My most unpopular opinion yet? 😬 | December 2024 Reading Wrap Up

[@JesseJaneReads]

My situation was nowhere near Walls’s in severity but when your parents are messed up, it breaks your normal meter. At some point in your adulthood, you can decide to face that unfortunate reality or bury your head deeper in the sand. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Walls may never be ready to see it. Because once you start seeing it, your perspective on your whole past changes. It’s like dominoes. How can she face living with her father’s parents in all its peril and still think her parents loved her? Both of those things cannot be true at the same time.

[@donahazelwood9263]

My brother died in 2023 and I read very little in 2024. I think it was a grief response, as I did the same thing in 2018, when my mother died. I am hoping 2025 is a better reading year.

[@abookolive]

I'm so sorry for your loss, Dona. That must be so hard. I hope 2025 is better for you - sending love ❤️

[@kChandler10]

@@donahazelwood9263 I'm sorry for your loss. My husband died October 2023. I found some comfort in reading, especially about grief. I found it easier to concentrate while listening to audio books. I hope you have a better reading year in 2025. ❤️

[@coryk1592]

My thoughts are with you in your loss. I hope you find peace in the happy memories of your mother and brother.

[@BooksInkandPaper]

I am SO relieved to hear your experience of The Glass Castle. I was in the field of chid advocacy for abused and neglected children for over 20 years. When this book came out, my team couldn't stop talking about it. I think she was even a speaker at a conference on child abuse once. And I tried. I really did. And I was horrified! And angry and so disappointed!!! I was shocked that so few people felt the same way I did, especially those professionals that I had worked with for so long. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinion - I didn't realize until just now how much I needed to hear this from someone who also understands what I was feeling.

[@abookolive]

I think part of what disturbed me so much is how much she writes from the perspective of her as a child (the language is SO simplistic that a young person could have written it) and it made me feel like I was watching a kid get abused in real time...and yet I had no way to step in. If Walls wasn't writing this to speak out against the kind of abuse she endured and instead excused away her parents awful behavior (the scene in which her mother keeps that jewelry to help her "self-esteem" instead of selling it to feed the kids and Jeannette thinking it was okay because yes, her mother's self esteem did need a boost - that still has my blood boiling), then I just don't know what this book was FOR besides shock value. I know many people believe that people should be able to tell their stories no matter what, but she's asking for money for this. And she's also telling the stories of her siblings when she isn't even in contact with one of them anymore, so there's zero way for them to consent to their story being put out there. Just gross all around.

[@TiggerTellsTales]

@@abookolive Isn’t that Jeanette’s perspective in the glass castle? It seems like you’re expecting her to adopt your perspective. Please correct me if I’m wrong. As a child of an abusive home and also a person who spent half her childhood in the foster care system I can attest that she will never look at her childhood the way someone in a nonabusive situation does. That was her norm. She doesn’t want her family to go to prison anymore than you do. It’s just not that simple. I get your outrage but I don’t think it’s the authors job to make anyone comfortable or take the position you’re requiring. This was her story, shaped by a childhood only she and her siblings experienced. It is difficult to explain to those who were not raised in highly abusive situations that there is also fierce love, good times and a longing for family that someone in a happy home can take for granted. I know it’s coming from a good place and I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings but as a former foster child your remarks made me sad. Memoirs would never get written if everyone needed to give permission. What you’re suggesting plays right into the hands of silencing the abused who deserve to be heard. People need to hear their stories so they know they are not alone. Thank you for listening. It’s absolutely fine if you delete this comment after reading.

[@abookolive]

@TiggerTellsTales It's the author's job to have perspective in a memoir they're selling. I'm not asking her to see the experience my way or to feel like she has to remain silent about what she went through, but if she wasn't (or isn't) able to have perspective on her story, I don't think it's appropriate to sell a memoir about it. To me, it's the equivalent of someone who was abducted writing a memoir while they're still actively experiencing Stockholm syndrome: their feelings in that moment would be valid, but we as readers would know they're not seeing things clearly because of their trauma. There's far too much unhealed trauma in this book and I feel VERY uncomfortable being invited into that. I don't think that's what a memoir should be. It's not therapy, it's a product you're selling to an audience. I'm not critiquing her story. I'm critiquing the job she did with the book. That's my role as a book critic.

