My Year in Books, 2024

 by Sybil Johnson

Happy New Year! Sorry I missed my last posting date. I was in Seattle for Christmas and, well, was too lazy/busy to put something together before I left.

It’s time for my annual reading wrap-up. January to December, just to make it clear. I say this because I participated in shepherd.com’s My 3 Favorite Reads 2024. Their year runs from end of September 2023 to October 2024. More on that later.

I saw a post online where someone wondered why people keep track of what and how many books they read. I started keeping track because I was curious about how many I actually read in a year. Plus it’s also a nice reference so I know if I already read a book. I also like to share the highlights of my reading because it’s a way of bringing attention to books that I think others would enjoy. With all of the books out there, it’s hard to get noticed sometimes. I also know what I’ve read so I can participate in things like Shepherd’s My 3 Favorite Reads that I mentioned above.

Let’s start with Shepherd’s. Those books were:

1. Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge
2. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
3. The General’s Gold by LynDee Walker and Bruce Robert Coffin 

I won’t go into details here. You can read my comments at https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024/f/sybil-johnson

Number of books I “consumed” (audio plus print/ebook) in 2024: 105. Last year it was 68 so I guess I found more time to read. Around 30% non-fiction, 65% crime (middle-grade books, cozies, historicals, thrillers and traditional). The other 5% were science fiction/fantasy and audio

I don’t usually set a reading goal for the year, but last year I decided to try for 100 books in 2024. Yep, made that one. Not going to set a goal for 2025.

Cozy/traditional highlights: 

1. Ill-fated Fortune by Jennifer J. Chow 
2. Besides the Phyllida Bright mysteries, which includes Murder at Mallowan Hall, I also enjoyed the first book in Colleen Cambridge’s An American in Paris series. Check both of the series out. 
3. A Sprinkling of Murder by Daryl Wood Gerber. This series includes a fairy as a sidekick. Very clever and fun read.

Non-fiction highlights:

1. Neither Snow Nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service by Devin Leonard. I picked this one up at the Postal Museum in D.C., a really great museum with a wonderful free tour. It was a fascinating book. I highly recommend it.
2. Disney’s Land by Richard Snow. I enjoyed this history of Disneyland since it’s one of my favorite places to spend time at.
3. The President and the Assassin by Scott Miller. The president is McKinley. I knew little about him until I read this book. Very interesting.

Historical Mystery highlights:

1. The Redmond and Haze mysteries by Irina Shapiro. I continue to enjoy these.
2. The Isolated Séance by Jeri Westerson. Thoroughly enjoyed this new series from Jeri.

Audio highlights:

• A Christmas Carl by Dickens and Gaspard, narrated by Jim Cunningham. No, I didn’t make a mistake in my typing. This is part of Gaspard’s Greyhound Classics series where he takes a classic book and inserts Carl, a greyhound, into the story. Delightful. Nicely narrated.

That’s my reading summary. There were a lot of other good books I read over the year. These are just the highlights. 

 How was your reading year? Anything you particularly liked that you want to give a shout out to?