2024 Books in Review

 During the year I log the books I read with brief reviews and sometimes favorite quotes.  At year end, I like to post a summary and my top picks and share them.

Looking back, this was a bit of a downer year, as I focused on artificial intelligence and did not read many happy, uplifting books.  That said, there were a few gems here and there that lifted my spirits and contributed to thoughtful reflection.  Here are my top 5 reads for this year; click the link for my review of each.

1) Lulu Dean's Little Library of Banned Books - Kirsten Miller

2) James - Percival Everett

3) Co-Intelligence - Ethan Mollick

4) Homeland Elegies - Ayad Akhtar

5) A Quiet Life - Ethan Joella

I read a total of 42 books, under my usual average of one per week.  I realized I spent way too much time "reading" social media posts and watching YouTube, taking away from the deeper pleasure of a book in hand.  I'd wish I could say I'd spent more time in the physical world than that of the mind, but I'd be fibbing!  Let me know what your favorite reads were in 2024 and any thoughts on my picks.

James - Percival Everett

 I have been seeing recommendations of this book for the last few months and purchased it in Victoria BC Canada at Munro's Bookstore while on vacation for the holidays as a Christmas gift to myself.  It did not disappoint.

This is the story of Jim, actually James, the pal of Huckleberry Finn, told from his perspective.  We meet James waiting for cornbread from Miss Watson at her back door while Huck and his friend Tom are trying to pull tricks on him. We're invited into his world, where slaves are not ignorant, caricatures but instead human beings attempting to survive a horrific reality.  

I'd asked the clerk if I needed to re-read Huckleberry Finn again before diving into this but she said it was not necessary and she was right, though I think it would have made it even more pointed in the contrast.

This story repeats a theme of several books I've read this year - that of providing a completely different perspective on the life I'm living and have lived to those around me that I've worked with and known.  Each person's existence is unique and we cannot assume similar experiences result in the same feelings and impact on their lives.  

Highly recommended and a good finish to 2024.

Published: 2024  Read: December 2024 Genre: Fiction

Wordhunter - Stella Sands

This was a delightful, quirky mystery.  A young woman with an almost photographic memory demonstrates a talent early on for interpreting language - particularly the written word - in terms of what it reveals about the background of the speaker/writer.  She soothes herself by diagramming sentences and analyzing their structure while trying to fit into the world.  

In college, she is studying linguistics when she is recommended by her professor to assist the police in analyzing the notes left behind by a suspect.  Her success leads to a collaboration on a kidnapping of the local mayor's daughter.

I enjoyed the book for the witty dialogue, clever use of linguistic analysis, and the ability to keep me from guessing the kidnapper.  My genealogical mind appreciated how the words and phrases we use can reveal our background, geographic location and education.  It also made me ponder if the use of linguistic analysis could be considered an invasion of privacy in a similar way as DNA match analysis.  A good airplane read.

Published:  2024  Read: December 2024  Genre: Mystery fiction

The Life Impossible - Matt Haig

 Another "recommended" book that I did not like.  I'd very much enjoyed his earlier book The Midnight Library.  The premise of this one is that a recently widowed woman who lost her only child when he was 9 years old is given a house in Ibiza, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean sea.  She heads out and discovers a magical alien life force that came here to save the Earth, a glowing light in the sea grass under the ocean.  It just gets weirder from there.  I kept reading hoping it would get better and was sorely disappointed.  After reading the author's acknowledgments it appears to have been written to be able to write off living on the island for a while.  At least I learned something about a place I'd never heard of and will add to my places to visit list, but this book is not recommended by me!

Quote/Comments:

[she's asked] "Are you here on your own? Yes, I said, and the sadness leaked out.  It was there on my face and in my eyes.  Grief was a flood that ran through you and caused others to stand aside.  Or at least wind up the conversation."

Published: 2024  Read: December 2024  Genre: fantasy fiction 

A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence - Michael Wooldridge

 Sub-title: What It Is, Where We Are, and Where We Are Going

I've pursued learning about artificial intelligence this year as AI technology is evolving in leaps and bounds.  This book was written a few years ago so it provides a look in the rear view mirror.  

It took me some months to read the entire book.  In the end, my thoughts were "so what?"  It's an example of how quickly information becomes out of date these days.  I did find the references listed at the end of the book to be useful in providing other historical sources.  

Quotes:

"social media platforms have an incentive not to show you the truth but to show you what you like. The role of AI in this is to figure out what your preferences are based on what you like..you aren't going to get a balanced picture." 

Published: 2020  Read: December 2024  Genre: Science

The Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls - Steven Gaines

 This was another weird book.  The author writes a memoir of his life in the New York scene of the 1970s.  Basically, hedonistic, careless name-dropping and over the top debauchery.  It's a miracle he's still alive.  He's written many books, including one on the Beatles and others about celebrities like Andy Warhol and Halston just a tell-all with a nasty wit.  To me it is a sad testament to a life with no purpose.  Not recommended!  That's what I get for picking a random book at the library.

Published: 2024  Read: December 2024 Genre: Memoir

Safekeep -Yael van der Wouden

I hated this book.  The main character, Isabel, a bitter, isolated woman living alone in the family home owned by her brother, is despicable.  It takes reading 3/4 of the book to find any redeeming purpose to the story and by that point, I'd lost any interest.  So much for Booker prize nominees.  Not recommended.

Published: 2024  Read: December 2024  Genre: Fiction

About People - William Steig

Stuck at home recently, I went through some of my books and picked this one out for a late night read.  It was written in 1939, a time just before the U.S. joined WWII.  Steig was a cartoonist for The New Yorker and published this volume of sketches that the magazine had found too dark for their pages.  The book has 105 pictures of people labeled "symbolic drawings" in that they express feelings and attitudes visually.  

Steig later went on to write children's books, including "Shrek" and was a popular author in the genre.  Check out the old books you have on your shelves and see if you can find a gem worth re-visiting!

Published: 1939  Read: December 2024  Genre: Cartoons