[@TiggerTellsTales]

@ Thanks for your reply. 🙏I disagree that she doesn’t have perspective or that we can know whether her trauma is healed or not but I’m comfortable agreeing to disagree. I will think over your comment that books are not therapy and products for sale. Not sure how I feel about that yet. I’m a very open person and probably lean towards books being many things. Discourse/discussion is why we explore other’s opinions and we read to gather knowledge outside our own. I respect your thoughts and opinions as a book critic. Being close to the situation in the book obviously gives me a completely different perspective on this one.

[@BooksInkandPaper]

@@abookolive yes to all of the. It was the way it was told and the way she lessened the impact of what they had done that got me too.

[@JillYoung-v7p]

I appreciate your perspective on various books. I enjoy the variety of titles and subjects you share. Keep being you!

[@abookolive]

Thanks, Jill! Really appreciate you being here ❤️

[@letsmakeamesstoday]

Thank you! Happy New year! Love your passion & conviction! ❤❤❤

[@DebraKroupa]

Dear Olive, I am so glad I found you!! I love your choices of books and how enthusiastic your reviews are!! I was wondering if you would ever consider doing a video on your weight loss journey and the books that helped you along the way. Many of us have this journey too, and your looking fantastic, any hints would be a great help...Happy New Year!!

[@jessabelle990]

I love hearing your perspective on books; you always present your thoughts in a way that's concise and good to listen to. I was one of the people who had a not so great reading year in 2024. Here's hoping 2025 will be better!

[@TriumphalReads]

I read The Gene earlier this year and thought it was fantastic as well. I need to get his other works now. Great vid!

[@SarahAsYouWish]

I “enjoyed” The Glass Castle mostly because of how jaw-dropping Walls’ childhood was. I couldn’t begin to fathom the way she was raised. It was like looking into another world. That said, I completely agree that her parents were abusive and neglectful, though she might not be willing to see it that way. I wish her all the best, regardless.

[@abookolive]

I wish her the best as well! It seems like she's created a wonderful life for herself, despite everything.

[@kChandler10]

I couldn't finish The Women, a very popular book. I couldn't take the repetition of the living conditions and the detailed descriptions of injuries. I know the second half was different, but I was done. I enjoyed this video, Olive. I think you are exactly on target regarding the Glass Castle. I like your insight, balanced perspectives, and honesty. Thank you!

[@abookolive]

I've heard some *interesting* things about The Women, so I imagine I'd feel very similarly about it if I picked it up (which I don't plan to, haha). I should have followed your lead and DNF-ed The Glass Castle like you did with The Women! No sense in getting myself this worked up.

[@dianewalker9154]

On Christmas Eve, I read The Nutcracker. I’ve seen the ballet many times but never read the story. It was enchanting.

[@lisahall2577]

Looking forward to your next video Olive !!

[@abookolive]

😊

[@joyceredman2136]

2024 was a good reading year for me with a lot of 4-5 star reads, a few DNFs and one 2 star read. I only read 40 books but I really loved most of them. Whenever I read a book that is just not me, I stop reading it. I will not force myself to read something that I just cannot connect with anymore. I ask myself what will I have gained from reading this book? If its unhappiness, frustration, or dissatisfaction, I stop reading it. I don't need a fairy tale ending. I read Brotherless Night which won the Women's Prize for fiction and it was devasting, but I learned so much about Sri Lanka, the culture, the people, that I never knew before. I just need to get something out of a book for me to appreciate the time I took to read it. I am hoping that 2025 will continue to be a good reading year too.

[@abookolive]

I'm so pleased to hear 2024 was good to you in the book department! Your policy you describe here is a great one; I want to follow in your example in 2025. I've become better about putting down books that aren't doing anything for me, but I know I could do even better.

