Reading in 2024

Let’s be super real, this post is mostly for my own vanity. But for anyone who is nosy: here are all the books I read this year in chronological order. I’m going to put a little star next to the ones I really liked.

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

3. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

4. Either/Or by Elif Batuman *

5. The Guest by Emma Cline

6. Collages by Anaïs Nin

7. The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore

8. All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

9. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin *

10. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

11. White Teeth by Zadie Smith

12. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

13. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

14. Like Love by Maggie Nelson

15. Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk

16. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

17. There There by Tommy Orange *

18. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut *

19. The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

20. The Country Life by Rachel Cusk

21. Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon *

22. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

23. Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

24. Pure Colour by Sheila Heti

25. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

26. On Beauty by Zadie Smith *

27. Y/N by Esther Yi

28. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

29. South and West: From a Notebook by Joan Didion *

30. Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Liang

31. Miami by Joan Didion

32. Butter by Asako Yuzuki

33. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh *

34. A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter

35. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

36. LaserWriter II by Tamara Shopsin *

37. The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis *

38. My First Book by Honor Levy *

39. Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis

40. The Shadow of the Coachman’s Body by Peter Weiss *

41. Record of a Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami

42. The Skunks by Fiona Warnick

43. Surrealist Collage edited by Penelope Rosemont *

44. The Bridegroom Was a Dog by Yoko Tawada *

45. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion *

In progress:

An Immense World by Ed Yong

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

A Breath of Life Clarice Lispector

Nails and Eyes by Kaori Fujino

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis

Some brief notes on this year’s reading:

In undergrad, reading for leisure was rarely a priority (and many can attest to this). After graduating, however, I did not find myself returning to reading in my free time — of which I now had quite a lot of. One of my resolutions last year was to read one book a month, thinking that it would be more important to read consistently rather than erratically in large quantities (which was previously my preferred mode of reading). This goal was beyond reasonable and was achieved quite swiftly, hardly deserving a pat on the back: the average American reads 12 books per year (although 50% of Americans read less than 4 books per year, so keep in mind that average readership is definitely not a bell curve).

Upon totaling the books, I was pretty impressed with myself (45! wow!). In reality, this number is largely aided by audiobooks, and a huge part of that is owed to audiobooks being added to Spotify. This has been a wonderful improvement in my life, because the use-it-or-lose-it policy of Spotify audiobook hours ensures that I will absolutely listen to at least one book per month and effectively milk every penny of my premium subscription.

Having achieved my reading goals of 2024 (which were really just to read), I am looking to tailor my reading goals for 2025. For one, I read almost exclusively literary fiction — nothing wrong with this, but in high school I really only read nonfiction or ...philosophy (I’m sorry, I was insufferable at 18). So this upcoming year I am going to be more intentional about 1) reading what I own (this backlog is incredibly enormous), and 2) diversifying my reading content across genres. I’ll also include a list below of books that I would like to read in 2025, many of these I already own.

One thing I would like to continue from 2024 into 2025 is choosing a few titles with my partner to read together (as in, we both read it on our own then discuss, not necessarily bedtimestoryhour-style). We’ve only read fiction so far, but I think it would be wonderful to read some nonfiction together (currently eyeing Hailey’s copy of Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation), or something more applicable to our current social climate and that isn’t a book about a woman in her 30s who is feeling lost and little bit gay. We’ve also subscribed to some publications (Asterisk Mag). Another thing to continue is reading Joan Didion and Bret Easton Ellis (lmao). And one more thing to continue is to not force it! This is meant to be a leisurely activity and I’m anticipating a gradual drop in my leisure time next year. That’s it!

To be read (in no particular order):

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis

Life for Sale by Yukio Mishima

Foreverism by Grafton Tanner

Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation by Bryne Hobart & Tobias Huber

Vox by Nicholson Baker

Severance by Ling Ma

Aurora Down by Herman Wouk

Moonbound by Robin Sloan

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music Edited by Christoph Cox & Daniel Warner

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor

Bee by Claire Preston

Our Insect Friends and Foes by William Atherton Dupey

A Happy Death by Albert Camus

Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov

Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis

Histories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

Mosquito by Andrew Spielman & Michael D’Antonio