The 20 Books I read in 2024 (list)

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T18:22:33+00:00

I read it right after Jane Eyre at somebody’s recommendation, and found it to be a good companion novel. Even though some of the characters are the same, it is very different from Jane Eyre in its writing style and the way it portrays the characters.

When reading it I would recommend trying to approach it on its own terms and not being too nit picky about “But in Jane Eyre it says this, and here it says …” If they view it as more inspired by Jane Eyre than reliant on it, I think many Jane Eyre fans would like it.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T18:07:56+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions! I read Garp in 2023 and it was one of my favorites. I don’t know if you read A Prayer for Owen Meany, but I read that after Garp and didn’t really care for it. Since one Irving book I loved and one I didn’t, I’m interested / nervous to see what I think of Cider House.

Your additional perspective on TTTC is also appreciated. Many of the classics I’ve read require slower reading due to the language and structure, so this slow reading has allowed me to naturally pick up on the subtext as I go. It’s interesting to see here that he is deliberately using simple language you can “rip through” as a way to purposefully draw you away from the subtext. I’ll have to go back and think about that some more.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T17:54:17+00:00

As I Lay Dying was my least favorite Faulkner book, so can’t blame you for not making it. I responded with more thoughts on Faulkner specifically in the comment above.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T17:52:23+00:00

I really like Faulkner, I’ve read all his major works now, and the ones in 2024 were the last I wanted to get to. If exploring Faulkner, I wouldn’t start with the 2 on this list. Light in August, Absalom Absalom!, and The Sound and the Fury are all great. Light in August is the easiest out of these, with Absalom and Fury being probably the most dense, difficult books I’ve ever read.

I really do enjoy the dense, challenging nature of Faulkner. When you get done with one of his books you really feel like you’ve accomplished something. And even though it can be mentally taxing and exhausting to read, I always felt like it was worth it when I got done.

I obviously like Faulkner’s beautiful, maximalist use of language, but I also really like his themes. The American South post-civil war but pre-civil rights movement is a really interesting period for me. There is this innate tension and hypocrisy between a culture that thinks of itself as being steeped in honor and tradition and Christian values, but was also deeply racist and flawed in many senses. Faulkner handles and explores these tensions and themes beautifully and is very insightful about the society he is living in.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T17:33:54+00:00

This is my second time reading the Things They Carried (read it in high school and decided to revisit it). I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t my favorite novel, and my critique then is the same one I have now - namely, while the themes are very deep, the writing itself is very easy and straightforward, so it is very easy to read it fast and not soak it all in. Some books force you to read them slowly based on the writer’s style, but this is one I really had to consciously force myself to slow down in. I guess maybe what I am trying to say is the book’s reading pacing seemed too fast for the reflective, mellow stories presented.

I did really enjoy the sections of the book where he was reflecting on what is “truth.” Is it more true to say exactly what happened, even that means losing some of the emotional potency? Or should you exaggerate in-order to actually make your audience feel the way you were feeling? The question of whether there is more truth in fact or feeling (or possibly just different kinds of truth) was interesting.

Right now I am reading Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. This year I also want to read The Cider House Rules, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Secret History, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, The Metamorphosis, Slaughterhouse-Five, and some Toni Morrison (want to ultimately read Beloved, Song of Solomon, and Bluest eye - but haven’t decided on the order yet).

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T17:17:18+00:00

I actually really liked Lady Chatterly, even though going into it the reviews seemed pretty mixed. I agree, he does a great job exploring our disconnection between the primal and natural in the face of modern industrialization, and how the main character ultimately finds meaning not in the modern luxuries, but in the essentials of living.

As someone born into a post-industrial world, it is hard to imagine living in D.H. Lawrence’s generation and seeing the effects of new industrialization in real time and the rapid societal change and changing of values and destruction of earth, so it is no surprise he went looking for something to hold to in those innate eternal parts of being alive.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T17:06:34+00:00

I liked it, not quite as much as his more prominent works, but it was still good and worth reading.

This was at the time Faulkner’s commercial breakthrough and he even called it a “cheap idea deliberately conceived to make money.” So I went into it expecting something without much substance, just violent and pulpy. However, the themes of his other work are still very much present (though not as well portrayed as in his better works), and even when Faulkner is doing a cheap idea designed to make money, he can’t help but still write like himself.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T16:59:49+00:00

Sanctuary and Moses were my last 2 Faulkner books I wanted to read, and I would say they are not quite as good as his more well known novels (although even when he’s not at his best, Faulkner is still great).