[@Showtunediva]

We vibe the same about The Glass Castle Olive. I had to DNF it. I LOVED Hang The Moon.🌕

[@abookolive]

Hang the Moon was so good!! I wish I would have just reread that instead.

[@Showtunediva]

I think I might write a historical fiction set in the time period. It was so interesting.

[@reginabrown5059]

I couldn’t finish Flight either! I feel exactly everything you said! Love your channel!

[@JesseJaneReads]

We’re in a bustling slice of suburbia so we’ve got several deer who hang around. I’ve got a chihuahua. I take out of our condo to do her business when she does the micro-bork (boof). I assume she’s posturing for another dog. Nope. A full grown doe is less than 20 feet from our (automatic, glass) door. Chihuahua starts barking in earnest and the doe decides to leave.

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

December 1. The Marvelous Land of Oz by Frank L. Baum 2. Passage to India by E.M. Forester 3. Dragonshadow by: Elle Katherine White 4. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano Like my other reading years there were good months and bad months, but overall, it was good if not great.

[@launchedathousand]

May have to pick up the 12 Birds of Christmas next December. I remember someone else reading Glass Castle closer to when it was released and they just couldn't get into it, I think it was that lack of reflection for them too from what I remember.

[@BernasBookishAdventures]

I am so glad that you liked a modern Turkish classic also very beloved in my country 🙋🏻‍♀️❤️ I was also very angry at the parents in the Glass Castle and said in my review “they should never have children” 😡😡

[@JesseJaneReads]

I like your sweater vest

[@km356]

Im also confused about all of the direct quotes in The Glass Castle. How can it be a non fiction memoir when those definitely weren't the exact words used by the people saying them (unless she tape recorded her entire life), yet they're presented that way.

[@karenmiller1105]

I prefer an honest review even if it’s not the popular opinion. Also I love hearing about books that not everyone is reading. Thanks.

[@abookolive]

Glad you feel that way! Although my life would be a lot easier if I just loved everything I read 😂

[@novelideea]

I haven't read Gene, but I did read Song of the Cell and I really was amazed at how engaging it was. You aren't alone in your thoughts on The Glass Castle. I had friends try to get me to read it for years and I did finally begin it, but I couldn't . Just. No. I read a novella this last year that I wonder if you would enjoy. Jamila by Chingiz Aitmatov. It was a part of WW2 I had never read about, and without war being the central the story on page. I thought of you while I was reading it, so I thought I'd mention it.

[@abookolive]

That's great to know about The Song of the Cell since I'll be reading that one this year. I will absolutely check out Jamilia - thanks for the recommendation (and for thinking of me)!

[@leslie8423]

My perspective on Jeanette Walls is that she has forgiven her parents (yes, flawed and mentally unstable though they were), and I felt that she DOES address/recognize her upbringing as abuse and neglect, but that she could also see beyond the trauma to write this book as a tribute to “the glass castle”. I believe her older sister felt Jeanette “romanticized” their childhood, but it’s Jeanette’s story and the sister can write her own book, right? I have also heard Walls speak publicly about writing her memoir, so I’m also basing my opinion on what she said to the audience. Now having written that, you are certainly entitled to your opinions and you should never hold back! I love to see you get passionate about keeping our children safe! 👏👏 If you want to listen to a great audio book about abuse and parental love (traumatic childhood) listen to Viola Davis’ Finding Me! That was my favorite nonfiction book of 2024. Gut wrenching! Happy Reading in 2025!

[@unboundbookishnotions7373]

I myself found the Glass Castle a powerful story of how she was able to rise above her upbringing. I didn't feel like she romanticized their neglect. She tells it from a place of love for people that are/were extremely flawed. I read it twice, once on my own and the other was for a college English class. We talked at length in that class about how she decides not to crucify her parents while sharing her childhood. I can identify with that choice. It is hard to know that people have children that shouldn't. It's hard to know that people with mental illness fall through the cracks and their children were/are collateral damage. I think what I found from this book was how big her heart is even with all she went through. I watched several interviews with her and I can relate so much. I think that's why people love and loved this book.

