How was your year in reading? 2024 reading round-up

Happy Holidays! We're bringing back our year-end reading round up. Join us as we talk about our year in reading, our favorite books of 2024, and what we're looking forward to reading in 2025. We also talk about how our conversation about goal-setting in January of this year impacted our years in reading (spoiler: profoundly and in a good way!) 
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Books we talk about in this episode:

Books we're reading now:

• The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
• Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas
• Heartburn by Nora Ephron

2024 reads we haven't talked about on the podcast:

• The Familiar by Leah Bardugo
• Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Confessions of a Forty-Something Fuck Up by Alexandra Potter
• Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong
• The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
• The Hapless Milliner (Miss Austen Investigates #1) by Jessica Bull
• Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Our favorite books of 2024:

• Elizabeth: Tie between Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan and Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Martha: Tie between A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross and Nora Goes Off Script. Honorable mention to The House Witch series.

Books on our TBRs for 2025:

• History Lessons by Zoe Wallbrook (July)
• The Lioness (Dec 2024) And The Trees Stare Back (YA) by Gigi Griffis (May)
• Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotugno
• All Fours by Miranda July
• Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April)
• Stop Me If You've Heard This One by Kristen Arnett (March)
• The Women by Kristin Hannah?
• Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3) by Rebecca Yarros (Jan)
• Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (April)
• Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey (Feb)
• Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro
• When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

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Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.

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Read on!

Transcript

[All Books Aloud intro and theme music]

Martha: Hey Liz, 

Elizabeth: hi Martha. What are you reading right now?

Martha: I just started The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong. I am only on, chapter two, so I don't really have any opinions formed about it yet, but it's been described to me as a cozy fantasy, but I don't think it's centered around the home or cooking or [00:01:00] baking, so I'm excited to see what it's like. It sounds to me like a found family situation and that maybe is the cozy, heartwarming element of it. We'll see. But it is the author's debut novel and it's gotten a lot of really good buzz. So, I'm excited to see how it is.

Elizabeth: interesting, because you and your friend at the bookstore had a theory that cozy fantasy, , It has to have something domestic in it, basically, or it seems like it does.

And you were wondering if there are any books that don't Right. That could still be counted as cozy Fantasy.

Martha: Yeah, exactly. We're just like, man, is there a cozy fantasy that doesn't center around cooking or baking or, renovating a space or the home in some way so we will see. That's the physical book I'm reading, and then I am listening to tower of dawn by Sarah J. Mass it's one of the last books in the throne of glass series. I have one more, which is kingdom of ash. And then [00:02:00] I'm done with this reread and I've enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed it more the first time through. There's something about a long series. The first time you read it that's why people make those reels about books. I wish I could read for the first time. Again, there's just something about it. That's magical. The first time, the second read through I wanted to do because Sarah J.

Mass is still working on finishing the. A Court of Thorns and Roses series. And there's talk that she's maybe going to tie in Throne of Glass's world, potentially.

Elizabeth: Ooh. Crossover.

Martha: yeah, so I wanted to remember, all of the details. She did a crossover, A Crescent City. Court of Thorns and Roses crossover in the last Crescent City book. So I just wanted to revisit because there's just so much detail in those books. I'm almost done. I have one more and then I will be on to other [00:03:00] audiobooks and I have a list stacking up of ones that I want to listen to. So that'll be good.

Elizabeth: What are you reading right now?,

 I just started a new book, because of course this is our end of year reading roundup episode, but the year technically is not over yet, and I think we're both still racing to read more books.

 , I feel like I end up doing a lot of reading in December. So I'm hoping to read , a fair few, but more books before the end of the year. So I just started Heartburn by Nora Ephron. 

is, of course, more famous for her screenplays , like, Harry Met Sally, and You've Got Mail, and all of those , really, chef's kiss rom coms, , from the 90s and early 2000s. That's what Nora Ephron is known for.

But she also did write, I want to say she wrote a few novels, but Heartburn is the one that people know the most of her fiction. And I also just started it, so I can't say a ton about it. But what I Will say about it. That just grabbed me from the very [00:04:00] first paragraph is it is a masterclass in, character voice, which for writers is like this magical thing that everyone wants, but it's really hard for anyone to teach you how to do it or to tell you how to do it.

it's like this character just couldn't be anyone else and it's in first person, which , that makes the voice a little bit easier. But her perspective in her character is unique in a way that's like if she was speaking you wouldn't mistake her for anyone else. If that makes sense.

, the way that she describes things is just a hundred percent. Her character, the observations that she makes, the phrases that she I wonder why this book , isn't more popular. , why it's not more well known.

Just having read the first chapter, because it's just so good. So yeah, I'm enjoying that. I actually haven't really been listening to any books recently because I've just been so busy that I haven't gone on very many walks. I did [00:05:00] start a new book, but I don't want to say what it is because I don't think I'm going to keep listening to it and I don't want to, I don't want to put anyone on blast.

Martha: Fair 

enough. 

Elizabeth: but the issue is just the narrator. I have such weirdly specific requirements for, for audiobook narrators that I'm almost starting to be embarrassed about it because , obviously the problem is me. Like, hi, I'm the problem.

Martha: That's funny.

I'm interested in the voice of Nora Ephron's characters, just thinking about how being a screenwriter and making movies might affect the way you write, or maybe her writing is what made her a great screenwriter, is it the chicken or the egg, but just thinking about her writing from the lens of bringing these characters to life off the page, maybe influences the way that she writes them.

 Possibly, and that makes them feel more real. It's an interesting thought.

Elizabeth: it's hard [00:06:00] to say which came first, but with screenwriting, ,

it's like 90 percent dialogue. That's really hard to get the character to come through just through the words that they say, so I do think that it had to have made her a stronger, at least more strongly to be able to develop characters in that way.

Martha: Yes, when she's writing, it's all dialogue. But then you're thinking about what are they wearing? What are their mannerisms? What's their body language? And then when you're. describing that for a book, you have to be more descriptive. So maybe she's thinking about, about that from that perspective too.

