It feels like 2024 was the year of the divorce memoir, and a lot of them written by people in my age cohort, so I ended up reading a lot of stories of miserable marriages and disappointing partners. I know everyone was wild for All Fours, but I only liked it in bits because I found the main character really tough to relate to(?). Overall, I’m pleased that the vast majority of my reading was by women authors, but in 2025 I need to do some work on reading more fiction, again.
I did a lot of reading for work. I began hosting Forever35 and we are fortunate to have brilliant authors on as guests, so even in cases where I read 95% of their books, I did not list them on my annual reading because I am devoted to the honesty and accuracy of these lists.
Favorites: Girlhood, Yolk, What Looks Like Bravery, Thick, Margot’s Got Money Troubles, Big Fan, Heavy, I’m Glad My Mom Died, and Hollywood Con Queen.
Surprises: Britney Spears’ memoir was way better than I thought it would be. Anna K: A Love Story, which is a modern day retelling of Anna Karenina, was so much fun.
Discovery: I read a lot of books after meeting the author in person (what a privilege, I know) and a few that I learned about from my new friend, Traci Thomas, who hosts The Stacks podcast. She and I selected Interior Chinatown to read together for an episode of the podcast earlier in the year, and it was a delight to read and to gab about it after.
| 1 | Better By Far | Hazel Hayes |
| 2 | Entitled | Kate Manne |
| 3 | From Strength to Strength | Arthur Brooks |
| 4 | Body Work | Melissa Febos |
| 5 | You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty | Akawe Emezi |
| 6 | Interior Chinatown | Charles Yu |
| 7 | Girlhood | Melissa Febos |
| 8 | The Woman in Me | Britney Spears |
| 9 | Splinters | Leslie Jamison |
| 10 | Yolk | Mary HK Choi |
| 11 | Hits, Flops and Other | Ed Zwick |
| 12 | Anna K: A Love Story | Jenny Lee |
| 13 | The 2 Hour Cocktail Party | Nick Gray |
| 14 | Lessons in Chemistry | Bonnie Garmus |
| 15 | Thanks for Waiting | Doree Shafrir |
| 16 | How to Raise an Adult | Julie Lythcott-Haims |
| 17 | I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself | Glynnis MacNichol |
| 18 | Die Hot with a Vengeance: Essays on Vanity | Sable Yong |
| 19 | Horse Barbie | Geena Rocero |
| 20 | I Hope This Finds You Well | Kate Baer |
| 21 | What Looks Like Bravery | Laurel Braitman |
| 22 | Toward Eternity | Anton Hur |
| 23 | Thick |
Tressie McMillan Cottom
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| 24 | All Fours | Miranda July |
| 25 | This American Ex Wife | Lyz Lenz |
| 26 | Stay True | Hua Hsu |
| 27 | More, Please | Emma Specter |
| 28 | Margot’s Got Money Troubles | Rupi Thorpe |
| 29 | Troubling A Star | Madeleine L’Engle |
| 30 | Big Fan | Alexandra Romanoff |
| 31 | Hollywood Con Queen | Scott Johnson |
| 32 | Heartburn | Nora Ephron |
| 33 | I’m Glad My Mom Died | Jeanette McCurdy |
| 34 | Heavy | Kiese Laymon |
| 35 | Liars | Sarah Manguso |
If you’re interested in picking up any of these titles, a reminder that I have a page on Bookshop.org with my 2024 reads, and every book you purchase on Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores.
It’s good to read your blog. I would post a favorite books of 2024 list except that I’d have to put on every book I read for it to interest anyone, and they wouldn’t all be good.
There’s a problem with the comments on your blog, namely, in 2024, they were all by me.