This column is coming to you a bit later than it has the past couple of years, when it appeared at the end of the year, rather than at the year’s beginning. Nevertheless, having looked back over the books that I read in 2024, here are some that I recommend for your own reading pleasure and/or edification. Unless noted otherwise, each book can be found on the shelves of the Downieville Library.
A Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende (fiction)
The Travelling Cat Chronicles, by Hiro Arikawa (fiction)
Another Country, by James Baldwin (fiction)
The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray (historical fiction)
Nana the Great Goes Camping, by Lisa Tawn Bergren (easy reader)
What Are People For?, by Wendell Berry (non-fiction essays) (personal library)
The Story of the Dancing Frog, by Quentin Blake (easy reader)
Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, by William Blake (poetry)
All the Broken Places, by John Boyne (fiction — sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas)
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, by David Brooks (non-fiction)
Rednecks, by Taylor Brown (historical fiction)
I’m Enough, by Grace Byers (easy reader)
The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (fiction)(order from Plumas Library)
We Were Eight Years in Power, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (non-fiction)(order from Plumas Library)
Mama in the Moon, by Doreen Cronin & Brian Cronin (easy reader)
The Palace of Illusions, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (fiction)
Water Day, by Margarita Engle (easy reader)
James, by Percival Everet (fiction — winner of 2024 National Book Award for Fiction)
Thesaurus Has a Secret, by Anya Glazer (easy reader)
Tinkers, by Paul Harding (fiction)
Valentine and His Violin, by Philip Hopman (easy reader)
Queen of the Northern Mines, by Richard Hurley & T.J. Meekins (local historical fiction)
Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States, by Luisa A. Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto, Jeremy S. Hoffman (poetry)(personal library)
Here We Are, by Oliver Jeffers (juvenile non-fiction)
A The Dictionary Story, by Oliver Jeffers & Sam Winston (juvenile)
Mala’s Cat, by Mala Kacenberg (non-fiction)
The Lantern’s Dance, by Laurie R. King (mystery — latest in Mary Russell series)
Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver (fiction)(order from Plumas Library)
A Sand County Almanac, with Essays on Conservation from Round River, by Aldo Leopold (non-fiction)
One World, Many Colors, by Ben Lerwill & Alette Straathof (juvenile non-fiction)
The Storyteller, by Mario Vargas Llosa (fiction)
The Tree in Me, by Corinna Luyken (easy reader)
Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales, by Nelson Mandela (juvenile non-fiction)
Mexikid, by Pedro Martin (juvenile)
North Woods, by Daniel Mason (fiction) (order from Plumas Library)
From a Far and Lovely Country, by Alexander McCall Smith (fiction — No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series)
The Great Hippopotamus Hotel, by Alexander McCall Smith (fiction — No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series)
Raven: A Trickster Tale of the Pacific Northwest, by Gerald McDermott (juvenile non-fiction)(personal library)
Beatrix Potter, Scientist, by Lindsay Hl Metcalf (juvenile non-fiction)
Olivetti, by Allie Millington (fiction)
I’ll continue the list of recommendations in next week’s column. Stay tuned….