2024 in books

Each time I finished a book this year, I texted Loui what number it was, the green check mark emoji, the title and the author. Then he would update the white board in our kitchen: Bailey has read xx books this year!

By midnight tonight (I have a little bit left to read in my last book of the year), the white board will read: Bailey has read 178 books this year!

My previous record was 175 books in 2022. Throughout the fall, I started to wonder (and even do calculations to estimate) what my year-end total might be. Sometimes I was in a reading slump and was sure I would be far from my previous record, but for the last few weeks, I’ve been fairly confident that I could have my new top year.

I try not to focus too much on the number—the point is that I’m reading and enjoying books. But I can’t help getting competitive with myself. I’m really happy that this year was not only my best in quantity but also in quality. I read fantastic books.

Right now, I’m being asocial at a New Year’s Eve party, so I’ll finish this up. Below is my traditional year-in-books journal spread, plus a few thoughts about the year:

It was anyone’s ballgame

An appropriate subhead because it describes how competitive my top 10 were this year and because two of the books are about basketball.

There were multiple times throughout the year when I finished a book and said aloud to Loui, “Choosing my top 10 this year is going to be TOUGH.” I kept track throughout the year of my top contenders, and I spent much of December considering what my top books would be. And two books I read in December even ended up among my top 10!

The books on my shortlist also deserve recognition: Heartbreak Is the National Anthem by Rob Sheffield; You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian; Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt; Anatomy by Dana Schwartz; The Correspondents by Judith Mackrell; Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas; The Darkening by Sunya Mara; Starling House by Alix E. Harrow; Mama Said by Kristen Gentry; A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston; Scissors, Paper, Rock by Fenton Johnson; I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman; and Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors.

‘Women—’ -Jo March

I knew I read a lot of books by women this year, but the final count was an astonishing 141 books. And a few of the others are anthologies or reference books that include the work of women. I often seek out books by and about women, including nonfiction in the style of my book about Alice Dunnigan.

The books I read by men were of high quality, though, as three ended up in my top 10.

‘Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?’

I’ve been reading increasingly more nonfiction for several years now, but this year I read 70 nonfiction books, which nearly triples the number I read in 2023. As I continue to work on my book, reading more nonfiction has greatly increased my confidence as a writer.

I continue to love anything that includes magic, time travel, faeries and—more than anything—dragons. This year, I read 43 fantasy books.

‘When in doubt, go to the library!’

Toward the end of the year, I really made an effort to read books that I already owned, and I did make good progress. But the vast majority—115—of the books I read this year were checked out physically or digitally from the Lexington Public Library. I adore the library, and I am so grateful that service is available to me.

MVP goes to Loui

At dinner with my siblings the other night, I joked, “I measure my worth by how many books I read in a year.” Loui said, “And I measure mine by how many books she gets to read in a year.” While watching YouTube videos about the history of European borders or listening to my favorite books on 3.5 speed, Loui does 99% of the laundry, cooking and dishes—often while I am on the couch with 1-2 books and 1-2 cats. Not only did Loui give me the bookstore wedding of my dreams this year, but he also greatly contributed to my best reading year yet.

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The most exciting thing—there are so many more books to be read. Tomorrow the white board in our kitchen will be blank again, ready to record 2025 in books. Happy New Year, and happy reading!