Kyler's 2024 reading

This is my first time participating in this challenge, so please be kind 🙂

Last year, I read a bit over 60 books. This year, I’m challenging myself to increase that number to at least 75, but hopefully more. I also intend to focus on books that I already own. Book collecting and book reading can be two separate hobbies, but should be one.

Book challenges are great personal motivators. My local library organises a summer book bingo every year. Since I started participating in the book bingo, my reading has significantly increased. Hopefully this group’s challenges will help serve that purpose throughout the full year.

To start the year off, I am participating in both the Nonfiction monthly challenge and the American Author challenge. For January, I’m reading:
- American Author: The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain
- Nonfiction: Currently undecided!

I already finished three books in 2024 and it is only the third day of the year, so I’m off to a good start! But, only one of those books was from my personal collection...

My top five books last year in no particular order:
1. Goodbye, Again: Essays, Reflections, and Illustrations
2. Madame Restell: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Old New York’s Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist
3. All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life’s Work
4. The City is More Than Human: An Animal History of Seattle
5. Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains

Welcome, Kyler! I'm glad you've decided to join in. Let me know if you have any questions about how things work in the Challenge - happy to help.

January (15 read)
1. Private Book - not mentioning here
2. Why Have Kids? by Jessica Valenti ❀
3. The Responsible Company by Yvon Chouinard ❀ 🎧
4. Foster by Claire Keegan ❤
5. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain ❀ ✫
6. The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women's Lives by Kelcey Ervick ❀ ✒
7. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab ❀ ❤
8. My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff ❀
9. Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World by Theresa MacPhail ❤ 🎧
10. The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs ❀ ❤ ✒
11. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben ✒ 🎧
12. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain ❀ ✫
13. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy ✒ 🎧
14. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
15. Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston ❀

February (9 read)
16. Strong Female Character by Fern Brady ❀
17. The H Spot by Jill Filipovic ❀ ✒ 🎧
18. On Women by Susan Sontag ✫
19. Who's a Good Dog?: And How To Be a Better Human by Jessica Pierce
20. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan ❤
21. Radium Girls by Kate Moore ❤ ✒
22. Marie Curie by Robert Reid ❀ ✒
23. The Romance of Mining by T.A. Ricard ❀
24. Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper ❀ 🎧

March (3 read)
25. Dead Men Do Tell Tales by William R. Maples ✒ 🎧
26. Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote ✫
27. A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 🎧

April (5 read)
28. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
29. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers 🎧
30. The Plan of Chicago by Carl Smith ❀ ✫
31. A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough ❀ ✒
32. An Immense World by Ed Yong ❤ 🎧

May (10 read)
33. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell ✫
34. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
35. Gallant by V.E. Schwab ❤
36. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman ❤
37. They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell ✫
38. Strategic Corporate Conservation Planning by Margaret O'Gorman ❀
39. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
40. The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek by Richard Kluger ❀ ✒ ❤
41. Black Built: History and Architecture in the Black Community
42. The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee ❀ 🎧

June
43. Tress of the Emerald Sea
44. On Being Different ❀
45. The Comfort Book ❀
46. Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher 🎧

❀ = from my personal library
❤ = favorite
✫ = American author challenge
✒ = nonfiction challenge

Welcome, and happy reading in 2024!

For anyone looking for a short book to increase their read count, Foster by Claire Keegan was a beautifully-written, fantastic short read. It's impressive how the author created such intricate characters in so few pages. It may already be one of my top books of the year.

Welcome Kyler! I definitely have Claire Keegan on my list to read this year, I've heard such good things about her work.

Great always to have new additions to our friendly clan, Kyler.
I'm sure that everyone will be kind.

You have made a great reading start to the year and I can second the recommendations for the writing of Claire Keegan.

I'd like to read the books off the shelves for challenges. Here is my attempt to select books off the shelf:

