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I used to do micro book reviews of every book I read in a year. That worked great at first, but now that I’m reading 35-45 books in a year, it’s a little unwieldy and often simply doesn’t happen. So I’m revising my practices.

Here are my top five reads from the past year, as well as a simple list of the other books I read, mostly without comment. You can follow me on GoodReads to keep up with my book reviews and ratings as I write them throughout the year. Deal?

Top Five Books Read in 2024

Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper. This was an incredibly encouraging and inspiring read. It’s good to hear of how the Lord has worked through saints who have come before us. And for women of God, it’s good to hear how He has worked particularly through His daughters. Highly recommended. Reviewed on GoodReads.

Leave It to Psmith–first Wodehouse I’ve shared with the boys! So fun! When life gets crazy, I first go to the Word of God. That is foundational. But I also try to work in some P. G. Wodehouse. Laughter is good medicine, and Wodehouse offers a healthy dose of it! Leave It to Psmith doesn’t have any really admirable characters. They’re all a mess. And yet it’s redeeming in a way to see such folly on display and to laugh at it. Wodehouse’s signiture creative word play is delightful, too.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen—It was a joy to reread this long-time favorite along with the tweens and teens in our small homeschool co-op. What better way to enjoy Jane Austen than with tea, snacks, and good conversation?!?
I read both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility (first time!) this year, and while both get a five-star rating from me in GoodReads, I still come back to Pride and Prejudice as my favorite Jane Austen novel. The Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility are fantastic characters and I loved the lessons learned. But Pride and Prejudice has similar character development—plus humor. The humor apparently makes the difference for me.

Leaf by Niggle by JRR Tolkien—a surprising, short, and sweet read for any creator/writer! Tolkien is known for hating allegory, but it turns out he has played with the genre. Leaf by Niggle is an allegory capturing the struggle of the creative process and the tension between working on your passion project, keeping up with life’s necessities, and giving of your time, energy, and resources to help your neighbor. It’s a delightful and thought-provoking read.

The US Constitution–so good to read and discuss during an election year. I led our co-op class through a reading of the Constitution. Yes, even an 11 year old read the Constitution this year! If he can do it, you can, too! I supplemented my reading with context from one of my college history books: Liberty, Order, and Justice, some of the lectures from the free Constitution 101 course from Hillsdale, and Kahn Academy’s discussion videos covering each article of the Constitution. I also read the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence and a few of the Federalist Papers. These ought to be read by every American citizen.

Here are the other books I read in 2024, with star ***** ratings.

Books I read on Home Management:

Simplified Organization: Learn to Love What Must be Done by Mystie Winckler ***** Highly recommend! Find my Amazon review HERE

Old Fashioned on Purpose by Jill Winger ***** Listened to the audiobook. Loved it. Review HERE

Folks, This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin ***** This is now required reading as part of high school biology studies for my children.

The Foodscape Revolution: Finding a Better Way to Make Space for Food and Beauty in Your Garden by Brie Arthur **** Short review HERE

Really Very Crunchy: A Beginner’s Guide to Removing Toxins from Your Life Without Adding Them to Your Personality by Emily Morrow **** Review HERE

The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming by Sally Clarkson ***** A lovely re-read!

Books I read on Leadership/Life Management:

The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason **** Listened to the audiobook.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu **** Listened to the audiobook.

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson **** Listened to the audiobook. Don’t go to Jordan Peterson for your theology. He doesn’t handle scripture well. But there are some very practical helps in this book. I can see why he’s a big deal. Sometimes the book droned on a bit, like JP was showing off his knowledge more than helping his reader. LOL

Know and Tell: The Art of Narration by Karen Glass *** This is admittedly a book on educational philosophy and practice, but that’s a kind of leadership, isn’t it? I honestly feel bad for not liking this book more than I do. I love Karen Glass, this is just not my favorite of her books. Review HERE

Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less by Michael Hyatt **** Listened to the audiobook. Not life-shattering, but good.

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport **** Listened to the audiobook.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein **** Listened to the audiobook.

[Life is busy [track season, ongoing home remodel, etc], so I’m not giving every link possible on the following books. If you are interested in one of them, and you want to purchase it through one of my affiliate links to support this blog, please simply click on one of the Amazon links above and then search for the title in question. 🙂 Thank you for your support!]

Books I read on Government:

Are We Good Enough for Liberty? by Lawrence W. Reed ****

Thomas Sewell: Self-Made Man by Sean B. Dickson **** Read aloud to the boys, picture book.

The Law by Frederic Bastiat *****

The Declaration of Independence *****

The Constitution of the United States *****

The Articles of Confederation ***

Books I read on Biblical Studies/Counseling:

Prayer: The Church’s Great Need by Jesse Hamilton

The Fruit of Her Hands: Respect and the Christian Woman by Nancy Wilson ***** Listened to the audiobook.

Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper ***** Listened to the audiobook. Review HERE

The Enneagram and the Biblical Counselor by Rhenn Cherry *** Review HERE

Grace Is Free: One Woman’s Journey from Fundamentalism to Failure to Faith by Marci M. Preheim ** I don’t recommend this book. See my review on GoodReads where I explain why.

Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies by Hillary Morgan Ferrer **** Not bad, but it misses some very important things. Review HERE

Eve in Exile and the Restoration of Femininity by Rebekah Merkle ***** Excellent. This was my second time reading this book.

What’s the Difference? A Study of Important Biblical Distinctions by William MacDonald ***

The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs: Respecting and Caring for All God’s Creation by Joel Salatin ***** Listened to the audiobook. This could easily fall under “Home Management” with other homesteading books in that category, but this one is special–Joel looks at things from a biblical lens, writing to a more narrow audience than most of his other books: to his fellow Christian believers.

Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear by Jinger Dugger Vuolo **** Listened to the audiobook. This is a much better read than the Grace Is Free book listed above. Jinger untangles her past with a lot more biblical discernment and fidelity.

The Good Portion – Scripture: Delighting in the Doctrine of Scripture by Keri Folmar ****

Everyday Gospel Christmas Devotional by Paul David Tripp *** This was ok. Edifying but needed a better editor.

The Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit by Matthew Henry **** Listened to the audiobook.

Literature/Fiction Books I read:

Leave It to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse *****

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen *****

Joy in the Morning by P. G. Wodehouse *****

The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis ****

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen *****

Der Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffmann **** This is a classic German picture book that we found at an estate sale. My husband used AI to translate the German into English. The stories are funny, dated, and often a bit morbid.

Leaf by Niggle by J. R. R. Tolkien ****

Magazines:

Common Place Quarterly Encouragement for Charlotte Mason homeschool mamas.

Homestead Living I got this magazine for the year and have enjoyed a few issues. I cancelled going forward just because I have plenty to catch up on already without new magazines coming in the mailbox!

That’s all for now!

You can find all of my GoodReads reviews HERE.

What was your favorite read (or five) from the past year?