Favorite books read in 2024

I posted all 74 books I read this year here, doubling up on my posts today since they overlap. I felt I had a good variety and enjoyed probably 98% of what I read.

But there are always a few standouts, and this year is no different. Most of these were not published this year, but I am glad I read them in 2024.

My top ten books read in 2024 are:

Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson. Immediately upon finishing this book, I read it again. I wanted to soak up as much of I as I could. I’m sure I’ll read it again. From my review: “He writes about battling self-doubt, creating as an act of worship, the fact that creating is work, not magic, that writing what we know doesn’t mean the polished end, but the struggle. He writes about humility, self-consciousness, and the fact that we don’t create to draw attention to ourselves even though ‘art is necessarily created by a Self’ (p. 28). He references Lewis and Tolkien and others and talks about imagination, serving the work, and serving the audience.”

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know For Sure You Are Saved by J. D. Greear. As one who wrestled with assurance of salvation for decades, and knowing several others in the same boat, I found this book very helpful. From my review: “Satan can trip people up over assurance because if we’re insecure about our salvation, we come to a standstill in our Christian growth. We don’t have the confidence to serve the Lord in any way. Instead of going forward in our Christian lives, we’re spinning our wheels over the same issues. On the other hand, there is such a thing as false assurance. Jesus said there would be people who stand before Him some day, fully assured that they are all right spiritually. They’ll be shocked to hear Him say, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”

Help for the Hungry Soul: Eight Encouragements to Grow Your Appetite for God’s Word by Kristen Wetherell “is not about how to read or study the Bible. She goes further back than that to our appetite for God’s Word. We’re made to hunger for God. Satan tempted Adam and Eve to hunger for the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. Our spiritual appetites have been skewed ever since.”

Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life by Nick Vujicic. It would be hard to function without limbs. But Nick shares how his parents and others along the way helped him to thrive. I didn’t agree with every little point of theology, but I was inspired by Nick’s story.

Isaiah for You: Enlarging Your Vision of Who God Is by Tim Chester. Our ladies’ Bible study went through this, along with reading Isaiah, last spring. Isaiah has some beautiful, familiar, relatable passages, but others that are a little harder to work through. Chester did a great job explaining the passages with the overarching purpose of the book in mind.

Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes, my favorite fiction book this year. I had never read Amanda before, but I loved this book and am seeking out others of hers. Set in a coastal Maine village, the story goes back and forth between two brothers during WWII and the granddaughter of one in modern times. I loved the story, the writing, the strong sense of place.

Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham. Pepper is another new-to-me author. This book is set in the Asheville, NC, area and also goes back and forth between current times and 1915. Modern-day Clara Blackwell owns a bookstore in Biltmore village but is about to lose the store unless she can find the lease. In searching, she discovers her grandmother was the librarian at the Biltmore House in the early 1900s. Books, Biltmore, Asheville–what’s not to love? 🙂 I enjoyed the story in both timelines.

The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox. Amanda is yet another new favorite author to me. In this story, a homeless man discovers an abandoned baby. He plans to find a home for her, but grows too attached. But he can’t raise her alone. In the current day, Ivy receives a mysterious letter from her grandmother after her death, sending her on a search for how her family, all unrelated to each other, came together.

The British Booksellers by Kristy Cambron goes back and forth between WWI and the forgotten “Coventry Blitz” of WWII. Amos is the son of a tenant farmer and good friends with the daughter of the manor house. He goes off to fight in WWII and comes back scarred and morose. Charlotte is widowed, and now they own competing bookstores on the same street. But to survive WWII, they’ll all have to learn to work together.

Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri has the distinction of being the most “different” book I have ever read in its style. Daniel’s mother became a Christian in Iran and then had to flee the country with her two children. The family deals with many losses and new adjustments. It took a while to get into this book, but I was glad I persevered. I loved it.

Honorable Mention:

One of my favorite reads this year was not a book, but a short story: Tin Can Serenade by Amanda Dykes
A Boy’s War by David Michell, nonfiction, a reread from years ago about a boy interred with the Chefoo school for missionary kids during WWII.
Read This First: A Simple Guide to Getting the Most from the Bible by Gary Millar, nonfiction
An Honorable Deception by Roseanna M. White
A Noble Scheme by Roseanna M. White
The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron
The Winter Rose by Melanie Dobson
Yours Is the Night by Amanda Dykes
The Christmas Hummingbird by Davis Bunn
Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens