I’m not one for giving book recommendations. That might seem contradictory, given that I’m writing a reading round-up. Instead, I prefer to drop author quotes into conversations when (I believe) they’re relevant—even if it’s a stretch. To me, that’s different from a recommendation.
Some say a book can’t save you. Sure, that’s a lot of pressure. But connection can, and I hope everyone knows what that feels like. Let me show you the evidence of a book that has stayed with me. I hope that’s a connection you can trust.
(ChatGPT tells me a central theme of my 2024 reading adventure is the power of reflection and choice. That does sound better than the way some of my friends put it: “Oh, more heavy topics.” Let’s go with something like “meaningful connections.” I do appreciate the tidy nature of a theme, but that’s only part of the story. The details matter.)
The best books of 2024 (and the details that stay with me):
Molly by Blake Butler
“No matter what I might have said, they tell me, it wouldn’t have changed anything, and even if it does feel sort of dramatic to imagine somewhere to begin, though my gut has an idea: When I used to say it was all going to be okay, Molly, all I really meant is that I love you.”
Becoming A Matriarch by Helen Knott
“It is likely the same hope Mama had when she asked me, “Why don’t you write about the good times? Why do you have to focus on all the bad?”
I told her that I needed to sort out the heavy memories because they blocked my ability to reach for the good ones.
It was as if I was searching for pearls hidden in a bush full of blood-drawing thorns. I had to heal and move the wounding parts before I could grasp the precious pieces.
I’m here now, Mama. I made it to the clearing.”
Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn
“I hope that on my last day on earth I’ll look back on it all and think, love is astonishing, life is astonishing. How grateful I am, not only to have known love, but to have known just how important it was, to pay attention to it.”
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit
“To recognize the momentousness of what has happened is to apprehend what might happen. Inside the word emergency is emerge; from an emergency new things come forth. The old certainties are crumbling fast, but danger and possibility are sisters.“
Toni Morrison: The Last Interview
ELKANN: But why with pencil?
MORRISON: Because if you wrote with ink it sounded a little arrogant. Pencil sounded like you knew what you were doing but you were willing to erase.
ELKANN: You wrote many books, right?
MORRISON: Um-hmm. About eight, I think. Some I would like to do over. One I would like to do over.
ELKANN: Which one?
MORRISON: The Bluest Eye. The first book. I know more now. I’m smarter.
“So. Ayesha, my butch sister. I hope you get up in the morning and greet your naked self with nothing but love, and know that no matter what clothes you wear out the door and in front of that camera, that I can see exactly who you are, and I know that the truth of us both is found in the spaces between words and labels, not inside of the words themselves.
This is why labels peel off in the water.”
The Will to Change by bell hooks
“I am responsible for accepting or choosing the values by which I live. If I live by values I have accepted or adopted passively and unthinkingly, it is easy to imagine that they are just “my nature,” just “who I am,” and to avoid recognizing that choice is involved. If I am willing to recognize that choices and decisions are crucial when values are adopted, then I can take a fresh look at my values, question them, and if necessary revise them. Again, it is taking responsibility that sets me free.“
What I Mean To Say by Ian Williams
“He explains bogeys and birdies and eagles better than anyone I’ve ever met until I can’t help myself, I think, Yes, I will play golf with this man. Then we’re talking about mafias again. Italians originated it, he says.
There was organized crime before the Italian mafia, I say. It’s almost midnight. Now we’re talking about pear trees and whether mine has flowered.
As we near the hotel he lights a cigarette, moves his hands back and forth between our chests.
This, he says.
What? I say.“
This, talking to you. This is better than sex.“
LINDSAY EVELYN GROVES. 