I don't know. Interesting, but it sounds great. Oh,

Elizabeth: I think you would like it if you ever want to read it. , Nora Ephron passed away a while ago, so it's obviously older. I actually am going to look it up because I'm curious about when it was published. 1996. So in that heyday, and it [00:07:00] is. Again, I've only read the first chapter, but it does feel very much of a time and place. , it is the setting of You've Got Mail or Harry Met Sally. It's , in New York in the 90s, a upper class, upper middle class couple, who, , you find out from the very first page is getting divorced because the man had an affair.

 I don't know. , it's good. It's really good.

 Gone.

Martha: have to put it on my TBR for 2025.

Elizabeth: Yeah, there you go. Speaking of which.

Let's talk about our year in reading. So we did this episode last year and we haven't repeated any other topics, but, , obviously we've come to the end of another year. So it seemed like a good, topic to talk about.

As last year, we're going to talk about the books that we read. Not every single one, but some of the books that we read. Our favorites, , how we felt about our year in reading. We're going to talk about goals. We did a whole episode on whether we set goals or not last year. And, I don't know [00:08:00] about you, but I had some epiphanies that I put into play this year.

So we're going to talk about that. But first, let's talk about some of the books that we read this year that we didn't get to talk about on the podcast that we , want to, that you really liked. And maybe also talk about The Reading Doorway, since that'll help people who are listening figure out whether it's a book that they want to read or not.

Does that sound good? Okay. Why don't you go first?

Martha: The first book that came to mind was The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. I believe it's her latest novel. And I picked it up in a bookstore in Montana, just based off of the cover.

And it ended up being a great book. She's very popular, but I thought based on the name that it was going to be about vampires and it's not. So just a heads up, if you're looking for a vampire novel, that's not what it is, it's a historical fiction, fantasy romance.

It's [00:09:00] set in Spain, and it has a little bit of magic, and it's just great. It was beautiful. Definitely character heavy. It took a little bit for it to get going because you're learning about the characters and trying to figure out who all the players are, but then once the action starts, it moves quickly and you don't really figure out until the end, what the deal is with the characters.

the familiar. So that keeps you wanting to read and know what happens. So I definitely recommend that to anyone who likes fantasy, romance, and character stories.

Elizabeth: Yeah, she, Leigh Bardugo has written a ton of books and actually I remember , I want to say it was earlier this year, she made, a really big splash in the publishing industry because she made a huge deal. for like seven books, I want to say, and millions of dollars from some publisher.

And of course people are like, [00:10:00] you know, they won't pay other authors like 10, 000 for their books that they're paying, but she's popular and she's prolific. She writes a lot and people love her.

 She has several series that are going and none of them have more than a couple books.

Martha: Interesting.

Elizabeth: yeah, that actually sense about why she would get a book deal for so many books because she has so many irons in the fire with those series.

Mm

Martha: dip your toes into her writing, The Familiar is a standalone, so that might be a good one to start with. , another book that I love this year that I don't think I talked about was Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks. It is a solid romance, it's also a debut novel, which I was very impressed with. I thought the.

Characters were great. The banter was great. It checked all the boxes. It was a grumpy sunshine. He was an undertaker in Ireland and she moved there for [00:11:00] work and she was from Texas, so this sunny Texas girl falls in love with this grumpy Irish undertaker, but it was very sweet and yeah, just a great, fast, perfect contemporary romance read.

Elizabeth: I love the sound of that. I'm putting that on my TBR immediately. I don't know what I thought it was when I saw, when I heard you talking about it, but it's not that.

Martha: Yeah. It was so cute. As soon as I finished it, I brought it to Jordan, my best friend. And I was like, you have to read this. And of course, like most romances, I would say the doorway is probably story. You'll have to tell me what you think. If you read that, I'd be interested to see if you liked it too.

I think I briefly mentioned this book. When I started reading it, but I liked it so much. It was worth bringing up again. And it's kind of a departure for me from my normal read.

We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson. It's a classic horror, it's a great way to dip [00:12:00] your toes into the horror genre. Cause it's more atmospheric. It's not really scary. There's no. Jump scare or anything like that.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Martha: She just does such a good job with domestic horror.

And she was a fifties housewife and she wrote about her life essentially through her stories, Shirley Jackson. She's a very interesting person to research and learn about, it's a short book would it be considered a novella?

Elizabeth: I don't know what the rules are around that, but , it is what I would think of as novella length.

Martha: Mm hmm. And , I think it's so hard , to be a very good short story writer, there's so much in what's not said, and she wrapped it up. So perfectly, , it's amazing. . So if you want a short read, fast read, dip your toes into horror, definitely pick up, We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

I would say it's character and setting. If I had to pick, you read it too, Liz. [00:13:00] What do you think?

Elizabeth: Yeah. After you, were talking about how much you liked it, I read it because I, you know, Love Shirley Jackson. I mean obviously everyone, well I don't actually know if this is the case anymore for kids at school, but I was going to say everyone reads The Lottery when they're in school. I feel like a short story.

Did you read that?

Martha: I don't remember reading that.

Elizabeth: Oh Martha, you need to read it. It is truly a short story. You could read it in half an hour. Oh my god, it's so good. I'm really glad I didn't start talking about it because I don't want to ruin it for you.

Oh my god, yeah, you have to read that immediately. But I like to read a spooky book during October for spooky season. And so no matter what I'm reading, I usually will start reading a scary book. And a couple of years ago, I read, another Shirley Jackson one, The Haunting of Hill House, which They turned into a Netflix movie and it's not at all based on the book, [00:14:00] even though it's called Haunting of Hill House and says that it's inspired by the book by Shirley Jackson.

So that was very confusing to me, but I read the book and it is also really good, similar to We've Always Lived at the Castle. , it's good., It's psychological horror, , there's not gory violence, there's not someone trying to get them, there's not even 

 

Elizabeth: really, well whatever, I don't want to say anything to spoil it.

