LAPL鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

12,744

pages read

books read

LAPL Reads

Shortest Book

pages

The Fragile Threads of Power by Victoria E. Schwab

Longest Book

648

pages

Average book length in 2024

318

pages

Most Shelved

747,847

people also shelved

Least Shelved

people also shelved

LAPL鈥檚 average rating for 2024

4.0

really liked it

4.0

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.66 average

LAPL鈥檚 first review of the year

really liked it

Two weeks before their college graduation, a group of friends, who have become family during their college experience, must attend the funeral of one of their own. Alec has died of an apparent drug overdose and it shakes them all, Craig, Jordan, Jordy, Marielle, and Naomi, to their cores. Alec鈥檚 death causes them to question everything they know on the eve of venturing out into the 鈥渞eal world鈥� as adults. In response to their collective pain and Two weeks before their college graduation, a group of friends, who have become family during their college experience, must attend the funeral of one of their own. Alec has died of an apparent drug overdose and it shakes them all, Craig, Jordan, Jordy, Marielle, and Naomi, to their cores. Alec鈥檚 death causes them to question everything they know on the eve of venturing out into the 鈥渞eal world鈥� as adults. In response to their collective pain and confusion at the loss, Marielle suggests 鈥渢he pact鈥�: at any time in the coming years when they feel that they need it, any member of the group can call the rest of the group together for their 鈥渇uneral鈥�. This gathering will be a time when the others can celebrate the person who has called the gathering, telling them how much they love them and how much they mean to them. It is a chance to ensure that nothing is left unsaid, as they all felt things were with Alec.

As the years pass, some members of the group grow closer, while others drift apart. They collectively grow older, experiencing varied degrees and types of success. And then they receive the first request to gather for a needed funeral. . .

In The Celebrants, Steven Rowley puts a contemporary spin on The Big Chill, following a small group of friends forever bound together by a promise born of a tragedy as their lives were beginning. Readers are allowed to join the group each time the pact is triggered, getting re-acquainted with the group and they re-acquaint each other with who they are and where they are in their journeys. Along the way, there are births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and all sorts of other life events that affect the group, some of which trigger the pact.

Rowley鈥檚 characters are nicely drawn and their relationships always seem credible. Some of what happens at the gatherings may seem a bit implausible, but in that way the life often really is. Rowley emphasizes not only the importance of friendship, but also the special relationships that only seem to manifest during one鈥檚 early twenties and can, if tended, remain vital through someone鈥檚 entire life.

The Celebrants is a timely reminder to live life as fully as one can, that we rarely have to face life鈥檚 challenges alone, and that we should never leave things unsaid until it is too late to say them.

Reviewed by Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library ...more

尝础笔尝鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

really liked it

Midnight at the Houdini by Delilah S. Dawson

The World Central Kitchen Cookbook by Jos茅 Andr茅s

really liked it

But Will You Love Me Tomorrow? by Laura Flam

How Not to Be a Politician by Rory Stewart

Tanya Holland's California Soul by Tanya Holland

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan

really liked it

Leave Me Alone with the Recipes by Cip茅 Pineles

A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

really liked it

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke

Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles

really liked it

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Dj猫l铆 Clark

LAPL鈥檚 last review of the year

really liked it

As the 2024 Olympics in Paris ended, and the torch and flag were handed over to Mayor Karen Bass for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, I find it delightfully serendipitous to have read this book (a PhD dissertation, originally in French and now in English, about the beaches of Los Angeles) by Dr. Elsa Devienne. Talk about hands across the water!

Having grown up along southern California's coastline with its wonderful beaches, I never thought about As the 2024 Olympics in Paris ended, and the torch and flag were handed over to Mayor Karen Bass for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, I find it delightfully serendipitous to have read this book (a PhD dissertation, originally in French and now in English, about the beaches of Los Angeles) by Dr. Elsa Devienne. Talk about hands across the water!

Having grown up along southern California's coastline with its wonderful beaches, I never thought about the wide swaths of sand, except during the summer when it was always a trek across all that hot sand to get to the ocean. It never occurred to me that it could have been otherwise. Dr. Elsa Devienne peels back the history of the Los Angeles coastline and all that sand in this very approachable cultural, social, political, economic, and geographic history of our beaches and explores why"... the Los Angeles beaches have had far-reaching influence not just on the city but also on the metropolitan area's international prestige, economic vitality and quality of life." Jenny Price writes in the Foreword:

"There's little that's 'natural' about the Los Angeles coast in 2023... the LA region cleaned up and expanded these beaches from the 1930s to the 1960s. They remade the coastal environments. That's how you build a city, right? You have to remake your environments. Hugely鈥攁nd the essential question isn't whether. It's how. And, as Devienne shows so vividly, as we remake nature, we remake ourselves."

In the 1920s, the beaches of Los Angeles "were dirty, crowded, and eroded. Pollution from untreated sewage, industrial effluents, and oil extraction was a critical issue. Most of the coastline was private and inaccessible to the public." In those postwar years, there was a national movement led by The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association to improve conditions at beachfront areas. In Los Angeles, this movement was taken up by engineers, urban planners, business people, politicians, and city leaders. Groups such as the California Beaches Association and the Shoreline Planning Association were formed. During World War II, Los Angeles experienced rapid population growth, and after the war, civic leaders recognized the economic and civic importance of maintaining and expanding that growth. "Coastal engineers, together with business and civic leaders, accomplished the remarkable feat of enlarging the beaches鈥攗p to four times their original size鈥揵y adding large quantities of sand... a new coastal landscape sprang up... with large parking lots, sparkling-clean toilet facilities and nearby freeways." As with any rapid change, not only environmental, there would be positive and negative consequences, which Dr. Devienne explores and sets forth. From the 1920s onward, not just one long-range master plan was followed, but development and expansion took place in "fits and starts." Other plans would be developed, with ensuing positive and negative results.

In seven chapters (plus a significant historical introduction and epilogue), she presents past developments and consequences that have had domestic and international ramifications for Los Angeles, such as the city having hosted two previous Olympics (1932 and 1984) and hosting a third Olympics in 2028. here are other aspects that are examined: economic inequities, environmental repercussions, population density, racism, media imagery versus reality, and the consequences of that unique "sand rush" which elevated or diminished the quality of life for everyone鈥攔esidents and visitors alike.

For those of us who have never thought about the beaches of Los Angeles, except as they are vast and lovely, Dr. Elsa Devienne has written a compelling dissertation that is an enthralling, informative, and provocative exemplar of city planning.

Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction ...more

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