Best Books of 2024
I read a lot of books this year, and it made me stop to really consider my reading habit - where did I fit them all in? Since 2020, reading has been a staple of my daily life. Sometimes it’s just a few pages after dinner, and sometimes it’s a Sunday where I read a little too long before starting on house chores and laundry. But even during the busiest seasons I find that I can make time for reading.
Our ability to read is like a muscle. It grows with time and attention, not unlike practicing. Both require an ability to focus our attention. I’ve seen my ability to read and comprehend change over the last five years, and the change is especially evident when I compare my Goodreads lists from year to year. The subject of the books has changed over time, as do their complexity, genre, length, and style. This is true for and like our ability to practice over time, as the complexity and type of music we are able to prepare, as well as the amount of time it takes, changes and grows.
I appreciate the subtle reminder that my reading habit gives me - what we are willing to regularly do each day can grow into something meaningful. We don’t need to see progress everyday to understand that we are changing. There is, perhaps contrary to what we’ve been taught or believe, no discernible end point to our ability to grow.
I have, as many of us do, the habit of telling myself there is not enough time for the important things I would like to do. But I mostly read in the lost hours between dinner and bedtime - time where I would otherwise likely just be watching tv or scrolling on my phone. What other lost hours are there in my day? How much time do I spend in my email inbox that is unnecessary? Where could I insert time for practice, exercise, or other artistic hobbies that would be meaningful, even if I spend just twenty or thirty minutes with them?
I feel especially inspired to reconsider my practice habits as I think about this. Considering the tremendous about we change over the years after beginning an instrument, what more would be possible with a small amount of daily attention in the correct, refocused places? Rather than looking for some immediate payoff or outcome, I’m encouraged that I can trust the process to unfold over time (which it will do whether I try to force results or not).
2024 was a particularly enjoyable year of reading. For the last few years I have started to explore fiction again, something I skipped for a while because it didn’t feel like I was learning enough of being productive enough. Reading some excellent fiction in 2023 reminded me that we actually learn a lot from it - how to let our imagination wander, how other people might view the world, how we have sheltered ourselves in our own beliefs, and even how to not be productive all the time. Fiction has also proven a valuable place to let my mind rest from everyday concerns.
I was particularly interested in crossover of art disciplines this year, inspired by those who are prolific in other areas of the arts, or who explore multiple disciplines without concern for how sensical the endeavor might be.
2024 was a year of memoir in my reading. Particularly memoirs of creatives (writers, for the most part). Of course there was also non-fiction this year, which remains a favorite reading endeavor for me. I think 2024 was my favorite year of reading that I’ve tracked, and it was hard to narrow down the list that follows. Although these truly were my favorites, I loved so many of the books I read last year. If you’d like to see them all, you can find me on Goodreads and see the whole list.
These were the 2024 standouts:
I read three of Meg Howrey’s novels this year, but They’re Going to Love You stood out as the favorite. Howrey, a retired professional ballet dancer, takes us deep inside the experience of being a high achieving human or creative in her writing. In this novel, she explores in depth the relationships that lead us to the arts and follow us along the way as only someone who has it experienced it could.
Inspired by a 17th century philosopher who carried a sketchbook with him everywhere, Berger imagines what might have filled its pages. When a friend gifts him a sketchbook, Berger proceeds to fill it with sketches alongside his writing in an expansive creative experiment on many subjects.
I mentioned reading a lot of memoirs in 2024, and it turns out most of them were memoirs by writers. I loved Murakami’s other memoir, What I Think About When I Think About Running, and I also enjoyed this one. In it, Murakami gives us insight into trusting our instincts, the uniqueness of each creative life, and the role of loneliness in our work.
Another spectacular writer memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful explores personal loss, the turmoil creative work can bring to relationships, and the way we can recommit to ourselves after difficult experiences. This is a beautiful retelling of discovering a creative life.
This in-depth book explores the life of John Cage and his exploration of music as it was influenced by Zen Buddhism, the culture of his time, and the artists he knew. It’s an incredibly detailed look at all the influences that affect art, the way we teach our craft, and the intertwining of social, spiritual, and musical. It left me with a great appreciation of John Cage and a greater understanding of just how much is at play in the ways we create.
Filterworld and A Longing for Less by Kyle Chayka
Kyle Chayka quickly became a favorite author for me in 2024. A regular writer for The New Yorker, Chayka also curates a substack titled One Thing with other authors. I read Filterworld first and quickly followed it up with Chayka’s first book, The Longing for Less. The writing is insightful and cutting, shedding light on the way our modern technology and obsessions shape our lives. Chayka gives honest takes on modern culture without creating a feeling of despair, often providing perspective on how to find fulfillment in a world that would flatten both culture and longing.
The title of this book by Oliver Burkeman is misleading in that it would have us believe it is exactly the type of self-help book that Burkeman decries in its pages. I found this book to be an actionable, digestible way to reconsider my approach to life and productivity.
Reading this book, which is a collection of the lectures, letters, and teachings of artist Robert Henri, is having a master teacher at your finger tips. As applicable to music as it is to painting, Henri shares insight into where our intentions should rest in both creating and exploring our creativity.
2024 was the first time I read this book in its entirety. Csikszentmihalyi coined what we call the flow state and was integral in our understanding of how it is reached. A must-read for anyone in a performance or high-demand field.
So now I have to ask - what did you love reading in 2024? I’m a few books in to 2025, and always looking for books to add to my to-be-read list.