, but, as with, we have always lived at the castle, the horror is inside the brains of the characters for the most part, and it's similarly masterfully done. And it's also short. It's basically the same length as we have always lived at the castle. So I read that a couple of years ago and really liked it.

And so then when you were talking about this book, I was like, Oh, that'll be my October read. So I did also read it. And, I went off on that tangent. And now I can't remember what your

Martha: Oh, characters, character and setting for the doorways.

Elizabeth: yes, yeah, definitely those are the two that I would pick as well because there's not really a plot per se, 

 Things happen, I guess. I wouldn't [00:15:00] put it as story though,

Martha: Yeah, it's not a plot driven book.

Elizabeth: It's so hard to say that though, because it is so short and it is so compact and in terms of , you get a whole story in such a short space, so you would think that it is. I don't know. Anyway, yeah, it is very atmospheric and it really is all about the characters. So yeah, I would agree with that. But if anyone hasn't read The Lottery, definitely read that, including you, Martha. , and also I would highly recommend The Haunting of Hill House. But yeah, we always lived at the castle. I love, I loved it.

Martha: That's one thing I love about doing these end of year roundups is that it helps me, , fill my TBR for next year

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Martha: we talk about all these books and I'm like, I need to read that. I need to read that. I need to 

Elizabeth: Oh my God, as if I need any help with my, I always have a stack of books on my shelf next to my bed that I just can't make any smaller.

Martha: Yeah. Well, and honestly, when I was looking back at last year's notes, I was like, Oh, I totally [00:16:00] forgot. Half of these were even on my TBR, so that happens too. 

Elizabeth: Yeah, I get so distracted. I'm like squirrel with new books when they come out and then I forget there are other books that I wanted to read.

Martha: exactly. I did read Dracula as well by Bram Stoker, which I had never read before, and I read it as a recommendation from Michael to listen to the audio book. One of the audio books. There's a lot of versions, but we listened to the same one on audible cause Michael really liked it. And he was really going through like a horror phase and I found it painfully boring, so boring, but I did end up finishing it.

, but I ended up, I don't ever do this. I never do this, but I ended up listening to it on two times speed cause it's so slow. It's just so slow. And I was like, Oh my God, I want to finish this. It's a classic. I want to [00:17:00] have the cultural knowledge, you know, of what this book is actually, and not just what I think it is, but it's so boring.

So I put it on two times speed and I got through it. But.

Elizabeth: Oh my God, that's so funny.

Martha: so that was my experience with Dracula.

Elizabeth: I can't believe we didn't talk about this because, , I went to Whitby this year, which is the place that, , inspired Dracula. , Bram Stoker stayed in an inn in Whitby, which is on the, , East Yorkshire coast, , , all the way on the east north side of England.

And it's beautiful, , the story is that he stayed in an inn, and from the inn, he could see across, , the town is split by a river that goes into the sea. Like a lot of port towns, 

, and so he was staying in an inn that was on one side of the river and looked across the river to, whitby Abbey, which is on a bluff high up, and , I think even then was a ruin, but now is even more of a ruin. And the story is, I think actually from his [00:18:00] journals, so it's not just apocryphal, like an urban legend, I think it's something that he wrote in his journals, that when the sun was setting, a specific time of day, the light of the sunset would reflect on the windows in the Abbey or something like that and make them glow red.

So they looked like two glowing red eyes

Martha: Mmm,

Elizabeth: as he looked across. And for some reason, , that gave him the idea for Dracula. I've actually not read Dracula. I bought a copy of Dracula that stamped, , from Whitby Abbey from the gift shop with the intention of reading it and then never did.

Martha: that's

Elizabeth: Uh, but it's so funny that you say how boring it is because I've Actually, I think it was the tour guide.

I took a Dracula tour, walking tour while I was in Whitby. And I think the tour guide said that for modern readers, everyone hates it. Basically no one can actually read the book anymore. , because our tastes in reading and books have just changed so much. It's that turgid 19th century.

writing style that just [00:19:00] doesn't cut it anymore for our, I don't know if it's attention spans, or if it's just what we're used to, but there are so many books that are classics, quote unquote, from the 1800s, that when people try to read them, they're just like, what is this?

Martha: Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm so thankful for it because obviously it sparked the whole vampire genre, but , you don't really hear much about the actual vampire. It's just about the people who are affected by it and what happens and to them and trying to hunt Dracula or whatever. Who's even the vampire?

I don't even remember. Dracula, right? I don't know.

Elizabeth: No, uh, yeah, I think

Martha: Dracula, yeah. 

Elizabeth: and then Van Helsing or something is the hunter,

Martha: Yes, that's right, and that's what I texted Michael. I was like, this book should be called Van Helsing, not Dracula, because you don't really There's no action as far as that goes. It's all about Van Helsing and his theories and how he figures it out and then [00:20:00] hunting them and all these people dying because they don't want to turn into vampires who get bitten and whatever.

Yeah, , I think we're so used to, books. All about the lives of the vampires, not the people who are affected by it. So it's just totally different, but

Elizabeth: Yeah, 

Martha: so that's pretty much it. There might be one or two other books that I read and didn't talk about, but nothing worth writing home about. So what about you, Liz? What did you read this year that we need to talk about that we haven't?

Elizabeth: I do have a few that I really liked that I read this year that I didn't get to talk about, , with you. first one is called Confessions of a Forty something Fuck up by Alexandra Potter. And it's really funny, as you probably can guess by the title.

 It's first person and , it just has a great voice for the character. The character is very herself. I don't know how else to describe it. This is why voice is such a difficult thing to teach because it's just sort of like you know it when you see but [00:21:00] this book is, , by a British woman and it is the story of, , as you can tell by the title, a woman who Is 40 something and she had moved to America from England to be with her Then boyfriend and I I can't really remember if they got married or if they never did get married but basically she lived in America for like 10 years and then they broke up because things imploded and I won't spoil anything about why because that's part of the plot , and she moves back to England and she's in her 40s and single and renting a room in someone else's house and meanwhile, all of her friends are having kids, renovating their houses, , having a second mortgage, and she just feels like she is out of step with everyone her age, and can't relate to anyone, and she's questioning whether her friendships are really friendships anymore because she just feels like they don't have anything to talk about.

