Being injured sucks big time. As much as I adore a snowy day reading a gripping novel on the couch with a fire roaring away in the fireplace, I would rather be snowshoeing. I love our cozy home filled to the brim with snuggly forest cats and espresso-based coffee drinks but snowshoeing is my real passion. Unlike reading snowshoeing does not help my ass get larger by the day, also! Any winter’s day I would rather be out snowshoeing with my favorite adventure pup than stuck on the couch again, no matter how thrilling the novel I’m clutching. Being injured from a sprained ankle since the beginning of December gave me a lot of holiday time to relax with a good book. Also, we had no snow in this ski town! How is the Snowshoeing Hungry Mountaineer supposed to run her hiking business without a winter wonderland to trek through? Well, let me tell you, it has been a challenge, but a good book or thirty has helped me keep my sanity.
My sister-in-law encouraged me to keep a list of all the books I read this year and I think I will keep doing that into 2025 as well. It’s also a fantastic way to recommend books to friends and family. In all, I finished 34 books in 2024. Wow, that seems like a lot! On average I finished two books a month. I definitely did get more reading done near the holidays when I was stuck on the couch with a busted-up ankle.
The number one great book I read in 2024 was The Woman by Kristin Hannah. Of course, it was! Kristin Hannah has done it again with a historical fiction page-turner. It was not her best book I have ever read but up there in the top five best books of hers, for sure.
Movie based books
There were a few national best sellers, like Hillbilly Ellergy that I started and did not read the whole thing. I LOVED Hillbilly Ellergy when I began reading it,
but I had already seen the movie and I think that kind of spoiled the book for me. I also tried to read Leave the World Behind after I saw and loved the movie, but seeing the movie first kind of spoiled it for me also.
So what were my fav books of 2024?
The Last Beekeeper, Julie Carrick Dalton Another dyslopic novel and by far one of my top three reads of 2024. I recommend this book to a lot of fellow readers this past year.
I also read Sundial by Catriona Ward. Sundial was so great from the first chapter. It was very different, her writing style,but I loved the story behind it. Unfortunately, I don’t like any of her other books! All of her other books I checked out were just way too science fiction-based for me.
Blue Skies, T.C. Boyle, In a world that is becoming way more dystopic every single day, this book had me hooked from chapter 1. I’ve always been a fan of T.C. Boyle since I read the Tortilla Curtain when I was in my twenties and even twenty years later, he still is writing page-turners that stay with you long after you put them down.
In order to Live, Yeonmi Park, this is an amazing true story of a North Korean defector. It really gave me a look into what life is like in that area of the world.
The Guncle, by Steven Rowley, By far the most hilarious book I read this year. If you need a laugh, order the Guncle. And there is a sequel also!
Put these on your list of books to order here in 2025!
What happened to Nina, Dervla Mctiernan
Wild, Kristin Hannah
You Know What You Did, K.T. Nguyen
None of This is True, Lisa Jewell
She’s Not Sorry, Mary Kubica
I also read a lot of Freida McFadden books this year. I think I read about eight of them. They are all really good, like you can read them in one sitting but not the kind of book that sticks with you or that I would say, now that is a book I recommend.
So what was your favorite book you read in 2024? Or an author that should be on this list? Comment below and let me know!