Nonfiction Challenge:
January: Small or Unknown Award Winner
✔ The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women's Lives ❀ (won the "About Ohio or an Ohioan" of the Ohioana Award)
✔ The Death and Life of Great American Cities ❀ (won the Hillman Prize)
✔ The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben (won the Adult Non-fiction Indies Choice Book Award)
✔ I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (won the Goodreads Choice Award and the Alex Award)
February: Women's Work
✔ The H Spot ❀ - Only one chapter of this really fit the assignment but it'll do!
✔ Radium Girls
✔ Marie Curie by Robert Reid ❀
March: Forensic Sciences
✔ Dead Men Do Tell Tales by William Maples
April: Globalization
✔ A Life on Our Planet ❀
May: Wild Wild West
✔ The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek ❀
June: Middle Europe
- The Reconstruction of Nations (physical library book)
- White Field, Black Sheep
July: Insect World
- Pests in the City ❀
- Three Seasons of Bees ❀
August: Being Jewish
- The World's Religions (I hope this works) ❀
- Loving Our Own Bones (Library)
September: Essays
- Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion ❀
October: Music
- Catch a Fire by Melanie B ❀
November: Too Small to See
- The Emperor of all Maladies ❀
- The Black Death ❀ (if not read in April)
- America's Forgotten Pandemic ❀
- Purified ❀
December: Political Biography
- The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ❀
- The Roger C. Sullivan Books ❀
- David Dinkins Bio ❀

American Authors Challenge:
January: Mark Twain
✔ The Prince and the Pauper ❀
✔ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ❀
February: Susan Sontag
✔ On Women
March: Truman Capote
✔ Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories
April: General Non-Fiction
✔ The Plan of Chicago ❀
May: William Maxwell
✔ So Long See You Tomorrow
✔ They Came Like Swallows
June: Queer Author
- All the Birds in the Sky ❀
- On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (library)
July: Mona Susan Power
- A Council of Dolls (library)
August: Jeffrey Lent
- A Slant of Light (library)
September: Living American authors who were born outside the US but adopted this country as their home
- The Sympathizer (library)
October: Katherine Anne Porter
- Pale Horse Pale Rider (library)
November: Jewish American Authors
- Something by Michael Chabon (library)
- Mary Doria Russell ❀
December: The Heartland (Regional Authors from the Middle of the Country)
- A book on Chicago or Illinois, preferably with info about agriculture or manufacturing ❀

Good luck with your 2024 reading!

Yesterday I finished The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs.

The book had some dull points and was a bit outdated in it's terminology, but overall I was shocked that a 60-year-old analysis of land use still holds up so well. Some key points from the book that I will remember and refer back to:
- It's important for our sidewalks and streets to be more diverse in people and use.
- The overwhelming amount of bureaucracy in local governments severely hampers any efforts to reform or improve cities. This has only gotten worse as cities get bigger.
- Lower income housing should be built so they are places where people want to (and can) stay, regardless of their income.

Every architect, land use planner, and local government official with authority over city planning should read this book.

The first two months of this year have been defined by procrastination. The legal writing that I volunteered to complete by January 31 was a bigger struggle than I anticipated, so now I'm still working on it halfway into February. I am avoiding the guilty feelings of not finishing that work by reading other things. This entry is simply another instance of procrastination. It has been great for my reading though! I'm on track to possibly read more than 100 books this year!

Two books have been in my "currently reading" pile (among a couple others) since the beginning of this year: The Romance of Mining and The Egg and I. I've been making slow progress on the mining book throughout the year and hope to get it done shortly, but the other book has been gathering dust. A personal goal of mine is to finish both during the first quarter of the year. The other currently reading books are huge and I'll surely revisit them when time and focus allows.

The biggest surprise this year has been The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I owned it on Booksio for a while already, but finally started reading it when I learned that Booksio is going away. What a great book. Now I have a physical copy that occupies prime space on my favorite bookshelf, and I have a stack of additional V.E. Schwab books waiting to be read.

Several books read this year were from my library (or my partner's library) and I decided to bid them farewell after completing them. I put them in a little free library and hope that they will find a good home. These include The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women's Lives, My Salinger Year, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and The H-Spot. Hopefully I'll do the same with other books, so my shelves can get some more space!

Favorites so far (in no particular order):
1. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
2. Foster by Claire Keegan
3. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
4. Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World by Theresa MacPhail
5. The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
6. Radium Girls by Kate Moore

Welcome to the challenge! I see you're in Seattle -- me, too :) Looks like you're reading some good stuff this year! I thought I'm Glad My Mom Died and Radium Girls were excellent, and I have Small Things Like These and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on my shelf to get to soon.

>13 curioussquared: It sounds like we have a lot of books on common! Love it.
Highly recommend both of those books. Let me know what you think of them! Hopefully I'll get started on the other V.E. Schwab books soon.

Watching the movie Radioactive after finishing reading Radium Girls and Marie Curie is a bit of a disappointment! It doesn't match the Marie Curie biography and I don't know which is most accurate. I assume the biography is, but now I'm starting to wonder whether I need to find another book on Marie Curie and radioactivity. Maybe a documentary would be a better idea. Any recommendations would be appreciated!