It's just a very relatable, your life falls apart and all of a sudden you're like, wait, what is going on? What am I doing? What is my life? , and she starts a [00:22:00] podcast where she just talks into the microphone about all these thoughts that she's having and it ends up being popular.

Martha: Cute that sounds great

Elizabeth: It was really good and I enjoyed it. I do feel like I want to give a little bit of a fair warning to people who are going to pick it up. , in addition to the fact that , obviously, there's a lot of cursing in it, which you can tell just by the title, which is fine for me. But , the other thing is that , I feel like it's too long.

It's very long. They should have been a little bit more brutal with their cutting because it did start at one point to feel like, okay, we've done this already. Every chapter is her musing about a situation that occurs in her life and , it's not that there's not a plot, there is, but there are definitely some chapters where it's like, this whole chapter could be cut because , this isn't related to the plot and we've already.

established, , your musings about your 40 something weird life, right? ,

we get it. 

Martha: get it.

Elizabeth: So, , I would say if you're gonna read it and you get to one of those chapters, [00:23:00] you could just skip to the next chapter and it would be fine and it probably will go a little faster. I want to say it's almost 400 pages.

It's a really long book and it's not necessary for it to be that long. But it is funny and I finished it, so it can't , have been that bad. , the other thing I'll say is that they made a TV series out of it, called Not Dead Yet, . But they completely, well, since I already said the f word, I'll say, they completely bastardized this book.

And if I were the author, I would be so upset about what they did. , they essentially, , made it a totally different thing than it's not. The main character is, , in her early 30s, and there's, , an element of, , , ghosts, , dead people talk to her, and she, , talks back to them and people around her think that she's crazy and that's how she's out of step with and I'm like 

this does not 

Martha: stupid. 

Elizabeth: anything to do with this book.

I don't know where they came up with this and it's again like The Haunting of Hill House where it's like how can you even say that this is based on this book I only say that to say that if [00:24:00] you've seen the show and you know it's based on this book And maybe, , you didn't like it, or you think, , oh, well, I've already seen that.

, it's literally nothing like the

book, so you should still read it if you're interested in

it. And I enjoyed the book, and I didn't even watch the show because it sounds so stupid. , oh, and the doorway for that one is very much character, which probably is obvious.

Martha: yeah. Oh,

Elizabeth: by Jess Armstrong. And I would say the doorway for this one is more story. It's a mystery. It's not only story because as you know, I'm very much a character reader. So you do get to know the main character.

 She is a single woman who was in the military during World War I, I want to say. So it's historical fiction. And, is not traditional at all, so it has that element, which of course that appealed to me, of a rebellious woman.

And , she goes to visit a friend of hers that's married to this rich English country gentleman, and [00:25:00] he, she goes to their house where they live in the country. in Cornwall. So it had vibes of Rebecca for me with the setting, , because I know you read that this year. She goes to visit them and while she's there, , ends up getting mixed up in a murder.

And I'm not going to say more because, , obviously it all starts from there. The story all starts from there. But I liked it. I wouldn't say it was, , , one of my favorite books of the year. But I think if you like story and you like historical and, , if you liked Rebecca, I think that , it was a good book. It won an award for a debut crime novel. , what else did I read? Oh, one of the books that Al and I read aloud this year.

It's called The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. I don't think that we talked

Martha: No, we definitely didn't. Yeah.

Elizabeth: So I would say it's science fiction and , I've never heard of it. It was one of Al's favorite books when he was younger and it's a model for a lot [00:26:00] of science fiction stories and movies.

the latter part of the 20th century and the 21st century, which I had no idea about. So it was really fun for me to realize that, because essentially it's the original version of the story where a man is in the hospital and is depressed. He misses the , apocalyptic event that impacts everyone else.

And so then when he emerges from the hospital, , he's one of the only , I'm not going to say survivors because people don't die, but I don't want to ruin the book. So he's basically one of the people that wasn't impacted by this apocalyptic event and so then is able to move around , and survive.

, And there are so many of those dystopian, , apocalyptic stories that start that way. Like, Walking Dead, the guys in the hospital. And , this is the first story that did that, which I had no

idea about. , And basically, triphids are these plants that are, , the size of a man that are able to move around.

, they [00:27:00] pull their roots, they can pull them up from the ground and, , walk around. Which is, It's so creepy.

Martha: That's really creepy. So there's a character in the spell shop. That was another cozy fantasy I read this year. That was a plant like that, where he would pick up his roots and walk around. Obviously not a villain character in any way. He was the sidekick of the main character. 

Elizabeth: I bet it was based on Triffids. And the Triffids are not the villain of the book, but they are a very creepy, evil presence,

I would say. They're a problem for the people in the book based on what happens. I don't want to say anything because it's going to ruin it, but I highly recommend it.

You know I'm not a huge science fiction reader, but I , really enjoyed it. It was written in the 50s?

Martha: Okay.

Elizabeth: And the guy is British, it's set in England, and , it's very British. Some of the writing is, , incredibly dry and [00:28:00] stoic about things that are, , really upsetting, which is a very British way to talk about things.

Also, there's, , a lot of conversation about the way that after this event, no one can really figure out, how they exist in the world in relation to other people, which for the British is, , its own

Martha: Its own nightmare.

Elizabeth: a nightmare. Yeah.

Martha: That's funny.

Elizabeth: So yeah, I really enjoyed that one, and it's different from my normal fare.

I would still say though, even though I'm not a huge science fiction reader, and it's different from a lot of the books that I read, I would still say that the doorway is mainly character. So in that way, it's not that huge of a departure

Martha: makes sense. Yeah. Hmm.

