What counts as a "five-star" read?

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	Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more “Receiving Downtime is the highlight of my week!” “I’ve been a longtime reader for years and finally decided to upgrade my subscription.” Join in! Paid subscribers unlock exclusive content, gain access to reader chats, the full archives, giveaways, and more—and your support directly helps grow the newsletter (and pay our editors, designers, and collaborators!). Subscriptions are $5/month or $4/month if paid annually. Upgrade to paid Recs #74: My favorite reads of 2024, bookish goals, and the excitement of a new planner What counts as a "five-star" read? Alisha Ramos Jan 3   READ IN APP   Hi! It’s been a while since I last wrote! I hope you had the loveliest, coziest holiday and enjoyed all the baked goods and rewatches of The Holiday. No one warned me about just how, erm, challenging, for lack of a better word, the period between Christmas and New Year’s would be with a toddler and no childcare. Let’s just say our screen time rules went out the window by the end of it all and our daughter now asks for “Elmo” when she sees the remote. 🫠 Downtime is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing my favorite books I read in 2024, some reading goals for 2025, and all the fun links that were open in my tabs this week (including a link to my favorite planner). Enjoy! —Alisha My top 10 favorite reads of 2024, ranked. I read somewhere between 40 to 50 books this year. For me, a rather slow reader, this was a fantastic reading year, not only in the amount of books I read but also the quality of them. The reading didn’t just happen, though. I made an intentional decision in the back half of the year to spend less time on my phone (setting an app limit for Instagram helped some; deleting it sometimes helped a lot) and more time reading. Most of my reading time happened after my daughter’s bedtime routine, on the couch, and right before bed. This year, I also made it a personal goal of mine to read books more deeply and closely (namely, writing lots of annotations in the margins and highlighting favorite lines), ultimately making reading a much more fulfilling activity for me. Most of the books I read this year, minus audiobooks and ebooks. With that said, here are my favorite books, ranked… Good Material by Dolly Alderton. My kind of humor (dry and British) with a clever ending that felt unexpected but satisfying. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. This book left me speechless and wondering why I had never read O’Farrell’s work. The first paragraph is one of the best I have ever read. It was totally transportive. If you’re a historical fiction fan, don’t miss this one. James by Percival Everett. Moving, inventive, funny, horrifying at times — this retelling of Huckleberry Finn is a must read and worthy of all the hype, awards, and accolades. The #1 question I got on Instagram was whether you need to have read Huck Finn first, and the answer is a resounding NO!, although I’m sure it would be a more enriching reading experience if you do have that context. *sold out on Bookshop, linking Amazon Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. Humor and heart and a wholly original story. Can’t wait for the adaptation! (Don’t miss my interview with Rufi here!) Real Americans by Rachel Khong. A book that stayed with me long after I finished it. (Read my interview with Rachel here.) Come and Get It by Kiley Reid. People seemed to be really divided on this one. This book was just so fun for me to read. The reveal about the character Kennedy was unexpected and so good. The whole book just felt like I was eavesdropping on college students. Kiley Reid really nailed all the voices. Sure, I was annoyed with the stupid decisions some of the characters I made, but I was just along for the ride. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. My first real “thriller/mystery” read — this book felt so cinematic in nature. That’s the best word to describe it. From the first page onward, you will be hooked. The ending gave me chills. This Motherless Land by Nikki May. A decolonialized retelling of Mansfield Park that’s got humor, love, tragedy, and a novel of manners-esque writing. I enjoyed it from beginning to end, and I’m now part of the Nikki May fan club after chatting with her for this Downtime interview. Bookmarked with Nikki May December 11, 2024 This email is long and may be cut off. You can view the web version here. Read full story The Wedding People by Alison Espach. I hated the beginning (too dark, too morose). But I stuck with it and reaped the rewards. I’d almost categorize this as a “literary romance” as I did enjoy the romance element of it… Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell. This was my first YA fantasy read in quite some time; the adventure of it all had me turning these pages. Rundell’s writing is beautiful, poetic, and shows a real empathy and respect