Last week I posted my 2025 goals and mentioned doing a separate post on my favorite books from last year. I like to read a mixture of fiction and nonfiction books, so my favorites from last year are both!
I started last year off with Habits of the Household and wow did it really change my perspective on some things in our home. We now do a bedtime liturgy with the boys in hopes that one day they will see how much God loves them. I say this with them at bedtime while looking them in the eyes: “Can you see my eyes? (they say yes)/ Can you see that I see your eyes? (yes)/ Do you know that I love you even when you do bad things and disobey? (yes)/ Do you know that I love you even when you do good things and obey? (yes)/ Who else loves you like that? (God)/ Even more than me? (yes)/ Rest in that”
This book covered some topics that I feel like we’re already really proactive about–like screen time–but also covered topics that I was ready to change up in our home. It’s a fantastic book for parents and even grandparents!
I read Outlive last year and I feel like almost everyone did! I felt like this book was written for the nonmusical person like me, and even though it’s a really long book, I flew through it. One part I found VERY interesting was the ability to slow down or even reverse Alzheimers. And now that I’ve read about it, I’m now hearing it from a lot of functional doctors that I follow.
I thought the fact that Attia focuses on lengthening your health span and not your life span was the most interesting and really made me think. What am I doing now so that I can carry my groceries in the house by the time I’m 70? Or what am I doing now so that I can get on the floor and play with my grandkids AND THEN GET BACK OFF THE FLOOR WITHOUT HELP. These are things I didn’t think about before reading this book!
Now the next two books are fiction, and when it comes to fiction, I love to read historical fiction. If I’m googling certain historical topics that I’ve read about in a book for further reading, then I consider that book great because it made me want to know more about history.
I read The Women last year when it came out after skipping the previous two new releases from Hannah when I saw their bad reviews. The Women did not disappoint!! I actually didn’t realize that I never thought about women serving in Vietnam as nurses before because I’ve never been taught about it. I felt so many things while reading this book. Frankie is the main character whose story the book follows. She joins the Army as a nurse because she doesn’t need more than bootcamp as training and she’s really just looking for approval from her father. You’ll see how she changes as she experiences war, and then the most frustrating thing was when she knew something wasn’t right with her (PTSD) and she goes to the VA for help and then she’s told that women weren’t in Vietnam!!!!!!!!! (Read the author’s note and it actually happened to women!). This book was hard to read but so good!
Frozen River might have been my most favorite book from last year!!!! It takes place shortly after the Declaration of Independence is signed and it’s from the perspective of a midwife. But this book isn’t about childbirth. I was not prepared for the plot (as I really thought childbirth would be a major topic), but I was hooked from the first chapter. I recommend this book to everyone–even if you don’t like historical fiction because it’s got a mystery that needs to be solved, too.
What was your favorite book from 2024?
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