The Best Books We Read in 2024

Book Summary

For many actors and actresses, winning an Oscar is the pinnacle of success that sets them up for an even better future. But for Hattie McDaniel, her best supporting actress win after playing the role of Mammy in the controversial movie Gone With the Wind was life-changing in a different way.

After winning, Hattie was trapped between two worlds, neither of which appreciated her. White Hollywood saw her only as her character, Mammy. The Black community, led by the NAACP, detested the demeaning portrayal of their community and waged war against her.

Through it all, Hattie struggled but also continued her fight to pave a path for other Negro actors, focused on war efforts, fought housing discrimination, and navigated four failed marriages. Along the way, she was supported by a core group of friends, including Clark Gable, Louise Beavers, Ruby Berkley Goodwin, and Dorothy Dandridge.

Book Summary

Every woman Justin goes on a date with seems to find their soulmate right after breaking up with him. It’s his curse, and now, thanks to a Reddit thread, EVERYONE knows.

However, his viral embarrassment may have a silver lining. Emma has the same problem and has sent him a message. The solution is obvious. They’ll date each other, break up, and then destiny will bring them each their own soulmates.

Traveling nurse Emma finds a job in Minnesota and rents a cute cottage on Lake Minnetonka for her summer fling with Justin. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected. Will these challenges quickly rip them apart, or does fate have other plans?

Book Summary

This thought-provoking novel transports you back to 1840s Missouri, the land of Huckleberry Finn. However, in James, you’ll find the story reimaged from the point of view of the enslaved man, Jim, who prefers to be called James.

James overhears that he’s about to be sold to a man in New Orleans. If this happens, he’ll never see his wife and daughter again. That thought is too much for him to bear, so he decides to hide on Jackson Island until he comes up with a long-term plan. The island is also the temporary home of Huck Finn, who is running from his abusive father.

Together, the unlikely duo is determined to make it down the Mississippi River to the elusive Free States. Along the way, they encounter the same trials Mark Twain included, but they feel different through the eyes of James.

Book Summary

Aboard a short flight from Hobart to Sydney, Australia, a passenger (who will come to be known as “The Death Lady”) walks up and down the aisles, telling each person the age at which they will die and the cause of death.

Some passengers learn that they have many, many years ahead of them – like one who will live to be 103. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are less than a year away.

A few months after the flight, one passenger died exactly as predicted. Then, soon after, two more. Now, even those who originally viewed their encounter with “The Death Lady” as an entertaining story to share at cocktail parties are paying close attention.

Book Summary

When Lydia takes a part-time job running the local senior center three afternoons a week, she has no idea what she’s getting herself into. In addition to a more rambunctious group of seniors than she expected, the council is trying to sell the building that houses both the senior center and a day care center.

Daphne has been reclusive for decades, hiding from a mysterious past that may still be trying to catch up to her. But, her 70th birthday prompts reflection on her life and she decides that MAYBE it wouldn’t be terrible to find a friend…or even a boyfriend.

What she finds at the senior center is not what she expects. Despite her initial reservations, an unlikely chain of new relationships including a teenage father, a dog, and some grumpy old men change her life in every way.

Book Summary

India Allwood always wanted to be an actress and her dreams came true with success on Broadway and on TV. Now she’s making a movie about adoption, but she’s disheartened that the storyline doesn’t sit right with her.

India is an adoptive mom herself to twin 10-year-olds, and she’s tired of only seeing adoption stories in movies that are filled with pain and regret. So when she’s asked by a journalist, she tells the truth – she thinks the movie she’s making is a bad one. Soon, she’s caught in the middle of a media storm.

When her twins turn to family for help, things just get messier. One thing is for certain – no matter how families are formed, they are always complicated.

Book Summary

Joe’s mum has spent her whole life trying to prepare him for independence, knowing he’ll have to find a way to be okay when she is gone. As long as he has a routine or clear instructions, he can do anything. But when his routine breaks or new aspects are introduced, he has a hard time coping. So she writes everything down in an instructional notebook; it’s his own personalized guide for life.

