My Favorite Books from a Year of Good Reading

2024 Best Reads!

I’m flinching just a bit over the word “best” here, because what would be a blissful read to me might be torturous for you—or for my good husband who has yet to comprehend my devotion to Wendell Berry’s and Marilynne Robinson’s fiction. (“Nothing happens!”)

The four superlatives I’ve chosen have distinguished themselves among the 53 books Good Reads tracked for me and which I painstakingly recorded in the back pages of my 2024 journal. I have limited myself to two fiction and two non-fiction favorites, so this post will be mercifully shorter than the ten-book roster I envisioned back in November.

These are all 5-Star books because I read and review only the books I love and care about.
Enjoy!

Leaning on Air

Cheryl Bostrom

Leaning on Air affirms my settled opinion that fiction has the power to teach and inspire the reader without diluting for one minute the magic of the story. Cheryl Grey Bostrom’s character-driven work produced a much-loved cast in the award-winning Sugar Birds, and now Celia and Burnaby have been married for ten years.

Their careers are flourishing, but sadness lurks around the fringes of their happy relationship. When it comes crashing into centerstage, anguish sends them in different directions, threatening their bond. Readers in faltering and floundering marriages will find a breath of hope in this tale of restoration.

Descriptions of the beautiful Pacific Northwest expose Bostrom’s roots as a naturalist, photographer, poet, and ardent believer that “the natural world illustrates the spiritual one.” Gospel undertones enrich without detracting for God is portrayed as relational. He is “the Entangler,” the Rescuer, and he is active in this story—just as he is active in all our stories.

Leaning on Air by @cheryl_bostrom affirms my settled opinion that fiction has the power to teach and inspire the reader without diluting for one minute the magic of the story. @TyndaleHouse

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The Frindle Files

Andrew Clements (published posthumously)

One of the many benefits of being married to an elementary school teacher is access and exposure to children’s literature. When I was homeschooling my kids, we had Andrew Clements’s books on repeat, and his classic Frindle surpasses all. The kind librarian at my husband’s school tipped him off about this sequel, so I waited patiently till he was done and then devoured it in an evening. The Frindle Files could be read on its own but is FULL of Easter eggs from the first novel.

Josh Willet, a devoted techie, uses all his skill to solve a mystery—and to solve a problem in the process, but what will he do with the knowledge he gains? Will he be sorry to have followed his curiosity? If you’re a lover of words and a reluctant tech user like me, you won’t think this book is “just for kids” at all.

If you’re a lover of words and a reluctant tech user like me, you won’t think #TheFrindleFiles is “just for kids” at all. @randomhouse #AndrewClements

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Holiness Here

Karen Stiller

If you’ve ever doubted that holiness is possible in the here and now, if you imagine that holiness is something that went out of style with white gloves and pillbox hats, it may be because you’ve given up on seeing God in your ordinary life. Holiness Here by Karen Stiller invites readers into a conversation about holiness that takes into account the annoying behaviors of our fellow humans and the perversity of inanimate objects.

Maybe you would even be surprised to hear that God calls you “a royal priest, a holy nation.” New Testament writers refer to believers as saints, and on that basis, Stiller encourages us to live our way into that incredible reality. And she does it with beautiful writing that kept sending me back to reread sentences and highlight her unique way of turning a phrase.

I appreciated the reminder that the believer’s holiness happens in the context of the church, that obedience is not a uniquely Christian discipline, and that “hospitality is holiness lived out in practicality.” It’s reassuring for regular people to read that holiness is work in the form of opening doors we’d rather keep closed and making the lasagna whether we feel like it or not.

Stiller demystifies the Christian life in all its repenting and starting over again, with all its miserable losses that we must not waste. When she writes about loss, she speaks with authority born of experience and reassures us that God’s warm welcome is not contingent upon our deserving it.

In #HolinessHere, @KarenStiller1 invites readers into a conversation about holiness that takes into account the annoying behaviors of our fellow humans and the perversity of inanimate objects. @TyndaleHouse

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The Riches of Your Grace

Julie Lane-Gay

Borrowed words are finding their way into my devotional practices, not as a replacement for my own heart’s expression to God, but as an outline, a trellis upon which I can hang my own specific thoughts and prayers. Therefore, when I heard a podcast in which Julie Lane-Gray explained her use of The Book of Common Prayer in her every day “sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life,” she had my immediate attention, and I went in search of her book!

Lane-Gay points to the 450-year-old collection of prayers as the single most important influence in shaping her Christian life, and in The Riches of Your Grace, she tells the story of learning to live in the prayer book as a layperson.

Instead of giving her readers a mere handbook, she has thrown open a door of welcome to join her in her own very meaningful practices of morning and evening prayer using the Daily Office and the Collects. She forges into the ways of the Liturgical Year and discovers that an annual refresher in the Catechism helps to re-ground her understanding of what she believes. She discovers the enhancement ageless wisdom can bring to corporate worship and to her understanding of what it means to be the church.

I’m intrigued by the notion that uniting one’s own prayers with words that have been prayed for centuries and are being offered throughout the whole world situates the believer in company with other Christians. “We might not know each other, but together we are progressing through the shared language and story of scripture.” In this time of deep division and distrust within the church, may we discover and celebrate the truth that God meets us on the path of prayer, carrying grace and offering us the gift of himself. 

In The Riches of Your Grace, Julie Lane-Gay has thrown open the door of welcome to join her in her very meaningful practices as she lives in The Book of Common Prayer. @ivpress

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Here’s a bonus list from last year…

Thank you…

Thank you for all the ways you encourage and support me in producing weekly book reviews here at Living Our Days. Your input, your comments, and your willingness to share my work with your friends are gifts I do not take for granted.

So now…
What has been YOUR favorite book of 2024?

Holding you in the light,

My Favorite Books of 2024—The four superlatives I’ve chosen have distinguished themselves among the 53 books Good Reads tracked for me and which I painstakingly recorded in the back pages of my 2024 journal.

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