2024 year in (book) review

a little early but I cannot keep changing this list

Reading is the main hobby from my youth that I am so happy I never really lost. There have been years I read very little but 2024 was not one of them. This year, despite it all I managed to read 100 books. Getting back into reading consistently has been such a game changer for me and so in honor of 12 more months gone by here are my top 12 book recs from the year (in no particular order):

1. Loot by Tania James

   1. A south asian author, a story about how crafts persist, and a book that spans the life of a character. All my favorite components. This book was random, beautiful, and so so so good. It's historical, adventurous, romantic, and it's rooted in some beautiful Indian elements. Anyone who knows me knows there's a very special place in my heart for all that is India. This book is no exception.

2. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reed

   1. A female protagonist, tennis, and drama? Obsessed. From the get go I loved this premise, it took on a very needed take on how difficult it is to be a woman in a highly competitive sports environment. Translatable into our mundane lives: as a girl there is no winning, you cannot be nice enough, you cannot be tough enough, there is nothing you can do to please the masses. So stop trying, just please yourself! (and set national records doing it)

3. Hello Beautiful By Ann Napolitano

   1. God, this book tore me up and put me back together about a hundred little times. I thought I was Julia, then Sylvie, then the book ended and I was William all along. You have to read it to feel it, but this book is a masterpiece of family, love, and good intention standing on the shoulders of bad decisions.

4. Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

   1. To know me is to know my love for historical/ classical stories told from a female point of view. I lean Greek but this Indian retelling had a special place in my heart. I don’t view these as an alternate perspective but rather an equal one. Why is everything always told from these dudes point of view? I digress, and will definitely dive into this in whole in a different essay but this book! A must read. If familiar with the Ramayana, Kaikeyi is the evil queen hungry for power and manipulative. But in Kaikeyi, we get her story. Just a girl who went through some serious stuff and became a woman. Not a perfect woman but a whole person, her choices and her reasons become clear and without the patriarchal lens I found a beautiful story about a troubled woman. I highly recommend it for all, but especially those who have read the Ramayana.

5. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

   1. Milind told me there was a documentary on this too that I haven’t gotten to yet but if it's anything like this book I must! It was so interesting to read about the history of the opioid epidemic and there were so many points of this book where I had to sit and remind myself that this was real, not some made up evil family, but real people, trying to make a lot of real money, and forgetting (or choosing to forget) about the other real people that would be affected.

6. The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser

   1. Me & a good memoir are virtually inseparable and this is a great Example A. I read the short story The Crane Wife before I read this book. I would rank the short story itself on the list of the ten best books I read this year, but the book only made it better. It is always a privilege to be privy to someone's thoughts and not people you know who are trying to tell their story in a way where they are the good guy but when it's just a story, and no qualifiers are attached and the people and the stories are more complex than being good or bad.

7. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

   1. Any book that terrifies me is a winner in my eyes. Horror movies are so last year, anyone can jump out of a darkened room and make someone scream, but a good book, relying on nothing but words, that can make your skin crawl is nothing short of exceptional. It helps that I support women's rights and wrongs, I love a girl in a male dominated space, I rooted for her the entire time (but still struggled to sleep for a night).

8. Babel by R.F Kuang

   1. My most argued about book this year. I struggled whether to put Babel, Yellowface, or any of the Poppy War books on this list because RF Kuang was without a doubt my favorite writer of the year. Five books by one author I gave five stars to?? Pretty much unheard of. But Babel still wins for me, not because I think it's the best story (Poppy War) or has the best message (Yellowface) but because a book on language, translation, and the art of it all is nothing short of extraordinary to me. I also loved how the book defined translators. All we do is talk and listen and hope someone cares enough to translate what we say into understanding.

9. The Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

   1. A story about family, relationships, and the complex nature of it all, this book was written sooooooo beautifully. I think I basically rewrote the book in my notes app because of how many quotes I was saving from it. Life feels so rushed sometimes and then something big happens that shakes it all up and reminds you that you do have time, things are always around the corner, and nothing is forever.

10. Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

    1. Ugh! A mystery intertwined with a child with autism and a family who has to navigate it. This book was sad, beautiful, and inspiring all in one. I have so many thoughts but overall my biggest takeaway is just because we cannot understand how someone else is communicating with us does not mean they are not trying to. Working with people with disabilities, having family members with disabilities, patience is a virtue and understanding and reminding yourself every day that everyone is a person worthy of love, respect, and patience even if it's hard to give them that at times.

11. Lessons in Chemistry

    1. This book spoke to the little 6 year old inside of me who wanted to be a scientist and the big 25 year old inside of me who is becoming one. An awkward intelligent protagonist, a love story, and the cycle of being understood then misunderstood then understood again spoke to me. Everything in life really is just chemistry, a fact as fascinating now as it was when they first taught it to us in school.

12. A Woman is No Man

    1. A multi-generational story talking about just that, plus the injustice that so many women face, the hope that so many women feel, and the fight for freedom across generations. Just another reminder that there are far too many women out there suffering under rules, customs, and illogical traditions that make them feel worthless and weak. The patriarchy has used culture, religion, and violence to subjugate women for so long, allowing men to paint over their actions under the name of tradition. This book is not an easy read, but for that reason especially, I think it must be read.

Other Notable Mentions:

• Fourth Wing

  • I like dragon smut, sue me. Yes, I will admit this is not the best book in terms of its writing quality, but I loved the plot, I loved the characters, and I looooooooved the little dark and twisty romance. A man who is so tough and so strong and can still be undone by the love of his life, with no power to stop his undoing. Sign me up! We can all pretend to be pretentious and that we did not enjoy this book but I will say it with my chest: I enjoyed every second of it, I was 13 again reading fanfiction under the blankets of my childhood home hoping that nobody would catch me.

• A Thousand Ships

  • Another female mythology retelling. As mentioned before I lean Greek, and not only Greek but I hyperfixate specifically on the Trojan War. I have read at least 10 different books on female/ other perspectives of the Trojan War. This one has to be one of my favorites. Most focus on Helen, some Cassandra, but this book talked about every woman afflicted. From wives, to daughters, to maidservants, to nymphs; no woman was ignored and no life was unchanged.

If you’re interested in more book recs (and reviews) or just want to browse, the link to my goodreads is: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/145743170?ref=nav_profile_l.