My 2024 Reading List

and a recap of my favorite books from 2023

Resolutions have always been a bit of a “thing” for me. Most every year I make lists and habit trackers and swear that I will figure out how to consistently get up at 5:00am and meditate and love it, goddamnit.

It has not been a total wash every year, but the whole pass/fail energy of it has never done me any favors. It’s possible I could have made this slow and gradual progress toward the life I live now (one which I love quite deeply and don’t wish to change drastically) without the manic and guilt-ridden new year’s resolutions of years past.

The reasons for my self-imposed self-improvement frenzies are many, most of them tied up in hustle culture and capitalism and patriarchal beauty standards, all of which I publicly denounce but which internally call to me with their siren song.

If the call is coming from inside the house so to speak, then perhaps the most useful thing I have done for my well-being this past year has been to get caller ID (hello, fellow millennials) through reading the sorts of books that remind me to resist these deep-seated cultural messages. That I must earn my rest. That policing my body is energy well-spent. That my motherhood should look like an Olympic sport (preferably ice-skating or gymnastics, where such beauty appears effortless). That my waning youth should be obsessively guarded. That I should work harder, longer hours - always, always striving. That I should never be satisfied. That I’d do well to stay hungry, in all senses of the word.

I am so deeply grateful to the writers and thinkers who challenge these norms. Who bring fresh light and perspective to my consciousness. Who have made me realize that my life is enough, that I am enough, and that maybe my only resolution this year should be to regularly floss (that feels like an important one).

Which is why in 2024 I am committing to an even more intentional reading life, filled with the sorts of books which will continue to expand my inner world and give context the world at large. I’ve chosen 24 books that I know will help guide me, deepen my well of empathy and knowledge, and make me a better, more well-informed writer. Maybe you’ll join me?

My 24 for 2024 Reading List

1. Mother Brain by

   Chelsea Conaboy

2. White Feminism by

   Koa Beck

3. Sister, Outsider by Audre Lorde

4. Like a Mother by

   Angela Garbes

5. Wifedom by Anna Funder

6. Hey, Hun by

   Emily Paulson

7. The Age of Magical Overthinking by

   Amanda Montell

8. The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

9. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks

10. Belabored by

    lyz

11. White Tears/Brown Scars by

    Ruby Hamad

12. Nightbitch by

    Rachel Yoder

13. Unshrinking by

    Kate Manne

14. The Way We Never Were by Stephanie Coontz

15. Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby

16. I Don’t Want To Talk About It by Terry Real

17. Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

18. Matrescence by Lucy Jones

19. Yellowface by

    R.F. Kuang

20. The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté

21. The Wake Up by Michelle MiJung Kim

22. Screaming on the Inside by Jessica Grose

23. Inciting Joy by

    Ross Gay

24. Fat Talk by

    Virginia Sole-Smith

These won’t be the only books I’m reading. I’ll have books for my in-person book club I’ve been attending for the past five years. I’ve started a shoot-off book club for a year of reading the works of Jane Austen (much more fun than War and Peace). I have Iron Flame on my nightstand and am currently reading Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. I like to pick things at random on my trips to the library, and have a pretty eclectic reading life.

I have a really good feeling that the books in my 24 for 2024 list will be some of my favorites. But I’d feel remiss if I didn’t share my favorites from this last year after talking some of them up so much. Here are my 10 favorite reads from 2023.

1. Touched Out by

   Amanda Montei
   - This book held strong as my favorite book of the year from the moment I first picked up my beloved advance copy. It shifted my perspective on storytelling, connected the dots between rape culture and modern motherhood, and made my experiences feel so deeply seen and valued.

2. Emotional Labor by

   Rose Hackman
   - This happened to be my final book of 2023 and it floored me with its brilliance. I knew it would resonate with me because it’s incredibly intertwined with my own work, but it dives so much deeper and separates out emotional labor and the mental load in laudable ways that my own book did not. I cannot recommend it enough.

3. Momfluenced by

   Sara Petersen
   - If you’ve been following along, you may have seen the sneak peek announcement that Sara will be joining us for our Febraury Book Club to discuss Momfluenced, and I could not be more thrilled. This book was so much more than I bargained for. It made me confront not only my internalized messaging about motherhood as informed by social media, but also forced me to confront how those ideals are shaped by white supremacy, class, and patriarchy. 10/10

4. Opinions by

   Roxane Gay
   - Roxane Gay is one of those writers who I will follow to the ends of the earth. I adored revisiting her essays of the past decade, and felt felt both validated and inspired by the introduction which delved into the world of public writing.

5. On Our Best Behavior by

   Elise Loehnen
   - I had a love/hate relationship with this book, but overall I could not deny its power. I also think the things that made me most uncomfortable (the understating of her own privilege, the lack of intersectional discussion) were beacons showing me where I most often fail.

6. How to do Nothing by

   Jenny Odell
   - What a strange fucking book. It was not at all what I expected, and it messed with my ideas about structure and continuity and the necessity of a through-line for a book. It also held beautiful reminders about inherent worthiness and creativity and rest and community. I loved it.

7. How to Think Like a Woman by

   Regan Penaluna
   - The way Penaluna grapples with her feminist identity in academia through the process of researching female philosophers from the 17th and 18th century is utterly brilliant. If I could give you one “just trust me” book, it would be this one.

8. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - I devote part of each reading year to classics (last year I also read War and Peace which was a beat to get through), and I am always delighted by how enduring and modern many of them feel. The algorithm also fed me some lovely memes about how dastardly the painting in Paul Rudd’s attic must look by now, and I greatly enjoyed that.

9. Mom Rage by

   Minna Dubin
   - This book was so relentlessly brave in writing down the unspeakable - and in its vision for a future that could curb the desperate rage that so often accompanies modern motherhood.

10. ACOTAR Series - Look, I’m not going to act like I only read contemporary feminist nonfiction and classic literature. I also read slutty fantasy books and I’d be remiss if they too didn’t make the list, because I enjoyed the hell out of them. Would you like to turn your mind off from the horrors of the world? Read these.

Now for the truly important part: your recommendations. What did you read and love this year? What is on your nightstand, your TBR list, your mind? My lists are long but they always have room for some solid recs from my community.