My book goal for 2024 is 37. In the first quarter of 2024, I read 16 books, in the second quarter, I read nine, and in this quarter, I read nine again, with my grand total up to 34 by the end of September.
I am going to talk about those nine books from the past three months and give my rating, the dates read, and a brief description of what I liked about the book. I tried my best to give a spoiler warning for any descriptions I felt really gave parts of the book away.
Let me know if you have read any of these or want to discuss more! I have added some paid Amazon links to all of these books if you are interested in getting any yourself. You can always add me on GoodReads too at @c.pathofgrace . I am hoping to exceed my goal by several books, lets see how the year ends.
The Disaster Artist, Greg Sestero
Dates read: June 2 – July 3
Stars: 5
I don’t even know what to say. The Room has been my Roman Empire for a good 7 years now. I was so excited to read this book. My best friend even got me a signed copy!!
I really enjoyed getting to learn more context of how the movie The Room was even made. I think it was so interesting to hear about Greg’s experiences as just such a normal guy, which I frankly did not get from watching him in the movie. I see why James Franco felt the need to make this into a movie as well.
I think this book is just so important because often when I think about The Room (and I assume most others do too) it all feels like such a fictitious fever dream, as if the movie The Disaster Artist is entirely fiction. It is so hard to believe it is all actually a real story of how Tommy Wisseau wanted to make it big in Hollywood.
This was so well written. I love having insight into this movie. I am blown away. This book is a treasured possession!!!
Bonjour Tristesse, Françoise Sagan
Dates read: July 4 – 8
Stars: 4
This was a cute little read that I picked up as per Lauren Louise aka bigbooklady ‘s recommendation on YouTube. This was a bit of a genre variation for me, as I don’t typically read short stories.
I think the fact that it was written in the 50s as well as being a French to English translation was an interesting literary challenge for me. It reminded me a lot of Call Me By Your Name, which was a book I also loved.
I don’t know that I had a particular attachment to anyone due to the shortness of the book, but I really enjoyed reading Cecile’s perspective and about her relationship with her father and how it was intruded upon by Anne. I would love to read this again in the future and annotate!
The Most Fun We Ever Had, Claire Lombardo
Dates read: June 14 – July 15
Stars: 4
Again, as a surprise to no one, Reese has done it again!
I took longer to read this than I hoped, but it was over 600 pages so I knew it would be long for me. I loved getting a look at all 4 Sorensen sisters, their parents, and everyone else in their lives. It was an incredible multi-generational story and had some incredibly profound family moments. The traumas that were shared hit really hard and made me pretty emotional at times.
This was a great story and was beautifully told. I think for me it went on a little long, but all of the details felt necessary and I don’t think it would have done the characters the same justice if it had been shorter.
Even writing this review a few months after having finished the book, I still remember it clear as day and my love for the Sorensens is still true.
How to End a Love Story, Yulin Kuang *mild spoilers*
Dates read: July 31 – August 15
Stars: 5
Now this was undoubtedly a five star read from me. I absolutely loved this book! Way to go, Reese’s Book Club!!
I was feeling so many emotions when I finished this book. I am not typically a romance reader, but this just made my heart ache. I think I see a lot of myself in Helen, in the ways she feels incapable of giving her love to someone because of how her own family “showed” her love. This is something I have been working on in adulthood and it just made me super emotional.
This was my first real romance romance book and it was just such a delight. It wasn’t too cheesy, but definitely had some spiciness in the midway point. I was here for all of it and the relationship that developed between Helen and Grant was just so wonderful.
Loved this so much.
Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt
Dates read: August 16 – 19
Stars: 5
Another easy five star read.
This book made my heart so happy. Everyone who recommended it to me was right. I think I need a real copy on my bookshelf. This made me feel similar to how The People We Keep felt, and that is one of my all time favorite books.
This was so heartfelt and so well written and just beautiful. The way that everyones stories wove together was gorgeous. I often wondered near the beginning how everyone was going to relate to one another and why certain perspectives were being shared, but it came together in such a beautiful way. Even when I figured out what was going on, it was just so heartwarming to watch the characters put everything into place on their own.
Please read this!!
The Things She’s Seen, Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina
Dates read: August 20 – 21
Stars: 4
I saw this book in Barnes in 2023 and it sounded super interesting so I added it to my tbr.
This book surprised me. I went in expecting one thing, and came out the other end moved. The whole story felt like one big anecdote and reminded me a lot of the movie Sucker Punch. It was a dark and moving story about generations of Australian Aboriginal women and strength.
At first I thought it was going to just be some spooky ghost story, but it really went a whole other place. The book was short, somewhere between a short story and a full book, but I am really glad I picked this up.
The Unwedding, Ally Condie
Dates read: August 23 – 29
Stars: 2
It finally happened. My first Reese’s Book Club book that was lackluster.
In short, this book was really disappointing.
I felt like the author was trying to do too many things at once and the mystery of it all was just not appealing. Yeah, the stakes were high, but not only did I not feel connected or concerned for any of the characters, I thought there was way too much going on to be remotely deep enough.
There’s a body, a storm, a mystery, a theft, all at once. Not to mention, at least eight different characters to keep up with at a given time. Thankfully, it was told in third person or my head would have been spinning more.
I really did want to like this, because it reminded me heavily of The Guest List (which I gave 3 stars), but ultimately I just felt like it was too complicated to follow and didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Bad Summer People, Emma Rosenblum
Dates read: August 29 – September 6
Stars: 3
This was…okay.
I found myself way more invested in everyone’s personal lives than anything about finding a body. Those stakes were just not nearly high enough, IMO.
I felt like having multiple character perspectives, albeit in third person, just made me confused. I understood some of them, as getting multiple accounts of an event happening or something, but mostly it just bothered me. I wanted to know more about what was going on with Jen, Lauren, and Rachel than anyone else.
I felt like it all culminated and wrapped up pretty quickly too, and frankly, the “murder” was not completely a murder. To only reveal that at the end was so lackluster. Lowkey too much manipulation for me haha everyone was cheating on everyone and it was entertaining, but I was much more interested in the intermarital drama than the actual murder.
This had so much potential!!
I Cheerfully Refuse, Leif Enger
Dates read: September 6 – 27
Stars: 4
This was such a beautiful book. I loved it.
I will say, the writing style was a challenge for me, really beautifully written but complex and complicated. I enjoyed the story and felt like I was reading a storybook of sorts.
I loved following around our main characters and hearing about their tales. I didn’t really have any idea where the story was going, but it was really enjoyable to see how everything played out. It was very dark at times, but I like how everything eventually ended up at the end.
This would make a fun short series I would totally watch!!
Up Next…
As of the date of this post, I am currently reading Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, I have finished Penance by Eliza Clark, and I started Gone by Michael Grant and Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica.
Here are the books I have upcoming to finish out 2024 in Q4!
The Hike by Drew Magary, Atomic Habits by James Clear, Stolen by Lucy Christopher, No Bad Parts by Richard C. Schwartz, Small Joys by Elvin James Mensah, The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas, Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan, The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl, Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown, and whatever the next 2 Reese’s Book Club picks for November and December are!
Let’s see how the year ends!
Caroline's Path of Grace 
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