I woke up to see that a writer friend had tagged me in her exhortation to read more books in 2025 because she'd used a picture of our Little Free Library. And of course the week has been full of various enjoyable year-end roundups of reading lists. Then Lisa wondered about my top books of 2024... The thing is, I don't have a digital record of my reading. Reading is what I've always loved doing but also kind of my work work. So it never made sense (for me) to quantify my reading by hours/pages/titles. When I read for pleasure, like other things I do for pleasure, I tend to do it rather whimsically and for as long--or as little--as I want to. It's not very efficient. But that feels perfect to me.
Lisa's question made me curious, though. So I went to check on my scribbly physical planner, where I usually note what I'm reading "for fun" to compile this top-12. (I think these titles are a mix of 2023 and 2024 and are in no particular order.)
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Message; Catherine Newman, Sandwich; Paul Murray, The Bee Sting; Percival Everett, James; Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!; Sally Rooney, Intermezzo; Fady Joudah, […]; Tony Tulathimutte, Rejection; Emma Cline, The Guest; Yiyun Li, Wednesday’s Child: Stories; Tania James, Loot; Elliot Page, Pageboy: A Memoir; Teju Cole, Tremor. (Fun fact: Teju Cole used to comment on this blog a very long time ago.)
Pic: OM's Facebook Reel of our Little Free Library. I did a quick search, and this is the first picture of it in the snow, I think. I love that our neighborhood keeps it so well stocked. It used to be all my responsibility in the other place where we had it from 2012-2016.
20 comments:
Thank you for posting!! I haven’t read most of the books on your list so now I have more to add to my TBR shelf in Libby! I think it’s great that you allow reading for pleasure to be a hobby and not something to manage or track. I am such a data nerd that I love tracking my reading in excel. And I cannot recall what I read without referring to Goodreads embarrassingly… of your list, I have read Sandwich and James and I loved both! I think I am a bit too in the middle of parenting young children to appreciate Sandwich as much as a person further in their parenting journey. She is so nostalgic for being smothered by her children and I am fully in that stage so haven’t had a chance to be nostalgic yet…. But I try to keep in mind that someday I will miss not having personal space.
I haven't read any of those, though I've read other books by Coates and Cline, and I have Sandwich on my TBR list.
Patiently waiting for my turn for Sandwich from the library! I love, love Little Free Libraries. There are quite a few in my neighborhood & they all bring me deep joy. I accidentally dropped a public library book into one this week and had to backtrack and hope it was still safely nestled in the free spot. It was! Phew. :)
-Steph
Nice
Oooh there are a few titles on there I haven't read, so I am going to investigate! I love your LFL! I miss those from my Calgary days, there were so many in my neighbourhood! It's not really a thing here, or if it is, I haven't found any yet. And I'm at the end of a dead end rural-ish road so I can't really do one myself.
Oh, your top 12! Nice. Often I post book reviews on my blog (but not always) and that is the only way I keep track. Nowadays the majority of my reading is audio books, which I didn't really think would appeal to me, but I LOVE.
I loved The Bee Sting.
I'm conflicted about reading James; I'm a huge fan of Twain and Huckleberry Finn. And I confess to being a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to the Classics.
There are three Little Frees in my general neighbourhood. Let me just say that I seem to be the only one contributing any decent reading material to them, and it gets snapped up immediately. Some of the stuff in there is awful: old business/management college texts, religious stuff from 1950s, and other junk like that. I think hoarders use the Little Frees as a way to get rid of some of their stuff without throwing it away.
Perhaps I would track if I were in any other profession--it feels too much like work to me if I track... OR I might be anti-tracking. When A starts his Apple watch when we hike (he likes data too :), I always have to quell my initial indignation that hiking with me isn't all the reward he needs. :)
You read a lot, and it must be nice to have a record. Memories are notoriously fallible. Every stage of parenting is special, but I do think Sandwich sits differently for those of us with older kids.
StephLove, I can't wait for you to read Sandwich. The way that family makes and talks about food reminded me so much of yours! Does Cline make you sad as well? There's a certain kind of "girl" in her work. I think we've talked about this before...
Steph--I was in love with the idea of LFLs after reading an article about them long before I even saw one!
I'm glad you found your book.
Thanks!
You live on a vineyard so I don't feel that sorry for you, Nicole :)!
Not that you asked, but are there some LFLs in town you could adopt?
J--I got into audiobooks in the pandemic too! I didn't think I would like it either, but I have a longass commute, and it has been great.
Also, I used your blog to suggest bookclub picks a couple of weeks ago--so many excellent recs!
Nance--I don't mind retakes of the classics (I draw the line at things like _Pride and Prejudice with Zombies_ however).
I was a bit taken aback when someone told me that librarians don't like LFLs (You know what else is free? The regular public library.) And it's precisely for the reasons your mention.
https://www.metafilter.com/166799/Against-Little-Free-Libraries
Thanks for the link. I read it with interest; however, that study had far different parameters than the neighbourhood I live in, which is working class and, of course, US. And our city unfailingly votes in favour of tax levies to fund our libraries (and our schools!).
I don't want to be That Person to "clean out" the LFLs and get rid of the books that are obviously clogging them up. Seems Karenish to do that. But it's sad that they really are clogging them and rendering them almost useless.
I never used to track my reading- I just read and enjoyed it. But now I enjoy the tracking, although I didn't do any kind of big year-end roundup.
I haven't read ANY of your top 12!
You have a little free library! How did I miss that?
I LOVED James. I'm just about to start my book review posts for last year. Sandwich is on my list but I didn't get it in before the end of the year.
Jenny, I'm grateful for people who do track, because otherwise how would I find books?!? We coincided on some books last year though--Follett and Moriarty come to mind...
I've also seen people repurpose LFLs as community pantries.
I look forward to your annual review! Didn't you read _Don Quixote_? I've never read the whole thing and always feel embarrassed about that :)!
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