Last year I shared our book club’s 2024 picks, so it’s time for an update! After we got started up, we had a couple people drop out, new people join, one had a baby . . . so our original list changed a bit, starting in September.
So, here’s what we actually read in 2024, along with what we’ve picked for the next few months. If you’re looking for books to add to your Amazon wish list or library shortlist, start with these. I’ve loved them all so far.
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September 2024: We read Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. This was the most lovely, slow, quiet story about a man in Ireland struggling with how to respond to an injustice he witnesses at a home for unwed mothers. It’s also a new movie with Cillian Murphy, which I haven’t seen yet, but hope to soon.
October 2024: This book was my favorite of the year: Sipsworth by Simon van Booy. This story was so sweet and simple and creative and full of human connection. I immediately went and checked out another book by van Booy (Night Came with Many Stars) after finishing this one. If you want a quiet, happy read, try this one.
November 2024: I chose our next book, The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali. I’ve written about how much I liked this book before, and once again I was happy to revisit this world of spices and romance and revolution.
December 2024: We pushed our book swap this month to the week after Christmas. Mainly, because we were so busy before the holiday, but also this gave us the chance to bring the books we’d each received as Christmas gifts and do a “show and tell” together! If you have a book club, I highly recommend adding that feature to your December or January meeting! We also picked our next few month’s books, and here’s what we’re reading.
January 2025: We’re “circling back” to read Foster by Claire Keegan–one we originally picked, but then bumped to let new members choose their books. It’s the story of a young girl sent to live with foster parents in Ireland who begins to blossom there until a secret is revealed. Since we’re meeting just two weeks after our book swap, this is a great, short choice that I can’t wait to read because I’ve heard such good things.
February 2025: Our February pick is Lila by Marilynne Robinson. It’s the story of a young woman, the wife of a small-town preacher, who has to reconcile her old life with her new one. I read Gilead years and years ago, so I’m excited to revisit that world with Lila.
March 2025: We’re returning to Ireland again with The Sea by John Banville. This book won the Booker prize in 2005 and is a “luminous novel” about a middle-aged man who returns to the seaside after his wife passes.
Extra Reads: What we brought for our book swap and “show and tell”
Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins (one of my favorite poets ever)
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. Her Olive Kitteridge collection is one of my favorites, so I’m looking forward to this one too.
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller is about the bond between a man and his dog after a devastating flu pandemic has swept the world.
The Sea by John Banville (see above)
The Gospel in Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy and Miriam LeBlanc examines themes of faith in the Russian writer’s works.
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders — the subtitle says it all, “In which four Russians give a master class on writing, reading, and life.”
This is Happiness by Niall Williams is another Irish novel about a quiet village in the countryside when electricity is first brought in.
Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is the follow up to Gladwell’s famous novel, revised for an age of social media.
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa is about a young woman who loses everything then finds herself when she takes a job in a small second-hand bookshop in Tokyo.
Sandwich by Catherine Newman a moving, funny story about a family full of secrets. The title refers to the “sandwich” generation of adults caring for children at home as well as aging parents.
Clara Reads Proust by Stéphane Carlier, the Irish Times calls it “an elegant and quietly lyrical charting of a life changed by books.”
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey this magical novel about a mysterious young girl who appears at a couple’s doorstep in northern Alaska is magical.
When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays by Marilynne Robinson this collection from the author of Gilead and Lila has won tons of awards.
The Fountains of Silence by Ruth Sepetys is based on actual interviews the author conducted with people in Spain, and it’s the story of love and secrets in the time of Franco’s dictatorship.
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx is the Pulitzer-winning novel about a family who returns to their ancestral home in bleak, coastal Newfoundland.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a modern classic, which captures “all that is meaningful and meaningless in life” according to the National Observer.
Spilled Milk 
