The Book List - 2024: My Reading Revival
It was a big year for picking up the books and putting down the phone (I swear!).
This post – the first one in 2025 – may only interest a small part of our audience, but the post still exists because, at my core, I am a tracker. I must track things in my life because it is who I am. I write it down and make a record of things that may or may not be referenced in the future. I am not sure what makes me a tracker, but there is no doubt that is who I am.
So, I had four goals in 2024 that I kept all year on my notes app.
25 Walking Rounds of Golf - Yes, I walked 34 rounds this year and loved it.
25 Birdies Made - Yes, I made 27 this year. Easily a career-high.
25 Pounds Lost - No, I stalled out at 14 after getting as low as 17. Rats.
25 Books Read - Yes. On December 27th, I closed out the 25th book. Another easy career-high.
Three out of four isn’t too shabby! I will take that, but I really hate that I hit a wall on the weight loss. Nevertheless, I have an idea of showing stubbornness on the 2025 goals list in that department. By the way, I recommend a handful of goals over a larger number. Focus on a few important ones so you don’t feel overwhelmed and I really enjoyed this pursuit, albeit not a fully successful venture.
Today’s post is about those books. I have always been a reader, but not very consistent and very easily distracted. For whatever reason, about 18 months ago, I discovered a pretty obvious truth: reading is better for you than looking at your phone. It just is. It is mentally healthy when there are so many ways to make yourself mentally unwell in these times by letting every knucklehead with a social media account inside your skull. I was under the impression that I could control my social media experience for a long time until I realized that the algorithms are designed to make us crazy. I could “choose my own adventure” anymore. In fact, the stuff that I found irritating seemed to show up more and more. And I didn’t like how it made things feel.
But, a book? That is definitely choosing your own adventure. I will not sell you on the enjoyment of reading because you literally are reading this. Rather, today, I wanted to show you the 25 books I read this year and maybe help you pick out a few that might be interesting to you. At the very least, this will show you that I track things because I love to track things.
Let’s get down to business: