Top Books of 2024
ALLO, FOOLS! So I didn’t read a whole ton of books last year because we actually didn’t get too much bad weather (and the only chance I get to read is when I’m walking inside on the treadmill), but I figured I’d give you a “top five” book list nonetheless. Though I sorta cheated, as you’ll see. From fifth best to best:
FIVE: Don Quixote (de Cervantes)
This book was a wild ride. Apart from knowing what the word quixotic means and a little bit about the “tilting at windmills” thing, I didn’t really know what to expect from this book. And I was certainly NOT expecting anything that I got, haha. But it was highly entertaining and very funny at parts.
FOUR: The Last Tycoon (Fitzgerald)
The only reason this is in fourth place is because it was left unfinished (Fitzgerald died before completing it) and I WANTED MORE. I really love Fitzgerald’s writing style and how he can portray the essence of a character in a single line, even before we actually meet the character. His style always makes me want to keep reading.
THREE: Holes (Sachar)
LOOK I’M CHEATING! This is not on my book list, but as you may have seen from previous blogs, I’ve also been re-reading some of the books I remember reading as a kid. I guess I didn’t technically read this one – our sixth grade teacher read it aloud to us – but I remember really liking it, so I decided to re-read it. It definitely lived up to my memory. Holes is a really, really, really good book. If you never read it before, check it out.
TWO: Twelve Angry Men (Rose)
We read this in…eighth grade I think? We read it aloud and each had to pick a part to read (I was the Foreman). But even without getting to “act” it out by reading it aloud, it was still very good. I love the building of tension and how (most of) the men are slowly convinced to change their minds about the trial and circumstances.
ONE: The Caine Mutiny (Wouk)
LOOK I’M CHEATING AGAIN! I read this a month or so ago because I finally bought a Kindle version of it and it still stands as my absolute favorite book ever. I don’t know what it is about this story, but I loved it the very first time I read it (seventh grade?) and I love it still. I don’t know if it’s ever going to get dethroned as my favorite book. If you still haven’t read it (even after all my raving on this blog), DO IT NOW!
Baby Books for Babies: An Update
Current list of childhood books I’ve re-read:
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Judy Blume)
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Barbara Robinson)
- Holes (Louis Sachar)
- A Wrinkle in Time (Madeline L’Engle)
- An embarrassingly large number of Babysitters Club books
I actually just finished reading Holes yesterday, and that book is even better than I remember it. It’s surprisingly…intricate?…for a kid’s book. It’s not hard to read or anything like that, but everything ties together in more ways than you typically see in a lot of kid’s books. I also really like Sachar’s writing style and characters; I actually bought a physical copy of his Sixth Grade Secrets because I used to love that book as a kid. So if you haven’t read Holes, read it!
A Wrinkle in Time was a disappointment. It wasn’t nearly as good as I remember it being.
Now I need to figure out what to read next!
HEY LOOK MORE NOSTALGIA
I’ve been on Goodreads a lot lately because I like to look up what other people think about the books on my list (after I’ve already finished them, of course). Today I found someone who had a list of books that kids in the 90s probably read. There were a few on there that triggered some memories for me.
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
I can’t remember if we had to read this in elementary school or if it was just one of those books we had on our shelves and I just decided to read it.
Bunnicula by Deborah Howe and James Howe
I had this when I was pretty young, I think. Maybe my mom read it to me?
Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman
I want to say I read this in 6th grade as part of a group book report thingy. We decided to make a little movie reenactment of part of it, ‘cause I had a camcorder and I LOVED doing that kind of thing. I remember liking the book quite a bit.
Holes by Louis Sachar
I think Mrs. Lohrmann (our 6th grade teacher) read this aloud to us.
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