A List from the Reading Life
Everything I remembered to write down on my "Read" list in 2024
Years ago, I began keeping a list of the books I read in a given year. I’ve stuck to it. Mostly anyway. Often enough, though, when I peruse the list at the end of December, I have this niggling feeling that I’ve forgotten something.
It bothers me a little when I leave out a title (or three). Good thing my personal theme for 2024 was “Give yourself grace.”
I come to these omissions honestly, however. I read a lot. There are all sorts of reasons I might have forgotten. For example, I often rush to push a book into a friend’s hand (“You HAVE to read this!”) or return a loan to the library before I’ve remembered to write the titles down.
And yes, we occasionally watch the movie instead.
Anyway, an annual book list — complete or not — allows me to share what I’ve read with you, which is wonderful because books are too expansive and beloved to keep to myself. And that’s the best reason of all.
There were a few books in 2024 that I adored, and others I just couldn’t get through — either because they weren’t my jam or they were the wrong book at the wrong time. It happens to the best of us.
The rest of these titles were in one way or another my companions as only books can be. For the duration of their pages, they either entertained or educated me or just passed the time on a Shabbos afternoon or a plane. Some made me laugh or cry or wake Miro up so I could read him a powerful line. Or they were simply a chance to imagine living someone else’s life, as if I were trying on a gown at Loehmann’s.
So here’s my more or less complete 2024 Life in Books List.
But first, a book I remembered that I forgot from 2023. Lake Success: A Novel by Gary Shteyngart, an unapologetically political look at the rift in the US that is very Shteyngart-y anxious/funny.
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl. I loved this.
(Yes, we went to Amsterdam, hence the next few titles.)
The Assault by Harry Mulisch. Novel based on the author’s own experience during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw. Novel of a young boy in the Dutch Resistance.
Nightfather by Carl Friedman. Bleak novella based on the author’s experience as the child of a Dutch Holocaust survivor.
The Diary Keepers by Nina Siegel. The author weaves together journal entries and letters composed in the Netherlands during World War II.
The Shovel and the Loom by Carl Friedman. Dark novel about a child of survivors in Antwerp.
Childhood by Jona Oberski. His childhood memories of Bergen-Belsen. Hard, but important read.
Sisters of Auschwitz: The True Story of Two Jewish Sisters' Resistance in the Heart of Nazi Territory by Roxane van Iperen. Terrible title. The original Dutch title, The High Nest, better suits the book.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a (@#$%) by Mark Manson. It was recommended, so I tried. Not for me.
Girl at War by Sara Nović. Novel of a young girl whose idyllic childhood is disrupted when the former Yugoslavia collapses into war.
The Little Liar by Mitch Albom. Set in Salonika during the Holocaust. Poignant.
A Bend in the Stars by Rachel Barenbaum. Russia, c. 1914. A novel of Jewish siblings on the brink of WWI.
Weyward by Emilia Hart. A novel of multiple generations of women gifted with magic.
My Wild Garden by Meir Shalev. Translated by Joanna Chen. I loved these stories of connection with the physical land of Israel.
Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron. Memoir of loss and surviving loss. Smart, with humor. But not easy.
84 Charing Cross Road & The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Haff. I cannot express how much I adored this book.
The Retreat by Aharon Appelfeld. Not my favorite Appelfeld.
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem. I’ll try to read this another time. Couldn’t get into it (and I’m a embarrassed to say so).
Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Long and winding, but glad to have read it.
Embers by Sandor Marai. Gripping love triangle set in the heyday, and then decline, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The last 40 pages felt like a lecture.
Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir by Amy Kurzweil. Story of three generations of Jewish women.
Wolf Hunt by Ayelet Gondar-Goshen. Thriller about an Israeli family in Silicon Valley and slippery truths. Excellent.
My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner by Meir Shalev. A memoir. Poignant, but also so funny I laughed like I haven’t in ages.
The Woman beyond the Sea by Sarit Yishai-Levi. Interesting history (i.e., orphanages in Mandate Palestine, but I couldn’t connect with the characters.
Where You Once Belonged by Kent Haruf. A novel of small town betrayal.
A Cup of Tea: A Novel of 1917 by Amy Ephron. Disturbing.
The Women by Kristin Hannah. Covers an important aspect of Vietnam War history we rarely hear about. The second half of the book dragged on.
Antisemite and Jew by Jean-Paul Sartre. Sadly, a book for the times.
James by Percival Everett. Couldn’t get through it. Will try again.
Sandwich by Catherine Newman. I laughed out loud, but sometimes, I cried, too.
Forgot something in the middle. Put the number, not the book. Oops.
Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church. A woman swaps her own ambitions for marriage.
Resistance by Anita Shreve. A forbidden love affair in Nazi-occupied Belgium.
An Almost Perfect Moment by Binnie Kirshenbaum. Loved this book until the end, when it made me mad.
Isola by Allegra Goodman. Read an advanced reader copy of this. Really liked it.
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. Memoir of her addiction.
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford. Was hard to keep up with all the ping-ponging between time and characters.
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. Graphic memoir about her family’s escape from Vietnam.
Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo. A middle-aged mother is unexpectedly thrown into turmoil.
Bylines & Blessings: Overcoming Obstacles, Striving for Excellence, and Redefining Success by Judy Gruen. The author’s pursuit of both the writing life and a spiritual life rooted in Orthodox Judaism (& how she lands on both feet).
Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo. Sometimes, what you need is a chapter book about a cynical girl who vacuums up a squirrel that writes poetry.
Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall. Novel about three women connected by an old letter and a woman’s right to choose.
There’s another blank space at #43. Sorry.
How To Read a Book by Monica Wood. Sweet novel about a volunteer who teaches poetry to inmates in a women’s prison.
Places We Left Behind: A Memoir-in-Miniature by Jennifer Lang. A very Jewy memoir about figuring out where you belong. The entries are short and moving.
Unto the Soul by Aharon Appelfeld. So disturbing.
Agent on the Run by John Le Carre. Light travel book.
The Searchers by Tana French. A thriller. Also good for travel.
10/7: 100 Human Stories by Lee Yaron. Investigative snapshots from October 7. Heartbreaking, as expected.
Together by Luke Adam Hawker. Illustrated, philosophical look at the isolation and other challenges that defined the year 2020.
The Seven Husbands of Eveyln Hugo by Talylor Jenkins Reid. Novel spans the lifetime of a fictional Hollywood star.
The Art of Leaving by Ayelet Tsabari. A breathtaking memoir.
Brother’s Keeper: A Story from a War by Arnon Schorr, illustrated by Josh Edelglass. Comic book based on the author’s grandfather’s experience in Israel’s War of Independence.
One Day in October: Forty Heroes, Forty Stories. Compiled by Yair Agmon and Oriya Mevorach. A stirring, compassionate, powerful, heart-wrenching, must-read.
The Hole We’re In by Gabrielle Zevin. Novel about family dynamics and excessive consumerism.
Here’s to more book love in 2025.
Tell me what you’re reading and what I should. I love a growing To-Read list as much as I love an Already Read one.
For more on books and authors, check out my #everydayisJewishbookday mini-interviews on Facebook, where you can meet writers whose work you already love or may not have read yet.
Subscribing to this newsletter is love, too. Just saying. :)
Let’s continue to pray for good in the year ahead. For the return of the hostages, and peace — and peace of mind — for all of us.
Love,
Merri
Loved Left on 10th last year!
Great list! Surprisingly we only overlapped on two books this year (but some on your list I’ve read in previous years and I assume vice versa). Love love love Meir Shalev’s My Wild Garden. I savored that read, reading a bit every day at the beginning of Covid…