Monday, December 30, 2024

Books I Read in 2024

 

Welcome to Year 17 of my year-end wrap up of books! I feel like this is such a great time to be a reader - there are so many incredible books out there, people are sharing their reading habits in such fun ways, and I'm never without something new to look at. I just did a review of some of my favorites from previous years and went back to see if any of those authors had new books that I had missed. I'm always sad when the answer is no! I'm a big fan of the whole BookTok and Bookstagram, but I try not to get too caught up in the hype. I had a few DNFs (did not finish) books from those that I tried so hard to like. 

This year saw the end of one of my favorite series, the Maisie Dobbs mysteries. I'll be sad next year when there isn't a new one! Hopefully it's not the end for Gabriel Allon, and of course I loved the newest book in his saga too. I like to alternate between literary fiction and romance novels, and I love it when kids come running up to me with their recommendations. I usually try to drop whatever I'm reading and get those done right away so I can chat about it with the kids! 

So here's the 2024 list:

  1. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

  2. Can we Talk About Israel? By Daniel Sokatch

  3. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

  4. The Society of Shame by Jane Roper

  5. Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino

  6. Kunstlers in Paradise by Cathleen Scheine

  7. The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre

  8. The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

  9. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

  10. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult

  11. You Have a Match by Emma Lord

  12. Have You Seen Luis Velez? By Catherin Ryan Hyde

  13. Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory

  14. Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood

  15. The Maid by Nita Prose

  16. Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

  17. The Women by Kristin Hannah

  18. The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

  19. The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

  20. The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn

  21. Meant to Be Mine by Hannah Orenstein

  22. The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel

  23. The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland

  24. The Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

  25. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

  26. The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall

  27. Bride by Ali Hazelwood

  28. The Amen Effect by Sharon Brous

  29. Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford

  30. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

  31. Family Family by Laurie Frankel

  32. Once We Were Home by Jennifer Rosner

  33. Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel

  34. A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

  35. Marry Me By Midnight by Felicia Grossman

  36. Rivals by Katharin McGee

  37. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto

  38. The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad

  39. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

  40. In the Shadow of the Greenbriar by Emily Matchar

  41. Stockholm by Noa Yedlin

  42. Welcome Home, Caroline Kline by Courtney Preiss

  43. This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune

  44. Reign by Katharine McGee

  45. The Fellowship of the Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr

  46. A Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva

  47. The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

  48. Tangled Up In You by Christina Lauren

  49. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

  50. Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

  51. Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan

  52. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

  53. The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

  54. Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray

  55. Behind Every Good Man by Sara Goodman Confino

  56. When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

  57. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

  58. The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

  59. Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center

  60. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Emmanuel Acho

  61. Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer

  62. The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove by Karen Hawkins

  63. Past, Present, and Future by Rachel Lynn Solomons

  64. The Book of Silver Linings by Nan Fishcer

  65. Sandwich by Catherine Newman

  66. The Frindle Files by Andrew Clements

  67. The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

  68. Flunked by Jen Calonita

  69. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

  70. The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier

  71. Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

  72. The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum

  73. The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman

  74. Operation Bethlehem by Yariv Inbar

  75. Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller

  76. You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

  77. Love You A Latke by Amanda Elliot

  78. Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari

  79. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

  80. Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter

  81. Hanukkah Hook-Up by Jessica Topper

  82. Late Night Love by Chayla Wolfberg

  83. Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim

  84. The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong

And here are all my mini-reviews:  


It's hard for me to choose favorites but here is a list of the ones I liked best:
Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino
Have You Seen Luis Velez? By Catherin Ryan Hyde
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Family Family by Laurie Frankel
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari

I track my books on GoodReads and StoryGraph and as always, I'll share monthly updates here and on the socials so stay tuned.

What do you think I should read in 2025? What are you reading? What were your favorites of 2024?

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December 2024 Books #MyLifeInBooks

Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman - Loved this one. It's historical, a little magical realism, a love story, Jewish...checked so many happy boxes for me. I wanted it to keep going....one of my favorites of the year!

Operation Bethlehem by Yariv Inbar - This was a book group selection for me, and as a group we liked it. I thought the story was interesting, although I got a little lost at one point, and I thought the theme of what it means to feel "at home" was very relevant.

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books - Could NOT put this one down! Loved it - the cast of characters was wonderful, it was clever and compelling, and of course, timely. I know it was meant as a satire, and I thought it really worked.

