How I track reading/what I read
I use Storygraph to keep track of my books these days. Still, I don’t review/star on there like I do on Letterboxd. I’m way less likely to finish a book under three stars than a movie, you know? Much less time investment with film; much more to talk about with most books.
Earlier in the 2020s, I had focus problems that made audiobooks the easier way to experience books. In 2024, I read a lot more than I listened. Like previous years, most of my reading was done through library check-outs in Libby, with some purchased audiobooks to bridge availability gaps. It made for a good year!
Stats gathered by Storygraph
- 85 books read: This counts quick reads like graphic novels, but it doesn’t cover DNFs. If I pushed, I could probably do 100 books in a year. I don’t push because I’d end up prioritizing quick and easy reads, and I like to leave space for more challenging books.
- First book: Captive Prince and Shortest book: Fence #2 by C.S. Pacat: Because I ended 2023 having a lot of feelings about C.S. Pacat’s Dark Rise series, I reread the Captive Prince trilogy (Captive Prince, Prince’s Gambit, and Kings Rising) in early 2024. I also read two volumes of the Fence comic mid-year, which was all my library access would grant. I wish I had a way to finish the series!
- Last book and Longest time spent with a book: How to ADHD by Jessica McCabe (363 days): Here’s a great example of how much harder audiobooks were for me in 2024! I literally spent the whole year trying to get through How to ADHD (extra ironic) and finally pulled it off as my last finish of 2024. I liked the book, but I think I would have taken in more information through text than audio.
- Longest book: A Dragonriders of Pern omnibus by Anne McCaffrey: I don’t technically count this as one book because it was actually three (Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon). Still, this stat lets me talk about how much Anne McCaffrey I reread in 2024. I also reread the Harper Hall trilogy (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums, although the last one isn’t in my books for some reason) and the Crystal Singer trilogy (Crystal Singer, Killashandra, and Crystal Line). Both my house growing up and my hometown library were stuffed with Anne McCaffrey books, so I’ve read and reread a lot of them over the years! Crystal Singer and Harper Hall are probably my favorites.
- Shortest time spent with a book: I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt by Madeline Pendleton (1 day): One big shift for 2024 was getting book recs from TikTok. A lot of what was suggested ended up either in my DNFs or my library holds, so they might be a bigger presence in 2025. Still, I Survived Capitalism was a memoir/advice book from leftist business owner Madeline Pendleton, who shows up in my FYP not infrequently, and Slewfoot by Brom was a frequent Halloween recommendation. I wouldn’t call them my favorite books of the year, but it felt good to stretch out of my comfort zone.
- Most shelved: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: Yellowface wasn’t my favorite R.F. Kuang—The Poppy War left a huge impact on me, and Babel was one of my favorite 2023 reads—but it was as readable as her other books and found a broad audience, so I’m glad to have read it!
- Least shelved: Just Friends by Ana Oncina: One of my favorite kinds of books to read is queer graphic novels, and my access to the Queer Liberation Library has been great for finding less-mainstream entries in the genre. My favorite of the year was Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni, which captured the vibe of an over-thirty queer friend group well. Some other 2024 standouts (from QLL, my local library, and the Japan Foundation) include the I Think Our Son is Gay series by Okura, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Princess Princess Ever After by K. O’Neill, Homebody by Theo Parish, Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, and Liberated by Kaz Rowe.
- Highest rated: The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz: A nice children’s book by an illustrator I’ve long admired!
- Read 41 new-to-me authors this year: Don’t trust this stat too much! I haven’t filled Storygraph with every book I’ve read, and I know I did a lot of rereading in 2024. Still, since I read a lot more new authors now than ever, I thought I’d include this.
- 48 books were part of a series and Most popular authors: Tamora Pierce (7 books), Alice Oseman (7 books), Garth Nix (6 books): Rereads and series are a great way to add books without making reading too much harder! I already said I like to leave myself space to read more challenging books, but I also like to progress through books regularly. (This balance is why I don’t set a formal reading goal each year.)
Notes on the most popular authors
Tamora Pierce: I revisited the entirety of the Immortals quartet (Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, and The Realms of the Gods) and the first two Song of the Lioness books (Alanna and In the Hand of the Goddess). I purposely reread all of Immortals because I usually reread my favorite, Wolf-Speaker, and call it a day. I wanted to know if I would see the series the same way as an adult. The answer is…yeah, pretty much. I like Wild Magic, love Wolf-Speaker and Emperor Mage, and find The Realms of the Gods a bit of a let down.