Elizabeth: , a book that I just finished that I really enjoyed is called The Hapless Milliner. And it's the first book in a series called Miss Austin Investigates by Jessica Bohl. 

 It's an amateur detective novel, which is to say that it's that whole genre where a normal person gets involved in solving a crime, not that they're actually a detective or trying to be a [00:29:00] detective, but that they get mixed up in a crime and end up solving it. but it is the real historical figure of Jane Austen, and it's all of the people that she knew actually, it's her family and her friends, and they're all based on real people.

But then of course, it's fiction the novelist made it up, and I feel like I should talk about the fact that I read it and liked it because I'm normally a huge hater of books like

Martha: Mm-hmm . Fan fiction. Mm-hmm

Elizabeth: Yeah, , I love books that are Jane Austen style. I love a Regency romance. I love a book that's inspired by Jane Austen, but I usually really don't love books that try to mess with actual Jane Austen.

, I don't like books where it's The continuation of Elizabeth and Darcy's story, or , , the world according to Mary Bennett. , I just feel like I want people to leave that alone and just [00:30:00] do something else, but it's a really successful genre, so what do I know? I, I don't tend to like those books even though I love Jane Austen. , and so I don't really know what made me pick this up. I think that , I follow the author on Twitter and I read about it and I was like, I think maybe I'll give this a chance. And then I really liked

it. Who knows , if the character is actually the way that Jane Austen would have been.

But , in a way I forgot while I was reading it that she's supposed to be Jane Austen because she just became her own character. And it's really well written. The characters are really great and I love a cozy mystery.

Martha: Yeah. Cute. It sounds great. Are you gonna read the next one?

Elizabeth: I don't know. You know how I am with series. But it's not out yet. , this book came out this year and it's her first one. So we'll see. how it sounds when it comes, whenever it comes

out. The last book that I read that I actually just finished before I started Heartburn is called Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto is the name of the author.

, it's set in Japan and it's very short. I would say it's also kind of a novella slash short [00:31:00] story. , but it was really good and I really liked it. I heard about it on, if this is something, if you like podcasts like ours, you might like this podcast.

It's the podcast for the Women's Prize in the UK. Which obviously is a prize that is given to books that are written by women, so all books that are written by women, and they invite authors on to come and talk to a different host every season about the five books by women that, , have had the most influence on their life.

And Madeline Miller, who wrote, Song of Achilles and Circe, of 

course, did it. And her episode of the podcast is one of my favorite episodes I've ever listened to. So if you want to just dip your toe into this podcast and see if you like it, I would listen to the Madeline Miller episode. I put all of the books that she talked about on my TBR immediately.

Heartburn was also from that episode. The way that she talks about books is , it's just you want to read everything that she's talking about. She's so great. And I really love this podcast because it's basically interviews with books. [00:32:00] women

authors talking about books written by women.

It's , couldn't be

Martha: Yeah. More on the nose. Yeah.

Elizabeth: , and Kitchen is the story of a young Japanese girl who has had a lot of loss in her life and lives with her grandma this is the very beginning of the book, it's not spoiling anything, lives with her grandma because her whole family died.

And you don't find out how or why, but then her grandma of course is an old woman and so she ends up dying and the girl is on her own. And so a friend of hers and his mom take her in and she goes and lives with them. And, , the only, places in houses where she's ever lived that she feels comfortable is the kitchen and so there's a lot of description of her cooking and the way that the kitchen makes her feel comfortable.

There's also a transgender character in the book and it was written in 2006 and it's not the way that I think probably a book written today would portray a transgender character but I just thought that it was so fascinating and it's a very kind and, [00:33:00] it's not at all a mean portrayal, but , it was 20 years ago, , and also it's a different culture.

 I actually don't know a lot about the way that, transgender people in Japanese culture, historically would have been seen or treated because different cultures actually often have very different ways that they historically have thought of people who don't conform to, the gender that they are assigned at birth.

But, it was just so interesting , , it seems to me like there's a lot of discourse recently about how , People being transgender is this new thing that has just popped up. , but of course that's not the case. It's just that people never used to , be able to be open about it.

So I wasn't expecting that when I started reading the book, , I didn't realize it. And so then I was like, oh my gosh, this is so interesting to see this book from 2006 that has this character. So I thought that that part of it was really, really cool and interesting as well.

Martha: . It sounds really cute. Well, we read a lot of good books this year, I feel like.

Elizabeth: We did.

Martha: so, of all of these great books, everyone wants to know, Liz, what was your [00:34:00] favorite book of the year?

Yeah. Mm

Elizabeth: I couldn't pick one. I have a tie. And the reason I decided to allow myself a tie is because they're two completely different books. So one would be Nora Goes Off Script, which is a romance that I waxed lyrical about earlier in the year.

I can go back and find the episode where I talk about it.

And then the second one is Remarkably Bright Creatures, the book that has the octopus as one of the narrators.

Martha: hmm.

Elizabeth: would say that book is literary fiction almost. And so they're just so different that I felt like it was weird comparing them and deciding which one I liked better.

But I really, really loved them both. They were the two that just came to mind immediately when I was thinking of what my favorite book was. Um,

Martha: a different way, how I decided what was my favorite. I started using StoryGraph this year, and [00:35:00] I've been trying to keep track and be intentional about putting in You know, the little star rating and stuff, so I can keep track and I didn't do it perfectly, but the two books that I gave five stars for myself this year were Nora Goes Off Script by Annabelle Monaghan and A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross, which is the second in that duology.

, that I talked about at the end of last year, the duology is called Elements of Cadence. And I just loved both of those books so much, but I read both of them earlier in the year, so I had to go back and jog my memory a little bit, but they were both so great for totally different reasons. And then I did just want to give an honorable mention to the Housewitch series, because I loved those books so much, I just enjoyed reading them. The audio books so much. They were so fun to listen to. They're not going to win any awards or anything, but it was just such a fun reading experience that I think it deserves to [00:36:00] be just given a little honorable mention for the year.