[@badfaith4u]

I loved The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene. His next book The Song of the Cell is on my TBR list.

[@abookolive]

I'll be reading The Song of the Cell this year! Very excited.

[@marallshouse6831]

I finished Flight per your TBR and gave it 3⭐️ I have Dressed For a Dance In the Snow checked out from the library. I read Glass Castle years ago and remember the abuse or neglect mentioned in the book. I enjoy your recommendations, keep them coming.

[@coffemuse]

Your deer story reminds me of back when I was first learning to drive. I was out on a country road and it was dark. I saw a kangaroo and slowed to a near stop. This kangaroo kept coming at my car, bumped into the front, and started flopping around underneath it! This roo was feeling suicidal! It lived, and so did I, but it was stressful. It's odd, but my dim memory of reading The Glass Castle looong ago, is of it being simply an abuse memoir written in an accessible way. Clearly I missed a vast amount of subtext there, or else my memory has changed it over the years.

[@curiousgirlreader]

I love your content and have picked up many of your recommendations. Could you link to the Regency Solitaire card game you mentioned? I'd love to try it out. Off to pick up INFUSED: ADVENTURES IN TEA!

[@abookolive]

Of course! Here's the site: www.greyaliengames.com/regencysolitaire/ Another option: www.bigfishgames.com/us/en/games/8505/regency-solitaire/?pc&lang=en Or if you use Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/351090/Regency_Solitaire/ ...there's also a sequel if you want more after you finish the first one!

[@mariyamak]

I haven't read The Glass Castle but I very much agree with your point on perspective and control of the story. Any memoir I've read that just details the facts - no matter how interesting - is, at best, forgettable, even when I am intersted in the person and it's well written. The best ones are always reflective.

[@AthynVixen]

Absolutely agree with you on The Glass Castle. That was abuse. I thought that so strongly as i was reading it. Never seen anyone have the same opinion.

[@ChaoticBibliophile]

I bought The Glass Castle secondhand and before I could get to it, I started hearing similar negative things so I unhauled it and I haven’t looked back. It’s good to know it was the right call. It’s a shame about your experience with your 2024 list, but I’m glad you’re now prioritizing books that you feel you’ll like rather than just the big nonfiction books. I understand wanting to be in the loop but also life’s too short for mid books, I say!

[@buddhabillybob]

I am in awe of how much you read! How do you do it? I want to read THE GENE. Thanks for another fantastic video.

[@abookolive]

I had a lot more free time in December and I barely did anything but read 🤣

[@joanneskinner5169]

I love, love, love The Twelve Birds of Christmas!

[@abookolive]

It really is a special one, isn't it? I thought it would be a nice, but forgettable little read, but it brought so much substance and fun!

[@MarcelaChandía]

I'm the opposite, if a book is popular unless it has been over a century, but if it's popular now I most certainly don't want to read it 😅 I like Stephen Moss very much, although The Twelve Birds of Christmas wasn't my favourite either. By him, I adore The Accidental Countryside and I also recommend Birds Britannia

[@angelaluz405]

My reading year was aggressively average.Fingers crossed this year is better.

[@abookolive]

Aggressively average - I feel you on that one! I'm manifesting a better reading year for us in 2025 🔮

[@caroltanzi29]

Olive: you are right on with The Glass Castle. When I finished that book, l saw that she really hadn’t realized yet about what really had happened while growing up. It boils down to the fact, she’s not ready to see it. It is just too painful. What else can you say? Carol from California

[@abookolive]

If she's not ready to see it, she doesn't have to! I just don't think she should be selling a memoir, then.

[@caroltanzi29]

I do understand this. However, I can’t help but think this just may be part of her therapy.

[@abookolive]

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't sell tickets to my therapy sessions - which is what selling this book feels like, unfortunately.

[@caroltanzi29]

Yes, you’re absolutely correct about that!

