Elizabeth’s Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

18,737

pages read

books read

Elizabeth Finn

What Color Is My World? by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Shortest Book

pages

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

Longest Book

757

pages

Average book length in 2024

360

pages

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Most Shelved

4,200,453

people also shelved

The Secret Daughter of Venice by Juliet Greenwood

Least Shelved

854

people also shelved

Elizabeth’s average rating for 2024

4.0

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Highest Rated on Goodreads

4.66 average

The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes

Elizabeth’s first review of the year

really liked it

Book 1 of 2024! This was so good. Three stories that I didn’t realize overlapped until the end of the book and man was the ending killer and wonderful and just everything. So so good.

“For fans of The Rose Code and The Paris Library, The Librarian of Burned Books is a captivating WWII-era novel about the intertwined fates of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war.

Berlin 1933. Following the s Book 1 of 2024! This was so good. Three stories that I didn’t realize overlapped until the end of the book and man was the ending killer and wonderful and just everything. So so good.

“For fans of The Rose Code and The Paris Library, The Librarian of Burned Books is a captivating WWII-era novel about the intertwined fates of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war.

Berlin 1933. Following the success of her debut novel, American writer Althea James receives an invitation from Joseph Goebbels himself to participate in a culture exchange program in Germany. For a girl from a small town in Maine, 1933 Berlin seems to be sparklingly cosmopolitan, blossoming in the midst of a great change with the charismatic new chancellor at the helm. Then Althea meets a beautiful woman who promises to show her the real Berlin, and soon she’s drawn into a group of resisters who make her question everything she knows about her hosts—and herself.

Paris 1936. She may have escaped Berlin for Paris, but Hannah Brecht discovers the City of Light is no refuge from the anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathizers she thought she left behind. Heartbroken and tormented by the role she played in the betrayal that destroyed her family, Hannah throws herself into her work at the German Library of Burned Books. Through the quiet power of books, she believes she can help counter the tide of fascism she sees rising across Europe and atone for her mistakes. But when a dear friend decides actions will speak louder than words, Hannah must decide what stories she is willing to live—or die—for.

New York 1944. Since her husband Edward was killed fighting the Nazis, Vivian Childs has been waging her own war: preventing a powerful senator’s attempts to censor the Armed Service Editions, portable paperbacks that are shipped by the millions to soldiers overseas. Viv knows just how much they mean to the men through the letters she receives—including the last one she got from Edward. She also knows the only way to win this battle is to counter the senator’s propaganda with a story of her own—at the heart of which lies the reclusive and mysterious woman tending the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books in Brooklyn.

As Viv unknowingly brings her censorship fight crashing into the secrets of the recent past, the fates of these three women will converge, changing all of them forever.

Inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime—the WWII organization founded by booksellers, publishers, librarians, and authors to use books as “weapons in the war of ideas”—The Librarian of Burned Books is an unforgettable historical novel, a haunting love story, and a testament to the beauty, power, and goodness of the written word.” ...more

ELIZABETH’S 2024 BOOKS

The Storyteller of Auschwitz by Siobhan Curham

it was amazing

The Mystery of the Moon Tower by Francesco Sedita

it was amazing

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson

The Undertaker's Assistant by Amanda Skenandore

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister

The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar

it was amazing

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

it was amazing

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

it was amazing

The Librarian of Saint-Malo by Mario Escobar

really liked it

The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore

If Anything Happens To Me by Luanne Rice

Elizabeth’s last review of the year

really liked it

Very sweet book - predictable holiday ending but the same sweet love able characters!

“Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly’s mofinst joyful yet.

But w ...more

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