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian - It was a little too long but overall a sweet story of grief and love - it took me a while to realize that it was set in 1960 (I'm sure I just missed that moment), which obviously explained the terrible fear of discovery of the gay characters. 

Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot - How could I not read htis one!? A quick and fun Chanukah romance novel with the added benfit of a real commentary on how it feels to be the token Jew, especially at Christmastime. Will this be the next Hallmark Chanukah movie???

Songs for the Broken Hearted by Ayelet Tsabari - So good! A look backwards and forwards at the Yemeni Jewish community as they came to Israel in 1950 and their generations in the 1990s. Such a compelling story as Zohara tries to figure out her mother's hidden past and her own Yemeni-Israel-Jewish identity.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - Okay, Oprah, I would never have picked this one up without you. A very short and powerful novel highlighting what it means to do right in the world, even when things are stacked against you. 

Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter - I am pretty sure that I got this book from the New York Times Book Review. While I was reading it, however, I kept thinking, "who the heck recommended this book to me and why am I still friends with them?" This book is weird. (See: The Husbands) I can see how it is a meditation on grief and love, physical and emotaional space, family and relationships. But I didn't really like it. 

The Hanukkah Hook-Up by Jessica Topper - a silly, fun Chanukah romance

Late Night Love by Chayla Woflberg - A sweet romance by a former student! Loved the shoutout to our synagogue :-)

Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim - A lovely story about magic and matchmaking, and it reminded me a little bit of the Matchmaker's Gift too. This author's earlier book was one of my favorites of last year, and I liked this one a lot too!

The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong - It was odd that the last two books I read this year were both about seeing the future! This one was a really cozy magical fantasy about found family, and I really enjoyed it!

November Books
October Books
September Books
August Books
July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

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Saturday, November 30, 2024

November 2024 Books #MyLifeInBooks

The Frindle Files by Andrew Clements - I *loved* this modern-day follow up to the 25-year-old Frindle. If you haven't read it, find a fifth grader and share it with them. And then read this one! Loved it. Great middle grade novel about the power of words and using them wisely.

The House of Eve by Sadaqa Johnson - Historical fiction about black women in the 1950s. It was an interesting look at a piece of history that I haven't read about before. The "twist" seemed fairly obvious to me, but otherwise it was a pretty good story.

Flunked by Jen Calonita - A fifth grader ran up to me at Hebrew School and said "Rabbi! Book recommendation!" so I immediately borrowed it from Libby and it was delightful. The first in a series called "Fairy Tale Reform School," and now I'm pretty sure you have an idea of what it's all about. 

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst - This checks all the boxes: found family, magical stuff, cozy fantasy. As long as I didn't think too hard about the world-building, it was great. 

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier - Historical fiction about the glassmakers of Murano, Italy. It follows a family through history but through an odd and completely mystifying time travel technique that totally threw me off. Much like the previous book, as long as I didn't think too hard about it, it was great. I wish it had been a more traditional family saga...without the weird time skips that didn't make sense.

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe - Um...quirky? That's probably the word for this book. On the one hand, I liked the found family, struggle-to-find-your-narrative story. On the other hand, I was a little thrown by the um...use of the internet to earn a living. Enjoyable but a bit odd.

The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum - I liked Hoodie (short for Yehuda), an Orthodox teen who narrates the story. It's a fairly powerful story about Hoodie's intersection with the non-Jewish world around him, with the addition of some terrible antisemitism that rocks his community. 

October Books
September Books
August Books
July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

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Thursday, October 31, 2024

October 2024 books #MyLifeInBooks

 

Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer - cute and timely, with a lot about antisemitism and living in a smaller town. I'm not sure how I felt about the whole "golem" idea but overall, I appreciated the love story in the end.

The Secret Recipe of Ella Dove by Karen Hawkins - I didn't know this was the third in a series when I picked it up. That said, I really liked this one. It reminded me of the Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (one of my favorites) and I do love a smidge of magical realism with my love stories. 

Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomons - A sequel to Today, Tonight, Tomorrow! Loved seeing what happened next for this pair of Jewish kids from Seattle. 

The Book of Silver Linings by Nan Fisher - There was definitely too much going on in this book, and I wasn't sure what the point of each part was and how it all tied together. That said, I didn't hate it, I just don't quite know why I liked it.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman - This book hit a lot of top lists for the year, and I suppose I can see why, although I found it a little too angsty for me. I do prefer slightly more plot-driven stories, so this one won't make MY top lists.

