December 2024 Reading Recap
Arbitrary reading rules and a reflection on my 2024 reading goal...
I’ve written before about how I am a person who can become overwhelmed by having too many options to choose from. As a result, I often like to set arbitrary or silly boundaries for myself to make the process of choosing easier.
When I started December by reading two books with two-word titles, I decided I’d only read books with two-word titles for the rest of the month (minus long subtitles, obviously). This made packing my “Read Over Christmas Break” pile easy to develop, which was great because I usually spend a lot of time putzing around taking titles on and off.
Overall, I’d say December was a satisfying reading month. Here’s the recap!
📘 Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg
Set during the Jazz Age and Great Depression, Mazie Phillips is a familiar neighborhood face, selling tickets to her family’s movie theater. Told through interviews and diary entries, this book tells the story of a young woman who grew up in poverty but evolves into the heart of her New York City neighborhood. I’ve had this book for a long time, and I am glad I finally picked it up. Mazie is a beautiful central character with a big personality and a life epitomizing living and loving deeply. I liked this one a lot.
📘 Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins
Four twenty-somethings head to a deserted island, a paradise with “a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder.” They arrive and discover two people already there. The six form an island community… but not all six people will leave. I don’t want to say more because a lot of the fun of this book is in the twists and turns and unexpected history and alliances that emerge. Rachel Hawkins is a new favorite, and I can’t wait to read more.
📘 The Examiner by Janice Hallett
The elevator pitch for this one is so good: “Told in emails, text messages, and essays, this unputdownable mystery follows a group of students in an art master’s program that goes dangerously awry.” I love an epistolary novel, and Janice Hallet is truly a genius in the way she weaves together different forms of electronic communication to reveal the truth of this group of students and their final art project. Loved it!
📘 Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II by Abbott Kahler
There’s no way I was going to skip reading a new book that includes “sex, murder, and utopia” in the title… and I was for sure not disappointed in this one. Three sets of exiles set out to create a utopian paradise just before World War II. They didn’t travel together, and they had different ideas about paradise, the good life, and community, which of course created conflict on an otherwise deserted island. If you need a protagonist to cheer for, this is not the book for you – everyone in it is a bit (or a lot) terrible, but the whole unraveling is fascinating. This book is great!
📘 Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention – And How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
I have so many thoughts after reading this book, I could probably write an essay. At a high level, journalist Johann Hari explores 12 systemic forces (technological, cultural, and environmental) affecting our ability to focus. I loved reading a book that didn’t argue that lack of focus is just a failure of individual willpower, but I also wondered about some of his conclusions (especially in the research around ADHD – which even he acknowledges is very, very complex). Overall though, this book gave me a ton to think about, especially my own use of technology and the role social media plays in my life. Highly recommended!
📘 What's Next: A Backstage Pass to the West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack
This book is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of The West Wing, as well as a look at the legacy of public service embodied in the message of the show and in the public service work that members of the cast and crew have done since the show wrapped up. I liked the book's first half, which focused on the development, casting, and first four seasons, quite a bit. The second half focused less on the show and more on the community around the show, and it was less interesting to me personally. When I needed some soothing television in November I started re-watching the show, which is quaint, optimistic, nostalgic, and not particularly great to its female characters. The legacy of The West Wing is complicated!
📘 Murder Book: A Graphic Memoir of a True Crime Obsession by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell
Why are so many people obsessed with true crime? In this memoir, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell uses her personal love for the genre to explore some of the high-profile murders that fascinate true crime aficionados. I checked this book out from the library without knowing anything about it, and thought it was fun. It meanders a bit for my taste, but thought it was a nice, complementary read to a book I finished in November, Art of the English Murder.
Final Thoughts
I am delighted to say that I completed my reading goal for 2024! After finishing Stolen Focus last week, I officially read 24 backlist books I owned before 2024.
So what did making a serious effort to read “Mount TBR” teach me? That I should stop letting books sit on my shelves!
Many of the books I read were titles I was very excited about when I bought them, but it felt like they didn’t quite land when I read them now. I can think of many reasons for that — most significantly, I’ve changed since I bought them, and our cultural conversations have changed, too. I expected that with nonfiction, but I felt it in many fiction books I read, too. As a result, some books that were big when I purchased them now felt dated or like something was missing.
This year also showed me that I like being a reader who is up on “new things” instead of reading classics or older titles, so digging back instead of keeping up didn’t feel as satisfying. I thought maybe that would change now that I am a couple of years out from a side hustle that required keeping up with what was new and cool, but I think that’s just my reading personality.
With all that said, I’m proud to have reached this goal, and I’m glad I committed to it this year. I’m taking everything I learned and observed into crafting my goal for 2025 — more on that soon!
Good selections! I’m hoping to read my own backlist this year - and some longer books but…we shall see how the year goes.