five 2024 book recs to stand out at your next dinner party
make yourself stand out as the only person to NOT mention Sally Rooney
(JK, Sally Rooney is fine) I read a lot of books this year (and DNF’d a couple but keep that between us). But there were a few titles that I quite literally could. not. put. down. The storylines were just too juicy and every minute not knowing what happened next was a minute too long. The following titles were consumed at lightning speed and the pace was engaging from beginning to end. These 5 books from my 2024 reading list are what I would bring up at a friend’s gathering if someone casually asked, ‘read any good books lately?’ Why yes, yes I have…..
This book follows main character Bonnie Lincoln who swiftly falls into psychosis following some traumatic events in her life. As luck would have it, she wins the lottery and is all at once propelled into a level of financial security that most of the world can only dream of. So what has Bonnie chosen to do with all this newfound money? She plans to move to an isolated mountain where she has spared no expense to recreate the set of her favorite comfort TV show, the 70’s sitcom ‘Three’s Company’. And then things get really deranged, really fast. This one comes highly recommended if you enjoy strange characters and women behaving badly.
This was an extremely easy read about some of life’s most difficult adulthood moments: the book centers around Toby Fleishman, a New York City doctor who should feel as accomplished in real life as he sounds on paper. In reality, Toby is dealing with the ending of a 15-year marriage, a stalled career, and feeling like something of a failure. (A failure who has also discovered the joys of near-instantaneous sex via dating apps, something that did not exist when he first tied the knot). One day, Toby’s typically hostile ex-wife doesn’t come to pick up the kids from his apartment and things start to spiral out of control from there. We navigate Toby’s reality as a divorced dad as he replays the last 15 years of his life to figure out where it all went off the rails. But don’t be fooled, this is not merely a sob story; it’s much more than that. It’s a poignant depiction of the tradeoffs we make in life, a dissection of the things we simultaneously lose and gain along the way. It will make you think, but not in an exhausting way.
The title probably gave it away but….this is yet another book about divorce. And based on the real life events of its author, Lyz, who came to her breaking point and ended her 12-year marriage. But unlike most female narratives about the ending of their marriages, Lyz’s voice is certainly sad and mournful but above all…. it’s triumphant. Instead of choosing to simply blame herself for her marriage ending (as many women tend to do especially considering they initiate the majority of divorces in America), Lyz takes a good, hard look at the traditional institution of marriage and how in many ways it is not designed for 2 people to have equity. Backed by statistics and personal anecdotes, Lyz makes the case for reassessing the pillars of the typical American marriage, which she argues are all but doomed to fail based on the inequities. While a lot of the anecdotes are nothing we haven’t seen, especially with the rise of social media content with women being open about dissolving their unions, the format in which divorce is discussed is easier to follow than the typical TikTok rant. And backed by sociological evidence too! We love that.
Word of warning: this book was WILD. It centers around the most hedonic parts of the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria and follows a cast of characters who are all to varying degrees letting the dark underbelly of the city ‘rot’ them from the inside out. (TW: there is m*rder, extortion, sex work that some might find disturbing just to name a few things). Honestly, I can’t even say much more than that because I don’t want to give away any details. It’s one of those books where you just have to read it to believe it. Here’s the excerpt from the actual book jacket:
“One weekend.
The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city.
A party that goes awry.
A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed.”
That said, I COULD NOT put this book down. I think I finished it in less than 72 hours, and that’s saying something.
It wouldn’t be a ‘Thoughtful Threads’ production without a little something from the fashion girlies! You wouldn’t know it by the title but this was a great autobiography about one of the most legendary sales associates at famed department store Bergdorf Goodman- Betty Halbreich. Betty is not a widely known name but she absolutely cemented herself into fashion history. She was the brains behind the personal styling department at Bergdorf’s and was a style guru for a number of notable clients. She often assisted Patricia Field and her team with style pulls for this little known show called ‘Sex and the City’......or something like that. But the most interesting takeaway from this book for me was reading a first hand account of how much the retail experience has shifted into something colder and more impersonal than it used to be on several fronts. Betty’s account of the shift between the old and new guard of retail was very illuminating regarding how luxury has gotten itself into such a mess today. Definitely a must read if you like clothes even a little bit!
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-xoxo Jenn
I haven’t read the American ex wife book yet buuut Lyz’ episode on the culture study pod was so good! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-study-podcast/id1718662839?i=1000645293674