Sara Tieman is not only an ace Promotions & PR Manager for WGN Radio, but she is also a voracious reader (and world traveler!) who has once again read nearly 100 books this year! She joins John Williams to discuss some of the best books she read in 2024. You can check out her entire list below. John Williams also provides a list of the books that he really enjoyed this year. Need a last-minute stocking stuffer? Look no further!

Sara’s Top Picks:
Sipsworth (2024) – Simon Van Booy
There are Rivers in the Sky (2024) – Elif Shafak
James (2024) – Percival Everett
The Women (2024) – Kristin Hannah
Demon Copperhead (2022) – Barbara Kingsolver
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space (2024) – Adam Higginbotham
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (2024) – Hampton Sides
The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning (2024) – A.J. Jacobs
All the Colors of the Dark (2024) – Chris Whitaker

Sara’s Full 2024 Reading List (as of 12/20/2024):
Of the 88 books, 49 are fiction and 39 are nonfiction (11 were audiobooks)

1. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride





2. The Postcard – Anne Berest





3. Unbound – Tarana Burke





4. Accidentally Engaged – Farah Heron





5. Playing Under the Piano: From Downton to Darkest Peru – Hugh Bonneville





6. Thicker than Water: A Memoir – Kerry Washington





7. Reykjavik: A Crime Story – Ragnar Jónasson & Katrín Jakobsdóttir





8. Can’t we talk about something more pleasant?: A Memoir – Roz Chast





9. Code Name Sapphire – Pam Jenoff





10. Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times – Katherine May





11. Tom Lake – Ann Patchett





12. The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill – Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch





13. The Fury – Alex Michaelides





14. Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame – Olivia Ford





15. When You Trap a Tiger – Tae Keller





16. Stash: My Life in Hiding – Laura Cathcart Robbins





17. Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries and Just One More Page Before Lights Out – Shannon Reed





18. The Faraway World – Patricia Engel





19. Girl Abroad – Ellen Kennedy





20. What the River Knows – Isabel Ibañez





21. The End of the World is a Cul de Sac – Louise Kennedy





22. Seven Days in June – Tia Williams





23. The Women – Kristin Hannah





24. Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver





25. Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted – Suleika Jaouad





26. How to Solve Your Own Murder – Kristen Perrin





27. H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z – Elizabeth Kolbert





28. Size Zero: How I Survived My Life as a Model – Victoire Dauxerre





29. The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir – RuPaul





30. The Great Divide – Christina Henríquez





31. Blackmail and Bibingka – Mia P. Manansala





32. Wake Up with Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years – Sister Jean with Seth Davis





33. Hunger Winter: A WWII Novel – Rob Currie





34. Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space – Adam Higginbotham





35. The Cemetery of Untold Stories – Julia Alvarez





36. Sipsworth – Simon Van Booy





37. Rabbit Heart: A Mother’s Murder, A Daughter’s Story – Kristine S. Ervin





38. Notes from a Small Island – Bill Bryson





39. The Years of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning – A.J. Jacobs





40. Sociopath: A Memoir – Patric Gagne, PhD





41. Table for Two – Amor Towles





42. Funny Story – Emily Henry





43. Unbecoming a Lady: The Forgotten Sluts and Shrews who Shaped America – Theres ONeil





44. What the Constitution Means to Me – Heidi Schreck





45. Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder – Salman Rushdie





46. This Summer Will Be Different – Carley Fortune





47. My Side of the River: A Memoir – Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez





48. Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books – Kirsten Miller





49. The Midnight Feast – Lucy Foley





50. James – Percival Everett





51. I Want You to Know We’re Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir – Esther Safran Foer





52. The In Crowd – Charlotte Vassell





53. A Place in the World: Finding the Meaning of Home – Frances Mayes





54. The German Wife – Kelly Rimmer





55. Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britan – Amy Jeffs





56. If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska – Heather Lende





57. Eruption – Michael Crichton & James Patterson





58. This Book Won’t Burn – Samira Ahmed





59. The God of the Woods – Liz Moore





60. The Lion Women of Tehran – Marjan Kamali





61. All the Colors of the Dark – Chris Whitaker





62. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood – Marjane Satrapi





63. Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever – Gavin Edwards





64. The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd – Daphne Geanacopoulos





65. We Solve Murders – Richard Osman





66. Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond – Henry Winkler





67. something lost, something gained – reflections on life, love, and liberty – Hillary Rodham Clinton





68. The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie – Rachel Linden





69. The Friday Afternoon Club: A Memoir – Griffin Dunne





70. The Chai Factor – Farah Heron





71. A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall – Jasmine Warga





72. There Are Rivers in the Sky – Elif Shafak





73. The Other Side of Disappearing – Kate Clayborn





74. Book Lovers – Emily Henry





75. The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House – Nancy Pelosi





76. Margo’s Got Money Troubles – Rufi Thrope





77. Slow Dance – Rainbow Rowell





78. Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm – Isabella Tree





79. One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls – Kate Kennedy





80. Blue Sisters – Coco Mellors





81. Sipsworth – Simon Van Booy





82. One Day in December – Josie Silver





83. Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus – Sandi Toksvig





84. The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook – Hampton Sides (70 pages to the end!)





85. Trash Talk: An Eye-Opening Exploration of Our Planet’s Dirtiest Problem – Iris Gottlieb (currently reading)





86. The Writing Life – Annie Dillard (currently reading)





87. Mr. Dickens and His Carol: A Novel – Samantha Silva (currently reading)





88. The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science – Dava Sobel (up next)

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