What Sarah Said

I have to have something to read. Always. One of my friends reminded me recently that she’s seen me turn to reading a menu when there were no books to be found. “I could have given you a manual for a Cuisinart, and you would have read it,” she chided. Since I’ve deleted my Meta-owned social media accounts, I’ve delighted in getting back into Substack. I follow a lot of really interesting and inspiring writers, artists, and thinkers. I got this idea from Julie Vick, of the Substack Humor Me, who posts a list of all the books she’s read at the end of the year. My goal was to publish this before the start of 2025, but who has the time or energy to be productive over a holiday break? Here are the books I read in 2024, broken down into fiction and nonfiction.

Fiction

“Bunny” by Mona Awad
The staff pick description at Books Inc. in San Francisco read “If Stephen King took acid and wrote an X-rated Mean Girls.” I love the narrators in Mona Awad books — I also really enjoyed “Rouge” — they are very relatable and funny. This book ended with a twist that had me in tears. Living in a small space, I don’t hold on to many books but I kept this one because I know I’ll want to read it again.

“Terms of Endearment” by Larry McMurtry 
The New York Times ran a special section of the Book Review last year about Larry McMurtry books. They called this “A McMurtry book for the cowboy averse.” I loved Lonesome Dove, and had read another lesser known book of his in high school, so figured I’d give this a spin. I enjoyed the strong female characters, the internal and external struggles. However, the book had been built up quite a bit. I thought it was touching, but it didn’t destroy me. I found Aurora Greenway exasperating, but I’m sure that’s part of the point.

“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride 
This was a very original novel. It opened my eyes to what life was like for Jewish and Black people in 1930s Pennsylvania. It was full of characters that stay with you, all woven into a moving story.

“Then We Came to the End” by  Joshua Ferris
A tongue-in-cheek novel about systematic layoffs at an ad agency in Chicago. What happens when people hit their breaking points? It’s full of hilarious characters, office pranks, and perfectly captures the pointless absurdity of what it’s like to work in corporate America. 

“Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus 
This one was recommended to me by coworkers. And no, I haven’t seen the show. This was one of those cases in which I could sense immediately the cheesiness and predictability of the book, and yet I devoured it like the bag of Cheetos that it was. Read this if you like strong female leads.

“Whoever You Are, Honey” by Olivia Gatwood
This book is a meditation on unlikely female friendships and what it means to occupy a female body. The twist unfolds languorously in this book set in the beaches of Santa Cruz, California.

“The God of the Woods” by Liz Moore
This was THE book of the year, maybe of the last quarter century. A richly woven tapestry of whodunnit mystery, family histories, relationships, coming-of-age, and class issues, all set in a nature preserve and summer camp in the Adirondacks in the 1970s. It’s a lot to pack into a book but Moore pulls it off without the book feeling dense or needing a ton of exposition. Each chapter hooks you further and further into the action, it’s enthralling. A satisfying and surprising ending. 

“The Return of Ellie Black” by Emiko Jean 
A thriller mystery about an abducted teenage girl who returns home. The female detective covering the case is obsessed because of a personal tie-in. The story alternates between the detective’s story and first person narrative from the teenage girl. In a world full of Alex Cross whodunits, this book stands out for its more relatable characters and feminist slant.

“The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah
A shy woman who was shunned by her own family finds love and purpose in her children and in-laws’ farm until the Dust Bowl hits and she’s forced to head west with her children in search of work. A well-researched historical fiction account of extreme poverty and prejudice, but also a story of courage and maternal strength. At times hard to read, but I loved learning about a time period I knew very little about. Hannah also wrote “The Women,” a best-selling book about a combat nurse in Vietnam and her return home to a country that didn’t want her. That one was too painful for me to finish.

“The Villa” by Rachel Hawkins
Chapter one of this book has a great first line: “Somewhere around the time she started calling herself “Chess,” I realized I might actually hate my best friend.” Two writers take a vacation at an Italian villa where a murder took place in the ’70s. Obsession ensues through patchwork story telling. Ultimately it’s a book written by a bored white millennial woman for bored white millennial women. It was an airport bookstore buy, but a fun and sometimes funny vacation read. There’s a review quote from “People” on it, so that tells you all you need to know.

“The Night Guest” by Fiona McFarlane 
I wasn’t a big fan of this one. A government carer shows up one day at an old widow’s seaside home. The two form an unlikely bond but all is not as it seems. Also there’s an imaginary tiger in it? There’s a ton of tension built in this one, but very little payoff. A fanciful, fever dream kind of book. 

A Fiction and Nonfiction Combo

“Songs on Endless Repeat, Essays and Outtakes” by Anthony Veasna So
A collection of fiction and essays published posthumously. Veasna So was a second generation Cambodian man who died young of an overdose. One of his writing professors collected and published these works. I really enjoyed the fiction woven throughout the book, but the final essay, “Baby Yeah” absolutely destroyed me in a good way. A worthwhile read and looking forward to reading his first book “Afterparties.” 

Nonfiction

“Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight” by Lindo Bacon PhD (published as Linda Bacon)
Bacon is the founder of the Health at Every Size movement. They write about the detriment of diet culture on our bodies and psyches. Offers tips on how to nourish, move, and accept your body in ways that feel good to you. I enjoyed this and plan to read “Anti-Diet” by Christy Harrison next.

“Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin” by Andre Dubus III
Although he’s most known for writing “The House of Sand and Fog,” my intro to Dubus was “Townie,” a memoir of his youth spent trying to prove himself and getting into a lot of fights. Ghost Dogs is a collection of personal essays in which Dubus reckons with aging, being a father, and still having that rage of his youth inside him. I absolutely love his writing.

“Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia” by Dennis Covington
I read this book in college and on the reread it did not disappoint. It’s a nonfiction firsthand account of snake handling preachers and churches in Southern Appalachia. The book started as an exposé  article for the New York Times, but became so much more when Covington got too close to the fire and became a believer himself. Anyone who knows me knows I love books that cover culty topics, and this was perhaps my intro to that.

“Sounds Like Titanic” by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
My second favorite book of the year. I discovered this book on a Substack called “What to read if.” It’s a nonfiction account of a college student who tours the country and even goes overseas with an ensemble who plays instrumental violin and pennywhistle music that everyone says “Sounds like Titanic,” when in fact the microphones aren’t on and what’s really playing is a hidden CD player. Not a spoiler, she explains this in the beginning. This book was bizarre, wild, hilarious, and somehow completely relatable.

“Untamed” by Glennon Doyle 
I discovered Doyle on an episode of what used to be called the Ten Percent Happier podcast. This memoir is written in the same way that she speaks, all over the place but with so much heart, self-actualization, and truth bombs that you can’t help but devour it. I found myself nodding vigorously along while reading, even reading sections aloud to my husband.