Noteworthy Literature | 5 Favorites from 2024

I could go on and on about all of the wonderful novels and non-fiction pieces I have read this year. However, I have been inclined to choose three which will be listed below.

"The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert" | *a photo of a very used and second hand copy*

To start, I will share what is possibly my favorite novel of all time. The novel is entitled "The Signature of All Things" and is authored by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is a time period piece, and the voice of the narrator is an omniscient eye, eloquently describing the coming and goings of the coming of age story of one named Alma Whittaker. Her story is one of adventure and romance and grief and love and discovery. As Alma is a botanist, the novel includes a projection of imagery so beautiful that one can temporarily escape their own vision and be brought gently into Alma's very green, very lush, very long journey.

NOTEWORTHY QUOTE : "Our minds will speak across this narrow distance. It will be here, together, in nocturnal stillness, that we shall finally become unbound by time, by space, by natural law and physical law. We shall roam the world however we like, in our dreams. We shall speak with the dead, transform into animals and objects, fly across time. Our intellects shall be nowhere to be found, and our minds will be unfettered."

"The Convert" by Stefan Hertmans

The next mentionable pick of this year is The Convert byStefan Hertmans. This book was a rare find and a read unlike many others. It is a historical fictional, retelling of the ill-fated romance of Vigdis Adelaïs, a young woman who had been raised in a Christian family, and David Todros, a young man raised in Jewish tradition. These star-crossed lovers endure endless treacherous moments, in order to share a temporary forever that is beautifully detailed through careful word choice in this novel.

NOTEWORTHY QUOTE: "She has the feeling she's let go of everything and now is nowhere, in a place between, without a body of her own, without weight; she lies in a soft, soothing glow, a pool of flame that scorches and soothes her mind, a state between sleeping and dying, in which sorrow and mild euphoria can no longer be separated."

"Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer,

To follow, we have Braiding Sweetgrass a non-fiction, semi-biographical piece about the deep connection between nature and humanity. Author Robin Wall Kimmer, takes the reader on a journey to connect to the truths she'd discovered along her years of scientific research while working with nature and her time living amongst indigenous identified people. In this constantly modernizing world that can so often leave one feeling abruptly snatched from what is eternally true, Robin returns us to the knowledge of the character of earth, and the feeling of being grounded and being home.

NOTEWORTHY QUOTE: " Many indigenous people share the understanding that we are each endowed with a particular gift, a unique ability. Birds to sing and stars to glitter, for instance. It is understood that these gifts have a dual nature though: a gift is also a responsibility. If the bird's gift is a song, then it is the responsibility to greet the day with music. It is the duty of the bird to sing and the responsibility of us to perceive the song as a gift.

"All My Mother" by Joana Glen of us to perceive that song as a gift."

Similar to the first mention, we have All My Mothers by Joana Glen, to be noted as an outstanding depiction of sisterhood and the relatable journey of the transition from girlhood to womanhood. The main character, Eva, experiences love and infatuation and learns to differentiate the two while simultaneously discovering that many of things she once knew of herself were not true. Fortunately, upon this discovery, she is given the passion and the time to discover what is true of herself and, as hoped, what she finds is pleasing.

NOTEWORTHY QUOTE: "It is, surprisingly, possible to feel deep joy inside deep sadness - like Mr. Blue said, they all run together."

Finally, there is the Sea of Tranquility Emily St.John Mandel. This novel is quite quirky but does include an ode to pandemic and time travel. This can definitely be categorized as science fiction, but reads differently than any other science fiction piece I've experienced in the past. There is this constant transition of narrating perspectives that all intertwine to depict a possible reality, humanity at this very moment has yet to experience. Post-read, the reader is left with an ethereal and hazy sensation of reality, pensively contemplating the of plasticity of what could be, what is, and has never or ever been.

"Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel

NOTEWORTHY QUOTE: "No star burns forever."