Here is a list of the books I read in 2024. I will try to keep this a bit more organised than my last list.
This year I also discovered that Spotify now has 15 hours free of certain audiobooks a month with spotify premium. I am borrowing my partner's account to use this feature. Also I had a free trial of Audible which I will try to figure out if I like it and what books work best on audiobook before keeping the subscription (hopefully with a different provider than Amazon). I am also using TheStoryGraph to log my reading online a bit more consistantly because I like having some of my reading stats automated.
Table to contents here:
Listened to the audio book on a car journey. Animal Farm has been my favourite book since I first read it in secondary school and this audio version was really fun to listen too. I will always recommend this book!
Thalia Link Wanted to try again with reading a romance book that is at least science based. While I did appreciate all the discussion of the protagonist's physics career, the actual story and character were boring and in most parts, very cringe-worthy. I don’t like this immaturity that the female lead has, while all the men seem to be very level headed. Also this trope of fake dating is really bizarre. I half listened to the audiobook and half read. I will not read another book of this genre as I find it really hard to enjoy romance. However, I am glad that this book is very popular as it can normalise women in STEM so that is good.
StoryGraph This was an amazing fact filled book! The information was really dense but also palatable for giving an introduction to British law and its flaws. It could almost be used as pre reading for a law course because of how well laid out the information is in explaining the criminal legal system to people who don't understand it. It has made me want to read more around this topic/and law in general. The mentions of how it compares to foreign countries too was also very interesting and how it is actually very hard to compare our systems for the reason stated in the book (something the tabloid newspapers do a lot when they clearly have very little knowledge of the system). It made me appreciate the very difficult job the different people in this industry have.
StoryGraph I surprisingly really enjoyed this book. As someone who has read various ‘self-help’ books throughout the year, I assumed this book would just be like any other. It was surprisingly uplifting and I will definitely be trying to implement some of the practices in my daily life. My main takeaway is to look at stress as not something bad but to see how your body is reacting to something as exciting. Examples used by graduate students were interesting because they would talk about having the worry about asking questions to senior members and that you should not stress about these situations and take it as an exciting opportunity to learn. This is something I think I used to do when I was younger but I have somewhat lost this talent as I got older and more stress. It also reminded me that being stressed can be a good thing and that I miss having a full schedule and that I often perform better when I have stress from deadlines etc.
StoryGraph I started this book when it first came out last year on my kindle but found it a bit boring so put it to the side. I then finished it in January with my audible subscription. As this is book two in this fantasy-romance series, I have had time to reflect on the series as a whole after finishing this one. I think calling it a fantasy book is very much a stretch. There is very little world building and what is done to build this landscape is very basic and lazy. I also am not a fan of the characters- there is little character development and it is a basic story of ‘protagonist solves everything’ and ‘love interest is both hot and super smart’. I do not feel like I am the correct audience for this but now that I have started the series, I want to finish it. The last 10 chapter especially felt very rushed and there seemed to be lots of detail that was just added when convenient. The book had its entertaining moments but I think this book is just too young for me to really enjoy (especially when comparing it to other fantasy books). I did have a laugh when reading reviews of this book though (note that this was a very popular book online so there was also a lot of regular press around it). I think the funniest was an article claiming that authors shouldnt write about things they are not aware/educated on and this was in reference to the author of this book saying the gaelic names she used in the books incorrectly. This statement is amusing because it is a fantasy book about dragons and so the idea that you are so limited to what you are allowed to write about is nonsensical and really would hinders creativity (if authors were to take it seriously).
StoryGraph This was a free audiobook on audible that only took me a few hours to complete. Like most self-help/business books, there were definitely a few things to take away from this book but overall I would not say that it was groundbreaking in any regards. It reminded me about the importance of accountability, something which I used to work very well with and might implement again into my life (for working on projects etc). I did disagree with the notion that we do better at a task when we have a choice to do it and not be made to do it - as someone who prefers the pressure and external influence to get something done, I do not think this would work well for me. The book overall is ok; it gives a nice productivity boost and is something that I will consider for certain projects but I don't think I will get the full benefits from implementing this in my life.
StoryGraph I was uncertain how much I wanted to read this book as the topic was very specific and I read mixed reviews. Listening to the audio book was a good compromise and I actually really enjoyed it. The story felt very relevant in today's culture war and felt very probabilistic. The narrator also did a great job in this version. The different perspectives were done well and it did not feel overly biassed like some books within these themes do. I think the ending was also done very well too, not overly dramatic and I don’t think the author ended up loathing or admiring any of the characters. Highly recommend this book!
