Kay’s 2024 Reading Recap

ByKay

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Wow what a year of reading.

I guess one of the biggest changes is that I’m pretty much using Libby (a digital library app) for all of my reading this year, outside of a few graphic novels and I think one or two physical books I picked up. Honestly, it’s been a gamechanger. Libraries are already amazing and highly necessary resources, but since I rarely have time to get in a good library run, Libby has made renting books much more accessible to me.

It’s also increased the amount of books I’ve DNF’d this year. For those not up-to-date on reading lingo, DNF stands for “did not finish” and is a book that you picked up and for whatever reason…you chose to not finish. Previously, when I would be physically buying the book or audiobook, it would feel so wasteful of me to not finish a book that I PAID for. Now that I’m renting them from a library, I don’t feel guilty and I will return a book if I’m not enjoying it instead of SLOGGING my way through something just to finish.

Stats

Another big reading change for me is that I’ve started tracking my books with the app StoryGraph. I honestly don’t really like GoodReads, so I tried a few different ones this year (along with keeping this running list) and so far I like StoryGraph the most. I love that it categorizes and graphs your reading data, making these little reading recaps really fun. So with that in mind, let’s look at my stats this year!

pie graph showing different moods of books read in 2024

I never set a particular NUMBER goal for books I want to read. Mostly because…life happens. While I’m slightly annoyed that I didn’t at least reach 100 books (since I’m so close), I definitely read a LOT more books this year than previous years. A large part of that is due to the ease of Libby and always having a supply of books on hand without needing to spend a lot of money.

However…if I had been keeping track of the amount of books I’ve read, I would have definitely squeezed 2 more books in (I must have missed a book somewhere and I’m too lazy to go back and cross-reference what I have logged).

But alas.

StoryGraph listed the various “moods” of the books I’ve finished and my top 3 moods I read this year were “emotional, reflective, and adventurous.” Makes sense though, since I do gravitate towards contemporary literary fiction which is often…emotional and reflective haha.

While I did (try) to read more nonfiction this year, the overwhelming majority of my finished reads were indeed fiction. Which is fine by me haha, honestly I’m happy with the amount of nonfiction I read in 2024.

My favorite read of the year was Victim by Andrew Boryga, with Even if This Love Disappears Tonight by Misaki Ichijo a CLOSEEE second. These would both fall under contemporary/literary fiction, though the second is in the young adult umbrella. Third was, surprisingly, a nonfiction that explores the exploitation of cobalt in the Congo. For me, these were all EASILY five stars and to this day I think of these books. They join the ranks of some of my favorite books of all time like Kindred, The Kite Runner, Homegoing, etc etc.

My least favorite book of the year was Don’t Let Her In, a thriller which was actually chosen as part of a book club I’m in. It sucked lol. I also read some flops (imo) that were part of a series so it was more disappointing than just an unappealing stand-alone. The award for those go to Beasts of Ruin and (sadly) Children of Anguish and Anarchy.

In terms of super popular books, the only real “cultishly popular” book I read this year was Fourth Wing which…was way too unbelievable for me to authentically enjoy. Also, since I read Divergent, Fourth Wing basically followed the same story line (including twists lol). Romance is also not my favorite genre so…there was a lot of factors that came together in me not liking this book. BUT, I will give Fourth Wing one thing. Although I thought it was a hot mess (iMo), at least it was entertaining – which is more than I can say for everything under it in my recap list.

The only caveat I’ll mention here is for the book “Adelaide” by Genevieve Wheeler. While it’s ranked near the bottom of my personal list, it is not a bad book. It’s just not for ME. The writing itself is beautiful and if I’m viewing it from an unbiased lens, it can be very powerful/moving. I was just not the audience. I could definitely see it being a 5 star for other folks.

Meanwhile, “This Thing Between Us” by Gus Moreno is pretty high up on my list, but I admit…it’s a really weird book. Especially the further you get into it hahaahah. So…yeah, it might not be for everyone, but I really liked it haha. I just probably wouldn’t blanket recommend to everyone.

Sidenote, if you’d like to see my favorite (and least favorite) reads from previous years, I also have recaps for those: 2023, 2022, 2021.

2024 Reading Recap

Alright, here’s my final 2024 reading recap, in order of favorite book of the year to least favorite! Let me know if you’ve read any of these and where they would fall on your list!

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