for young children and follows in the spirit of C.S. Lewis. She’s also written an essay titled, Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise, which I think we can all agree is the best title. Impossible Creatures is filled with this similar type of wink-wink humor I love. As an aside, what counts as a “five-star” book for you? Leave a comment - I’d love to hear. Leave a comment Here’s *my* rubric for what counts as a “favorite” read… Was it enjoyable to read? Did I have fun? Did I speed through it, or did it feel like a slog to get through? Did it stick the landing? This is important! I don’t love reading just for the vibes—I want a story to feel complete and resolved. I want it to feel satisfying and/or surprising in some way. When an author sticks the landing, I typically feel an intensity of emotion after reading that final sentence, whether that’s wistfulness, surprise, or just feeling plan moved. On a sentence and language / literary level, was it fantastic? I love when an author’s sentences make me stop and just appreciate the poetry or lyrical quality of their writing. My readings goals for 2025 Quality over quantity. Rather than reading a set number of books, I want to make sure I’m fully engaged when I’m reading. For me, that often translates to annotating or close reading passages. More backlist. I was pretty set on reading 2024 releases last year. This year, I want to go back to books I meant to read but never did (like The Safekeep…). Trying out more audiobooks. I’d love your recs! I’m reading more on audio now during chores, dishes, folding laundry, etc… Continue to lean into exploring other genres. I opened myself up to romance and thrillers this year for the first time (shout out to Such A Fun Age by Olivia Muenter, another favorite!). I want to continue to challenge myself to get outside of my literary fiction bubble. Read more fantasy! That’s it. I loved fantasy as a middle/high schooler and I sort of got into A Court of Thorns & Roses, but didn’t really read any of that this year. I can feel 2025 as being the year of fantasy for me. Take my Kindle everywhere. I never want to be without a book! My favorite holiday gift: this cute Kindle cover from a small biz! Fun Links What’s in my open tabs this week… Hoping someone invites me to their board game club! Saving all the cozy inspiration for an upcoming refresh of my home office — I love the warmth of this one. (The dog bed!) Spending alllll my money on planners, notebooks, and pens. I got this one from Leuchtteurm. Tip: get the pen loop, too. (Or buy them in bulk from Amazon.) ^ I have a new hyper-fixation with these Sharpie highlighters. Sparks joy. Suddenly feeling the need to frame a vintage Babar print… thrillsofthehunt A post shared by @thrillsofthehunt Vowing that this is the year I’m eating wayyy more vegetables. First things first, I’m bookmarking nearly every recipe from this account, like this maple-roasted carrots with tahini-lime sauce. Excited that Duchess Meghan is finally giving us all what we wanted from her in the first place: The Tig (may she rest in peace) brought to life, aka a Martha Stewart / Ina Garten style show about her perfect Montecito life. Who else is excited? Maybe a little scared? She’s giving us basic girlies what we want. In a goal-setting mode? A lot of people swear by Grace Clarke’s viral Annual Planner. A helpful guide from Dianna Cohen on how to create a visual vision board for your year. Love the idea of creating a “vibes-based” vision board and a literal vision board. Many thanks to Sara Hildreth of FictionMatters for having me guest in her “Books That Matter” post! So many great book recommendations in that one. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Coming up next: some housekeeping notes on what to expect from Downtime this year, and an author interview. —Alisha Downtime is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid You’re currently a free subscriber to Downtime. If you’ve been enjoying it, please consider upgrading! Upgrade to paid For $4/month, you’ll unlock exclusive content, access to our subscriber chat, the full archives, giveaways, and more. Plus, your subscription directly supports everything that goes into this newsletter each week—writing, editing, interviewing, graphic design, and beyond. Either way, thanks for reading and supporting my work. This post may contain affiliate links, which means that if you click something and buy it, I may earn a small cut of the purchase at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work; I only recommend things I truly love and/or have vetted. If you enjoyed this post, please click the like ❤️ button below—it helps others discover Downtime and is a totally free way to show your appreciation. You can also forward it to a friend who’d love it, or screenshot your favorite part and share it on Instagram (tag me @alisharamos so I can repost!).   Like Comment Restack   © 2025 Alisha Ramos 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 Unsubscribe