extremely belated 2024 book review extravaganza

hello my beloved, devoted and loyal napkin notations readers. 

today is the day you have all been waiting for, i will be giving my honest, unedited and unfiltered review of all the books i read in 2024 (and some in 2025).

anyways. these will be in order of when i read them, starting with January 2024. i will not be including dates , however, because if you saw the gaps between when i started and finished books...it's embarrassing. anyways, this is on a five star scale. i don't have any specific criteria. enjoy my unsupported conclusions. <3

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1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte ★★★★★ 

As per my Goodreads review: "i'm tweaking, this is the best thing i've ever read." I couldn't have put it better myself!  Wuthering Heights became my new favorite book, and I will not shut up about it. It took me a minute to get into it, but once I did, I could NOT put it down. The setting, the characters, EVERYTHING. For this being my favorite book, I have very few words to say about it beyond the passionate groan that erupts from the depths of my soul whenever I have the chance to mention it. Just read this snippet, you'll get what I mean. (Spoiler, maybe? Even though the book has been out for 200 years.) 

"And I pray one prayer --I repeat it till my tongue stiffens -- Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you -- haunt me then!..."Be with me always -- take any form -- drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!' 

He dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast getting goaded to death with knives and spears." 

Ladies, if your man isn't begging your ghost to haunt him, he's not the one.  Just kidding, this is perhaps the most toxic relationship in all of fiction. 

I love this book <333333

2. Mud Sweeter Than Honey: Voices of Communist Albania by Margo Rejmer ★★★★

Because you probably haven't heard of this book before, I will provide you, dear reader, with the shortened Goodreads synopsis: Mud Sweeter than Honey explores life under Enver Hoxha’s oppressive communist regime in Albania, where citizens faced imprisonment, forced labor, and severe punishment for independent thought or attempted escape. 

I went to Albania this past spring. While we were in the Munich airport, sitting by the gate to board for Albania, my dad said to me something along the lines of: "These people, they carry so much suffering in their faces." Immediately, I understood. 

Exploring Albania, you see the remnants of this communist regime everywhere. I went into this street museum, which was inside an old bunker from the communist period. I couldn't stand it. Maybe it was just the stale air in the underground bunker, but the presence of death was suffocating. "Who knows how many people were killed in here," my aunt said. 

I have heard countless stories from my father about the oppression and constant fear they lived under, but for some reason, I just wanted to read more.  I ordered the first and only book I could find on the subject. 

Mud Sweeter Than Honey was deeply moving and deeply depressing. It shares stories from real people, real interviews, who lived through this tumultuous period. I cried multiple times. I thought it was a beautiful, tragic and insightful read. 

3. Sula by Toni Morrison ★★★★

I have heard SO many good things about Toni Morrison, so this was a long time coming.  Two of my favorite booktubers rated Sula five-stars (shoutout Shawn McComb and Jack Edwards). While reading, I was fuming that we did not read this in A.P. Lit. because I feel like there was so much I missed. There was just SO much good stuff woven into each sentence. Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize winner for a REASON, and I can't wait to read more of her books. 

4. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray ★★★★

This book was LONG. Almost 800 pages. However, I thought it was overall GREAT. Worth the 800 pages, not sure about that, but GREAT. I think Jack Edwards said it best in his review, so I'll summarize his sentiment. He said that the beginning of this book, you have a really clear picture of all these characters. But as the book progresses, it spirals, and you know less and less, until the characters are just mere sketches. The middle dragged on somewhat, but that ENDING. Holyyyyyy that ending. Those last 10-15 pages, I was shaking, I was on the edge of my seat. It truly is one of those "love it or hate it" endings, but I am camp LOVED IT. 

5. Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker ★★★★

I read this on vacation. Would I recommend reading the true story of a 1950's American family plagued by schizophrenia on your tropical vacation, I don't know, but I did it. In fact, I finished it in about two days. This is a SAD story, but a great read. My heart breaks for not only the family members who were eaten alive by their disease, by their family members who suffered tremendously as a result. It was a little bit science-y, but really not as bad as some people made it out to be. 

6. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney ★★★

I gave this four stars on Goodreads, but I think it's going to be three here. As much as I want to be, I don't think I am a Sally Rooney girl. Out of all her books, I did like this one most, but I didn't like it until the end. Perhaps I'm equating the euphoria of finishing Intermezzo to me genuinely enjoying it. Both characters are flawed and messy. I liked how neatly the end was tied up. It wasn't as ambiguous or depressing as Rooney could have made it. (I hate when authors do that. Whatever happened to a resolution??? )

7. The Three Arched Bridge by Ismail Kadare ★★★

"A bridge under construction in 14th Century Albania is secretly sabotaged by ferry men who are afraid of being made redundant. Officially they blame a prophecy that no bridge will stand over the river without human sacrifice to the water spirits. So the builders immure a villager and the bridge gets built." 

My dad gave me this book to read over Christmas. Kadare is Albania's most prolific author, and this was one of my dad's favorites. The plot of this book is exactly the title: it's about a bridge. Sounds boring right? Surprisingly...not? Although it's not my favorite book I've ever read, the pacing was excellent, and I finished it in just a few days. I believe that The Three Arched Bridge can also be read (and is) an allegory for the time; a macabre, unambiguous warning. Either way, I thought it was a good read, whether it was interpreted at face value or not! 

8. Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga ★★

Apparently, I went on quite the Albanian literature kick. This one is about an Albanian interpreter living in New York City, and how she gets entangled in the lives of those she tries to help. Unfortunately, Misinterpretation fell flat for me. I loved the writing and the subtle nuances of Albanian culture interwoven. However, the story didn't flow, and the plot fell flat for me. The synopsis on the back was quite misleading. The story felt like three different plots; the plot I would have most liked to read was cut off very early in the novel. Bummer. However, I do think that this author has a lot of potential, as this was only her debut novel. 

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There you have it: my measly few novels from the past year or so. And although I didn't have much motivation to read for most of the year, I'm satisfied with the books I did finish. Overall, I'd rate my 2024 reading experience: ★★★★. 

thats all, 

<3333 

amelia