Books Read in 2024 = 174 (so far)
Note: The list below includes only books I have enjoyed reading at some level—I don't keep track of the books I didn't care for or finish. The list is in the order read - a kind of diary for me of what I was reading at the time.
I have no set reading goals this year, except to enjoy what I read at the time I'm reading it. I like reading books in season, although I don't strictly adhere to that (except you won't find me reading winter/Christmas books in July). In autumn I lean towards more cozy books, and in spring/summer I enjoy books that blossom with lovely seasonal outdoor descriptions, whether novels or nature/travel books. I love novels with a riveting plot that make me care about the characters; the writing has to be beautiful.
I like books that tell stories, even when they are nonfiction or full of data. I enjoy memoirs and inspirational books. I like to know how authors relate to the material they are sharing, how they work in the world we live. Tell me in stories, and I'll remember the facts. At this time, I'm also reading more historical fiction—novels based heavily on historical figures and events but told with artistic license. Really enjoying these. Mysteries continue to be a staple in my reading diet.
My Rate List
**** = Forever Favourite. Loved it. A keeper. With unforgettable characters, a great storyline, beautifully written.
*** = Enjoyed very much. Enough to probably reread down the road. Great writing, great story, relatable characters.
** = Enjoyed but don't need to read again.
January to March (43)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (novel) ****
The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah (Poirot mystery) **
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton (autobio) ***
Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah (Poirot mystery) **
The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah (Poirot mystery) **
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (mystery) ***
Clerical Errors by D.M. Greenwood (mystery) **
While Still We Wait by Helen MacInnes (WWII espionage) ***
Don't Look At Me Like That by Diane Athill (novel) ***
Alive, Alive Oh! by Diane Athill (short memoir) ***
Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers (short stories) ***
Bookworm, A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan (memoir) **
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (children's novel 1961) ***
The Gown, A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson (novel) **
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (novel) ****
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (novel) **
Give unto Others by Donna Leon (Brunetti mystery) ***
So You Shall Reap by Donna Leon (Brunetti mystery) ***
Friends in High Places by Donna Leon (Brunetti mystery) ***
Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective by Agatha Christie (mystery short stories) ***
The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow by Mrs. Oliphant (short story from 1890) **
To Hear the Forest Sing, Some Musings on the Divine by Margaret Dulaney (memoirs) ***
Women Holding Things by Maira Kalman (art/text) ***
We Spread by Iain Reid (novel - on aging) ***
The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (#1 novel in Eliot trilogy) ***
Miss Marple, The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie (mystery short stories) ***
Homecoming by Kate Morton (novel) ***
Growing Pains by Emily Carr (autobiography) ***
Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie (Poirot mystery) ***
Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie (Poirot novel) ***
Praise Jerusalem by Augusta Trobaugh (novel) ***
Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (her first Peter Wimsey novel) ***
A Long Shadow by Charles Todd (Inspector Ian Rutledge - Post WWI series) ***
Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael (novel) ***
Square Haunting, Five Writers in London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade (bio/literature) ***
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge (children's fiction) **
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (on women's independence) **
The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang (historical novel) ***
Crooked House by Agatha Christie (mystery novel) ***
Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge (#2 novel in Eliot trilogy)) ***
The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge (#3 novel in Eliot Trilogy) ***
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (novel) ***
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (novel) ***
April to June (42)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (children's novel) ***
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers (children's novel) ***
Florence Nightingale by Sam Wellman (Women of Courage series, biography) **
The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys (novel) ***
Collected, Emily Carr (Emily Carr's art) ***
The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins (poetry collection) ****
And A Dog Called Fig by Helen Humphreys (memoir) **
Musical Tables by Billy Collins (small poems collection) ****
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (novel) **
Still Life by Sarah Winman (novel) ***
A Room With A View by E.M. Forster (novel) ***
A Death In Diamonds by S.J. Bennett (QEII mystery) **
A Song Flung Up To Heaven by Maya Angelou (memoir) **
Even The Stars Look Lonesome by Maya Angelou (Essays) **
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (memoir) **
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (novel) ****
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (novel) ***
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery (novel) ***
Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery (novel) ****
Anne's House of Dream by L.M. Montgomery (novel) ***
Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery (novel) ***
Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery (novel) ***
Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery (novel) ***
Miss Buncle's Book by DE Stevenson (1934 novel)
Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel (memoir) **
Tangles by Sarah Leavitt (memoir, comics medium)**
Tracking the Caribou Queen, Memoir of a Settler Girlhood by Margaret Macpherson (memoir) **
Amherst by William Nicholson (novel) **
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (novel) **
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (novel) **
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (1993 novel) **
The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas (novel) **
Portrait of the artist as a young dog by Dylan Thomas (autobiographical stories) **
The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin (fiction) **
The Opposite of Fate, Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan (memoir) ***
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (mystery) ***
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (novel) ***
Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie (Poirot mystery) ***
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (Poirot mystery) ***
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (autobiography) **
Music in the Hills by D.E. Stevenson (novel) ***
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (children's novel #1 in set) ***
July to September (55)
Empty House by Rosamunde Pilcher (novel) ***
Voices in Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher (novel) ***
The Blue Bedroom & Other Stories by Rosamunde Pilcher (short stories) ***
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner (novel) **
Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie (Poirot mystery) ***
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett (literature/memoir) **
Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan (short stories) ***
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (children's novel, #1 in series) ***
A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle (children's novel, #2 in series) ***
The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (children's novel #2 in series) ***
Flowers in the Rain & Other Stories by Rosamunde Pilcher (short stories) ***
Voices in the Rain by Rosamunde Pilcher (novel) ***
A Place Like Home by Rosamunde Pilcher (short stories) **
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn (historical fiction) ***
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (spy novel, 1970) ***
A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (spy novel, 1973) ***
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (historical fiction WWI/WWII) ***
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (spy novel) ***
The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys (historical fiction vignettes) ***
Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon (Brunetti Venetian mystery) ***
Friends in High Places by Donna Leon (Brunetti Venetian mystery) ***
Mrs. Van Gogh by Caroline Cauchi (historical novel) ***
Brother Cadfael's Penance by Ellis Peters (historical novel) ****
One Corpse Too many by Ellis Peters (Cadfael mystery) ***
Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott (novel) ****
The Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers (Peter Wimsey mystery) ***
Jeeves in the Offing by P.G. Wodehouse (novel) **
Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey mystery) ***
The Summer of the Danes by Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfael mystery) **
Under Gemini by Rosamunde Pilcher (novel) ***
Uniform Justice by Donna Leon (Brunetti Venetian mystery) ***
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (novel) ***
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (novel) ***
High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver (essays) ***
September by Rosamunde Pilcher (novel) ***
Monks-Hood by Ellis Peters (Bro Cadfael mystery) ***
The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters (Bro Cadfael mystery) ***
The Potter's Field by Ellis Peters (Bro Cadfael mystery) ***
Agent in Place by Helen MacInnes (spy novel) **
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (novel) ****
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (nature journal) ***
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (nonfiction) ****
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (novel) **
Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict (WWII novel) **
A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti Venetian mystery)***
Beloved by Toni Morrison (novel) ***
A Well-Read Woman, The Life, Loves, and Legacy of Ruth Rappaport by Kate Stewart (biography)***
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (WWII novel) ****
Season of Fury and Wonder by Sharon Butala (short stories about women in old age) ***
Quietly in Their Sleep by Donna Leon (Brunetti Venetian mystery) ***
Shrill, Notes From A Loud Woman by Lindy West (coming of age memoir by a large woman) **
Something lost, something gained, reflections on life, love, and liberty by Hillary Rodham Clinton (political science, memoir) ***
The Coldest Case, A Mystery of the French Countryside (Bruno Courrèges police mystery) ***
The Awakening by Kate Chopin (novel) **
Long Island by Colm Tóibín (novel) **
Third Girl by Agatha Christie (Poirot novel) ***
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1) by J.K. Rowling (Young Readers fiction) ***
October to December (34)
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman (mystery thriller) ***
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (4) by J.K. Rowling (Young Readers fiction) ***
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall (Children's Fiction) ***
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians, True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann (nonfiction) ***
Miss Buncle's Book by D E Stevenson (novel) ***
The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson (novel) **
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (children's fiction) ***
Dropped Threads, What We Aren't Told, Edited by Carol Shields and Marjorie Anderson (essays) ***
A Refiner's Fire by Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti mystery) ***
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (5) by J.K. Rowling (Children's Fiction) ***
Willful Behavior by Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti mystery) ***
That Librarian by Amanda Jones (nonfiction) ***
Harry Potter and the Half Blood (6) Prince by J.K. Rowling (Children's Fiction) ***
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (7) (Children's Fiction) ***
Toast, The Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater (memoir) ***
Four Hundred and Forty Steps to the Sea by Sara Alexander (novel set in Italy) ***
All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny (Inspector Gamache crime novel) ***
The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny (Inspector Gamache crime novel) *** (her newest)
The Christmas Kid and other Brooklyn stories by Pete Hamill (short stories) **
Here and Now by Santa Montefiore (novel) ***
On Looking, Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz (nonfiction) ***
The Mitford Vanishing by Jessica Fellowes (Mitford mystery) ***
The Yarn Whisperer, My Unexpected Life in Knitting by Clara Parkes (memoir) **
Dear Reader, The Comfort and Joy of Books by Cathy Rentzenbrink (nonfiction) ***
Anatomy, A Love Story by Dana Schwartz (YA Gothic mystery/romance) ***
Winter and Rough Weather by D.E. Stevenson (gentle novel) ***
Christmas at Thrush Green by Miss Read (gentle novel) ***
This Strange Visible Air by Sharon Butala (essays on aging and writing) ***
Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret series) **
The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves (Vera detective novel) ***
A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus (Children's Fiction) ***
No comments:
Post a Comment
To My Beautiful Readers,
Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same. ~ Franz Peter Schubert
Thank you so much for leaving your 'footprint' here in my comment box. I do appreciate you taking a moment to share your thoughts today.
Brenda xo