So here we are, the last week of 2024, and as promised, I have the very last book recommendation for you. This time around, I’m going to talk about my top five reads of 2024. I have to say, it wasn’t an easy task trying to distill the 50+ books I read this year into just five. Some of these books are classics, while others are more contemporary, but most of them were new reads for me.

Hey everyone, this is Og Maciel with another exciting book recommendation from Bellwether. This week, I’m bringing you a young adult book that I first read back in 2021—Holes by Louis Sachar. The story revolves around Stanley Yelnats, a young kid who one day finds himself unexpectedly in trouble. While walking down the street, a pair of sneakers suddenly fall from the sky and land on him. Before Stanley knows it, he’s being accused of stealing those sneakers!

Hey everyone, this is Og Maciel with another book recommendation from Bellwether. This week, I’m bringing you a classic that had me hooked right from the start—The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. A few weeks ago, I recommended Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. After reading that book, I stumbled upon an article on The Paris Review where Murray mentioned some of the books that inspired him, and one of them was The Chocolate War.

Every now and then, my wife and I inadvertently catch ourselves reminiscing about the time when we first met and started dating, our decision to get married, and the choice to have a daughter “right away.” These and many other decisions from our past have shaped our destiny and influenced our growth as partners, parents, professionals, and decent human beings. We often find ourselves grappling with the quintessential question: given the chance to go back in time, would either one of us change any of those decisions?

“A Confederacy of Dunces” is a brilliantly crafted novel that stands out for its humor, memorable characters, and satirical portrayal of society. Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the most unforgettable protagonists in literature, with his outrageous behavior, comically inflated ego, and skewed worldview providing endless amusement. His interactions with the diverse cast of characters, from his beleaguered mother to the various denizens of New Orleans, are both hilarious and insightful.

"Dandelion Wine" is a masterful exploration of the beauty and complexity of life through the eyes of a young boy. Bradbury's prose is both lyrical and precise, capturing the fleeting moments of joy, wonder, and melancholy that define childhood. The novel's structure, composed of interconnected vignettes, allows readers to experience the richness of Green Town and its inhabitants in a deeply personal way. The sensory details in "Dandelion Wine" are particularly striking.

It was with a bit of trepidation that I started this book, being that there was a lot of hype about it and the assumptions I had made from this hype and what the 'Zen' part of its title implied. My concern being that I didn't want to set myself for disappointment if the book didn't live up to the (very) high expectations I had. I must say, this book is very dense and it was not an easy read.