2024 Book List

  • Shepherdess of Elk River Valley by Margaret Duncan Brown (I really enjoyed this.)
  • Prophets See Around Corners by Sheri Dew (Really good.)
  • These is My Words, The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy E Turner (Pretty exciting at the beginning. The setting is Tucson, 1881-1901.)
  • Three Women Who Shook the Monarchy by Sarah Lyall (This came highly recommended, but I am not sure why.)
  • The William Saroyan Reader (Mixed bag. Mostly I endured it.)
  • The In-Between by Hadley Vlahos (Really good.)
  • Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict (I thought this was weak.)
  • The Holy Invitation: Understanding Your Sacred Temple Endowment by Anthony Sweat (A little lacking about the role of Jesus Christ. I liked the focus on the historical development of the endowment as recorded in many sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.)
  • Women Holding Things by Maira Kalman (Somehow with just a few words and many colorful paintings, this book felt like pure empathy.)
  • A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (This was not my first reading of this beloved book. Wonderful!)
  • Daily Joy: A devotional for each day of the year by Russell M. Nelson
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I hadn’t read this since high school. It hits differently now.)
  • Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (This is a middle grade book, but I think adults will benefit more from this refugee story.)
  • Dear Dana: That Time I Went Crazy and Wrote All 580 of My Facebook Friends a Handwritten Letter by Amy Weinland Daughters (Fascinating social experiment but I struggled with the humble bragging.)
  • The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids by Madeline Levine, PhD (Good. I liked the courageous emphasis on the importance of the presence, warmth, and mental health of mothers.)
  • Educated by Tara Westover (As predicted, I was both fascinated and repulsed by her story.)
  • Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott (Lots of wisdom and good things here. I like this author so much.)
  • The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ ♥️(This reading really got me through some STUFF.)
  • Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde (pretty good)
  • The Dalai Lama’s Cat and the Power of Meow by David Michie (Ridiculous.)
  • The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
  • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  • My Seventh Summer: Tale of a Sheepman’s Daughter by Eve Idella Crane Dayton (A simple memoir.)
  • March by Geraldine Brooks (excellent)
  • Wintering by Katherine May (interesting thoughts, beautifully written)
  • Year of Wonders: a novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks (A page-turner that turned too dark for me.)
  • Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  • All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott
  • The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  • To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite
  • Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon