Reading Year in Review 2024

It's always fun to look over the year and pick out my favorite books. The most challenging books still "haunt" me many months later - probably because they demanded so much of my heart and mind when I was reading them. Here's the list:

Favorite Light Reads: The last eight books in Jan Karon's Mitford series (four of which were new to me) and three Agatha Christie mysteries: Sad Cypress, Five Little Pigs, The Secret of Chimneys

Most Challenging: Till We Have Faces (The Lit Life Podcast episodes from 2020 added helpful commentary.)

Favorite Audio: The Iliad (lectures by Elizabeth Vandiver) 

Favorite Non-fiction: When Morning Gilds the Skies (reviewed here)

Favorite Vintage: Set in Silver (reviewed here)

Most Delightful Discovery: The poetry of William Wordsworth

Classic that I Tackled (for the second time): Dante's Inferno. I have physical copies of  Ciardi's translation, but longed for something more beautifully written. Happily, I found Hollander's delightful audioversion on Chirp for 99 cents! Reading along with the 100 Days of Dante group was one of the highlights of my year.

The Book That I Loved In Spite of Myself: The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene. Such a dark story, but so beautifully written. Many important religious themes.

Favorite of the Year: The Christmas Pig by J.K. Rowling. Brilliant storytelling (reviewed here)

This link  to Goodreads shows all 95 books that I read in 2024.

It was a very good year for building my literary muscles! What about you? Did you read something good that caught you by surprise?

Blessings,