Even though I didn’t quite follow through on all my end-of-year reading intentions, I’m happy and satisfied with how the 2024 reading year wrapped up! Unfortunately, I got waylaid with delays from library holds and an attempted read that ended up not working for me. Instead I seized the moment and jumped into a holiday read that crossed my path.

Once again, I traveled around the world with The Book Girls‘ Book Voyage: Read Around the World reading challenge. I changed “Book Set on a Mode of Transportation” to “Book Set in Another World” for some interesting out-of-this-world reads. I visited 18 countries (not including the USA), four of which were new to me in reading (Egypt, Cyprus, Panama, and Uruguay), and I traveled to more of the Middle East than in previous years.

I was so very close to completing the 2024 Diversity Across Genres reading challenge. I loved seeking out diverse authors and different genres that I wouldn’t necessarily have read if I didn’t need them for this challenge. I’m most proud of completing all the genres for Indigenous authors. View my 2024 reads.

My Nordic Literature Reading Challenge is luckily not a time sensitive one, so I can read at my leisure for that one. I would have liked to have read at least one book from each Nordic country, but that didn’t quite happen. View my ongoing progress.

Did you have any reading challenges to wrap up last month? 

Say You’ll Be Mine by Naina Kumar (2024) 📖

This romance was a very pleasant surprise! A teacher enters into a fake engagement with a potential match made by her Indian family in order to avoid more matchmaking efforts by them. This is after her best friend and secret crush gets engaged and asks her to be his “best man” which she has agreed to. The premise is a bit over the top, but their relationship over time is sweet and delightful and the story has some substance. It also provided interesting insight into how traditional family and cultural beliefs, in this case Indian, affect modern relationships, which I really appreciated. ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️

• #DiversityAcrossGenres: Asian / Romance

The Seed Keeper: A Novel by Diane Wilson (2021)
Narrated by Kyla García 🎧

I am so glad I finally read this. It’s been on the fringes of my to-be-read list for a while. The story follows Rosalie Iron Wing, a Dakhota woman who returns to her childhood home, a place she has not been since she was removed and placed into foster care as a child, after the death of her white husband. Struggling with grief and disconnection from her cultural roots, Rosalie begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. The story spans several generations weaving together different women’s stories and sheds light on not only the hard history of the Dakhota people but also their rich culture. It was a hard story told in a beautiful way. Highly recommend it. ⭐⭐️⭐⭐️⭐

• #DiversityAcrossGenres: Indigenous / Historical Fiction
• Book Voyage: Read Around the World: USA (Minnesota/Dakhota land)

Anatomy of a Disappearance: A Novel by Hisham Matar (2011)
Narrated by Khalid Abdalla 🎧

Set in Cairo, Egypt, the story follows Nuri, a boy whose mother died when he was young and whose father then marries a younger woman, a glamorous woman who fascinates Nuri. His father, a dissident in exile from his homeland, is later abducted under mysterious circumstances. As Nuri grows up, he struggles with the mysteries surrounding his father’s disappearance and his complicated relationship with his stepmother. It was interesting to read a story set in this part of the world, a place I haven’t been in person or in a book before.  ⭐️⭐⭐️

• #DiversityAcrossGenres: MENA / Mystery/Thriller
• Book Voyage: Read Around the World: Middle East (Egypt)

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter (2024) 📖

I’m not usually one to read holiday-themed books during the season, but this one caught my eye as a Book of the Month selection. I didn’t select it at the time, but when I saw the ebook on sale, I decided to grab it. Knowing I wouldn’t read it outside the holidays, I dove in—and I’m glad I did. Set over three snowy Christmas days in the English countryside, the story is a fun mix of romance and crime. The plot centers on two archrivals invited to the estate of a renowned crime fiction author for unknown reasons. It was a little slow to start, but then as I got to know the main characters better through flashbacks, I was pulled in. An enjoyable holiday read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What have you been reading lately?

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