Tag: Memoir

Erica’s Favorite Reads – 2024

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I read 68 books in 2024, which breaks my record from last year (hooray!) I’m still in a monthly bookclub where we read mostly fiction. I really got into psychological thrillers and fantasy this year – if you have any good thriller recommendations let me know!

Here is the breakdown of genres I read this year and my favorites from each:

Thriller – 8

Historical Fiction – 10

Fiction – 24

Religious/Spiritual – 8

Nonfiction – 13

Memoir – 5


Thriller

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Listen for the Lie

I read this book in a single day, I could not put it down! I am not a big audio book fan, but my bookclub told me this was a great audio book to listen to because one of the characters is a podcast host, and they do a great job of making you feel like you’re actually listening to a podcast! The main character in this book, Lucy, thinks she might be a murderer, but she can’t remember. Her best friend was murdered years ago and the mystery was never solved – but now podcast host Ben Owens has decided to investigate the case.

The Housemaid (series)

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Another thriller series I fell in love with this past year was The Housemaid. I just finished the third book yesterday (it was also one I read in a single day – we had a snow day so I took advantage of it by reading!) Each book in this series has had a unique twist that I never saw coming – the author is a genius! I haven’t read any of Freida McFadden’s other books, but she has quite a few, and I’m interested to see if they are as good as this series. I believe this book has also been chosen to be made into a movie – stay tuned!



Historical Fiction

All The Light We Cannot See

Despite this book being published in 2014, it became popular last year and it seemed like everyone was talking about it. This is a WWII story, following two characters: a girl from Paris, Marie-Laure, and a boy, Werner, from Germany. Marie-Laure is blind, which intrigued me due to the title referencing one’s inability to see (is it literal or metaphorical?)


The Secret Book of Flora Lea

The owner of our local bookshop, Seven and One Books, had this book listed as one of her favorites for 2024, so I picked it up. I loved that it had a bit of a fantasy element to it, despite it being historical fiction. It takes place during WWII, and is about two sisters, Hazel and Flora, that are evacuated from London. One day while playing near the river, Flora goes missing. It is assumed she is dead, but years later clues begin to turn up and pieces start coming together…


The Women

This was another very hyped-up book of 2024, but I really did like it! It follows the character of Frances McGrath who joins the Army Nurse Corps to serve in Vietnam. I liked reading a book that was not about WWII, it was just nice to read about a different historical event for once. I also appreciated the focus on women serving in the Vietnam war, and I had no idea that so many women were not properly honored or acknowledged for their service. This book really hit on the themes of feminism and women’s rights, which made it a win for me!

Fiction

A Court of Mist and Fury
Romantasy, Young Adult, Fae

I feel down deep into the ACOTAR rabbit hole, and this book, which is the second book of the series, was my absolute favorite! The first book in the series was just “meh” for me, but I decided to continue on and I’m so glad I did! I’ll admit, I can be a sucker for a good fantasy-romance (I loved the Twilight books…) and I’m not saying this is the peak of great literature or anything, but it was definitely enjoyable! I have not read any of Sarah J. Maas’ other books, but they are on my TBR list!


Iron Flame
Romantasy, Young Adult, Dragons

Speaking of second books in a Romantasy Young Adult series… if faeries are not your thing, maybe you’d prefer dragons! Overall, I enjoyed this series a bit more than ACOTAR – at least so far, the third book in the series comes out tomorrow!!!! (So excited!) This series feels a bit more like Hunger Games rather than Twilight, although I enjoyed both of those series for different reasons – to each their own!


The Midnight Library
Fantasy, Magical Realism

I try to read at least one book a year that has “library” or “librarian” in the title – what can I say? I’m a little biased! This book is about coming to terms with regrets in your life, and seeing what life would be like if you could undo the choices you’ve made. It’s a great book about how getting everything you ever wanted doesn’t always make you happy. I found it to be very thought-provoking and helpful as I examined my own life.


Religious/Spiritual

Learning to Walk in the Dark

Last year I wrote a series on how my faith had been affected recently, and I was still leaning into books that dealt with questioning and uncertainty. Barbara Brown Taylor has written a lot of great stuff, so I wanted to give this book a read and try to lean into my “dark” time. I’m learning that it’s okay to be in this stage of faith, there’s no rush to “fix” it or move out of it. I also recently found a book that describes stages of faith, titled The Critical Journey, (it’s on my TBR list this year!) and one of the natural stages of faith is sort of a rediscovering of God and yourself.

Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God: The Scandalous Truth of the Very Good News

If you struggle with the idea of a God that just wants to punish people for every little mistake they make, this book is for you. If you struggle with how a loving God could send people to eternal suffering in hell, this book is for you. What does it actually mean in the Bible when it says, “God is love”? As I started reevaluating many of the things I had always heard growing up in church, this was another book I found helpful (there are many good books available on this topic).

If you’re a podcast listener, I’d also recommend The Bible for Normal People, as they take a lot of difficult Biblical topics and do a great job of talking about them honestly and thoughtfully.

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collage of book covers

Erica’s Favorite Reads – 2023

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I read 52 books in 2023, which was an all-time record for me! I got invited to join a book club at the beginning of the year which really helped me get back into reading fiction.

I didn’t write as much this year, which I guess is a natural trade off – I find that I can only truly devote myself to so many hobbies at a time. This past year I focused on exercising (training for a half marathon) and reading.

Here was the breakdown of genres of books I read this year:

Religious/Spiritual – 14

Fiction – 20

Nonfiction – 12

Memoir – 6

Obviously “fiction” and “nonfiction” could be parsed out more, but I thought I’d leave it at that.

My top favorites for each genre were as follows:

Religious/Spiritual

Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith And Found It Again Through Science
Faith, Science, Spirituality

I really wrestled with faith this year, and this book was one that was very helpful for me to read as I processed my feelings and tried to make sense of things. Mike McHargue, also known as “Science Mike,” is part of a podcast, “The Liturgists,” that I had listened to in the past, and I always enjoyed hearing his perspective on issues. He is not a black and white thinker, but is very comfortable in the grays, and this was helpful as I tried to balance faith and doubt, and realized that they could both coexist at the same time.

A few other books in this genre that I enjoyed were Love Wins by Rob Bell and How the Bible Actually Works by Peter Enns.

Fiction

The Measure
Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fantasy

It was hard to choose a favorite for fiction, but this book was probably the one I was the most captivated by this year. This was one my book club picked out, and I knew almost nothing about it when I started it. But once I did, I could NOT put it down! Imagine if you could know the exact date of when your life would end… what would that change for you? What if everyone on earth had the opportunity to know exactly when they would die? Would you get married or have kids if you knew you were going to die in your 30’s? What if the person you fell in love with ended up having an early expiration date? I loved how the author really let the scenarios play out of what might actually happen if people knew exactly when they were going to die. It brought up issues of discrimination against people who were determined to die early. For example, would you be required by your employer to share your death date?

There were so many other fiction books I loved this year!

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Review of Britney Spears’ Memoir: The Woman in Me (Spoiler: I loved it!)

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I love hearing people’s stories – obviously I love sharing my own stories, but I also love learning about other people’s experiences. I’ve read a lot of memoirs this year including Michael J. Fox’s, Tom Felton’s, and Elliot Page’s – but the one that I surprisingly connected with the most was Britney’s The Woman in Me.

I was an OG Britney Spears fan. I was in 7th grade when her first album came out, and …Baby One More Time was one of the first cds I remember buying. I remember trying to learn the dance to (You Drive Me) Crazy with my friend Heidi. We practiced it over and over for hours! (Did anyone else have the VHS tape of Darrin’s Dance Grooves?!)

As I got older, I didn’t keep up with Britney’s music as much, but I definitely remember hearing about her in the news and tabloids. I remember when she shaved her head, and the media portrayed her as being “crazy.” I remember a guy in one of my high school classes talking about how he loved the Toxic music video because Britney was basically naked in it. Most of the talk I heard about Britney was either about how scandalous she was or about how people thought she was crazy.

I remember a few years ago when #FreeBritney started trending. My initial reaction was that it was just a rumor, that it had to be fake. But I remember wondering later if it could be true. And if it was true, how truly sad and terrible that would be.

It’s hard to separate truth from fiction – the news can obviously be a very biased source of information, and lately I feel like everything I read I have to take with a grain of salt. But I do think that we did learn that Britney had been trapped in some form or fashion under an abusive conservatorship. I can’t 100% know the truth behind her family’s motivation for doing that to Britney, but it sure does seem like they were taking advantage of her and exploiting her money.

When I heard that Britney had published a memoir, I immediately knew I wanted to read it. The day it came out in October, I searched for it in our library’s online catalog and saw that it already had a wait for it. I put a hold on it and was 5th in line to get it. I expected it to be full of drama and thought it would be more of an interesting read than anything else.

I didn’t expect to connect so deeply to the story. I didn’t expect to be stirred so emotionally by it. Honestly, I almost cried at one point while reading it. After reading it, I just wished I could meet Britney and give her a big hug!

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