[@rosegarden3232]

Thank you very much for an interesting video! For me it was a good reading year. My overall favorite book was "The invention of nature: Alexander von Humboldt's new world" by Andrea Wulf - a phenomenal book about a phenomenal person. Reg. deer, one of my most favorite books that I've ever read is "Gift of the deer" by Helen Hoover, about a family of deer she observed over a year near her home in northern Minnesota. Each deer had a personality of its own, and they didn't necessarily behave in a way the species as a whole is described. This book really stayed with me, and if you're interested in these animals, I can't recommend it highly enough. Best wishes for a great reading year in 2025!

[@abookolive]

So happy to hear 2024 was a good reading year for you! I've really been wanting to read The Invention of Nature and that deer book sounds like a great follow up to The Age of Deer - thanks so much for recommending it!

[@NotMyGumDropButtons.444]

23:26 LOL WOW

[@illustratorsam]

I haven’t read The Glass Castle, but I had those similar feelings about Jennette McCurdy’s memoir. She never confronts her mother’s abuse, and I couldn’t stand that. I don’t understand why people love that book.

[@abookolive]

I see where you're coming from. For what it's worth, I personally felt McCurdy was far more aware of the abuse than Walls (and I suspect that's because McCurdy has likely been in therapy).

[@JudyGraves-ws7yl]

Agree on The Glass Castle! Also feel that Svetlana Alexievich can do no wrong. Her writing is stunning while her topics are grueling.

[@abookolive]

Couldn't agree more - Alexievich's books pay respect to the people and events she covers even as the revelations break your heart. I am still haunted by Voices from Chernobyl.

[@Allison1111]

I actually watched the movie adaptation of The Glass Castle (Brie Larson is in it), never read the book. I was sitting there waiting for that moment of realization from her and was kind of sad and horrified that it never came. It was very much "My childhood was so quirky and different, nope no issues here". The end of the movie showed a clip of the real life author talking fondly about her dad, I was just shocked. He abused and isolated you and your siblings!

[@RachelParker-1977]

The first book sounds intriguing. 9:53 Demon Copperhead did this for me. I enjoyed the novel, but there are a legion of characters. 19:58-24:37 THANK YOU! Although I enjoyed the novel, I HATE Jeannette's masochism... especially when she discovers that they had land that could have saved them from poverty, but her stupid parents refused to sell it!!!

[@boogsassy1]

I hit a deer, a 8pt buck. It was huge. My late father was with me. He slid onto the hood of my car and his antlers went through the windshield. We were all stunned especially the deer. He shook the glass off of him and literally stared at us for at least a minute and then leaped off my car and went back into the woods. I think I need The Age of Deer because now they visit me in my yard .🤣 That was a story my father and I talked about for many years.

[@ireallyamjomarch]

2024 was pretty difficult for me too. I had a higher overall rating than 2023, but way less new favorites. I really struggled to stay with books too, I put some many books down that I knew were objectively good.

[@abookolive]

That was my experience, too! It was the year of the 3 or 4 star book, but so few were favorites. Kind of makes the year feel like a slog - at least it did for me 🫤

[@ireallyamjomarch]

@@abookoliveI agree. It’s almost depressing. But I’m trying not to put too much stock in it. Just like in life we have ups and downs.

[@elizabeth-betsyjohnson7195]

Holy crap everyone LOVES The Glass Castle!! I read it when it first came out & REALLY disliked it 😂. I finally feel seen😂

[@susanbybee1458]

My jaw was on the floor during most of my reading of The Glass Castle, and I remember reading an interview with Walls in which she said something to the effect that she wrote the book like a Rorschach test, meaning that the reader could interpret the parents as they saw fit. So I've recommended the book over the years to see if people had the same WTF?! reaction. I've never read it again. Don't need to. It's disturbingly clear in my mind. I can smell the stink and squalor.

