I know we’re in March so I’m a bit late to the party when it comes to sharing what I read in 2024, but I have an hour to kill whilst waiting for my car to be MOTd, 17% battery left on my laptop, and loads of excuses that could easily keep me from writing anything on here. But I promised myself when doing Claire Venus ✨ joyful growth challenge that I would gently show up more, so I’m swallowing down my self-judgement and going with it…

I wrote a half-year check-in in August where I shared a bit about my relationship with reading and some of the 5* picks of the year so far.

My top reads for 2024 so far

Lee Griffith

·

August 2, 2024

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I won’t rehash any of that here. Instead I wanted to chat a bit about my reading year last year and what my approach is for 2025.

At the close of 2024, I managed to finish 85 books, my biggest total in all of the years I’ve been tracking. It’s also been the most relaxed I’ve felt about reading; I wasn’t blindly pursuing a number - in fact I purposely set a low target on GoodReads so I didn’t game it - instead I picked up what I felt emotionally connected to at that moment.

Interestingly (to me), 2024 was when I fell out of love with the business book. I know this was all wrapped up in how I was feeling about leadership and work. Once I would have been juggling a business book alongside fiction, but even though I have a stockpile to read I couldn’t face picking (m)any up. Same goes for all the self-help books. I had started to feel that they all just say variations of the same thing, so I decided to read what I wanted instead of what I thought I should.

As mentioned in my earlier post, the first half of 2024 had quite a few 5* books. Looking back, I didn’t rate any 5* in the second half. Was I pickier? Did my general anxiety / funk / life upheaval that also started at the mid-point of the year somehow affect how I read and engaged with books?

I didn’t slow down my reading rate and I know I found it a welcome escape on many an occasion, so I don’t think that’s the case. Perhaps, in reading more I became better attuned to similarities in plot or style. I know this year I’m being drawn to different types of books, maybe that’s my subconscious telling me that I need to broaden my search for 5* books.

In summarising my reading year, I’m not going to focus on the star ratings, instead I’ve picked out the ones that have had the biggest impact (good and bad):

The book I think about often: Stephen King, On writing

This was a 5* read. It’s one that absolutely changed my approach to reading and helped me to read more (sips and gulps iykyk). It’s simplified my writing. And it has stripped away all the pretence of what you (I) need to write.

The book that didn’t live up to the hype: Mona Awad, Bunny

I struggled through to finish this and it took me a long time. I didn’t enjoy how it was written. I didn’t find it funny, or dark. I would have been better re-watching Heathers for a masterclass in both.

The book I wish I had read sooner: ER Braithwaite, To sir, with love

I adored this film when I was growing up. I don’t normally like watching things I’ve read, or vice versa, so I had avoided this book for a long while and how I kicked myself when I finally picked it up last year. It’s more emotional, more complex than the film, but hasn’t tarnished the memory of it for me. I went on a big google hunt after reading it to try and find out what happened next, that’s how invested I was in the story.

The book I shouldn’t have judged by its cover: Muriel Barbery, A single rose

A rather plain book that didn’t give away the beauty in this story. It’s a hard one to describe - it follows Rose who goes to Japan for the reading of her estranged father’s will - it explores love and loss and acceptance. I didn’t want it to end. And Barbery is on my list of authors I want to read more from this year.

The book that introduced me to something new: Clare Walker Leslie, Keeping a nature journal

I’ve always told myself that art isn’t my thing (love looking at it but can’t do it). I came across this book in a shop in Devon and was immediately attracted to its drawings. It became my companion over the summer and not only did I sketch for the first time (and it wasn’t the worst thing I’d created) it helped me to get outside and see nature in a different way - whether it was picking up stones or leaves, or taking photos of landscapes and buildings, all of which I could draw later.

The book I’ve recommended the most: Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks

I thought this was a book about dying so I avoided it for fear of being triggered. But it became the catalyst for some of the biggest changes I made to my working life. It’s challenged my thinking around what it means to be productive and reframed a lot of what I do. Anyone who has moaned to me about having too much to do has been told to read this book. I even gave it a re-read this year. PS. I don’t think this is a self-help book and if you’ve read his other book ‘The Antidote’, you’ll see why.

For anyone interested in the full run-down of my 2024 reading list, here you go:

What does this mean for my 2025 reading plans?

Even though I read a lot of cosy crime and thrillers (my usual go-to genres and they make up at least 60% of what I read), based on my 2024 review, they aren’t the ones that stick with me. I think in 2025 I want to find a book in these genres that either challenge the format or leave me thinking in some way. If you have any suggestions then do let me know!

I also realised that I haven’t really touched fantasy or sci-fi, my historical fiction reads tend to be related to the world wars, and I avoid romance or melodramas. Hit me up with what might be a good entry level read for me to try.

And after devouring Miss Austen on the BBC the other week (did you watch as well?!), I’ve determined that I need to read more of the classics this year. It used to be a firm favourite of mine, I don’t know why I stopped.

Tell me what books have had the biggest impact for you - for whatever reason - recently.

Lee x