Onwards!

2024 was a bit of a wash for me for blogging-wise. I had good intentions for over the summer to get restarted...I had a great reading year, though. I finished over my goal of 52 books.

Favorites

• Slow Horses and Dead Lions by Mick Herron
• Making It So by Patrick Stewart
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
• How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius by Donald J. Robertson
• Binti series by Nnedi Okorafor
• The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Epic of Gilgamesh
• Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

Worst Reads

• Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum
• The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones. This was number 3 in the trilogy and I was very disappointed. I loved the first book, thought the second was OK and the third felt like a castoff. So so disappointing.
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I had heard good things. But this first in the series did not speak to me. I'm worried I won't like other non-mystery books.

Overall, it was a pretty good reading year. Lots of favorites and very few disappointing reads and quite a few in the middle.

Reading Challenges 2025

Book Challenge by Erin 22.0 (Facebook group)

• Freebie: Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
• Read a book you intended to read in 2024: The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin
• Read a book with a main character who is an artist: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Read a book with a picture of a sunset/sunrise on the cover: The Silent Watcher by Victor Methos
• Read a book recommended by Jenna's Book Club/Oprah's/Reese Witherspoon's: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• Read a book that starts with the letter "I": Italian Folktales by Calvino
  
• Read a book with a specific town/city in the title: The Girl from Krakow by Alex Rosenberg
• Read a book with a female villain: "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare
• Read a book by an author whose first name or last name is Erin/Gray respectively: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• Read a book about climate change/or climate fiction: Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman

I Read Horror Year-Round Challenge (Castle Macabre)

Not sure which one's I'll read yet to fit the categories but I just finished my first one for Ghost Story: A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons.

1000 Books Project 2025: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset hosted by Gather Together and Read

Michelle had us read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. I made it through The Moonstone but only got about halfway through Nicholas Nickleby...but I'm still plugging through and hope to finish it this year! Because of her challenge I've read Les Miserables and The Count of Monte Cristo as well. Highly recommended.

I also plan on reading: 

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
•  Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel
•  The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
•  A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
•  Things Fall Apart by Chinua Adiche
•  The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald

hosted by Sam Haisell at his Substack Footnotes & Tangents