It's amazing how books can create such vivid pictures and realities. Before reading those books, all I knew about Marie Curie is that her work with radium made her sick. But surprisingly, she actually survived working with radium for so much longer than I had imagined. Her work was quite incredible.

>3 Kyler_Marie: Great list so far! Keep at it!!

>17 ocgreg34: Thanks!

Currently reading:
- David Copperfield
- Dead Men Do Tell Tales
- Breakfast at Tiffany's

My library hold of Demon Copperhead came up and I realized that I should probably read David Copperfield first, but it's long! So, David Copperfield has been at my side for the past week and a half, and I'm only halfway through. It's much better (and longer) than I anticipated! Now I want to read every Charles Dickens book that I can get my hands on. But, they are so long and I want to check more books off my list. Sometimes it is important to remember that the goal is not to get as many books finished as possible - it is to enjoy the books I read.

This month, I decided to buy my first e-reader - a Kobo Clara 2E. It isn't my favorite thing yet, but it's already growing on me. It's much easier reading the 800+ page David Copperfield from a small screen and not holding the large book. I just wish that there was an easy way to move my Kindle books over to the e-reader.

It has been almost a month and I am still trying to finish David Copperfield. It is much better than I initially anticipated, but it definitely has some sections that drag on. And, it is a bit frustrating that I haven't made progress on other books as I read this one. I have about 100 pages left. Hopefully I'll power through them this week, because I have some other books that I'd love to start.

I'm also listening to A Closed and Common Orbit, and plan to finish the series once I finish this one.

I'm traveling to Chicago later this month and I really want to read about the area before I go. Here are some of the books that I hope to read this month after Copperfield:
- The Plan of Chicago
- Forever Open, Clear, and Free
- The Chicago River
- Roger C. Sullivan and the Making of the Chicago Democratic Machine and Roger C. Sullivan and the Triumph of the Chicago Democratic Machine
- The Black Death for the Nonfiction Challenge
- Be a Revolution

I know I won't be able to get through all of those books, but it's helpful to have a to-do list and some goals!

After finishing The Plan of Chicago, I traveled to Chicago earlier this month. It was a good trip! But, not a great book - it didn't really have much substance.

The Black Death wasn't the book I anticipated. So, I switched to A Life On Our Planet for the nonfiction challenge instead. It was a good book and I'm glad I read it, although most of the content was a bit hard to swallow.

My reading has dropped off a bit this month and last month after the big push at the beginning of the year. Hopefully my reading motivation will return with the Seattle Summer Book Bingo. I'm anxiously awaiting the first book square announcement, which they usually make in late April.

Earlier this week, I put together an itinerary to visit all 28 bookstores participating in Seattle Indie Bookstore Day. But, upon further reflection, this just isn't the right year to take that on. Instead, I'll be going to at least five local stores and checking out some shops that I have never visited before. It'll be a fun weekend!

For my birthday, my partner got the hardware to build a bookshelf ladder! I'm so excited. Best gift ever.

Currently reading: Roger C. Sullivan and the Making of the Chicago Democratic Machine, Demon Copperhead, and Record of a Spaceborn Few.

I just finished Demon Copperhead and I feel a bit alone in my dislike of that book. It motivated me to read Charles Dickens, which is great! But I'm glad it's finally over and I can't wait to read something else.

I'm also an avid participant in SPL book bingo! Did you see they dropped the first square? "Environmental" -- I don't have a ton on my shelf that fits, so I'm eager to see what they suggest.

Where did you end up going for Indie bookstore day?

>23 curioussquared: Yes! So excited for book bingo. Have you gotten a blackout before? How much do you typically participate in it? Book bingo is the best motivation to read over the summer, IMHO. :)

The environmental topic is an easy one for me, because I work in environmental/land use policy. I'm currently halfway through Strategic Corporate Conservation Planning for that one already. It's very dry and I can't recommend it for anyone that doesn't work in this realm, but I'm excited to share it with the company I work for. I might also read Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, which I bought based on a recommendation card at Queen Anne Books. Apparently the author's approach is more focused on curiosity, hope, and interest in how creatures can adapt to climate change, rather than catastrophizing the issues.

If you want suggestions for that square, I have plenty. A couple great environmental audiobooks on Libby are An Immense World, The Hidden Life of Trees, and Allergic.... I also would recommend A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough and Last Chance To See by Douglas Adams (yes, the Hitchhiker's Guide author) - I read both as paper copies and they are both interesting, easy to digest, and fairly short for nonfiction.