Elizabeth: I agree, , I didn't mention the house witch, but I listened to all three of the house witch books after you talked about them, , which as you know, I don't tend to listen to full series.

 I usually just get bored after the first book and I'm like, eh, I get this

Martha: Maybe it's because you're skip thinking, you feel like you know, what's going to happen.

Elizabeth: Maybe, I also think that there's an element to it of FOMO in the sense that, this is also , why in the rereading episode, why I was talking about how I don't reread, because there are so many books that I want to read. And I'm never going to be able to read them all in my lifetime.

, you know how sometimes on social media or on the internet, people will calculate the number of books that you're able to read in your life. And , there is nothing that will send me into a depression spiral more than that. , just the idea that , there are so many books that I'm never going to be able to read.

I have a hard time. spending [00:37:00] time with what feels like a repeat of something that I already know, which is , whatever, we don't need to go into that again because we already did a whole episode about rereading. But I think that that's part of why I don't do series. But anyway, I listened to all three of the Housewitch books and I really enjoyed them.

Martha: So how do you feel about your reading this year? Are you happy with your reading and how the year went or unhappy?

Elizabeth: I am happy with how my reading year went, and , that is a victory for me. And I 100 percent put it down to the conversation that you and I had in January when we were doing our episode about whether you set goals or not.

Martha: Yeah, that's amazing.

Elizabeth: that episode made me decide not to set the same goal for myself that I'd been setting for years and not reaching and then beating myself up

about. And so instead, I set a goal based on what I actually had read in the last several years. And I exceeded [00:38:00] it. , I've already surpassed it. I think I'm two or three books ahead of it. And so, I've read, 30 something books, which normally at this time of the year, I would be like, Oh, I've only read I meant I wanted to read 50, but I only read 30 something.

Whereas this year, I'm like, I already

Martha: Passed 

my 

Elizabeth: my goal. Yeah.

So I was not able to get out of the mindset of the quantity goal, because that's just my personality. But I was able to trick myself into not feeling bad about it.

Martha: Yeah, and not putting so much pressure on yourself, which makes it way more enjoyable.

Elizabeth: Yeah. And I also read more books this year than I have in the last few years. And that definitely is because of audiobooks, because I've gotten more into audiobooks. . Which I also am psyched about. So yeah, I feel great about my reading year, and I have you to thank for it, Martha.

Martha: Thank you. I love that. I feel very honored to have had an impact on your [00:39:00] reading.

Elizabeth: What about you? How do you feel about your year?

Martha: . I feel great about it. I,, Read a lot of books. I changed some habits and I stepped out of my comfort zone and read different genres and things that I wouldn't normally read and had some great conversations at book club and with you for the podcast. And yeah, I'm very happy with it.

 I read more than I did last year. I don't remember what I based my goal on. I think I just looked at what I had done the year before and. Set it based on that. I think the biggest difference this year compared to last year and previous years is thanks to you and Nancy, because I didn't finish a lot of books this year.

I was looking back at books that I had started or that were on my TBR that I actually started and didn't finish and I was like, Oh, I actually started and didn't finish a lot [00:40:00] of books this year. And so I'm proud of myself for that.

Elizabeth: I'm proud of you. Victory is mine. And Nancy's. Nancy, if you're listening,

Martha: And I will say I haven't. Skipped to the last chapter of a book yet to see what happened, like Nancy suggested I could do, but I was watching. A horrible Christmas movie and decided to skip to the last 10 minutes just to see what happened in the end. So I did that.

Elizabeth: is it the one on Netflix with Lindsay Lohan in it?

Martha: it's so bad. It's so

Elizabeth: I started watching it last 

Martha: It's so bad, 

Elizabeth: I had to stop it. I couldn't 

keep going. 

Martha: exactly, but I was like, okay, we'll just skip to the last 10 minutes. We know what's going to happen. Let's just 

Elizabeth: my god. 

Martha: The one thing I'll say, I mean, I know this podcast isn't about movies, but it was better than her last years. Christmas movie I [00:41:00] 

Elizabeth: The Irish one.

Martha: no, I didn't watch that one or maybe it was the year before where she Went skiing and got amnesia and was lost

Elizabeth: Oh yeah, that's right. .

Martha: God, it was so stupid It was so so bad

Elizabeth: I actually feel like this is related to what we were talking about though because in the beginning we were about Nora Ephron. And Think about the quality of a Nora Ephron holiday rom com. I mean Harry Met Sally is basically a Christmas movie. A lot of action happens around Christmas time and then , the climax is New Year's. And the same thing , with, You've Got Mail, you've Got Mail has Christmas in it, too. And it's just like, those are good movies. What has happened to the rom

Martha: i'd be curious to know do we just think they're good because that's what we grew up with Do younger people think they're good compared to the Lindsay Lohan [00:42:00] movies, you know? I don't know. 

Elizabeth: I will say, just. And in the way that we've been talking about these books, and the books that I love that are so character driven, could, if called upon, 

 rattle off at least 10 examples of those Nora Efron movies. displaying an emotional depth to the characters that you just don't even get anywhere near in these Lindsay Lohan movies. 

Martha: Yeah. The authenticity is not there. And I think it's just, our culture with social media now and everything being so surface level. And,

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Martha: and I think like 

Elizabeth: me feel about a hundred years

Martha: yeah. And I think like you said, you can make an argument for objectively good character development.

That is. That's not just subjective. It's a skill or an art or whatever. But anyway,

Elizabeth: and a skill, I think. Both.

Martha: so all of that to say, I'm getting more comfortable with skipping to the [00:43:00] end of things to see what happens because I just don't have time to waste on terrible media.

Elizabeth: Good. 

Martha: So what books are you looking forward to reading next year, Liz?

Elizabeth: Well, as I was saying earlier, I have a pile of books next to my bed that only ever grows, never gets old. shorter. But in addition to those books, which I have written down a couple of, but mainly these are books that not are not even on that pile. , I have quite a few books that I'm looking forward to that are coming out this coming year.

