Reading Log 2024

I logged 65 books completed. I walked away from (DNF) two books this year, and I started one that I had to return before finishing - hope to pick that book (Song of the Cell) back up again in 2025.

I had kinda a meh year of book choosing. Most of my reads were rated with 3 stars, which is an - i didn’t dislike this book overall, but I had some issues with the book - either pacing was poor, there were world building or character building gaps that pulled me out of the story, or there was something distasteful about the whole production. I gave 3 books 5 stars in 2024!

• Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay [this was an edited collection of poetry]
• Black Water Sister by Zen Cho
• Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

Black Water Sister is the only one of these that is fiction, and it absolutely sucked me in with the compelling first person POV. I was distantly curious about the mythology and symbolism outside of what we see in the bulk of fantasy (norse gods). While the topics this book covers are hard - it is violent and includes family trauma, drugs, gangs, etc., the narrative is one of a person finding their place in the world.

Sadly, I finished two books that I ended up rating with 1 star.

• Professor Pitt is a Nitwit by Dan Gutman I picked up as an audiobook for a run - this story is not well done and I’d urge parents not to pick it up for their early readers. Often, chapter books for kids are fun and engaging, but this one was merely stupid - it only lasted one run, so I forgive myself for finishing the story.
• Group by Christie Tate. I have no good things to say about this book. I read it, begrudgingly, for book club. I kept hoping it would get better and our POV character, in her own memoir, would stop being a character that the reader could not support. I don’t know how this book became a bestseller. Stop buying bad books, people!

We started a book club at work, and I continued with my local book club that meets virtually - even though I did not like all the books that we have read together. The members are great fun and really read and engage with the books. We have an enthusiastic library support person at the Sylvan Way library. I love Kitsap Regional Library? I am so lucky to have this resource.