ve read many of Lewis’ other works but not this one, and I have to say it’s one of my favorite, and immensely relatable to our current historical moment.

No One Tells You This, by Glynnis MacNicol

A great read about womanhood and turning 40, even for those of us who are married with kids, unlike Glynnis. I really loved how she wrote about her family, too.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers

Discovered this one in another book on this list, Azar Nafisi’s Read Dangerously. It ranks up there among American classics, especially in the Southern Gothic style. Powerful writing on politics, race, and class.

The Soul of Black Folks, by W.E.B. DuBois

An important historical book for better understanding of the history of race and racism in America. I believe this one was recommended to me during the conference on Christian Nationalism at Rice University where I served as a panelist. Necessary and powerful.

Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf

It took me a minute to get into this one, but it’s a classic for a reason. Mrs. Dalloway is more than meets the eye.

Sold, by Patricia McCormick

I’m honestly not sure how this one got on my list, but I listened to it. A pretty disturbing and painful book but ultimately hopeful.

The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton

Another one that took a minute to get into, with lots of rich characters and plot development. But by the end, so many quotable sections that I would read and save again and again. Here’s one of my favorites:

It was the old New York way of taking life without effusion of blood, the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than scenes except the behavior of those who gave rise to them.

Archer felt like a prisoner in the center of an armed camp.

Doesn’t that sound familiar!

Tweak, by Nic Sheff

I tend to consume a lot of media about addiction, and this drug memoir by Sheff is one that will stick with me for a while. I tried some of his other books, which I didn’t finish, but this one is definitely worth reading.

So Brave, Young and Handsome, by Leif Enger

This was my Leif Enger year! This one was probably the slowest of the books I read by Enger, and the most like a modern Western. But still rich and evocative and worth the read, like all of Enger’s work.

Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger

Enger’s best-known classic. A great one to begin reading in the midst of a Minnesota winter. Spiritually rich.

The Republic of Imagination, by Azar Nafisi

Nafisi is one of my favorite writers, beginning with Reading Lolita in Tehran. I don’t love her other books as much as that one, but they certainly speak to our current historical moment in America.

Virgil Wander, by Leif Enger

Another Enger book set in Minnesota, this time on the North Shore. A bit less “Western” than his other works, but none less powerful and rich.

Recollections of my Nonexistence, by Rebecca Solnit

Solnit has one of the most important voices for our current moment, especially understanding recent American history in a feminist lens, and speaking to the climate crisis.

Capitalism: A Ghost Story, by Arundhati Roy

I also took it upon myself to read as much Arundhati Roy as I could this year. Critical lessons from capitalism in India, and its soullessness.

Read Dangerously, by Azar Nafisi

Reads a bit more like literary criticism than I’d probably prefer, but an important way to see novels as speaking in the midst of American history. This is the book that sent me to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter!

The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy

The best-known of Roy’s books. A long read but with writing dripping in imagery and meaning. Worth sticking with it.

The End of Imagination, by Arundhati Roy

A collection of political essays, especially helpful for sending the world through the lens of modern-day India and what has happened there in Hindu Nationalism and rapacious capitalism.

Our Moon, by Rebecca Boyle

I almost quit this one in the middle, but I’m glad I didn’t. I enjoy books about astronomy and helping to situate ourselves and our planet in the midst of a much-bigger universe. Helped me to appreciate our night sky.

I have to be honest, this year’s reading list was a little bit disappointing. Maybe it’s because I was also writing a book (that comes out in March - you can pre-order NOW!) and I spent a lot of my reading time doing research reading and citations for that book - leaving less time to read for pleasure.

I also have a huge list of DNF (did not finish) books for 2024. I sadly was disappointed by a lot of the most-talked-about books of 2024, even ones that others I know really loved. There were so many books that I abandoned a few pages in, either because I felt the writing was poor or dull, or the plot was just utterly unrelatable (in its obvious association to extreme wealth).

I am hoping that 2025 will bring some more books to read. And I also have to say, when I look back at what I did read, there are still some fantastic books and writers on there - and I’m glad I had the privilege of reading their work and sharing it with you!

That’s a wrap for 2024 - unless I maybe manage to finish one more here over the next few days (I’m FINALLY reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead!). Have you read any of these books? What’s the best thing you read in 2024? What’s on your list for 2025? Isn’t reading the best?!

(I still too have to read Jo Piazza’s The Sicilian Inheritance! I pre-ordered it and have been saving it as a long-awaited treat).

By the way - thanks for reading I’m Listening in 2024!

See you next year,

Angela

P.S. …

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