Standouts & Shoutouts 2024
Reflections on my year in reading, goals for 2025, plus my Weekly What
This week I finally reflected upon all 275 books that I read last year and chose favorites. Now, I can’t call them favorites, of course. Something in my personality prevents me from choosing favorites of any kind. It also prevents me from simply selecting a meal from a menu, but I digress. While I love reflecting on my year of reading it’s actually quite a large undertaking when my tendency towards overthinking combines with the mountain of books I’ve managed to consume. But Reader, I did it.
And the way I do it is thus:
I absolutely do not begin this process until AFTER midnight on December 31st. The entire year of books must be read first. I do not understand the people who have their annual best of lists before the year is over. Like, are you not still reading, or no longer reading good books, or what? This leaves me publishing my look back at last year several weeks into the new year when people have largely moved on from reflection and resolutions and… now I see why people do this in December, but if we could all decide to wait then now would be the prime time, yes?
I don’t choose favorites; I identify Standouts and Shoutouts.
Standouts are the books with which I had my best reading experiences of the year. These are not necessarily The Best Books of the year, though I’d argue some are. They’re not even necessarily books published in 2024, though many are. These are the books when I look back on the hundreds of books I read that have really stayed with me, the stories I continue to recommend, the books I want living on my personal shelves so I can keep them with me forever.
Shoutouts are 2024 releases I really enjoyed that I think deserved more attention than they received. These are books that are a bit under the radar that shouldn’t be, in my opinion at least.
Yes, there is a permeability to these lists, perhaps it should be structured as more of a Venn diagram, but people in the book world like lists, not diagrams.
Without further ado…
2024 Reading Standouts
(In no particular order)
In Memoriam by Alice Winn
The Postcard by Anne Berest
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo
The Unseen World By Liz Moore
The Overstory by Richard Powers
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
Some of these books really took me by surprised, some are much anticipated releases from beloved authors that did not disappoint, a few are backlist books, all were exceptional reading experiences for me. I'm always somewhat surprised by which books end up being the proverbial cream at the top when I review my reading year.
2024 Reading Shoutouts
(In no particular order)
Mercury by Amy Jo Burns
Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter
The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad
Last House by Jessica Shattuck
Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash
Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell
Wolf at the Table by Adam Rapp
One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman by Abi Maxwell
The Caretaker by Ron Rash
The Dissonance by Shaun Hamill
A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg
Perris, California by Rachel Stark
As with my Standouts above, I'm always sort of surprised by which books I quite enjoyed that didn't manage to grab warranted attention. I think all of my Shoutouts have plenty of readers out there just waiting to enjoy these books, they just don't know it yet!
Looking Ahead to 2025 Reading
My forever goal is always for reading to be a pleasurable experience; to read widely, often, and diversely.
Continue reading in community. Read alongs, book clubs, prize lists; I’ve realized reading in community may look a little different for me than others, but I’ve discovered what works and found this very fulfilling in 2024.
Read more backlist books. I think this is a fairly common goal and I get it! I’ve always valued backlist reading. It’s no surprise some of my favorite reading experiences in 2024 were with backlist books. Resisting the sirens’ call of trending new releases is the challenge.
Tell me:
Have you read any of these?
Do you identify favorites or reflect on your year in reading in any way?
What are your reading goals for next year?
Anything, let’s chat!
What I’m…
Reading
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. I have seen both critical and reader praise for this book for months now. When it made the Aspen Lit Prize Longlist I decided to wait to read it for book club. Set in the Dutch countryside in 1961 a sort of… young spinster, the remaining inhabitant of the family home, very reluctantly accepts her brother’s new girlfriend as a houseguest while he’s out of the country on business for several weeks. We soon find nothing is quite as it seems. This is a captivating and incredibly layered story with a really interesting (and unexpected) almost gothic vibe. Definitely deserving of the attention it is receiving!
Listening
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. This is another book which has gotten a lot of attention. It was a finalist for the National Book Award. This is a beautifully written novel grappling with life and death and meaning and art. Early on in the book I wasn’t sure exactly where it was all going, but I was happily along for the ride. Akbar is a poet and that absolutely shows through his prose. This is quite a unique novel but readable for all of the huge themes its juggling. I actually hybrid read this in print and audio, but ended up listening to most of it. I found the audio really brought the characters to life.
The Lady’s Handbook for her Mysterious Illness by Sarah Ramey. Found my way to this book via Ann Patchett. A well crafted memoir about a woman navigating the world of undiagnosed/misdiagnosed/mystery chronic illness; a frighteningly common phenomenon for which our current medical model is frighteningly inadequate at addressing. But this memoir goes beyond one woman’s experience and speaks to the broader experience of people, largely women, navigating mysterious and chronic illness. I actually think stories like this are incredibly relevant at this moment as we see an entire movement (MAHA) grifting off the very real shortcomings of current systems. Also, the author takes an interesting turn into feminist literature and questioning our societal structures that I found very thought provoking.