After posting saying that I didn't plan to do the Indie Bookstore Day Challenge, I changed my mind and decided to go for it. On Indie Bookstore Day, I went to ELEVEN bookstores, and ultimately I finished the challenge and visited all 28 over the ten-day period. It was a fun excuse to visit so many bookstores, but I spent so much money and it was a bit exhausting, so it'll likely be a one time thing for me.

Here are some of the bookstores I discovered from the challenge and now love. Have you been to any of these? :
- Liberty Bay Books (Poulsbo) More unique book collection at this one than some of the others.
- Ada's Technical Books (Capitol Hill) Coffee shop is lovely. Most of my books would fit the "technical book" category, so this bookstore is basically perfect.
- Nook & Cranny Books (Capitol Hill) Tiny store. Good books. Organized a bit differently than normal bookstores, based more on the mood/feel of the book and the size rather than the typical genres.
- Charlie's Queer Books (Fremont) This store is absolutely adorable. And it has all different book types and genres, but all of them have some connection to queerness. For example, there is a Sci Fi section that included books with either queer authors or queer characters - so you can stick to your typical favorite genres but choose more inclusive books! I'm a big fan.
- The Wise Owl Books (Tangletown) Another tiny store, but this one has records too. Good recommendations and cute.
- Queen Anne Book Co. I loved the recommendations in the "nature" section of the store. I was told that their book buyer is to blame for the wonderful recommendations and book tips. After visiting so many stores, it feels like all stores recommended the same things. But, not Queen Anne Books!
- Arundel Books (Pioneer Square) The rare book collection is gorgeous.

As a bonus - Ridgecrest books in Shoreline has the cutest shop dog.

>24 Kyler_Marie: I have gotten a blackout I think three out of five times I've participated? But I enjoy myself no matter what and always end up reading something fantastic that I would never have picked up otherwise. I think my favorite find last year was Queen of Urban Prophecy for the hip hop square. I just saw that they released another square (Friendship!) and the full board will come out next Wednesday the 22nd!

Ooh, I actually have An Immense World on hold on Libby already, so I'll probably save it until bingo officially starts :) Thanks for reminding me of that one! And Last Chance to See has been on my list to read for ages... And Allergic sounds fascinating, too. I am a lucky person who has few to no noticeable allergies, but my husband is allergic to a ton of stuff, so they're always on my radar.

Wow, I am super impressed that you did the whole challenge! Out of the stores you posted, I've only visited Queen Anne Book Co. a long time ago. I did recently visit Ridgecrest Books for the first time and met their sweet dog, and bought a copy of The Bullet that Missed. I go to Silent Book Club at Drumlin just down the street so it's easy to pop in and spend some money after :) I have been meaning to pay a visit to Charlie's Queer Books -- I saw some pics and it looks so cute! I should widen my bookstore visiting -- I am so loyal to Third Place Books and love their LFP location so much that I usually just end up doing all my book shopping there.

>25 curioussquared: I hadn't seen the announcement for the additional square! My confidence peaked at the Environment topic, but I have no idea what to choose for Friendship. Eek! Any ideas? I'm so excited for the full board. My favorite part is filling it out and finding the different books to fit the squares.

You're lucky to have no allergies - I'm allergic to everything.

I never heard of Queen of Urban Prophecy! I'm curious how you even found that one. It has so few reviews on here.

>26 Kyler_Marie: Hmm, I'll think about Friendship! The first one that comes to mind is Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which is about two friends and their relationship over time through the lens of video games. Highly recommend if you haven't read it!

I think I found Queen of Urban Prophecy through SPL's list of staff recommendations for that square. I also love plotting out my board and figuring out what I'll read for each prompt! I usually start by trying to find books that fit from unread books on my shelf, then I start looking elsewhere for inspiration for the tougher ones. I like SPL's staff lists, and Third Place Books usually posts some store recommendations online, too.

I have a mystery illness and spent a lot of time relaxing and reading this week. Three books finished since Tuesday!

Demon Copperhead, which I mentioned earlier.

Gallant by V.E. Schwab was a great, fairly quick read. I didn't enjoy it as much as Addie LaRue, but it was an interesting story and captivated me until the end.

A Man Called Ove, which I truly enjoyed. I thought it'd be a quick book to fill the Friendship square for book bingo. But now I think it may be up there on my list of favorites. I'm watching the Tom Hanks movie today and hopefully I'll convince my partner to watch the Swedish movie sometime this weekend.

The BOOK BINGO card was announced! YES.