 So I'm going to cheat a little bit because the first few books that I am going to talk about I actually have already read in their manuscript form because they are by my two critique partners that I met during Pitch Wars, which is a writing contest 

that I was chosen for in 2019 and got really close with two of the writers that were also in my class. And they both have books coming out this year, which I'm [00:44:00] super excited for them. Um, and. The books are awesome. 

The first one is called History Lessons by Zoe Walbrook. , and I actually am super excited to read the published version of this book As anyone who has gone through the process of publishing a book will tell you, it changes a lot I read it before she had even gotten an agent.

 That is coming out in July it is a mystery slash romance., Daphne is the main character and she gets drawn into this killing that happens on her college campus. She is a college professor and also she falls in love. So it's two of my , favorite genres woven together. And then the other two books by, the other writer that I met during that time that, , I really love, her name is Gigi Griffiths, and she actually wrote the novelization of The Empress, if you saw The Empress on Netflix.

, that came out last year, I want to say. , but her book that she also wrote during this Pitch Wars [00:45:00] time is called The Lioness. And it's actually coming out this month in December of 2024. , but it's almost next year and I'm not gonna probably read it until next year. Also for that one I read the, um, draft before she even had an agent so I'm also really excited to see how that looks in its final form.

 The main character is named Jeanne de Clisson and she is, um, It's based on a real historical figure who was an aristocratic woman in France in the 14th century. So the 1300s, and her husband gets killed. There's various treachery that's happening with the monarchy and , the aristocrats at that time.

But at its core, it's a story about a woman who basically external events make it so that she's on her own. the power structure around her is A, thwarting her every move, but also B, has taken the people that she loves most in the world, and she basically vows to get revenge. And so it's a [00:46:00] revenge story, which I feel like is so uncommon that you a woman main character in a revenge story.

And I just remember when I read it, it was so cathartic to read it because you're just like, yes, go Jean. So yeah, I'm really excited for that book. And then Gigi also has a book coming out in May of 2025 called And the Trees Stare Back, which is, , actually YA and it's set in Estonia in the 1980s.

, and Estonia was either part of the Soviet Union or had just gotten away from the Soviet Union. It actually reminds me a lot of, the way that we were talking about Shirley Jackson stories. It's really creepy and scary but there's nothing overt

about it. So if you like those types of stories, you might like that

book. , and then a few others that I'm looking forward to reading in the coming year. Heavy Hitter by katie Cotugno? I'm not sure if I'm saying that right. But it's basically, have you heard of this

book, 

Martha: No, I haven't.

Elizabeth: It's [00:47:00] basically inspired by Taylor and

Travis. It's the story of a celebrity who, starts dating a sports

Martha: Mm. 

Elizabeth: And I'm so ready for it. I can't get enough of Taylor and Travis as you know, and so yes, write me a book. 

Martha: Cute. I hope it's everything that we all hope it is.

Elizabeth: Yeah, me too. , and then in a total departure from that, I'm really excited to read All Fours by Miranda July, which is a book about a woman in her 40s that basically throws up a middle finger to the world and has a midlife crisis.

Martha: Oh, yeah.

Elizabeth: So I can't think of anything more different from the Travis and Taylor inspired romance, but it's supposed to be really great.

It's won a bunch of awards and I love Miranda July. She also has a short story that I always tell people to read it's in the New Yorker and it's called Roy G Spivey. It's so good. I'm not going to say anything about it, but you, everyone listening to this should read

it. Uh, yeah, [00:48:00] by Miranda July. But yeah, all fours. It's supposed to be really great. And then, Emily Henry has a new book coming out next year. I don't know if you were going to talk about that, but it's called Great Big Beautiful Life, and I don't actually know anything about what it's about, but she's a pretty much auto read for me at this point, so whenever that comes out, it's supposed to come out in April, I'll definitely be reading that one.

And then last but not least, Stop Me If You've Heard This One by Kristen Arnett, which is coming out in March. And, the title One sentence summary of this is that it's about a clown struggling with her love life. And Kristen Arnett is really funny. I actually first found her on Twitter. Back in the heyday of Twitter, she was a really funny presence and had a ton of followers. And her first book that came out in 2019, , was called Mostly Dead Things. And I think that this clown book sounds similar in the way that Mostly Dead Things is very [00:49:00] macabre, but it's also hilarious. It's this sort of gallows humor. Because it deals with really serious topics.

 The main character in Mostly Dead Things finds her father, , dead, having committed suicide at the beginning of the book. But also the book is hilarious, which it's really hard , I feel like, to couple those two things together. And so in this book that's coming out next year, it's a woman who, Works as a clown.

Martha: That is so funny.

Elizabeth: And is having struggles with her love life. Which, I don't know, there's something about that that I'm like, yeah, 

Martha: It already sounds great. I have a friend in my book club, Jeannie, Who listens to our podcasts. She has gone to clown school and goes to a clown retreat every year and is a clown. So you know, as a hobby, not as a career, but I feel like she would love that one. So Jeannie, if you're listening, put, stop me.

If you've heard this one by Kristen Arnett on your [00:50:00] TBR.

Elizabeth: Yeah, do it.

Martha: Well, 

those all sound great.

Elizabeth: Yeah. , and hopefully I'll remember to read some of those because I'm excited about them. As we were talking about before, sometimes I forget about the books I want to read. , but what about you? What's on your list for next year?

Martha: Well, I have a couple that I didn't get around to this year that I think I still want to read the first one is the women by Kristen Hannah, which had a lot of buzz and a lot of people loved and read last year. , it's about women in World War I, I believe. And then Onyx Storm, which is Rebecca Yarrow's third book in her Empyrean series, which started with Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. It was supposed to be released November 30th of this year, but it got pushed to January of 2025.

So that's why I haven't read it yet. Or else I probably would have already read it.