The Ezra Klein Show: MAGA’s Big Tech Divide. I don’t think enough people understand the bigger picture of all the chaotic puzzle pieces moving around the board right now in the Trump administration. I do think it’s still unclear exactly what will pan out and whose vision will actually come into focus, but the smart people with a clear vision and understanding of the mechanisms by which to enact it are undoubtedly the New Right led by JD Vance. The New Right is something different than MAGA and they don’t believe in democracy. Trump doesn’t believe in democracy, he only believes in himself, that’s MAGA. The New Right is much more sinister and organized and looks beyond a single person, this is a true ideology. They want to remake America into something more akin to a modern monarchy with a ruling class and they certainly don’t subscribe to the idea that all men are created equal. This episode is a really important conversation about the sometimes conflicting ideologies currently at play within the Republican party, including the New Right.
Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams: Defeating Trump’s Chaos Playbook with Our New Age of Insistence. I love Stacey Abrams. This is another great podcast episode untangling the chaos of what’s happening now and where we’re headed with some practical suggestions for what can be done. I think many people are currently looking for a simple solution, an action item or two that will right the ship, a single elected Democrat who can stand up, pull some mythical lever and just make it all stop. Yeah, me too, but that’s just not reality. We need to get focused and organized and prepare ourselves for the marathon ahead.
Offline: Trump's TikTok Dilemma, Crypto Cons Debunked, and The Truth About the Loneliness Epidemic. I deeply appreciated the interview with The Atlantic staff writer Derek Thompson about Americans spending more time alone than ever and how that’s changing our personalities, politics, and relationships to reality. He wrote The Atlantic February cover story: The Anti-Social Century.
Book Riot The Podcast: Book Riot's Most Anticipated Books of 2025. This episode is from a couple of weeks ago, I just got around to listening. I enjoyed it overall, but especially appreciated the conversation about male readers as well as the whiteness of the Goodreads Choice Awards and the direction/predictions of where diversity in publishing is headed along with the role of readers, influencers, and algorithms. It’s worth listening to just this part.
Watching
Only Murders in the Building, Season 1 (Hulu). Ok, yes, I know I’m years late to the party. Also, until watching several episodes I for sure thought the title of this show was Only MurderERS in the Building 🤷♀️ TBH I’m a hard sell on mystery, it’s just not my genre. But this show is fun and campy and satirical and almost wholesome in a strange way considering the plot revolves around murder. It’s just what I need right now. Also, I had no idea there was a true crime podcast element to it and I would FOR SURE have been way more up for this show had someone alerted me to this fact (see also: You’ve Got Mail, which I only watched for the first time a handful of years ago because I had NO IDEA it was so bookish?! I’ll never forgive the general public for this one.) Anyway, we just started season 2.
Eating & Drinking
I’ve made these French Dip Sandwiches in the slow cooker for many, many years. Super easy, very tasty comfort meal. I recommend replacing the water with wine (like Jesus!) I serve them on bakery rolls that I toast up with some provolone cheese. I roasted cauliflower to go alongside. Sometimes, if we have more leftovers than rolls, I’ll serve the meat over egg noodles or mashed potatoes to switch it up.
Burrito Bowls in the Instant Pot are also a frequent flier that my family loves.
Chicken and Dumplings is also a family favorite and a regular in our winter rotation.
Links + Loves
I mentioned this above. The Anti-Social Century (The Atlantic) is very relevant, important reading. “The individual preference for solitude, scaled up across society and exercised repeatedly over time, is rewiring America’s civic and psychic identity. And the consequences are far-reaching—for our happiness, our communities, our politics, and even our understanding of reality.” I think it’s imperative we grapple with the drastic restructuring of society which has occurred over the last ~15 years, shifting into hyperdrive 5 or so years ago. I feel like society is the frog in the proverbial pot and instead of feeling the heat we’re scrolling on our phones.
I mentioned appreciating Book Riot’s podcast discussing the Goodreads Choice Awards. This is a topic I’m forever interested in from many angles. I also appreciated the deep dive into the Goodreads Choice Awards in Book Riot’s The Unbearable Whiteness of the Goodreads Choice Awards. Some really interesting data and history to contemplate here.
Can Influencers Predict the Next Big Thing in Books? (Elle) Loved seeing some familiar faces in this article!
January seems to be the primary month each year for readers to discover that The Storygraph is the superior reader platform. Find me if you’re there!
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Until next time!
I use the standout approach as well. I think that allows us to frame it around our personal taste and experiences with a book.
I love the Standout and Shoutout approach! Sandwich was absolutely a standout for me.