#10 – Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson – 2024 Best Reads

This has been a good year for reading. And a good year for taking stock of the state of literature in the 21st century. As we approach the quarter-century mark, The New York Times gave us two summary lists: a compilation of the best books of each year since 2000 and an ambitious attempt to identify the Top 100 of the century.

Here at Heartlands we haven’t attempted anything so grandiose yet, but we have been reading and, as we’ve done since 2017, we’re ready to spill some tea on the 2024 reading campaign.

The list is admittedly idiosyncratic. These are not all books published in 2024, although more recent books do get higher preference in the rankings. They are drawn from books read during the year by your humble editor, Alex Joyner, which means you’re always likely to see genres that don’t make other lists more heavily represented here: Texana, theology, poetry. And in a nod to our origins, books that speak to understanding this chaotic country also get some preference.

This year, I was also participating in a family reading challenge in which we were attempting to read one book from each of the last thirty years, beginning with 1994. I’m currently on the 2012 book, but going back to the past helped me fill in some gaps that show up in this list.

I’ll be rolling out the list over the next couple of weeks. Today, we start with Marilynne Robinson’s Reading Genesis, a theological exploration of the Bible’s first book. You can read my full review here. It’s more an essay than a fleshed out book and Robinson makes the unusual choice not to divide it into chapters, but she takes a refreshing look at characters you think you know and reminds us how these ancient stories speak to deep questions about evil, God, and the nature of humanity.

Like all of these Top 10 Reads, Reading Genesis is highly recommended.