StoryGraph This is the second book in the series and it was just as fun. A got a bit confused sometimes with the constant switching of points of view but the story was gripping and I am really enjoying seeing the character development in this very well thought out world.The pace of the book is done well, with lots of twists and turns. THis is also one of those books where I feel I am actively learning something even though it is a fantasy (i.e constantly looking up vocabulary, understanding the in book politics etc) I am looking forward to reading the next book.
StoryGraph This was my train book for a few weeks and after reading the Secret Barrister, I thought this would also be another great book about a similar topic. Unfortunately, I think this book is for an entirely different audience. Although the author states at the start that it is written for the standard person (i.e non law student), it doesn't read as nicely as I would like (especially in comparison to the secret Barrister). The language is complex and while I did learn some new things about UK law, it is written at such a level that it is hard to follow without any background in law. This book just requires a bit more attention compared to other law books. I still did learn a bit but I was happy when I finished it (even if it was a shorter book). I would recommend this book for prospective law students.
StoryGraph This was an audio only book that I found in my libraries catalogue. Not what I was originally expecting but was very enjoyable. The book covered a wide range of different social groups and how they are perceived in society. Some of these situations are well known today with social media (body image in girls for example) while others are not commonly explored (male role models etc). I really enjoyed hearing about this programming we get when we're younger and some different cultures' perceptions of people. The authors even discussed their own biases -something not often acknowledged in this kind of book. This book made use of the audio only, with interviews and non-scripted discussions; however, with the amount of studies or cases that are spoken about, I would have also enjoyed this as a physical book i could read or just even to look at the references at the end. But overall I think it was a nice blend of an informative audiobook with a more personal, podcast feel and I would highly recommend it.
This is the third book in the series and it was still really fun to read. Sometimes the jump in perspectives can be a bit jarring but I think it is interesting to see the same scene as seen through different eyes.Overall, I am looking forward to see how the story will wrap up in the final book.
This was an audio book and while the overall story was ok, I saw a lot of flaws with this very popular book. The characters were very one dimensional and were not really representative of actual scientists in the field. I am not sure who the target audience of this book was but it wasn't certainly not to the scientists. The ending made me question the seriousness of this book as it seemed very far fetched for a story that could have been realistic. Overall, having this on in the background was while working was entertaining enough but I do not understand the hype around this book.
This was another audio only book. There was a lot of information in this book but I think it would have been better suited to being a physical format. Some of the chapters sounded like someone was reading a pamphlet at a doctors office while other chapters were nicely fleshed out with narration. Again, this book was ok but I would prefer to read it physically and not listen to it.
This was a really insightful book that made me reflect a lot on my upbringing and made me think about the future. I did learn a lot from this and will try some of the exercises in the near future. The main thing was remembering that children are too little to understand the emotion they are feeling and telling them what it is forms a healthy development. Like most of the other non-fiction audio books I have listened to, I would much more prefer to have read the physical book because then I could make some notes. Highly recomened this book to anyone who wants to do some reflection or prospective parents.
This was my 'trainbook' for the month and I surprisingly enjoyed reading it. I do think there was a lot of nuances that were missed and some areas not discussed as well as they could have been. I felt that, sometimes, the author just wanted to give some facts without a detailed commentary and this tended to be in the sections that would have raised interesting discussions/ that are not talked about too much. Overall, this book was ok; nothing ground breaking that I learnt from it and it had not real actionable outcomes for the women who would read this.
I am not sure what I was expecting from this book but this wasn't it. The book covers different cities where current people are living and talks about their life etc. Some of the stories are very gripping while others felt a bit repetitive. For this style of book, I would have liked to see more countries represented and hence different backgrounds of people represented. I think that was the books purpose but fell slightly short by the groups of people they decided to include. And it did feel like that, that the stories of some people were being grouped to represent a whole book. Maybe it is a bit too ambitious my request but by naming the book This is Europe and not really representing Europe felt a bit disingenuous. But as a whole, I did enjoy this book.
This was a fun short story with some nice moral messages interwoven throughout. The chapters were easy to digest and the messages were very clear while also not making the book sound too "self-help" style. It was amusing that the author chose not to name most of the countries and traditions that it mentioned, trying to keep it vague meant it was more general and actually worked well. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a nice, happy short read.
I listened to the audio book of this really popular book and I actually really enjoyed it. I knew a bit about the story going into it (friendship, game industry etc) and the story really lived up to the hype. I like reading about characters who have similar background to me and to see how they grow over time in a realistic way. Not many books that I have read are based purely on friendship and although this book had a bit of romance, it is not the focus and only adds to the characters. Seeing their flaws explored and the problems they encounter was really inspiring and overall, this was just a very enjoyable and well written book. Most of the game references sounded accurate but I could not say for certain.