Joe is in his early 20s now and ready for a job. If his mom can get him all set in his new routine, maybe he can spend a night alone at their home so she can get her first break in his lifetime. His new job at the Compass store brings both friendship and bullies, but the job isn’t the only big change in his life this year.

Book Summary

Many readers will know Kelly Bishop from her icon role as the family matriarch on The Gilmore Girls, but she began her career as a chorus dancer on Broadway before her groundbreaking, Tony Award winning role in A Chorus Line in 1975.

In this remarkably warm, honest, and unapologetic memoir, Kelly shares stories from her six decade long career, from Broadway to Dirty Dancing to Gilmore Girls and beyond. She also shares stories from her personal life, including both highs and lows, from reltionship regrets to proud moments in the fight for women’s rights.

Book Summary

In 1961, the only son of a family that owns a summer camp in the Adirondacks disappeared while hiking and was never found. Now, in 1975, a camp counselor discovers that their daughter, thirteen-year-old Barbara, is missing. Are the tragedies related?

As soon as they realize Barbara is not in her bunk, a frantic search is launched. The investigation is deeply layered, with Barbara’s counselor, Louise, her bunkmate, Tracy, her mother, Alice, and a young female detective, Judyta, all sharing their own impactful stories along the way.

Book Summary

When 1960s housewife Beverly discovers her husband’s infidelity, she refuses to go with the status quo and ignores it. And when he threatens to take the house and kids, she’s ready to fight back.

As the daughter of a former Senator and soon-to-be ex-wife of an incumbent’s campaign manager, politics is her strongest career option. Beverly boldly marches into the office of the young underdog opponent, Michael Landau, and demands a job. Her chutzpah, combined with her father’s reputation, earns her a trial run.

As if balancing this new job, her two young children, and her impending divorce weren’t enough, it seems her mother has moved in under the guise of helping with the kids. But Beverly knows there must be more to the story.

Book Summary

In Abbot Falls, Maine, three unlikely people are about to have their lives change after connecting at a bookstore. Violet is only twenty-two, but was just released from prison after nearly two years due to a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet is a retired English teacher who runs a book club at the prison. And Frank is the handyman for a bookstore, and he had a complicated marriage to the woman Violet killed.

When Violet, Harriet, and Frank run into each other at the bookstore, they begin to learn about seizing second chances and the power of books to change our lives.

Book Summary

Forty-something Emma realizes that her life might have gotten a bit too hectic and tiring when she wakes up after falling asleep in an IKEA showroom. Between trying to be a good mother to her kids, a good daughter to her ailing mother, and a good wife, she’s struggling to keep up. Thank goodness for her best friend, Roz, who keeps her sane. But when Roz climbs through her bathroom window one day with terrible news to share, Emma loses all confidence in her ability to keep it together.

Thurston’s once-full life is empty these days. He’s recently widowed, and without his wife of sixty-two years, he no longer finds joy or purpose in his life. When driving his niece to work one day, Thurston has a chance encounter with Emma and quickly gets drawn into the whirlwind of her chaotic life.

Thurston has a calming presence that helps Emma put her problems in perspective, and soon, the two form an unlikely friendship.

Book Summary

Frances “Frankie” McGrath is a 21-year-old nursing student who has been raised by her conservative parents to always do “the right thing.” But when her brother ships out for Vietnam in 1965, she begins to change her views of right and wrong. Frankie impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows her brother to Vietnam. As she tends to the green and inexperienced young men who have been sent to fight the war, she is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction. Returning home to a changed America doesn’t prove to be any easier.

While The Women is the story of Frankie going to war, it also shines a light on the story of all women who risk everything to help others. The publisher describes this book as “a novel of searing insight and lyrical beauty” that is “profoundly emotional” and “richly drawn.”

Book Summary

Beverly is on the local school board, and her archrival, Lula, has turned into a local celebrity as she’s been on a mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read.

