My Year in Books: Creativity, Sensitivity, & New Female Perspectives

My second annual review of all the books I read this year, including three debut authors

I love taking a look back at all the books I read in a given year, as it’s one of my favorite ways to process the year. What you choose to read says a lot about the context of one’s life in the past twelve months, and 2024 is no different for me.

Looking back at the 20 books I read this year¹, I was pleased to see themes of creativity and new-to-me authors, as well as my usual lens of self-exploration. However, I was a bit surprised when I realized that every single book I read this year (minus the one that was co-written by a male and female author duo), was written by a woman. This isn’t normally the case—my average in years past, since I began tracking what I read eight years ago, is about two-thirds female.

Besides setting a ballpark number of books goal for myself each year (thoroughly encouraged by book tracking app culture), I don’t set any other goals for my reading because I believe that ultimately you should be guided by what you enjoy and what calls to you. That said, I do like to track the genres, author stats, and sources of the books I read so as to have a historical reference (that’s the data geek in me 🤓), and awareness of my reading patterns.

Am I trying to split my reading 50/50 between male and female? No, especially because as a woman I typically relate more to the female perspective. But I’ll keep this in mind in 2025 since I do think it’s valuable to diversify.

One of my favorite posts I wrote this year was My 10 Commandments on Reading, many items of which reflect my reading experience this year. Now that I’ve been writing regularly, I find that the lens through which I approach my reading, particularly fiction, is changing. I crave sitting down with a good book more and more, especially when I observe my partner doing so.

Now I’m feeling weary of being too analytical in this intro, so let's get into the books, shall we?!

As I explained last year, this is the rating system I’m using:

No stars: I didn’t like or am indifferent about this book and I wouldn’t recommend it.
1 star (*): I liked this book and would recommend if asked.
2 stars (**): I really enjoyed this book and recommend unsolicited.
3 stars (***): I loved this book! I find myself continually recommending it or thinking about it and would potentially re-read.

Here’s my 2024 reads, sorted by fiction and nonfiction.

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FICTION

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (*)

I probably don’t need to tell you about this one since it was all over the internet last year. This literary novel follows two college students Sadie and Sam, who befriend each other and start designing a video game, and follows them and their gaming business over the course of the next couple decades. Beautiful writing and a one-of-a-kind story, I was halfway through this before I realized Zevin also wrote The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, which I read years ago. It’s hard to believe both were written by the same author. Zevin’s growth in her writing craft is impressive and something to admire. The depth at which she encapsulates the gamer’s universe and turns it into something magical—particularly for someone like myself who doesn't play video games—is commendable and worth reading for that quality alone.

Motherhood by Sheila Heti

This book came highly recommended by several of the women whom I met at my retreat two summers ago; I had purchased it right after getting home but didn’t get around to reading it until a handful of months later. Heti, whose work I had never read before, ponders the question of motherhood through a fictional character’s diary-like entries. It’s pretty obvious that, while classified as fiction, the character is Heti’s lens through which to explore this question for herself. This was a challenging read for me due to the different writing style and subject matter. I think ultimately, my reactions to this book taught me more than the book itself. I can’t recommend it as wholeheartedly as the women who told me about it, but I can say it made me think.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (**)

I adored this book and it was my favorite novel I read this year. Set in Seattle—an automatic soft spot for me since I spent my teenage years there—this novel follows an elderly widowed woman who befriends the octopus at the aquarium where she works. It’s narrated through her eyes, the octopus, and a young man. One of the more unique stories I’ve read and an absolute heart-warmer, I love the way this connected human life to nature’s life. Read when you want to feel a dash of hope.

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering (*)

The first fiction audiobook I've listened to, I absolutely devoured this over the course of 8 or so days on my work commute. A thrilling plot that kept me guessing, I found I was actually looking forward to my hour’s drive home so that I could listen to more of this book. I really appreciated the themes the author explored—motherhood, the transition in friendships when one becomes a parent (I can relate), navigating the decision to have kids whilst dating, and social media’s grasp on our society. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, in that I had hoped for more for these characters, but it was (somewhat depressingly) fitting.

True Biz by Sara Nović (***)

I bought this book after being inspired by a talk at work from the first deaf woman to sign at the Super Bowl half time show. This novel centers on 3 characters at a deaf boarding school in Ohio and is chock full of education on ASL and Deaf history, a world I admittedly knew very little about. While the details of the story itself could’ve easily been changed, I felt the lessons and setting were entirely the point. By its conclusion, I found myself riled up at the injustice our world has done to Deaf people. 5/5 recommend for opening your eyes to a minority our country very much neglects.

