For those of you who have been with me on this writing journey, this attempt at having a blog, you know that I like to recount the books and quotes and things that I have read in a year. I may stray from my blog writing and posts to take up other various creative hobbies or outlets, but I will always comeback to recommend and rave about books. That, I can be counted on for.
Where I am going to start with this blog you might need to have previous knowledge of my last reading in review post. So if you haven’t read that one, I am going to pause and give you a minute to bring yourself there and up to date on what I am about to discuss.
Last year I went into a big deep spiral about what my younger brother Buddy said to me. I was arguing against his point. (I’m trying to be vague so you have to go back and read my last reading blog post but that is turning out to make for bad writing so I am giving that up and just going to elaborate).
Buddy was trying to argue that I set my reading goal too high. That 50 books was too stressful. That I was taking the fun and the joy out of reading. I, however, argued that the really big numbered goal was giving me motivation, that I didn’t think I would continue to read if I didn’t have a goal that felt daunting and needed my precision and focus. Well I would like to report that I took Buddy’s advice under consideration as I entered 2024. And I am going to say this with full confidence that Buddy doesn’t read my blog so I don’t have to hear him gloat… He might have been onto something.
I went into this year with the idea to half my reading goal so I could work on reading the gargantuan books in the ACOTAR series. (Book size is so scary to me. Anything over 500 pages… Im shaking in my boots.) I literally blocked off my year to read this series. But it turns out the series so deserving of its hype that I finished them all by March. In my decision to half my book goal and then going on to completing my main reading goal of finishing this series by March, I was left with no direction. I no longer had that scary, large number of books I had to read hanging over my head. I no longer had the motivating goal that I spoke so confidently about in my last blog.
I spent a lot of this past reading year feeling disappointed in myself. I was upset I didn’t set my reading goals to be higher. I felt like I fell short of my past self. Arn’t we supposed to only be getting better and better as people? Improvement in the only option all the time right? Why couldn’t I have been better? I could have been better.
It was a very woe-is-me, unnecessary path to put myself on. I needed to CUT that shit OUT! Bad thinking. Mean thinking. Hurtful, self inflicted thinking. Why would I be mean to myself? Isnt reading a hobby I love? Something I like to do because the story is good? A great break from screen time. Good exercise for my brain. Helpful for getting me to sleep. An emotion stimulator.
Yes, Maggie, yes it is. It is all those things. I had to reframe the way I approached reading. Again. I felt annoyed that I had publicly declared my opinion and learned I was wrong, my younger brother in the right. Out smarted again. By some kid named Buddy.
I learned that this is the exact reason why we have these conversations with people with love. Challenge others opinions, offer our own. Say they are wrong but then seriously ponder later if they were right. Open our perspectives and consider that something isn’t always the way you thought it was.
I am so grateful that I halved my goal. That I listened to Buddy, entertained his opinion. It took so much pressure off me to just read for the heck of it. To read when I had the time. To fill my free time with other activities that I enjoy. I got to do my scrapbook journal. I got to hang out with friends. I traveled a crap ton.
I was proud of myself for returning to reading because I wanted to. Because I loved the stories my books had to offer. Instead of returning to reading because I had a book quota to meet.
I proved to myself that I love to read regardless of a reading goal. And I think that is what I was scared of, that I wouldn’t be that person. And I want to be that person.
Well. Enough about me. How about the books that I read and sent me into this whole crisis?
Without further ado! Here are the books I read in 2024
Book covers are so beautiful. I love them so so much.
RAHHH!! Now for my top 10 read of 2024 (No one knows this but I keep typing 2023 and having to change it to 2024). Again, in NO specific favorite order, but in order based on when I read them
- A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J Mass (sorry is putting a whole series cheating?)
- Funny Story by Emily Henry
- One Day by David Nicholls
- Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottieb
- The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
- Wedding People by Allison Espach
- The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
- Im Sorry for my Loss by Colleen Long and Rebecca Little
Felt harder to do my top 10 because I read 33 books instead of 50. But there they are!!!
This year too I wrote reviews of each book right after I read each book so I have 33 book reviews and book quotes I will be linking below!!!
I loved my reviews. They felt so fun to do right after I finished the book. They gave me the opportunity to feel completely finished with the book. Done and tied with a bow!
Now my quotes are always favorite. I seriously cry every other book I read because of some quote that hits me right where I needed it to the most. Quotes are organized by book. My favorite quotes are highlighted.
As usual, I hope someone, one single person really, will pick up a book thanks to my review or my recommendation or because they saw a quote that caught their eye.
To 2025! Where I have yet to set a reading goal and I am unsure if I will. To reading kindle books and physical books. To laughing out loud or giggling and kicking my feet or crying to books.
To reading because I love it. Cheers!!
Your Worm (book that is),
me
Mind, Matter, and Me 
Leave a comment