With the first two Song of the Lioness books, I loved In the Hand of the Goddess as a kid and liked Alanna a lot, but it’s switched as an adult. I think Alanna the closest thing to a perfect YA adventure book that exists. I remembered liking the last two books a lot less than the first two as a kid, so I wasn’t rushing to revisit them, but I won’t rule out going back later.
That’s six books. The seventh was new to me: Tempests and Slaughter, the first of The Numair Chronicles. I wasn’t expecting much, especially because I also read the alternate-perspective Kushiel’s Dart in 2024 and found it underwhelming. I shouldn’t have worried! Tempests and Slaughter took an important character from the Immortals quartet and used his POV to add complexity to a well-explored universe. I also felt the shifts in YA over time; Alanna almost feels like a middle-grade book in comparison. I can’t wait to read more in this series as it’s published!
Alice Oseman: Most of this was a Heartstopper reread. (I do those a lot.) I also picked up a couple supplementary books in the series (as in, not the main graphic novels). The most notable part of my Alice Oseman reads was a first read of Solitaire, the novel that was written before Heartstopper and follows Charlie’s sister Tori. It’s a lot more dramatic than the usual works in this universe, but I enjoyed it (and the glimpses of Charlie and Nick through Tori’s POV). I doubt much of this will get folded into the Heartstopper show more than we’ve seen, but I liked reading it.
Garth Nix: Sabriel and Lirael were two of my favorite books as a kid, and I figured a full-series read was in order, since I hadn’t read beyond Abhorsen. My favorite book was Clariel, which was a prequel to the Sabriel-Lirael events by a long time and showed a potential path for villains in this universe. The necromancy worldbuilding and dark tone of the series were my favorite parts as a kid, and that’s still true today. I was getting pretty sick of the way romance was written by the end of it, though.
A few more books I want to talk about
Hey Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson: A memoir by someone who escaped the MLM ecosystem. It was a fascinating read because the author was great at describing her experiences, to the point where you could see she hadn’t fully deconstructed what happened and had more of a journey ahead of her. I sincerely admire people who can be honest beyond their own self awareness.
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud: Possibly one of the best books on craft I’ve ever read. It’s philosophical in a way I’ve never seen from any book like it. I want to reread and do a full analysis of Understanding Comics later, but for now, I highly recommend it.
Andrew Joseph White books: I read Hell Followed With Us, Compound Fracture, and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth for the first time in 2024. Trans YA horror is right up my alley. I thought The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was the best of the bunch—unsurprising coming from me, since it’s gothic—but an online mutual pointed out that the author’s content note neglected to center race, and that killed a lot of my love for the story. Quote from the book:
…The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was inspired by Victorian England’s sordid history of labeling certain people “ill” or “other” to justify cruelty against them. Threats of violence enforced strict social norms, often targeting women, queer and disabled people, and other marginalized folks.
It took me about five seconds of searching to find Victorian medicine shaped modern concepts of race for this post. Using “other marginalized folks” as a catch-all to hide racism is a dangerous oversight at best. I hope Andrew Joseph White proceeds more thoughtfully in the future.
Men Have Called Her Crazy by Anna Marie Tendler: I’m probably one of the few people online who enjoyed this, but I also had my expectations adjusted. I get a lot of value out of reading memoirs from people in mental health settings, and the voice here, while unpolished, felt authentic to both Anna Marie Tendler and her experiences at the time. I’m glad I read it.
Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus: Want to know about hot dogs and what America was like in summer 2021? Raw Dog was one of my favorite reads of 2024, and I want more people to read it. The mix of personal narrative, cultural analysis, and historical moment made for a compelling experience.
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop: I had no idea that Kelly Bishop’s life was like Miss Patty’s stories until I listened to this memoir. (I recommend audiobook over reading because Kelly Bishop reads it herself, and I love her voice.) Listening felt like seeing a one-woman show. I laughed, I cried, I made a mental note to watch A Chorus Line (even if Kelly Bishop wasn’t in the movie).
More to come!
We’re in the final stretch! I’m hoping to get my movie post out tomorrow before the Oscars starts, and my video post at some point this week. In the meantime, if you liked this retrospective:
- Consider subscribing to my Patreon for a bonus year-end post on productivity tips and tricks in 2024.
- If you’re not interested in paid content, you can still join my Patreon for free and read my off-the-cuff series, starting with my initial Oscar nominee reactions!
- Catch up on my 2024-in-review series on Egregious and read my TV recap, my video games recap, and my music post.
- Thanks for reading!