I'm about 65 books into the year. What MUST I read before 2024 ends?

September Books
August Books
July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

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Monday, September 30, 2024

September 2024 Books

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center - Okay, I am so embarrassed to tell you that I read this book in 2009. And honestly? It was so forgettable that I read it again and never realized I'd read it before until I logged it in Goodreads. And I don't remember what I thought of it the first time, but this time I thought it was not my favorite of her books.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio - I'm pretty sure I didn't like this book. I couldn't quite understand the point of it. I liked the premise and it was interesting for the first 20-30 pages. But I couldn't see where it was going and I'm not sure that it even made any interesting points about marriage.

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren - Fairly standard romance, some cute dialogue, enjoyed the love story. 

When The Angels Left the Old Country by Sasha Lamb - I enjoyed this somewhat fantastical story about an angel and a demon who come to America from their shtetl - an interesting telling of the Jewish immigration to America story. A little too long, but well-told.

Behind Every Good Man by Sara Goodman Confino - loved this 1960s story about a woman who takes a little bit of control of her own life and her own story. I loved the characters and how the era really impacted their choices and capacities. The mother-daughter story was strong, and I liked the callback to the author's earlier book too. 

August Books
July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

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Saturday, August 31, 2024

August 2024 Books


Um...so this month I watched a lot of the Olympics. And a lot of the DNC. And apparently, I didn't read a lot! 

But all of these books were REALLY good so there's that!

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn - This was a great combo of two of my favorite kinds of books: about a "found family" and historical fiction. I really liked the look at McCarthy-era Washington, D.C. This book was a little long, but it was really wonderful and totally worth it!

True Love Experimen tby Christina Lauren - I really enjoyed this one! I'm now on a hunt for the rest of Christina Lauren's books. A reality show, a smart and snarky author, a hot British guy...great romance novel!

Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray - I really loved this bio of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor who transformed our country by inventing Social Security (amongst many other accomplishments). She is my new favorite historical woman! Wow. Loved this insight into all of it...a period of history that I know a lot about but don't have a lot of details about what it was really like. Loved it!

July Books
June Books
May Books
April Books
March Books
February Books
January Books

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Friday, August 30, 2024

#blogelul #elulgram 2024

Elul -- that wonderful and terrifying month that precedes the High Holy Days. A month of introspection and considering, a month of personal reflection and preparation.

#BlogElul is a project that I started in 2010, although it wasn't until 2012 that I created the list of topics. Since then, I haven't always completed the whole month of blogging, although I know that many of you have. I also know that the online world has changed so much since 2010, when blogging was one of the only ways to publish your online content easily.

Now we have Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, (some people are still on Formerly Twitter) and other platforms - even TikTok...so many ways in which to express ourselves and dive deeply into the themes of the High Holy Days. And so here we are….I've added #ElulGram (and perhaps #ElulTok?) to the #BlogElul family and the borders of this project are so wide that they reallly don't exist at all. This project is really whatever YOU want - however YOU want to spend your time preparing yourself for the holiest season in the Jewish calendar.

Who can participate? ANYONE. It's yours. I gift it to you. Elul is for anyone and everyone.

How could one do it? You don't have a blog… No worries. Be creative and find your own path! Maybe you don't want to do it daily. Maybe you just want to dip your toe into the experience, or just read (and share?) what others write. It's totally up to you. I always love to see the creative things that the #BlogElul community comes up with.

There are no rules. I provide the topics (see graphic) for each of the days of the month. Use the hashtag to share your post (I like to put it in my titles) and share other people's posts as well. This could be a way to revitalize your blog, kickstart a new project, or even just get yourself ready for the holidays! I know that lots of people use #BlogElul as a spiritual exercise each year, and I'm so proud to be a part of their yearly journey through Elul.

And what about #ElulGram? This one is even more interpretive. Photos, art, illustrations, quotes -- what kinds of images can you put together to explore and interpret these High Holy Day themes? You don't have to limit your picture-sharing to Instagram (even though I totally appropriated the name), you can use any image-sharing site you'd like, such as Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Whatever you do, tag it with #ElulGram (or #ElulTok?) so we can call share and follow.

These themes and ideas are broad and open, and again -- remember, there are NO RULES except the ones you make for yourself!


And yes, I know that the dates include Shabbat. I personally don't blog/tweet/Facebook on Shabbat, but I will post before and after Shabbat. You can do whatever you like!


Rosh Chodesh Elul is in coming up fast! So here we go….

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