2024 Reading Queue Mid-Year Update
How it started, how it's going, and which off the list I've read so far in 2024.
Today’s post is about my 2024 Reading Queue, so I want to give a quick reminder:
Please keep in mind that this is not meant to be prescriptive, nor for comparisons or judgement about your own reading. Also, many of the books on this list were read via audiobook, which is what allows me to enjoy more books while also engaging in the other hobbies I share about here with one or, most often, both of my kids at home with me for the majority of the day. It’s a way in which I am prioritizing my autonomy this year, so while this is important for me, please don’t measure your own reading rhythm against mine. Your reading rhythm is your reading rhythm, and I’m sharing a bit about mine in case it helps spark some interest for you or helps you realize you’d like to make a change to yours. If nothing else, let it act as permission/encouragement for you to do whatever feels right for you.
Hello, everyone!
We’ve passed the halfway point of the year, so I wanted to share an update about how I’m faring with my 2024 Reading Queue.
So first, logistics:
I had 44 books on the list I originally shared here, and I ended up adding 3 — Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (fiction), Cacophony of Bone: The Circle of a Year by Kerri ní Dochartaigh(nonfiction), and Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley (a re-read) — after publishing my post in December, making it 47 total; 24 were categorized under fiction, 13 under nonfiction, 3 under middle grade, and 7 under re-reads (which were, of course, varying genres).
As of this writing, I have completed 22 books on the list; 11 fiction, 7 nonfiction, all 3 of the middle grades, and 1 of my re-reads. I removed one book (Yellowface) which wasn’t on the originally published queue and which, unfortunately, I did not finish due to some triggering content.1 I replaced it with The Princess Bride by William Goldman, so the complete queue still rests at 47 (technically, minus the 22 books I’ve completed so far this year). I’m currently working on two of the nonfiction reads, one of which I’m planning to savour for the rest of the year (Cacophony of Bone), and I’ve got two of the fiction titles ready to go in the Libby app starting this week.
I have finished a number of books that weren’t on the queue as well, some of which were in the same series as one of the books on the queue and some of which were impulse reads. I had a couple slow months toward the beginning of the year, which seems to just be a part of my natural reading rhythm throughout the year, but it has picked up considerably since then, which is also common for me.
Overall, I’m so pleased with how the reading queue has made it easier to choose my next reads and keep my reading momentum, even when it’s a bit slower. Those were my main goals with creating the queue, so I’d call it a rousing success. I haven’t felt this satisfied with my reading life since I was in high school.
I had hoped I might make it farther into the year before beginning next year’s queue, but alas, I have already compiled quite a list (I’ll share this at the end of the year, of course). To be honest, this doesn’t really surprise or bother me. All the books on it are the ones I’d be most likely to choose at any point this year to jump the queue — which I fully expected would happen and tried to account for with the size of the original queue. And it means I’m really excited about reading and know what I want right now, which feels good.
I have realized that I might like to include more romance next year, rather than keeping it all separate from the queue, and since I’ve recently uncovered a love for graphic novels, I think they might get their own section on the 2025 queue as well — there’s plenty of time for planning and refining, though, so I’ll consider how the list forms and my reading flows throughout the rest of this year, and we’ll see what happens.
Notably, I don’t feel frantic or stressed about following the queue at all. Mostly, I’m having a lot of fun. I feel more like myself when I’m regularly reading, and I’m so happy that making this little list has helped me prioritize this part of my life even when things are difficult or hectic and my reading necessarily slows down. After almost a decade, following my leaving University, of being unable to read much of anything, it feels healing, in a way, to be devouring books the way I used to. Almost like I’m making up for lost time.
Below, I’ll share each of the books from the queue that I’ve already finished, in case you’re curious about which ones I’ve gotten to so far. I won’t include all the ones I’ve read from outside the queue here, but you can find any I felt worth sharing about and all my thoughts about them under the reading tab of my newsletter anytime. I share all my finished books in my End-of-the-month posts each month.
FICTION:
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Dead in the Garden (A Grasmere Cottage Mystery) by Dahlia Donovan
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert
The Book of Thorns by Hester Fox
NONFICTION:
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
Everything, Beautiful: A Guide to Finding Hidden Beauty in the World by Ella Frances Sanders
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May
Little Weirds by Jenny Slate
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
MIDDLE GRADE:
The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes
The Clackity by Laura Senf
Falling Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix
RE-READS:
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet and Brett Helquist
That’s it for today. I hope you’ll forgive the intrusion into your inbox a second time this week since the end-of-the-month post came so close to this one. I’d love to hear all about what you’re currently reading, or if you’ve read any of these books, and what you thought about them. And as always, feel free to share!
I read a lot of books with what could be considered triggering content for certain people. In this case, the choking scene at the beginning of the book — and subsequent allusions to it — ended up triggering a lot of intrusive thoughts for me, and I felt it was best to put it down.
I was really moved by how you said you felt it best to put a book down. I've read some triggering stuff before and just tried to skip it as best I could in order to finish. It didn't feel great, but I also really needed to know the ending.
I'm just glad to know that I'm not alone in wanting to put a book down and that is ok. It feels validating. Thanks you.
You're such an avid reader! It's great to hear how the reading queue has been helping you choose your next reads and something I should try. Thanks for sharing.