To counteract the “pornographic” books housed in the local library, Lula starts a little library in her front yard, full of “worthy literature.”

At night, Beverly’s adult daughter Lindsay sneaks over to Lula’s little library and replaces the books, but swaps the dust covers. Suddenly, Our Confederate Heroes actually contains Beloved and The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette turns into The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution.

As Beverly and Lula’s rivalry intensifies when they run against each other to replace the mayor, the townspeople who have been changed by borrowing the books from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. Everyone from the postman to the prom queen have something to say, eventually forcing Lindsay to confess.

Book Summary

Eva grew up in the Midwest with a traditional family that never really got her. She feels much more at home in her cozy Brooklyn apartment and she’s inching closer to her dream career. Her romantic life, on the other hand, isn’t much to write home about. She’s come to expect men to disappoint her, but what she didn’t expect was to discover that she’s expecting a baby after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.

The unplanned pregnancy begins to affect every relationship in her life. The baby’s father is supportive but conflicted. And Eva is feeling disconnected from her best friend, Willa, just when she needs her the most. Surprisingly, it’s Willa’s older brother, Shep, who steps up to help.

As her pregnancy progresses and winter turns to spring, Eva discovers that family and love can sneak up on you when you least expect it.

Book Summary

For years, Phoebe has dreamed of visiting the iconic Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island. She looked forward to shucking oysters and sailing into the sunset with her husband. But instead, she arrives alone and plans to stay in the most expensive room for one night.

As it turns out, Phoebe is the only guest at the Inn who is not a part of a big wedding party. The bride, Lila, thought she had accounted for every possibility in her effort to host the perfect wedding, but she couldn’t have predicted Phoebe’s arrival.

Phoebe and Lila are complete opposites, but sometimes chance meetings turn into the most unexpected friendships.

Book Summary

Eve feels like the luckiest woman in the world. She has her dream career as a successful novelist and a happy family, including an amazing husband who has made it possible for her to have both a career and children.

But, then, in a day, everything changes. She wakes up in the hospital, unsure why she is there. Her doctors and husband remind her that she had a brain tumor and just had major surgery to remove it. She’s gone from relying on her words and stories for her career to not even remembering the words to Christmas carols. Will she even remember her children?

Book Summary

Ed Kapenash has been the Chief of Police on Nantucket Island for 35 years. He’s tired of the stress and ready to retire, but with only 3 days left until his freedom, he receives a shocking call. A twenty-two million dollar summer home has burned to the ground. The home’s new owners, the Richardsons, are safe, as they were having a lavish party on their yacht at the time of the fire.

However, their personal assistant, Coco, has vanished. Due to the high profile of the case and Coco’s being best friends with his own daughter, Chief Ed stays on to handle one final case. To solve the mystery, he’ll have to string together the lives of several characters, including local real estate agent Fast Eddie and the town gossip Blond Sharon.

Book Summary

Lucas is very happy living his solitary life. In fact, he very much prefers it that way. His life is perfect with just his video games and his favorite pad Thai delivery. He is certain that the key to his happiness is the lack of other people, and he’s perfected his ability to say “no” to anything that might disrupt his peaceful existence.

This is why he knows that nothing good can come of it when three people from the apartment board show up at his door one day. Despite his best efforts to stay uninvolved from the drama unfolding in his building, people just keep showing up at his door.

Book Summary

Every summer for the past two decades, Rocky’s family has vacationed at the same rental house in Cape Cod. This year, Rocky is squarely sandwiched between her young adult kids, who still need her in many ways, and her aging parents, who are beginning to need her more and more. All the while, Rocky herself is in the throws of menopause, complete with hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy.

As usual, the family’s annual beach week is spent reminiscing about summers past as well as making new memories. But this year, with so much feeling in flux in her own life, Rocky finds herself fixating on an event from her past that she’s kept secret for far too long. She must come to terms with both her family’s history and future.

