Reading Roundup 2024

Okay, so it's that time again, time to cast a look back at what I read over the last year. In 2024, I turned to my bookshelves and revisited a lot of old childhood favourites: Joan Aiken, Penelope Lively, Susan Cooper, Susan Coolidge, Antonia Forest, Mary Norton, Diana Wynne Jones. This will no doubt account for a preponderance of British lady authors in the re-read category.

Kids'/YA v Adult

As usual, due to my patented three-books-at-a-time reading system (one kids'/YA, one adult fiction, one adult non-fiction), I read about one third kids' books and two thirds books for adults. Though as the kids' books are a bit quicker to get through, it's actually just over a third.

Gender

Sorry, blokes, no attempt at even-handedness this year at all! Lots of lady authors, a handful of non-binary authors or books with mixed male and female writer, and... some gentlemen.

Fiction v non-fiction

No surprises here, as usual, a split of about one third non-fiction to two thirds fiction (I hardly ever read a non-fiction children's book.)

Book source

I made good use of libraries this year! About half my reading came from either my local library (where I tend to reserve new releases) or from the Athenaeum library in the city, where I love to browse the shelves. The Ath doesn't hold reserves for long, and it's not always convenient for me to come in and pick them up when they arrive, so I'd rather relax with some old books from there. I borrowed nine books from friends, and 24 came from my secondhand stash, which is still mysteriously as high as it was at the start of the year, despite my vow to pause buying. I'm not very good at keeping resolutions. It's satisfying to see that I used the Ath so much, it's well worth the membership. No e-books this year because my Kindle has died.

Author origin

Weirdly, this was the first year for a while that I gave up consciously trying to read authors with more diverse backgrounds, and quite by chance I ended up reading a reasonable spread of origins: German, Canadian, Irish and Turkish, as well as the usual mountain of UK authors and a good chunk of Australians. This year I separated out First Nations authors for the first time.

Highlights

I very much enjoyed my trawl through old favourite children's books, especially The Little White Horse and Joan Aiken's Dido Twite stories.

In adult fiction, the standouts were Fiona McFarlane's Highway 13, The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, Alison Goodman's The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, and Louise Erdrich's The Night Watchman.

I read lots of amazing non-fiction in 2024, including Helen Garner's The Season, Nova Weetman's Love, Death and Other Scenes and Would That Be Funny? by Lorin Clarke (all Melbourne women). David Marr's Killing for Country was devastating. Rumer Godden's autobiographical memoirs, A Time to Dance, A Time to Weep and A House With Four Rooms were absolutely beautiful. Dodie Smith's memoirs were very different in tone and moreishly funny. Ursula Le Guin's essay collection, Dreams Must Explain Themselves, gave me lots to chew on. Isabella Tree's Wilding gave me hope that nature can repair itself, given a chance. Inga Simpson's Understory was very moving, as was Kathryn Moore's book about death, With the End in Mind.