As we gear up for 2024, are you setting a reading goal? I fell behind on my reading target for 2023. Still, the books I did read were amazing – shout out to my hands-down favorite book(s) of 2023, A Court of Thorns and Roses (book #3, specifically). Although I didn’t read nearly as many books as I set out to, I’m always optimistic about the new year. So naturally, I’m gearing up and setting aside the novels I wish to read for the remainder of the year and into 2024.
And because one of my favorite things to share on the blog is reading lists, why not share what I’m reading for the month of December and into January? I hope these books inspire you to curate your own book list (including some of my picks, of course).
I have an addiction to building my TBR list, so please share your current reads in the comments below, or let’s connect on GoodReads! I would also love to know your favorite book(s) of 2023.
I recently partnered with Bookshop. A website alternative to Amazon, connecting readers with independent booksellers. When you make a purchase through my affiliation link I may earn a portion of the sales at no additional cost to you. Find full Bookend & Begin list – Here
Why Fathers Cry at Night by Kwame Alexander
I stumbled upon Why Fathers Cry at Night by Kwame Alexander when browsing the poetry section at Barnes and Noble. I flipped through the pages and couldn’t put the book down. This collection is stunning. As I read through, I found myself revisiting passages and poems. Alexander pours his heart on the pages – it’s potent, relatable, and yet, wholly his own. This book is a squeeze of the heart; it’s a warm hand on your shoulder. I’ve never read anything quite like it. The perfect novel to bookend your year and revisit in the next.
Love Lesson
The Difference
between telling someone
you love them
and loving them
is the difference
between pumpkin
and sweet potato pie.
The difference
between loving
and being loved
is the difference
between watering a garden
and the autumn harvest.
– Kwame Alexander
Mother, Nature by Jedidiah Jenkins
I am ecstatic to add this novel to my end-of-year reading list. It’s no secret (if you’ve read almost any of my book lists before) that Jedidiah Jenkins is one of my favorite authors; His book Like Streams to the Ocean is one of my favorite novels.
Mother, Nature is the newest in Jenkins’s anthology.
“When his mother, Barbara, turns seventy, Jedidiah Jenkins is reminded of a sobering Our parents won’t live forever. For years, he and Barbara have talked about taking a trip together, just the two of them. They disagree about politics, about God, about the project of society—disagreements that hurt. But they love thrift stores, they love eating at diners, they love true crime, and they love each other. Jedidiah wants to step into Barbara’s world and get to know her in a way that occasional visits haven’t allowed.
They land on an idea: to retrace the thousands of miles Barbara trekked with Jedidiah’s father, travel writer Peter Jenkins, as part of the Walk Across America book trilogy that became a sensation in the 1970s. While reliving the journey that changed Barbara’s life Jedidiah discovers who Barbara was as a thirty-year-old writer walking across America and who she is now, as a parent who loves her son yet holds on to a version of faith that sees his sexuality as a sin.
Along the way, he peels back the layers of questions millions are asking How do we stay in relationship when it hurts? When do boundaries turn into separation? When do we stand up for ourselves, and when do we let it go?”
— GoodReads
A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella
“From the author of A Little Hope —a Read with Jenna Bonus Pick—comes another “heartwarming, character-driven” ( Booklist ) life-affirming novel about three individuals whose lives intersect in unforeseen ways.
Set in a close-knit suburb in the grip of winter, A Quiet Life follows three people grappling with loss and finding a tender wisdom in their grief.
In this beautiful and profoundly moving novel, three parallel narratives converge in poignant and unexpected ways, as each character bravely presses onward, trying to recover something they have lost. Emotionally riveting and infused with hope.”
— GoodReads
The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa
I chose The Goodbye Cat because, similar to Jedidiah Jenkins and my next author of choice, Margaret Renkl, I fell in love with Hiro Arikawa’s storytelling. In November of last year, I read The Traveling Cat Chronicles, and it was the perfect cozy, cold-weather book. And as we’re in the rainy season here in Hawai’i, I look forward to listening to this novel on my crisp sea-salt walks.
“In the much-anticipated follow-up to the bestselling and beloved The Traveling Cat Chronicles, seven cats weave their way through their owners’ lives, climbing, comforting, nestling, and sometimes just tripping everyone up in this uplifting collection of tales by international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa”
— GoodReads
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl
I read Margaret Renkl’s Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss a few years ago, and since then, I’ve admired Renkl’s ability to weave the natural world with her own experiences and emotions. Renkl is formidable; she does not sugar-coat the sometimes unforgiving landscape of the wild world – heartbreaking and beautiful, as life is.
Renkl’s observations encourage me to observe my environment. Notice the things too often silenced by the hustle of our everyday to-do list. I look forward to the natural reprieve.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Photo Credit: EARTHEN
I haven’t purchased this book yet. I’ve been eyeing a copy at my local bookstore. I’ve browsed the pages and know it will be the perfect beginning to my 2024 year.
“A gorgeous and inspiring work of art on creation, creativity, the work of the artist. It will gladden the hearts of writers and artists everywhere, and get them working again with a new sense of meaning and direction. A stunning accomplishment.”
— Anne Lamott
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
This book has been sitting on my shelf unread for far too long. I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to dive in, and honestly, there is no better time than the present. This fantasy novel explores the age-old question: If you could travel back in time, would you change anything?
“In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-traveling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.”
— GoodReads
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