What I Read This Year: 2024
Happy New Year! It is time once again to look back on a year in reading, a year in which I recorded some achievements I’m very proud of (including playing Sir John Falstaff in a mashup of Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays) but also went literally months without recording a book read. As always, I wish I’d read more.
A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas
The first volume in the one of the author’s popular series. My sister - who reads widely and is engaged in a project to read biographies of every President - enjoys this series, and I certainly acknowledge the value of escapism. Maas just isn’t my escapism.
Real Tigers - Mick Herron
The third volume in Herron’s “Slough House” series, which is of course the basis for the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses. Consistently entertaining, and I need to catch up of the show.
Tom Lake - Ann Patchett
My favorite read of the year. A novel of theatre, family, COVID, and the passage of time. (Patchett is pictured above.)
Life’s Work - David Milch
A remarkable memoir of an American life. Milch studied poetry with Robert Penn Warren, created television series like NYPD Blue and Deadwood, and overcame a variety of addictions before being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Day - Michael Cunningham
Cunningham’s latest novel is the story of one family experiencing three specific days during the pandemic.
The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and The Last Years of Hollywood - Sam Wasson
Wasson is the author of the book that was the basis of the Fosse/Verdon TV series, and this volume is both a detailed history of the making and makers of Chinatown and story of the forces that led to the end of the “New Hollywood”.
The Way Some People Die - Ross Macdonald
A quick, nasty crime novel that I found in one of Macdonald’s Library of America collections.
How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement - Fredrik deBoer
The author is a popular and provocative Substacker, one I read regularly, and this book is essential reading if you are a person of the left.
The Friday Afternoon Club - Griffin Dunne
The actor and director tells the story of his life up to the murder of his sister. Joan Didion (Dunne’s aunt) is a supporting character, but the more fascinating relationship is between Dunne and his father Dominick.
Wellness - Nathan Hill
A long social novel that tells the story of marriage begun in 1990’s optimism.
The Message - Ta-Nehisi Coates
Resurrection Walk - Michael Connelly
I’ve mentioned Connelly many times in these lists, and this is another successful installment in Connelly’s long-running crime series.