Courtney’s Top 10 books from 2024

-Courtney

Reading. I understand that this word can bring up different feelings and thoughts for different people. For some, reading is their most favourite pastime and they fly through different books and series, others really hate it and can’t even get through one book, and then everyone else in between. Even between us at Prairie Sisters Unscripted, there are some of us that love reading, and some that don’t! I have personally come to really enjoy reading within the last couple years–but I haven’t always been this way. I’ve been in, and still go through, different seasons: when I don’t read at all, am only reading one genre of books, or when I am picking up my book every spare moment I have! 

When I initially started getting into reading again, it started as a sort of challenge I gave myself to try to break the habit of picking up my phone in my free time. I found that in my downtime, I was always drawn to sitting with my phone and scrolling, or wanting to watch something myself. While I still definitely do those things, I do think I have become better at balancing the activities that I find myself doing. My eldest son also really loves to read, and I hope to encourage his love for reading (as well as instill that love in my other kids) as they grow up. I knew that a simple way to do that was to be reading myself.

However, reading can get expensive if you’re always buying the books you’re reading! Most of the books I own, I have either been gifted or I have thrifted. I make sure to always check the book section when I visit a thrift store because 50 cents, or even $5 for a book makes me a lot happier than $20+. The only downfall to thrifting books means that your selection is usually quite slim. Sometimes there’s a book I’ve been wanting to read but obviously I’m at the whim of what shows up on those thrift store shelves. There have been times where I’ve hit the jackpot at the thrift store– that book I’ve had on my list is there in front of my eyes. Honestly, I am so surprised when this happens, and so thankful! However, because of these reasons, I have started taking advantage of my local library. I encourage you to do the same if you haven’t already! It’s a great place to grab the books you want without breaking the bank. There are so many to choose from! And if you start a book, and you find yourself not enjoying it, there’s no guilt in bringing it back and moving on to your next pick–no wasted money! 

These are in no particular order–just Top 10 books from 2024 out of the 50.

1. Little Liar by Mitch Albom

In The Little Liar, Mitch Albom examines the human repercussions of deception by interweaving the stories of Nico, who yearns for forgiveness; his older brother, Sebastian, who vows revenge against him; Fannie, the girl who must choose between them; and Udo Graf, the Nazi officer who forever changed their lives with his lies. Through the war years, the concentration camps, and the decades that follow, Albom reveals the consequences of each person’s honesty and dishonesty, bringing them back to where it all started in a staggering climax worthy of the best of Albom’s internationally embraced stories.

2. Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey

In Love Thy Body,bestselling author Nancy Pearcey goes beyond politically correct slogans with a riveting exposé of the dehumanizing worldview that shapes current watershed moral issues, arguing that a holistic Christian view sustains the dignity of the body and biology. Throughout the book, Pearcey entrances readers with compassionate stories of people wrestling with hard questions in their own lives–their pain, their struggles, their triumphs.

3. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero

Peter Scazzero learned the hard way: you can’t be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. Even though he was the pastor of a growing church, he did what most people do–avoid conflict in the name of Christianity; ignore his anger, sadness, and fear; use God to run from God; and live without boundaries. Eventually God awakened him to a biblical integration of emotional health and the spiritual practice of slowing down and quieting your life to experience a firsthand relationship with Jesus. It created nothing short of a spiritual revolution in Scazzero, in his church, and now in thousands of other churches.

4. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. 

6. What’s it like Being Married to Me by Linda Dillow

What’s It Like to Be Married to Me? is about knowing the difference between having a desire for a better marriage and setting the goal of a better marriage—as readers look in the mirror to see how they can change. Bestselling author Linda Dillow understands that most women want more from their marriage but don’t know how to get it. In What’s It Like to Be Married to Me? Dillow challenges readers to ask the riskiest questions: What is it like to be married to me? What is it like to make love with me? Why do I want to stay mad at you? Extremely intimate and honest, What’s It Like to Be Married to Me? is not a book about marriage at all. It is a book about how to live out marriage, day-by-day and year-by-year, and watch who you become as a wife impact the intimacy in your marriage!

7. Grumpy Mom takes a Holiday by Valerie Woerner

Most days motherhood often looks like bottomless piles of laundry; a sink full of dishes; sleepless nights; and unshowered, nonstop, endless days. If that’s all there is, then no wonder “Grumpy Mom” sometimes sneaks into your heart and home. If you can relate, you’re in good company―Valerie Woerner gets it and has experienced Grumpy Mom more often than she’d care to admit. In Grumpy Mom Takes a Holiday, Valerie shares what she’s learned so far about sending Grumpy Mom packing and embracing a joyful, intentional motherhood that is so much better than you thought possible. As you journey with Valerie, you’ll be inspired and equipped to find energy in the most unlikely places, pursue your own dreams, be set free from mom guilt, feel content despite unfinished to-do lists, spend purposeful time with God amid the daily chaos, and discover more joyous moments of motherhood. So, take a holiday from Grumpy Mom, and enjoy life as the mom God made you to be

8. She is Mine by Stephanie Fast

Her father was an American serviceman, her mother a young Korean woman confused by the ravages of war. Abandoned at age four, nameless, homeless, and utterly alone, this child roamed the bleak, war-ravaged countryside of South Korea for three years and was finally left for dead. But the Creator had other plans and revealed them through the words, “She Is Mine.”

9. The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham

Germany, 1944. A prisoner in the camps, Anke Hoff is doing what she can to keep her pregnant campmates and their newborns alive. But when Anke’s work is noticed, she is chosen for a task more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. Eva Braun is pregnant with the Führer’s child, and Anke is assigned as her midwife. Before long, Anke is faced with an impossible choice. Does she serve the Reich she loathes and keep the baby alive? Or does she sacrifice an innocent child for the good of a broken world?

10. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France―a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

I read so many more that were really good! If you’re interested in some more recommendations, I’d love to share some! But for now, I hope this gives you some options if you’re looking to pick up reading again, or if you need help picking your next read!

Happy Reading!