[@abookolive]

I'm with you re: the jaw on the floor thing! But I find that Rorschach test comment from her to be a cop-out. Readers are always going to have their own feelings about people in books - real or imagined. But in a memoir, I would expect the author to make her OWN opinions on her OWN experiences clear. Otherwise, what's the point? She excludes condemnation of her parents' actions and it reads as her believing this was okay. Maybe she doesn't actually feel that way, but I have no way of knowing that.

[@halfmanhalfbook]

Stephen Moss is a great author, read everything of his that you can! I haven't yet met him, but one day! My rule of thumb is hype = nope now

[@karakask5488]

I wouldn't describe my reading year as hard, just meh. I wasn't too excited about anything, really. But I think that also might be a reflection on my year as a whole. 2024 tried to break me a few times, so that's more likely it than the actual books

[@helenricotta5106]

I also hated The Glass Castle. I read it when it first came out and could never understand why it was so highly rated. I cannot accept rationalization of abuse.

[@abookolive]

I think people rate it highly because they felt for the author and then there's the shock value of the story. But I don't believe having strong feelings toward a book makes it a *good* book. Her story is heartbreaking. She's a good person. But the memoir is bad.

[@meghrz6383]

The answer to the question in the thumbnail (why do I always hate the popular books?) : Berkson’s fallacy

[@NaeOnYT]

"She lives in Lawrenceville--" You sonuvabitch, I'm in.

[@abookolive]

hahahahaha, yes! The author clearly adores Lawrenceville, so you're in for a treat! It definitely got me craving a trip there, I'll say that.

[@NotMyGumDropButtons.444]

ｔｈａｔ　ｓｗｅａｔｅｒ　ｖｅｓｔ 💜💚💜💚 ʕっ• ᴥ • ʔっ

[@MMjones6459]

I had more DNF books in 2024 than ever before 😢. But I did have a handful of five stars books also. And read quite a few others outside my comfort zone. I have Eleanore on hold from your previous video's enthusiasm.

[@abookolive]

Oh no! But some five stars in there - that's great! Hope you enjoy Eleanore as much as I did 😊

[@HierarchyofReads]

Also: The 12 Birds of Christmas book is one I’m going to pick up-I was JUST talking with my partner and questioning what the heck that song is about as I’ve spent all day, every day listening to it in December because my one year old is OBSESSED. 😂❤ Thanks for sharing!

[@jmsl_910]

i love when you post! your recs are unique-- not every sane book a l😢t of others review

[@mame-musing]

Yes, “Flight” was a big bore with too many members of a partially functional family. Couldn’t DNF because it was my book club’s choice. None of us loved it. As I read The Glass Castle a few years ago, I just kept getting more and more angry at the completely irresponsible and immature behavior of the parents not the author. Unfortunately, these folks went on to have four children and made their childhoods pretty miserable. Both of them had mental health issues of one kind or another.

[@abookolive]

Oh, I was never angry at the author. I think I said as much in the video. But I believe if she didn't want to/wasn't able to/for whatever reason couldn't call their behavior abusive, it's not responsible to put this book on the market.

[@HierarchyofReads]

I read Madonna in a Fur Coat years back and all I remembered about the story was the painting and that I really enjoyed it-I think 2025 will include a reread for me! It’s so short, I’ve got nothing to lose! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@StephanieP1901]

I hated Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which doesn’t go down well with many folks. I couldn’t stand her attitude, probably because I too lost my mother but managed to not become an addict and destroy my relationship. Happily, I’ve never shot a horse and screwed it up, either. I hate her to this day, and it’s been years since I threw that book in a dumpster.

[@lindaege123]

I don't know why but I thought you had a sister

[@abookolive]

I do, a half sister! We weren't raised together.

[@jdesarro73]

I also really disliked The Glass Castle. It was ugly and horrible to read.

[@abookolive]

It's nice to know I'm not alone in that, but I'm sorry you felt that way as well 😔

[@dianewalker9154]

I read Babel because everyone seemed to gush over it. I thought it was predictable, that the author just loved to throw Chinese vocabulary at us, characters were two dimensional, and I found it just meh. To me, Babel is way overhyped.