I'll update this post with ideas on potential books to fill each square. Going for blackout for the third year in a row. Also trying to make the LibraryThing book challenges choices line up with Book Bingo.

So Many Book Ideas: (15/25)

Fantastical
- All the Birds in the Sky ❀ (June American Author's Challenge Queer Author category)
✔ Tress of the Emerald Sea ❀
- Literally any Terry Pratchett ❀

Sky Creatures
- Slow Birding ❀
- Warblers and Woodpeckers ❀
- The Three Seasons of Bees ❀ (Fits the July Nonfiction Challenge category of "Insect World")
- All the Birds in the Sky ❀ (June American Author's Challenge Queer Author category)

SAL Speaker (past or present)
- Be a Revolution ❀
- On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (June American Author's Challenge Queer Author category)
- Empire of Pain
- The Nickel Boys ❀

BIPOC Romance
- Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola
- Bet on it by Jodie Slaughter
(reddit /r/romancebooks has a great thread of black romances and the books are rated for how "steamy" they are! Hopefully these recs are good.)

Housing / Poverty Justice
- The Color of Law ❀
- Arbitrary Lines ❀
- The Affordable City ❀

Short Story Collection
- An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good ❀
- A Stroke of the Pen, The Lost Stories (Terry Pratchett) ❀

Queer Joy
- Kill the Farm Boy? ❀
- The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue
- Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen, Sarah James

Something that Scares You
- Frankenstein ❀

Suggested by an Independent Bookseller
- The Tiger, A True Story of Vengeance and Survival (Suggested by Third Place Books) ❀

One Big Book (400+ Pages)
- My Book on Ireland ❀
- East of Eden ❀
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame ❀

Body Liberation
- Shout Your Abortion ❀
- Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves ❀
- Twisted - The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture
- Loving Our Own Bones

Suggested by a Library Worker
- How Far The Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures ❀ (2023 Adult Non-fiction Recommendation)
- The Backyard Bird Chronicles (April 2024 Peak Picks)

Borrowed from a Library
- A Council of Dolls (July American Authors Challenge book)

Read in the Sun
- Anything!

Young Adult
- The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making ❀
- Redwall ❀
- The Golden Compass ❀

Read: (9/25)

LGBTQIA+ Poetry / Essays
✔ On Being Different ❀
- Virology, Essays for the Living, The Dead, and the Small Things in Between
- How Far The Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures ❀

Cozy
✔ Tress of the Emerald Sea
✔ The Comfort Book ❀
- Agatha Christie ❀
- What You Are Looking For is in the Library ❀
- The Cemetary of Untold Stories

Refugee / Immigrant Memoir
✔ The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from North Korea ❀

Black Art / Artists
✔ Black Built: History and Architecture in the Black Community

In Translation
✔ A Man Called Ove
- An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good ❀

Friendship
✔ A Man Called Ove
✔ Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Environmental
✔ Strategic Corporate Conservation Planning ❀
- Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid ❀

Retelling
✔ Bryony and Roses

Free Square
✔ The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek

Yay book bingo!! Going to spend some time hopefully plotting my board today 😊 I don't usually post all my picks on my thread but you've inspired me so check back later!

What do the flower symbols mean?

>30 curioussquared: I use flower symbols to indicate that I own the book, and I'm trying hard to read the books off my shelves!

I'm looking forward to seeing your picks! If you have any suggestions for my blank spots, I'd love to hear them. I actually got the idea of Byrony and Roses from your thread - I've been meaning to read a T. Kingfisher book and it seemed like a great choice for the Retelling square.

>31 Kyler_Marie: Awesome! I'm doing the same with reading off my shelves. I try to fill squares with books I own unless nothing fits or I happen to read something that fits from the library before I get to the book I planned.

Oh yay, I hope you love the Kingfisher! I'll see if I come up with any suggestions as I'm plotting 😊

I'm already feeling overwhelmed and excited by the giant list of books to read. It helps me to start a to-do list that focuses on the most urgent items so i can ignore the future stuff, so here goes.

Finish this week:
✔ The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek
- The Egg and I
✔ Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

May/June:
✔ Black Built: History and Architecture in the Black Community
✔ The Girl with Seven Names
✔ Tress of the Emerald Sea
✔ On Being Different
✔ The Comfort Book
✔ Bryony and Roses
- All the Birds in the Sky (56%)
- Backyard Bird Chronicles
- An Elderly Lady is Up To No Good
- White Field, Black Sheep
- What You Are Looking for is in the Library
- How Far The Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures
- A Stroke of the Pen, The Lost Stories (Terry Pratchett)