Books of 2024

 Hey all! I know I am quite late on a lot of things. Here are all the books that I "read" last year.

Audiobooks

Ebooks

Physical Copies

I am slowly making my way through the Anne of Green Gables series and the Saints series. I don't remember anything from Our Ancient Faith and The Cure for Burnout. Honestly, I was way too entrenched in the burnout to really get anything from that book. I ended up just quitting my job. And I am so much happier for it. 

Most of the books are great for general audiences, but a few have slightly more mature content (but not explicit intimacy except for maybe a paragraph that I skipped in Bound by Ravens but I'm not exactly sure because I skipped it). The Scarlet Alchemist is fairly dark. It has a lot of death and gruesome images described, so if that's not your thing, don't read that book. I thought that it was fascinating though. 

Archangel Down is an interesting concept of the book. It's part of a series, and I started the second book, but I didn't finish it because it had too much jargon I didn't understand, too many characters introduced for me to remember, and too much happening at once. So, I was just confused most of the time. I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't.

2023 Reading Goal

 Last year, I had a goal to read 12 books, so basically 1 a month. And I wanted to read the physical copies, so even though I listened to audiobooks, I didn't feel like I had met my real goal. (The books I read can be found here.) So this year, I set the same goal for myself. I wanted to read 12 books instead of listening to them, even though I still wanted to listen to audiobooks. This year turned out to be an adventure because I ended up going down a giant rabbit hole that increased my usage of e-books (Kindle and Apple books).

So, if you would like to know the books I have read this year, they are the following.

Audiobooks

Physical Books

E-books

Books I read that I would NOT recommend:

*Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man--not very well organized and left me with more follow up questions because some of the original questions posed weren't actually answered; it's super short and doesn't have a lot of content

*Dotty Dishes the Dirt--A lot of errors that made me reread sentences several times to understand what was happening, but some of it might just be British English

Other warnings for some containing adult material (i.e. drugs, language, abuse, and intimacy):

*Karamo Brown--little bit for being a very real biography, mostly language and drugs

*Princess of Thorns--right at the very end and not necessary for the story, not super explicit but still unnecessary in my opinion

*The Children's Blizzard--associated with one particular character and not a lot, but there are a few sentences that are questionable

*Odessa, Odessa--dealing with abuses during Pale of Settlement and emigration

**I try to not read explicit intimacy in books, and I often put books down because of it; so, this is a list that I have deemed might still be too much for other people

**I work in mental healthcare and get told lots of rough and horrible things, so sadly I might be a little more de-sensitized and/or interested in some topics

2022 Reading Goal

 I had a goal this year to read 12 books (about 1 each month), which is not much in the reading community. I love reading, but I don’t have a lot of time because I’m doing so many different things all the time. So I thought I could read one book each month. I did not do that. I read 10 books. But, I also listened to 11 audiobooks. So count what you will. I really wanted to read read the 12 books. Here’s my list with a comment or two for each book.

This is a good book. It's historical fiction. It follows a slave girl as her mother escapes and gains freedom. I've read better books about this time period, but it's still a good read. 

This series is pretty good. If you like sci-fi-esque fairy tales, this is pretty good. It starts with cyborg Cinderella, which was a great way to start. It follows four fairy tale couples trying to overthrow the government. And there was really only one couple that I hated and was annoyed when reading about because they were just too lovey dovey.

Great book! For the most part, I love a lot of what Brene Brown says whenever I hear or read her stuff. It was fun to hear her narrate her own book. 

I finally listened to The Hobbit. I did not get to The Lord of The Rings books though. Maybe next year?

This one is so dry. The concept is quite interesting, but I had to renew it a few times to get through.

The Twisted Tale collection is pretty good. I love fairy tales. And they are all pretty easy reads. Maybe I like them because I am just a 12-year-old in an adult body. Some of them get pretty dark. I thought the Aladdin one was the darkest. I liked the concept of the Once Upon a Dream more of these two.

This one's good. I don't know what else to say about it, but it really is good and makes you think. 

This is a good short two stories. I wanted to actually go through the Legend of Sleepy Hollow around Halloween time because I hadn't ever heard or read the original story. I've just seen the headless horseman in different shows. 

I loved this one. If you are religious, it really makes you think. But, it also makes me want to take hold of my dreams and aspirations more. It's quite inspiring.

I love A Christmas Carol, so I had to listen to the classic. I also went and saw it on the stage. I feel like I haven't been to very many performances in the last few years, probably because of COVID. So it was a great way to get in the Christmas spirit.

It's an easy read. Easy to follow murder mystery. If you want something really easy to read and a not-too-dark murder mystery, this is the book to read.

I have to say this is one of those series that I was pulled in by the first book, and the rest of the books kept my interest here and there. The first book is great though. I could hardly put it down.

This is also a great book if you're religious. It also made me think a lot. I basically read it in one day (while I was on a plane). So it's an easy read.

I have one more book in this series to finish. I started the last book though, so it will be the start of next year's list of books. The second book took me a lot longer to read. Once again, I was drawn in more by the first book. Maybe it's the author? 'Cause it's the same author as the magician series.