I love a good book round up, but TBR pile is tipping over as I add a few of these! 3 Items to Note:
1. I feel the same lump in my throat about The Anthropocene Review -audio of course. My gosh I think about this book at least weekly. Also grateful for the work John and his brother Hank are doing in the area of Public Health as it pertains to Tuberculosis.
2. You know I love a good spreadsheet, but let me tell you that I moved from GoodReads to StoryGraph in 2023. It kicks out so many fun metrics similar to yours!
3. Can we please go back to Drury Books in 2024?! K.Thx.Bye.
I have this on my To Read list for 2024, Dominique! Love to hear that you love it!
And regarding retention - for nonfiction books that I may want to save quotes or concepts from...I still don't have a consistent process I love honestly. Ryan Holiday's "Commonplace Book" really intrigues me, but I haven't invested the time into this! For eBooks, I take pictures of all the places I've highlighted and save them to a Note in my iPhone. And I have a running "Quotes" list in a Note in my phone where I capture short snippets.
Thanks for the reccs! I just decided in Dec to treat myself to Audible because I know I’ll read more if I start to embrace audiobooks. Demon Copperhead was great that way (and Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan)! And the concept of enjoying memoirs the most via audio makes a lot of sense to me - I’ll remember that. I’m assuming you use the Libby app for library audiobooks too?!?
Confession: I haven’t ever read Adam Grant’s books but I do love his podcasts and Instagram!
Hi Rachel! Demon Copperhead is on my 2024 To Read list - I think it won the Pulitzer Prize? Enjoy your adventures in Audible! I do use Libby! And I actually enjoy Adam Grant's podcast and social media more than I do his actual books! I've seen him speak live, too, and he was great.
I loved this post! 4/6 of your top reads were also my recent favs - The Anthropocene Reviewed, The Art of Gathering, And Then There Were None, and The Hurting Kind. I just requested the audio version of The Color of Water from my library after reading this. :) Thanks for sharing, I've loved following along with the weekly posts!
Whoa jinx on the favorite books Libby! So fun to hear, and thanks for reading The Diving Board. Sounds like we have similar tastes in books so if you have any recommendations I'm all ears!
Mary Oliver is my favorite poet, and I've read through her compilation book called "Devotions" multiple times and can highly recommend.
For nonfiction/memoir, I think you would love "Nobody Will Tell You This But Me" by Bess Kalb or "I Miss You When I Blink" by Mary Laura Philpott. I also am partial to "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan, since I love anything about food (and I'm an Every Meal employee :)).
Libby, I read "Devotions" in 2023 actually! It didn't quite make my top 6 but it was up there. Love Mary Oliver. I'm totally adding your two memoir ideas to my list! And I also love Michael Pollen and have read In Defense of Food and the Ominivore's Dilemma. Back before I had kids, I used to cook a lot as a hobby and read a ton food memoirs, which is still one of my favorite genres.... I'm a little out of the loop on those nowadays...but Molly Weisenberg and Ruth Reichl were a couple of favorite food writers I loved. Also another memoir - maybe the best I've ever read - is "When Breath Becomes Air" - have you read that one? It's absolutely gut-wrenching, but so so gorgeous. SO fun talking books with you.
Oh yes, I love Ruth Reichl! I'll have to check out Molly Weisenberg. And yes, I have read "When Breath Becomes Air" - it was one of my top books in 2021. :)
Thanks for sharing! Always fun to find a fellow book lover with similar interests!
It's so fun seeing how you used the spreadsheet and all your fun charts and graphs!! I never thought to track books you read by month on the spreadsheet, but this is me running to add dates so I can do that going forward. :)
I just finished THE ART OF GATHERING based on your recommendation - and it is indeed amazing! It did cause me a bit of anxiety around planning the Hungry Authors book launch party, but you're right there is so much valuable stuff in there and I'll be returning to it for sure.
Also, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is my favorite Christie novel, too. So good!!
I read The Anthropocene Reviewed thanks to you and loved it!
My book list is not something I would publish on anything mildly work-related, as it's nearly all fiction, much of it of the fantasy genre. I've started coaching with our friend Paul, and he and I were exploring where /ifI have Play in my life. Turns out there isn't much, and I think that's why I tend to eschew non-fiction and embrace fantasy/magic. I'm Responsible everywhere else in my life--I don't need to be in my reading too.
ALSO I was going to mention that I'm making the switch from Goodreads to StoryGraph, and it does lots of fancy tracking for you! Much better interface, AND created/owned by a young female BIPOC entrepreneur. Although I do love your charts and graphs. I find that when I'm tired of peopling, I usually find something to do in Excel.
Ok 2 comments have now mentioned StoryGraph. I'm paying attention! Also I love love love what you said here about embracing Play through reading and not making books another place that your Responsible self gets expressed. That sounds so beautiful and healthy.
I know it's not saying much with my less-than-lackluster reading record, but the best thing I've read in 2024 is "the diving board" by Claire Williams. 6 stars.
I love a good book round up, but TBR pile is tipping over as I add a few of these! 3 Items to Note:
1. I feel the same lump in my throat about The Anthropocene Review -audio of course. My gosh I think about this book at least weekly. Also grateful for the work John and his brother Hank are doing in the area of Public Health as it pertains to Tuberculosis.