Such a Bad Influence by

Olivia Muenter

(*)

As a follower of Olivia’s for quite some time now via her podcast Bad on Paper, I was looking forward to her author debut. A present-day thriller that explores what happens when a teenage influencer goes missing and her older sister, who long ago wrote off the family’s influencer lineage, must do whatever it takes to find her. This was the first influencer-culture book I’ve read and Olivia nailed it. She’s adept at exploring the larger questions of social media’s presence in our lives, and I liked this for the things it made me think about. My only complaint is the ending—it left me with an unexpected twist that ultimately frustrated me (but less so after hearing her interview here and discussing it with my friend

Lauren Scott

).

You’re Safe Here by Leslie Stephens (*)

A longtime reader of Leslie's newsletter

morning person

, I looked forward to reading her debut novel, especially after meeting her in person last year and attending her book talk. I really enjoyed the dystopian nature of this technology takeover, and was impressed at Leslie's ability to imagine this alternate universe. I was so engaged in it that the plot twist at the end caught me off guard. Similar to Olivia's book, I felt a bit betrayed by the story I thought I was reading turning into something else. In the end, I felt it was more a book about motherhood than technology. I would've preferred the latter.

Gold Fame Citrus

I picked this up from my shelf after Leslie’s book because of the dystopian plot similarity—both center Southern California after it’s struck by climate change and imagine what that reality might be. In Gold Fame Citrus, the States are struck by a drought and resulting water rations, amidst the backdrop of a continuously building sand dune (called the Dune Sea) that is threatening to take over the entirety of the Southwest. The story follows what happens to two lovers when a little girl comes into their care and they must navigate their changing climate. Beautiful writing, which is what I expected to see in this book due to its literary nature. I kind of struggled with the plot line because it took me several weeks to get through the back half of the book. The ending was unsurprisingly sad but fittingly poetic.

Funny Story by Emily Henry (*)

Emily Henry can do no wrong. This may be my new favorite of hers. An endearing romance told through the trope of roommates-turned-lovers, though in this case there's another twist—not only are they roommates, but also the exes of their respective exes. Far-fetched? Perhaps. But it’s not so unrealistic that the book doesn't seem real. I especially loved seeing the world through main character Daphne’s eyes as a children’s librarian, given that I once dreamed of being a librarian myself. Come for the love, stay for the charming friendships and small town community on display in this novel.

The Cloisters by Katy Hays (*)

I discovered this mystery via recommendation of the Bad on Paper podcast. Having heard good things about but never been to The Cloisters in New York, this made me want to go see it. Hays does a wonderful job of setting the stage in an art museum, making the otherworldliness of tarot cards approachable for someone who has limited exposure to it herself. While a bit slow to start—I found myself thinking, where’s the mystery here?—there was no shortage of eerie vibes. Once the mystery unveils itself, I found myself racing along to finish the last 50 pages of the novel as it quickly picked up pace. I loved the themes of fortune, fate, and luck—Hays masterfully weaves the question of how much we control our lives versus how much of it is up to destiny into a chilling tale. And I absolutely loved how she ended it, both plot wise and literally with the words she chose. I'll definitely read her next novel, a family drama set on the Italian coast that she describes as “a cursed Succession meets The Guest List.”

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

After listening to a great interview with Julia Whelan, a well-known audiobook narrator, I sought out a novel she narrated. While her voice acting was wonderful, I found it harder to get into the story versus if I were holding the book myself. That said, this novel was a well-done depiction of the complicated relationship between racism and true crime. What happens when our racist systems end up convicting the wrong person of a teenage girl's murder? The making-a-podcast-about-true-crime trope is pretty overdone at this point, but I could appreciate Makkai’s creative writing style. It was a clever way to capture this mystery; I only wish it had ended differently!

Small Things Like These by Claire Seegan (*)

A quick and cozy holiday read that came on my radar just a few weeks ago. It didn’t quite live up to the hype for me I’m afraid, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless. Set in the 1980s in a small Irish town during Christmas, this novella follows a middle-aged father who discovers something amiss at the town’s church. We see him grapple with a decision he must make, one that is all too relatable to the core of the human experience. It gave me It’s A Wonderful Life vibes—a different lesson but of the same spirit of generosity. I appreciated Seegan’s ability to capture the mundane nature of the everyday human experience juxtaposed against decisions that are, ultimately, larger than our everyday life.

NONFICTION

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (*** Reread)

Absolutely worth the reread, I’m so glad I started the year off with this inspirational, creative pep talk. A series of vignettes about Gilbert’s advice and anecdotes on creativity, it resonated so much more with me the second time around, since I’d been writing regularly for months prior. In particular, her section on permission and your inner critic struck a chord in me, as these were things I was grappling with since I started honoring my desire to create. Looking back now, I think it was the pep talk I needed to double down on my commitment to this Substack (and ultimately myself). Would I have felt differently about my writing journey this year had I not started 2024 with this read? It’s of course tough to attribute that to this one book, but the number of times I found myself thinking or referring back to Gilbert’s lessons speaks volumes.

