My 2024 Reading Wrapped
writing about every book i read this year
This year, I’m taking you through my reading history book-by-book, offering quick thoughts along the way. I’m also including my graveyard of unfinished books towards the end — please advise…
THE STATS:
45 books, 10 non-fiction, and 35 fiction and/or autofiction.
I read the most books (8) in October when I was on tour, and hardly any (1) in November.
Two books made me cry — A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and The First Bad Man by Miranda July. July’s short story, “How to Tell Stories To Children,” also made me cry this year.
The shortest book I read was Women by Chloe Caldwell, and the longest was The Bee Sting by Paul Murray.
I most often read in the back of the van, in a green room after soundcheck, on the subway, in bed on my Kindle, and in my favorite leather chair with my cat
NOTE: I have excluded books that I read for Binchtopia’s Bad Book Club because they were bad and I already had to talk about them for an hour. You can find my commentary for those on patreon.com/binchtopia if you so desire
ALSO: This post is more than email length, so continue reading on desktop or in the app if you get cut off!
I got a Kindle over the holidays and usually like to spend the first few weeks of the New Year unplugged from socials, so I was able to get a few books under my belt right away.
The Right To Sex: Feminism In the 21st Century really blew me away. I was hooked by her accessible framing of complex issues, and how Srinivasan seemed to look inside problems from every possible, difficult angle. My first five-star read of the year!
Financial Feminist helped me finally set up a high-yield savings account (even though I did ultimately end up using the Dave Ramsey “baby steps” framework that Dunlap hates).
Chain-Gang All-Stars has some of the most engaging fight scenes I’ve ever read, and the dystopia is beyond fucked up while simultaneously being very believable.
I Have Some Questions For You was a gripping thriller, and though I’ve heard Makkai’s other work is more impressive, I’ve tried to read it and it hasn’t quite hooked me like this did. It seems that every book about crime these days has a meta-analysis attached, and IHSQFY was the only book I read this year that seemed get it right.
Maame was sweet and had some good stuff about family and intergenerational trauma, but the main character was simply too pure and naive for me to really relate to.
Detransition, Baby was great — had me laughing, crying, everything. Some parts made me pause, which I always appreciate. I look forward to reading more from Peters, whose sophomore book is due next year I believe
Most of my month was consumed by The Bee Sting, which is a long Irish family drama that I enjoyed getting wrapped up in. A lot of people hate the anxious, stream-of-consciousness narration that takes up many chapters of this book, but I loved it. Many parts of this book made me wince, and I was motivated to finish it quickly despite its length.
The Sarah Book was recommended to me by a millennial man on the cusp of Gen-X and it showed. It’s profoundly sad and at times beautiful, but suffers from an undeniable Blake Butler energy that I had trouble getting past in the end.
I read Good Material for an energetic switch-up and it was just okay.
I read two books on writing in March, which usually means I’m not writing. I wasn’t.
Bird by Bird was sweet and encouraging — I liked Anne’s delivery of advice and would love to drink a cup of tea with her. Unfortunately, not much “stuck” with me after reading.
The Writing Life had stunning prose and great advice that is mostly applicable to people who have time to sit around all day and lament. There’s a crazy story about a pilot in here that I still think about.
Worry was a delicious little bite of modernity and frivolity with a lot of heart. As an only child until the age of 15, the intricacies of sibling dynamics have always been a mystery to me, and I enjoyed reading about them here.
Just Kids was, of course, great and special. I picked it up as soon as I made the definitive decision to move to New York and got to spend a week reading about Smith’s version of the city, which no longer really exists. Reading this while on tour with my band made me realize that, if nothing else, I’m living the wildest dream of my 14-year-old self.
