It has been a long time since I have read so few books in one year. In addition to the measly 28 books I finished in 2024 I did not finish maybe an additional 10 or so. Even pushing that number up to 38 would have been one of the slowest years on record since my 20s.
The following things may have been part of the problem:
- I spent longer on books that I eventually abandoned than I would have in past.
- I decided on June 3rd to sell my house in DC and move to Minneapolis. This diverted both mental and physical focus from reading.
- Once I moved to Minneapolis in August I found myself with a social life. (Mission accomplished.)
I’m not beating myself up for my poor performance, but it’s not something I would like to repeat in 2025. It’s already feeling like a more readerly year.
2024 sent me even further back into the wayback machine than previous years. I’ve always been prone to read older fiction. Then Tr*mp came along in 2016 and I wanted to read stuff that existed before anyone knew who he was. Then Covid happened and the perpetual snowday feeling of almost a year and half of lockdown had me craving old fashioned cozy even more than ever. Then John died and that had me searching for more comfort. And now fuckface is back in power. Will I ever read a new book ever again? Hard to know.
There were also a lot of rereads in 2024. Out of the 28 books I read, 17 of them were rereads. That is a little bananas.
Newest Book (published in 1987!)
Favorite First Read
Favorite Rereads
hogglestock 
So good to see you back. I hope you get another dog to love too like you did Lucy. Life gets in the way for all of us. I hope you have a wonderful 2025 and just turn off the news so you can’t tell what Trump is doing. Most of the world is suffering thinking of him. 🌻🌻🌻
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I had my worst reading year in a while too in 2024. I was good and then had both knees replaced in September (40 years of nursing and working as a waitress in my youth caught up to me). Turns out being in a hospital and then being in rehab was not conducive to reading. Thought I would read a ton, but pain turned me to TV and narcotics. Four months later back in my reading groove (and narcotic free). Was disappointed I did not read my goal, but now am gentle with myself. So happy you moved back to Minneapolis and have a new social life. For all you have been through, please be gentle with yourself. Read some new stuff, some of it is great. We will survive this moron again. But please remind me of the old stuff. Reads that you have suggested have calmed me and I really appreciate them and you.
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I haven’t stopped reading since the election. You might find that you will read more this year just to try to keep yourself sane. Unfortunately, it’s not working for me. I’m crazed. I’m hoping that Our Mutual Friend might do the trick. Good luck to all of us.
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My reading was pretty nil last year, too. Here’s to 2025 being chock full of great reads for us all, especially since the clown is back. Ugh! I don’t even like thinking about it. That is why I plan on rewatching The West Wing and reading, reading, reading.
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I really appreciated your description of your slower reading year. Recently, my father was very ill for a year (and died) and at some point in the midst of it all I realized that I didn’t want to read anything that I didn’t already know the ending of. I think it was something about the upheaval and worry and I couldn’t handle any other suspense. I don’t know how to read around the politics of this year and the few years to come.
I will be very interested to see your updates as you reorganize your library spaces and wish you the very best for the new year. And may we all enjoy our 2025 reading.
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I’m looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings for you.
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My reading took a hit as well. I thought that after brain surgery I’d have all this time to read. I did, but I didn’t count on the ridiculous amounts of steroids affecting my attention span. Four straight months of no reading. But then I rallied and still managed to get off 42 books with two of them being 900+ pages. This year I hope to do better but I started with The Brothers Karamazov so a big book taking up my time. It’s great though.
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