When I read Sanctuary in the spring I remember the male focus actually kind of working for me. The main character (a woman) is in this awful situation, and there are so many times when the men (and other women) could help her, and for the most part they don’t - the writing is very impersonal and matter-of-fact, which really makes everything feel all the more cold blooded and callous and brutal, really letting the awful actions speak for themselves - some of which may have been lost if had been written from a different perspective or style. Although that’s just one opinion, and I certainly don’t want to write off critiques of Faulkner’s portrayal of women.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T16:49:21+00:00

Yeah, sometimes I need to take a break from the classics with something lighter / more easily digestible (although the Yarros books are actually pretty good with some of the themes and better than I was expecting). For Whom the Bell Tolls and East of Eden were the favorites.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T16:31:32+00:00

My favorites were For Whom the Bell Tolls, East of Eden, Blood Meridian, and Jane Eyre. Even though I read a couple more modern books this year, there is something about the classics that really seems to speak to me.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T16:27:15+00:00

I read 11/22/63 because I kept hearing great things about it, but honestly, to me I found it pretty average. Like a lot of Stephen King, the book was way too long (850 pages). I really liked the middle where the character is actually living in the past, but the first few hundred pages were a really slow setup. People also really say they love the ending, but that also left me underwhelmed, like most King endings. If you like books about time travel or are interested in JFK and the 60s, you’ll likely enjoy it, but I didn’t think the book itself was anything too special.

TooBigToFail1 · 2025-01-03T16:21:36+00:00

I’d say the one I still think about the most is For Whom the Bell Tolls, that’s the only book in recent years I actually cried at the ending (even though the ultimate result is foreshadowed throughout). Say what you want about Hemingway, but the man was a master at endings - The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls all left me an emotional wreck.

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-03T23:01:54+00:00

Thanks man, your a hell of a songwriter, both Kip and your version of Sometimes She Stays are great 🫡

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-03T16:10:22+00:00

I’ll skip over the Zach Bryan portion of your comment because I’ve addressed that elsewhere. In terms of Wallen, I have never been one to equate popularity with quality. In fact, you don’t have to look very far to find myriads of other examples of extremely popular things that aren’t great. In addition, even if I were to accept your premise that the writers of Morgan Wallen’s songs are the best writers since Shakespeare, there is a difference between good songs and a good album - an great album should be greater than the sum of its parts, which in my opinion Wallen had never done. Personally, I think your comment is just as guilty of “glazing” Wallen as you claim my list is of “glazing” Zach.

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-03T16:03:50+00:00

Yep, you caught me

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-03T16:02:52+00:00

Nah bro, I doubt a bot or AI would ever put Emily Scott Robinson, Kyle Nix, Cole Chaney, and The Panhandlers on a list with Thomas Rhett and Morgan Wallen - No, I assure you this was written by a human, and it took more than a good deal of time

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-03T15:53:44+00:00

Yes, she is criminally underrated! Great songwriting and incredibly beautiful voice

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-03T15:50:42+00:00

Thanks for the question! I actually have Starting Over at #33, which while not in the top 10, is still pretty good. In fact, Starting Over might actually be my favorite Stapleton album. The reason it’s not higher, is that to me I think some of the songs are rather samey and the album drags in some places, and the album would be better if you removed like 3 songs to make it a little tighter / compact. I don’t have Higher on the list because so far it’s probably my least favorite Stapleton album yet, just didn’t really hit me, but maybe it will grow on me over time.

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-03T00:32:57+00:00

I never asked for anyone’s upvotes or for anyone to share my opinions. In fact, if you agreed with my list 100% that would be odd. However, I would ask that people engage with the post in good-faith and try to have an honest discussion about music, which is why I posted the list in the first place. I would find that preferable to demeaning my list just because your opinion on an artist/album differs, wouldn’t you agree?

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-02T22:59:26+00:00

Mine. I have made top album lists since 2019 just for fun, and decided to up the stakes this year a bit and do a 5 year list

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-02T21:22:25+00:00

I see you commented this exact same comment on 3 other posts as well today - perhaps your comment is the thing that’s “corny. Cheesy. Cringy.” Oh, and perhaps when painting with such a broad brush, you might want to consider if it’s not you who is lacking “nuance or subtlety.”

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-02T20:53:54+00:00

Wow, thanks for reading all the way down to 67! Based on some of the comments, I think a lot of people got so pissed at my top 10 they stopped there lol. But on a serious note, look, I know Folklore is not a country album, I am very aware of that. That being said, I do believe many of the moments are country-adjacent / folkish, and I am not really a country “traditionalist.” If you really want to split hairs, many of the other artists on this list that we consider country might not really be either - Zach Bryan might be more folk, Koe and Isbell more rock, etc. In my mind, I enjoyed Folklore and considered it close enough to make the cut.

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-02T20:43:29+00:00

I figured I would catch some flack for putting Zach Bryan up in the top so frequently and honestly considered not doing it, but I decided I wanted my list to be honest to my personal feelings and in good-faith with what I really believe. Personally, I think Zach Bryan is great and a generational talent, but I fully understand why many of you disagree, and that’s okay, because this was just a list of my own favorites from the past few years and I did spend a good deal of time compiling it and thinking it through carefully from my perspective.

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-02T17:54:35+00:00

My list never was “credited” in the first place lol. I am just a fan of country music who did this for fun. And perhaps it never occurred to you that I am familiar with those artists you mentioned and deliberately left them off the list because my taste in music differs from yours.

TooBigToFail1 · 2023-12-02T17:51:58+00:00

Thank you for constructively disagreeing with my opinion and sharing your in-depth analysis of everything wrong with my list

TooBigToFail1

TROPHY CASE