What Are You Reading?

[lordstanley]

I read 44 books in 2024. Of these, 30 were non-fiction, 14 were fiction. Also of the 44, men wrote 30 of them, women wrote 14 of them. I read almost exclusively on Kindle these days and did a purge/donation of most of my print books a few years ago. So while I don't really have  a physical library, I do keep track on a spreadsheet the title and author of each book I read and have done so since 2009.

Some of my favorites from 2024, in no particular order:

Non-Fiction

Endurance - Alfred Lansing (classic about doomed Antarctic expedition a century ago; one of the few books I've ever re-read, which I do every decade or so)

A Walk in the Park - Kevin Fedarko (Grand Canyon adventure)

Destiny Disrupted - Tamin Ansary  (history from an Islamic perspective)

How The Word Is Passed - Clint Smith (essays on race/slavery by visiting various sites with historical or modern significance)

To The Field Of Stars - Kevin Codd (on walking Spain's Camino de Santiago, which I did this September)

Why We Love Baseball - Joe Posnanski (considers dozens of moments and personalities over time, some familiar, some not so familiar)

The Teachers - Alexandra Robbins (an educator's perspective on the challenges and rewards of the profession)

Revelation For Normal People - Robyn Whitaker (making sense of the final book of the New Testament)

Fiction

Normal People - Sally Rooney (about two Irish teens growing into adulthood together and apart, made into a BBC TV series available on Hulu)

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh (English aristocracy a century ago, made into a TV series in the '80s)

Kindred - Octavia Butler (late 20th century black woman who time travels back and forth between the South of the  early 1800s and today)

A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles (Count returns to Russia around 1918, lives under house arrest in a hotel for the next quarter-century or so)

Margo's Got Money Troubles - Rufi Thorpe (fun; a single mom who was the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler; turns to OnlyFans to make a living)

 

[pfife]

Currently:  The Showman by Simon Shuster (yes that's his name) about the first year of Russia invading Ukraine and the making of Zelensky

[pfife]

The Gambler by Billy Walters

[oblong]

I'm reading a biograpy of Robin Williams.  Robin.  NY TImes bestseller.  It's a quick read.  

[pfife]

The Gambler was a really good book.  I esp liked he he talked about how he approached betting.    He talks about a lot of gambling during his golf matches and that was interesting because it was ungodly amounts of money, but i could have done without the play by play of peoples drives, approach, and putting game.   

 

Onto the next one, a free kidle version of the Federalist papers.  We will see how long i stick with it.

[CMRivdogs]

I've been on a weird kick lately. Probably starting a few months back starting with a James McBride interview at the National Book Fair in the fall. Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, Five Carat Soul, The Good Lord Bird, I still want to read Miracle at St Anna when it becomes available at my local library or on Libby.

Meanwhile thanks to a recent history podcast I occasionally follow I've started The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution. 

[pfife]

On 2/6/2025 at 10:36 AM, CMRivdogs said:

Meanwhile thanks to a recent history podcast I occasionally follow I've started The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution. 

by title alone this sounds like something I would like, thank!   Added to the list.

Now:

On Call by Anthony Fauci

[oblong]

This has been a lot better than I expected. 

[LaceyLou]

Most of you probably know that I've always been interested in the WWII/Nazi GermanyHolocaust era...

So it's a bit surprising that I only heard of this book from 2011: In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson. 

I've only just started it, but it looks like it'll be easy to get into.