novels that i loved / changed me in 2024

 

i enjoyed every one of these titles immensely

traveling with this physical novel
started so many conversations in nyc
this summer. awesome memories

What I learned in 2024 was that re-reading continues to save me. I love the comfort of returning to characters that I know very well. 

Read in one sitting:

Cried while reading:

Couldn't put down:

Reminded me of intense emotions:

Sent me down the biggest rabbit hole:

Austen of the year: 
(theme: if at first you don't succeed...)

Re-read that I journaled 

the most around:

Travel physical re-read that 
I was asked the most about:

As I begin my reading for 2025 my one true focus is to read what changes or truly entertains me. All else will be ignored. :)

Happy reading ☕️ 

books to end 2024 on a peaceful and introspective note

Messy side table showcasing how busy and pushed for time I am as the year comes to a close. Frosty mornings with hot coffee find me sitting by candlelight and reflecting on all that has happened this year. 

my messy side table today

I still have 5000 words to write before the 24th as an academic draft, but aside from that I am wanting to prepare for some intense medical test, and deep rest. Lots of reading by candlelight with book lights, reading on kindle warm feature activated, and copious amounts of tea.

I've been deeply reflective, intensely focused on how desperate I am for 2025 to be starkly different and more directed than 2024. 

Reading is a safe place for me and increases my wellbeing 100 fold, and I have some pretty cozy plans and intentions for my reading life in 2025.

love this edition

tab city: so many wise gems in this novel

I am loving Mrs. Dalloway and cannot believe it has taken me this long to read it. Absolutely in love with how situated in time and place the novel is. Virginia Woolf is a gorgeous prose stylist, and this novel is already on my "will re-read forever" list. 

Reading this novel slowly and deeply late at night when I have some free time has been so beautiful. I definitely have other books scaffolded around this novel, but in the chance that I finish it before december 31st, I have plans to re-read Jane Eyre.

this will be my first read of this edition

I thought I would make it out of 2024 without re-reading Jane Eyre, but the dark moors are calling me, so I have to answer the call of the Brontës and sink down into this fantastic tale of sadness, quiet despair, strong character, love, and redemption.

Jane Eyre remains one of my top 3 favorite novels of all time, and normally I don't pass a late Autumn or Winter season without reading most or all of this novel.

I'm sending warmth and love your way and hoping that if (like me) life has battered you on the shores of 2024, that you take some time for deep reflection as the winter solstice nears and remember that there is a soft space to land inside of the best works of literature.

Happy reading and be well ☕️ 

Rest Well Jenny ♥️

 

Oh Jenny...

Your death is a stark reminder of how short this life is. What a kind, compassionate, engaging, intelligent woman you were. Your warmth and enthusiasm for classics and history will live in the hearts of so many of us. 

You are gone, but most definitely not forgotten my dear. 

Rest well Jenny. We will miss you. ♥️ 

Classics I Want to Read in 2024

It's gearing up to be an even busier year than 2023, so I want to have a classic focus for each month and in total a baker's dozen in case things with post-grad school and caregiving go better than I anticipate.

2024

Classics I Want To Read in 2024

Not sure what happened. I read classics all year, but these few evaded me. Will reevaluate the titles. 

1. A Simple Story by Elizabeth Inchbald
2. Moby Dick by Herman Melville 
3. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4. Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy
5. Villette by Charolette Brontë 
6. Aurora Flyod by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
7. Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau OR
8. Story of Ivy by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Rereads For 2024

Take this list with a grain of pink himalayan salt because I oftentimes reread the SAME book twice in a year.

1. Persuasion by Jane Austen ✔️ 
2. Jane Eyre by Charolette Brontë (december)
3. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy ✔️ 
4. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy ✔️ 
5. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky ✔️ 

Side Reads for 2024

1. Macbeth by William Shakespeare ✔️ 
2. Clarice Lispector (The Hour of the Star) (december)
3. Anita Brookner ✔️ 
4. James Baldwin (2025)
   
5. Lots of nonfiction ✔️ 

There are no rules for my reading. I just like to feel or learn something that will change or transform me. It's asking a lot from my literature, but it's my time. I can demand from authors in and out of copyright for this very thing.