I hope you are enjoying your Christmas Day with those you love today! I am offline and spending time with my kids and husband today….and eating way too many Christmas cookies (check our Instagram for some photos throughout the day!). I put this together over the weekend so I could share my top books for December and for the year. I’m excited to move into the new year and the new reading challenge – as a reminder, you can find the full list of 2025 Reading Challenge prompts in this post.
In December, I reviewed 12 books – 5 audiobooks and 7 physical copies. Let’s take a look back the reviews of those books – click below to visit the reviews:
5 Stars
- The JFK Conspiracy, Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch
- Skipping Christmas, John Grisham
4 Stars
- The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket
- The Cold Dish, Craig Johnson
- An Island of Suspects, Jean-Luc Bannalec
- The Lost Founding Father, William J. Cooper, Jr.
- Shotgun Lovesongs, Nickolas Butler
- Streets of Laredo, Larry McMurtry
- Twelve Topsy-Turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas, James Patterson
- Winter in Paradise, Elin Hilderbrand
3 Stars
We really had a lot of great books in December, but my favorite was easy to choose – The JFK Conspiracy! I enjoy reading historical biographies and presidential non-fiction books and this was a hit out of the park!
Top Book of 2024
I spent some time reviewing the books we’ve read in 2024, specifically those that received a 5-star rating. There were 37! Some were new releases I had an early opportunity to review and some were hits released before this year. There were 13 books that received a perfect 5.0 score:
- A Certain Kind of Starlight, Heather Webber
- A Season of Perfect Happiness, Maribeth Fischer
- Anxious People, Fredrik Backman
- Bad River, Marc Cameron
- Long After We Are Gone, Terah Shelton Harris
- My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Fredrik Backman
- Open Carry, Marc Cameron
- Spirit Crossing, William Kent Krueger
- The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw
- The JFK Conspiracy, Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch
- The Last Slave Ship, Ben Raines
- The Lost House, Melissa Larsen
- The Secret Order of the Scepter & Gavel, Nicholas Ponticello
This is an amazing list of books and authors, which made choosing a top book for the year so hard! I chose Terah Shelton Harris’ Long After We Are Gone for a variety of reasons. One – I really love this author! I’ve had the pleasure of hearing her speak twice in the past few years. As a librarian, she brings a unique approach writing for and speaking to her audience. This is her sophomore release and covers a topic that has become dear to my heart. In areas of the south, former slave families were prevented from purchasing land except in areas that were less than ideal – swampland, flood plans, etc. After 100 years of reconstruction and major development, the only areas still available for building new retail and residential projects are now these previously unwanted parcels, which are being sought through eminent domain. In this novel, a family is torn apart by both an attempt to take their property and interfamily drama. Read the full review for more about why this book is our choice for the Read With Lindsey Top Book of 2024!
January Reading Plan
Don’t forget – as we move into 2025, we are starting a new reading challenge and a new pattern for our monthly themes. This month will take us to New Years and Inauguration Day, as well as Lunar New Year. Lots of big days this month! We are also reading books over 300 pages and an author’s debut release. What are you most looking forward to this month?
A few sponsored books I’m reading this month:
- She Doesn’t Have a Clue, Jenny Elder Moke
- Head Cases, John McMahon
- Follow Me to Africa, Penny Haw
- Lethal Prey, John Sandford
I can’t wait to read these great books with you – keep an eye out for the weekly previews on Sundays for what I’m reviewing each week!
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