One in A Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In by Kate Kennedy (*)

As a longtime occasional listener of Kate Kennedy’s pop culture podcast, Be There In Five, I had her book on preorder and was looking forward to how her voice would come alive on the page. Part memoir, part cultural analysis, Kennedy writes exactly like she speaks as she takes her readers on a nostalgic journey through the trends and icons of yesteryear. While I didn’t glean anything new from this book, it was enjoyable purely for how much I could relate to her experiences as a millennial woman myself (bearing in mind both Kennedy and I grew up in privileged, white, middle-class families).

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (***)

I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone curious about the American food industry. Kingsolver uses beautiful prose to stitch together excellent research and her own personal experiences as she shares how she and her family committed themselves to one year of eating only food that came from their own farm or neighborhood in Iowa. This book reinvigorated my interest in shopping at farmer’s markets (in addition to maintaining my CSA produce membership) and inspired me to volunteer on a local farm when I had the chance. It's hard to believe this was written nearly 20 years ago—while some things about our food industry seem to be changing for the better, at least in my own backyard, a lot feels the same or potentially worse. This should be mandated reading for anyone who eats.

Sensitive: The Power of a Thoughtful Mind in an Overwhelming World by Jenn Granneman and Andre Sólo

I randomly bought this book on our trip abroad this year, when its cover spoke to me in a brightly-lit bookstore in the Dutch town of Delft. Often told I take things too personally or am being "too sensitive,” I was curious about what this book might teach me about myself and that quality. Little did I know it would send my partner and me on a sensitivity journey (he actually read this first, despite it being my purchase), as we discovered the concept of HSPs, or highly sensitive people, and what that meant for how we relate to the world as individuals and as a couple in relationship. Ultimately this book just scratches the surface and isn't that helpful, so if you’re interested in this concept, I recommend one of Elaine Aron’s books instead (more on that below).

The Highly Sensitive Person in Love: Understanding and Managing Relationships When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron (*)

Mentioned above in my review on Sensitive, I read this book after my partner asked if I’d read it too. The Highly Sensitive Person in Love is a follow up to Dr. Aron’s first book, The Highly Sensitive Person. In it Aron shares her own personal experience as an HSP married to a non-HSP coupled with (no pun intended) her in-depth research on romantic HSP relationships. Her astute acknowledgement of temperamental differences and advice on approaching them helped me to better understand my partner, especially as we encountered new challenges in our relationship after a year of living together. This book ultimately gave us the language to discuss and better relate to one another when it comes to navigating our differences and is something I'm sure we’ll refer back to. Highly recommend if you’re in an HSP-relationship yourself.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (**)

If Big Magic was an injection of creativity, Bird by Bird is that on steroids, but specifically for the art of writing. For those immersed in the writing craft, Lamott’s book should need no introduction. Written in 1994, Lamott weaves together personal advice and stories, including her experience as a writing teacher, about how to be a writer. If you’re at all curious about writing yourself (even if you’re not yet doing it!), this is a must read. (Fun fact—this was the oldest book I read this year! And it inspired this funny memory.)

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino (**)

Can I be Jia Tolentino when I grow up? Familiar with her name but not her writing, I plucked this book from our shelf because I wanted to see what a published essay collection read like, given my essay-writing practice. It took me months to finish because I picked it up whenever the mood struck for a shorter read, so I may have lost some of the “collection” essence by doing so. Every essay she writes is so smart. She manages to weave together personal anecdotes with cultural commentary in a textbook-like fashion, touching on a range of issues that are still, five years after publishing, highly relevant. (It was especially eerie to come across a section about the 2016 election in her essay “The Story of A Generation in Seven Scams,” less than a month after Trump was elected for the second time. Oof.) My favorite essay was “Always Be Optimizing” (that I mentioned here)— it had me laughing out loud while simultaneously cringing, particularly the bit about barre classes. I can only aspire to be that self-aware. I was sold on her from that moment on.

Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

A self-improvement book written by a Nigerian woman, I had never heard of the book or author prior to reading it for a women’s book club at work. This is Luvvie’s second book and is largely centered on leading a life of confidence in your own skin and speaking up for what’s right, for both you and society. Luvvie has a strong, unique voice with a women’s empowerment tilt that I could appreciate, but at the end of the day this book was largely not notable for me. A lot of the lessons she teaches are things I’ve read in other self-improvement books, and as I discussed this week after week in the company of women, I was reminded again and again of On Our Best Behavior, one of my favorite reads from last year. I found that so much more valuable because it got at the why, while Luvvie’s book was more about the what.

📚 What was your favorite read of 2024? If you read any of the same books I did, I’d love to know what you thought!

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If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy my 2023 review:

My Year in Books: An Emily Henry and Smash-the-Patriarchy Era

1. I set a goal of 24 books this year based on the 22 I read in 2023. While I didn’t hit it, I think it’s worth noting this number doesn’t capture the handful of other books I read significant chunks from throughout the year. Ultimately the number doesn't matter and I like to use it more as a barometer for how much I’m prioritizing reading in my daily life.