My Top 5 Books from 2024 — Nicole O'Meara

I used to think reading fiction was for vacations and if I read fiction outside of a vacation, it was a sign of personal weakness. I would sneak a fiction book to read in bed like it was contraband and I was hiding from the reading police. Why? I have no idea.

Stories are powerful. Stories transport us to new worlds, perhaps slipping us through a wardrobe to enter a land that’s always winter, never spring. Along the way we learn about courage and consequences. We wonder what we would do if a friend offered to pay the penalty for our foolish choices.

Sure, we could read about Christ’s atoning sacrifice in a Bible study or a theology book or a devotional. But a story helps us feel the thorns as they crush into Jesus’ skull spiking the world’s worst headache. Stories put us in Mary’s shoes, shaking in anguish at the foot of the cross. Stories move us.

Jesus knew our tendency to miss the point by overthinking or other-thinking. (I just made up that word so no need to email me about a typo.) Other-thinking is when we get the moral of the story and quickly assign the lesson to others, completely missing the point that the story was for us (Matt 7:1-5). Jesus used stories to counter this tendency, stories for the wise and the fool. We call these stories “parables.”

I overthink all the time. Sometimes, I lose the forest for the trees. Stories pull me out of that emotionless brainy-ness and let my imagination do the teaching. So, this year, I broadened my reading to include more fiction.

Here are my favorite books read in 2024 (not necessarily published in 2024) in five categories: Nonfiction, Fiction, Biography, Christian Living, and Cozy Mysteries.

Best Nonfiction
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

This is the most important book I read in 2024. We are the weird parents who limit smartphone use and internet access for our teen. We made those decisions based on gut instinct and lessons learned the hard way with our older son who was the first generation to grow up with the iPhone. This book gave us all the data and more to back up our instincts. I’ll be taking action now based on the mountains of research that show the harm social media and smartphones cause our children. I know it’ll be an uphill climb, but our kids are worth it.

Best Biography
Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber

I have a friend who studied abroad for a semester at Oxford. During my college years, I’d never heard of that option and even if I had, I wouldn’t have appreciated it. I was studying biology. English was just a core class that I got out of the way early. The Oxford experience was lost on me.

Not any more. I picked up this book expecting to live vicariously through one student’s experience as an Oxford grad. I got that and so much more. Carolyn Weber vividly recounts her Oxford years and the spiritual journey they took her on. I felt like I was with her in her rooms at college, in the pub discussing theology, and as a silent witness to the many question and answer sessions she held with TDH (Tall Dark and Handsome).

I know of at least one book club that read Surprised by Oxford this year. I’d love to do that. But I’d be drinking coffee, not tea, which is very not Oxfordish.

Want more? Listen to a live interview with Carolyn here.

Best Christian Living
Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund

I started this book last year, but it’s the kind of book that needs marinating. Each short chapter is packed with life-impacting good news. I needed to take it slow. Underline. Mull. Discuss.

Dane Ortlund writes like a gentle leader, might I say, a shepherd? He helped me understand just how much, how very deeply, God wants to enter into my messes with me. It delights God to be with me. Something like how live orchestral music stirs my heart and makes me feel alive, when God is with me, especially in my pain, it stirs his heart. It’s not the same at all, but you get the picture. At least I did, and I had never thought of God in that way before this book. Now, when I read scripture, I hear a tone of voice I missed for 40+ years, a tender open-armed voice. I can feel the voice draw me close to his warm chest where I hear the beat of his heart. I like that voice.

You can purchase a study guide for this book. I recommend doing so if you plan to discuss this one in a book club or want to approach it like a personal Bible study.

Best Fiction
I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

How do I even explain what this book did to me? At first, it confused me. I almost put it down because it appeared to be a dystopian novel in the first few chapters and dystopians don’t interest me. But it was written by Leif Enger so I couldn’t put it down. (His Peace Like a River is still in my Top 10 List for life!) Then, it got interesting. Was it a book for the cultural moment? Maybe. Was it a book about perseverance and human dignity? Yes. Was it a book of hope? Oddly, yes, very much so. Despite the circumstances, Lark said, “Better is here. Stay, and make it better.” Sounds a lot like “Hope is never inappropriate,” yes?

I can’t explain it. You’ll have to read it. Then email me so we can discuss.

Want more? Listen to interviews with Lief about this book here and here.

Honorable Mention
The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

I have a hit-and-miss relationship with Charles Martin books but this one was a bulls-eye. I couldn’t put it down. It had all the ingredients for an addictive story: a guilt-ridden hero, a girl with a healthy dose of humor, and a dog; an us-against-nature rescue/survival attempt and survival lessons learned by trial-and-error. The reader is carried along as the characters learn they are tougher than they think and grace can be found in the hardest of circumstances.

Best Cozy Mystery
Murder on the Brazos by Bruce Hammack

The thing about cozy mysteries is that they have all the intrigue and red herrings without the gore and general hard stuff you’ll find in mainstream detective mysteries. I like a good puzzle, but I like it clean. This is what Bruce Hammack delivers.

I also like that the Fen Maguire Mysteries include characters with depth. Fen is a retired sheriff and widower still in love with his dearly departed wife. After retiring, he pulled out his paint brushes and got back to work creating masterpieces. He has a feisty housekeeper and a silent Choctaw Indian workman more trustworthy than the average policeman. And then, there’s the kid.

The last thing I’ll say is, thank goodness this is a series. You’ll want all seven.

Honorable Mention
Random Acts of Murder by Christy Barritt

Christy Barritt mysteries are more thriller/suspense novels then cozies but I’ll keep them in the Cozy category because they are clean and the heroine is an amateur sleuth. That sleuth, Holly Anna Paladin, has a knack for doing the right thing but doing it poorly. And when she’s stressed, she bakes. Why does that make her so relatable?

Comments

Have you read one of these books? What did you think? Leave your comments below and I’ll respond.

You can find a list of all the books I read in 2024 and the 1-5 star rating I gave them at Goodreads.

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