Book Summary

After Daphne makes a big move to her fiancé Peter’s lakeside hometown, he turns her future upside down by discovering he’s actually in love with Petra, his childhood best friend. Now, Daphne is stuck in a new town with no friends. She at least has her dream job as a children’s librarian (which barely covers her bills).

When Daphne needs a roommate, she comes up with Miles, the only other person who can understand her recent heartbreak. Miles was engaged to Petra before Peter moved back to town.

Daphne and Miles mostly avoid each other until they decide to team up and begin posting misleading photos of their summer adventures together. As they partake in fake adventures, surely Daphne won’t fall for her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex, right?

Book Summary

Ever since her teen years, Daphne Bell has know the universe has a plan for her. Everytime she meets a man she’s interested in (and sometimes even before she has any interest in him) she receives a piece of paper that tells her the exact number of days their relationship will last.

She knew from the outset that she’d only spend three days with Martin in Paris, that her relationship with Noah in San Francisco wouldn’t last past the five week mark, and that she and Hugo only would only spend three months as a couple (though he’d remain her best friend).

For years, Daphne has been waiting for the day she might meet a man with no expiration date – one with whom she could build a life. Finally, on the night of a blind date at her favorite restaurant in Los Angeles she receives a paper with only a name, but no number: Jake.

At first, the lack of an expiration date with Jake seems to be everything Daphne has been hoping for. But as their relationship progresses, Daphne is forced to face her biggest secret. The one that could change everything and break both their hearts.

Book Summary

Emma has spent her life as an aspiring (and talented) screenwriter, but a past family tragedy keeps her in Texas as a full-time caregiver. However, when the opportunity of a lifetime is presented, it may finally be her chance to pursue the career of her dreams.

Emma’s screenwriting idol, Charlie Yates, has written his first romance script – and it’s terrible. His agent wants to bring in Emma to help with the rewrite, but there are problems. Charlie is cranky, he doesn’t work with co-writers, and he doesn’t believe in love.

Can Emma convince him that romance and love exist? And, can her younger sister handle caring for their dad while she is away?

Book Summary

In the Guncle, Patrick’s career was struggling, but after taking care of his nephew Grant and niece Maisie, he was inspired. Now he’s the star of a sitcom, Guncle Knows Best. But as he approaches 50, he’s lonely.

When his brother Greg announces that he’s getting remarried in Lake Como, Italy, Patrick looks forward to spending some time with Grant and Maisie. When he arrives, he quickly butts heads with the kid’s newfound Launt (Lesbian Aunt). As the kids try to adjust to a new normal, Patrick tries to regain his role as their favorite relative.

Book Summary

Saira has had a successful career as a romance writer, but she’s been in a recent slump, with her last three books failing to meet expectations. Her publisher has decided to put her current work-in-progress on hold and instead wants her to write a holiday book – Saira’s least favorite kind of romance novel.

Determined to save her career, Saira decides to pack her bags and head to Santa Claus, Indiana, in search of the holiday spirit she’ll need to complete this writing assignment. She arranges to rent a property for her stay but doesn’t expect the rental manager to be a handsome volunteer firefighter and football coach.

Book Summary

Sienna’s family has lived on and cared for the same wild Idaho land for generations, but with her parents gone and her marriage over, it suddenly feels very lonely. Trying to make her feel better, Sienna’s best friend jokingly places a husband-for-hire ad in the paper. The man who responds, however, is taking it very seriously.

Guy is a handsome Montana construction worker with a young daughter battling stage-five kidney disease. Money is tight, and he can’t afford the anti-rejection meds Emma would need in order to receive a kidney transplant. He’s willing to do anything to help his daughter, even if it means marrying a stranger.

Sienna knows that this marriage of convenience is only about helping Emma, but she can’t help but notice how easily the guy fits into life at the ranch and how much more light and laughter result from his and Emma’s presence. The more time they spend as a fake family, the more she fears the very real loss she’ll feel when it ends.