2. You know I love a good spreadsheet, but let me tell you that I moved from GoodReads to StoryGraph in 2023. It kicks out so many fun metrics similar to yours!
3. Can we please go back to Drury Books in 2024?! K.Thx.Bye.
I keep hearing about StoryGraph!! Need to check this out. And YES to a Drury Books Round 2, please!
Amazing list! I am listening to James McBride’s newest book, “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” and am blown away.
I’m curious - do you have a note taking process to help with retention? I’m experimenting with a few at the moment!
I have this on my To Read list for 2024, Dominique! Love to hear that you love it!
And regarding retention - for nonfiction books that I may want to save quotes or concepts from...I still don't have a consistent process I love honestly. Ryan Holiday's "Commonplace Book" really intrigues me, but I haven't invested the time into this! For eBooks, I take pictures of all the places I've highlighted and save them to a Note in my iPhone. And I have a running "Quotes" list in a Note in my phone where I capture short snippets.
What are you doing, and is it working for you?
This clearly explains why I've never seen you on Words With Friends.
Hahaha this made me laugh out loud!
Thanks for the reccs! I just decided in Dec to treat myself to Audible because I know I’ll read more if I start to embrace audiobooks. Demon Copperhead was great that way (and Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan)! And the concept of enjoying memoirs the most via audio makes a lot of sense to me - I’ll remember that. I’m assuming you use the Libby app for library audiobooks too?!?
Confession: I haven’t ever read Adam Grant’s books but I do love his podcasts and Instagram!
Hi Rachel! Demon Copperhead is on my 2024 To Read list - I think it won the Pulitzer Prize? Enjoy your adventures in Audible! I do use Libby! And I actually enjoy Adam Grant's podcast and social media more than I do his actual books! I've seen him speak live, too, and he was great.
You’ll have to tell me at church when you finish Demon Copperhead:) It’s a long one (I think it was 21 hours on audible?) but so good!
I loved this post! 4/6 of your top reads were also my recent favs - The Anthropocene Reviewed, The Art of Gathering, And Then There Were None, and The Hurting Kind. I just requested the audio version of The Color of Water from my library after reading this. :) Thanks for sharing, I've loved following along with the weekly posts!
Whoa jinx on the favorite books Libby! So fun to hear, and thanks for reading The Diving Board. Sounds like we have similar tastes in books so if you have any recommendations I'm all ears!
Mary Oliver is my favorite poet, and I've read through her compilation book called "Devotions" multiple times and can highly recommend.
For nonfiction/memoir, I think you would love "Nobody Will Tell You This But Me" by Bess Kalb or "I Miss You When I Blink" by Mary Laura Philpott. I also am partial to "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan, since I love anything about food (and I'm an Every Meal employee :)).
Libby, I read "Devotions" in 2023 actually! It didn't quite make my top 6 but it was up there. Love Mary Oliver. I'm totally adding your two memoir ideas to my list! And I also love Michael Pollen and have read In Defense of Food and the Ominivore's Dilemma. Back before I had kids, I used to cook a lot as a hobby and read a ton food memoirs, which is still one of my favorite genres.... I'm a little out of the loop on those nowadays...but Molly Weisenberg and Ruth Reichl were a couple of favorite food writers I loved. Also another memoir - maybe the best I've ever read - is "When Breath Becomes Air" - have you read that one? It's absolutely gut-wrenching, but so so gorgeous. SO fun talking books with you.
Oh yes, I love Ruth Reichl! I'll have to check out Molly Weisenberg. And yes, I have read "When Breath Becomes Air" - it was one of my top books in 2021. :)
Thanks for sharing! Always fun to find a fellow book lover with similar interests!
It's so fun seeing how you used the spreadsheet and all your fun charts and graphs!! I never thought to track books you read by month on the spreadsheet, but this is me running to add dates so I can do that going forward. :)
I just finished THE ART OF GATHERING based on your recommendation - and it is indeed amazing! It did cause me a bit of anxiety around planning the Hungry Authors book launch party, but you're right there is so much valuable stuff in there and I'll be returning to it for sure.
Also, AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is my favorite Christie novel, too. So good!!
I read The Anthropocene Reviewed thanks to you and loved it!
My book list is not something I would publish on anything mildly work-related, as it's nearly all fiction, much of it of the fantasy genre. I've started coaching with our friend Paul, and he and I were exploring where /ifI have Play in my life. Turns out there isn't much, and I think that's why I tend to eschew non-fiction and embrace fantasy/magic. I'm Responsible everywhere else in my life--I don't need to be in my reading too.
ALSO I was going to mention that I'm making the switch from Goodreads to StoryGraph, and it does lots of fancy tracking for you! Much better interface, AND created/owned by a young female BIPOC entrepreneur. Although I do love your charts and graphs. I find that when I'm tired of peopling, I usually find something to do in Excel.
Ok 2 comments have now mentioned StoryGraph. I'm paying attention! Also I love love love what you said here about embracing Play through reading and not making books another place that your Responsible self gets expressed. That sounds so beautiful and healthy.
I know it's not saying much with my less-than-lackluster reading record, but the best thing I've read in 2024 is "the diving board" by Claire Williams. 6 stars.
*beaming with pride*
Thank you! I just added to my Want to Read list.