Elizabeth: finally! God, I feel like you've been waiting for that for so

Martha: I know. Well, this is [00:51:00] just the thing about starting a series that's not finished. So, you know, there's people who. Will not do that. They just wait until everything's published, but then you're trying to avoid spoilers and it's a whole, it's a whole thing. So, so that's still on my TBR from last year. Like you said, I have great big, beautiful life by Emily Henry on there.

I know nothing about this book. I have no idea what the plot is. I just know that if Emily Henry wrote it, I'm going to read it. So that's on there.

Elizabeth: Yeah, same.

Martha: And then Blackwood's Blue Sky, which is Eowyn Ivey's. newest novel. AoN is, an Alaskan author, probably, I would say our most famous Alaskan author. She has two really, , successful books, The Snow Child and The Bright Edge of the World, I believe is what the second one is called. Let me look it up real quick.

Elizabeth: I was gonna say, is that the author of The Snow Child? I loved The [00:52:00] Snow

Martha: Yes, To the Bright Edge of the World was her second book. So this I believe will be her third novel, Blackwood's Blue Sky, similar to Snowchild, that's kind of a fantasy, magical realism, fairy tale retelling. So I'm excited to read that one. I think we're going to do that for Radio Book Club in February.

February and it's supposed to come out in February, but I think we have an advanced reader copy from Fireside that I will get to read soon. And then Ordinary Monsters. Michael got this book for me for Christmas last year and it looks so good.

It's a gothic fantasy, but I just haven't gotten around to reading it because he got it on paperback and it's really thick. So it's just been one that I keep like, okay, maybe next month, maybe next month, but I do want to , get around to reading that one. Ordinary Monsters by J. M. Miro. And it's a series as well. And then the last one I know for sure I want to read is called When the Moon [00:53:00] Hatched by Sarah A. Parker. And this is a fantasy recommendation from another friend in my book club. Let me look up like a little synopsis. When the moon hatched, it says is a fast paced fantasy romance for fans of witty banter and strong, sassy protagonists beneath the cover is an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages. And moonfall number one.

Elizabeth: I like the sound of that. 

Martha: Yeah, it sounds great. Sounds right up my alley. So those are the ones for sure I know are on my TBR.

Elizabeth: Nice. And are you gonna keep setting a goal this year or do you know what goals you want to set this year for your

Martha: Yeah, I think so. It's been so fun to use StoryGraph this year. And you can put your goal in there and it tracks it [00:54:00] for you. How close you are, how many books ahead or behind you are. And I, I've been having a lot of fun with that. So I think I'm going to do the same as last year. , which basically, Was a physical book a month and as many audio books as I can read, but I put the number 56 on it and I've read 59 books so far and I'll probably finish a couple others before the end of the year.

So I'm just going to go for it again.

Elizabeth: I do really like how you used data to choose your favorite book. I love the idea that you objectively can say which was your favorite book, whereas I feel like mine are just vibes and what I remember, which. What I remember these days is a really dicey game. So I meant to switch over to Storygraph this year, 2024, so maybe in 2025 I'll actually make that switch because I do like the idea of being able to gather all that data on my reading.[00:55:00] 

Martha: What about you? Are you going to do the same goal or different one or any goal at all?

Elizabeth: Yeah, I'm definitely still going to do a goal, as we've established. I don't think that my personality can. function without having a reading goal. , but I am going to continue with basically what I did this year, which is I'm going to have a quantity goal for the number of books that I want to read, but it's going to be very closely based on what I actually read this year.

, and , what I did this year for my goal is I looked at what I've read in the last few years, and then I just did a little stretch, , two or three books more. And so I might do that. , not something that is completely unrealistic, but , maybe if I get , a few more audiobooks in, , I could reach this.

, so that it still feels a little bit like a challenge, right? , because I like the challenge element of it. That's part of the way that I motivate myself. , But yeah, I'm definitely gonna stick with the realistic goal because I just can't overstate how [00:56:00] much better I feel about my reading this year, just having changed that, which is so silly because it almost feels a little childish, like, oh, you gave yourself a gold star and now you feel better.

But , why was I beating myself up so badly about something that's never been able to fit into my life

Martha: and also it's something that you set for yourself. It's not like anyone else set it for you. It's funny. And you say it's childish and whatever, but , there have been so many self help books that are along the same lines of these tiny little changes we make in the way we think that can have big impacts on your life.

Elizabeth: on your 

mental health and your life. Yeah, 

Martha: along those lines, I was thinking about when you were talking how your audiobook goal is such a great habit stack with walking that if you increase the amount of audiobooks, you're going to increase the amount of walks you take too. So that's kind of fun.

Elizabeth: yeah, because I have discovered that that really is the main time that I'm able to listen to audiobooks, because as I've gotten into them more this [00:57:00] year, I've tried to expand that and listen to them when I'm doing other things, like when I'm doing chores around the house or when I'm driving, and I just, it doesn't work.

 I tried to listen to one while I was driving to the coast a couple weekends ago and I started to feel like I was going to fall asleep and it was a book that I really liked. So there's something about pairing it with walking that just works for me and for some reason is like the only thing that works.

So I'm gonna stick 

Martha: Just roll with it. Yep.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Martha: Well, awesome. I think we both had a great year of reading in 2024 and I'm looking forward to 2025.

Elizabeth: Yeah. 

We hope that, our listeners had great years in reading as well. And hopefully, , through listening to the podcast, maybe found some books that you enjoyed reading that you might not have found otherwise.

If that did happen, you should let us know. Email us and tell us if you discovered a book that you loved through this podcast or that [00:58:00] you hated and didn't finish because that would make us just as happy as you know if you've listened to this podcast. , email us at allbooksaloudpod at gmail.

Martha: And if you have any suggestions for topics that you would like to hear us talk about in the next year, send us an email. Like Liz said,  allbooksaloudpod at gmail. com. And if you want even more bookish content, follow us on Instagram and TikTok at  allbooksaloudpod and make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and read on my friends.

Elizabeth: Happy New Year! 

[All Books Aloud theme music]