At the beginning of every year, I round up my top favorite books from the previous year. I read a ton of books, and I often go through seasons of consuming different genres. Sometimes, it’s self-help, sometimes it’s spiritual, and other times, it’s fiction. I’d say about 95% of my books are on my Kindle. That leaves about 4% being physical copies and 1% being audiobooks. For 2024, I didn’t listen to a single audiobook, so physical copies would be closer to 5%.

Recently, I found myself blazing through so many psychological thrillers that I just didn’t love by the end of them. I always have a challenge to read a specific amount of books (you can follow what I reason Good Reads!) But in 2024, I started to get tired of reading so much fiction/thrillers that I wanted to read more personal development and self-help books.

Ironically, the first book mentioned in my top 5 favorite books from 2024). I think I had a pretty good balance between a variety of books. I’d say my average rating is about three stars. But I do have a few select books that I rated four or higher. Here are five of them!

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Where’d You Park Your Spaceship by Rob Bell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Type: Science Fiction

I’ve burned through several Rob Bell books in the past about spirituality and religion, and I even binged several episodes of his podcast, The RobCast. So, when he dropped this FICTIONAL book, I had to learn more. Through his journey of being in pastoral roles, he is seen as a spiritual mentor to so many. In 2023, Rob began sharing his fictional projects – sci-fi books like this one, screenwriting plays, and other creative works. As someone who consumes so much of his spiritual and personal development content, I was intrigued by this new venture.

What I Loved

Where’d You Park Your Spaceship: An Interplanetary Tale of Love, Loss, and Bread, the first book in this series, is a journey that follows a Heen Gru-Bares who has questioned everything about his life. From losing loved ones, the unsurities of his meaning and purpose in life, to new job opportunities, strange friendships, and extraordinary planets, this book, although not about humans, very much reminds us of our humanity.

Dealing with all the same raw emotions many of us feel on any given day, it’s a book that makes you feel a certain type of way. When his own world turned upside down, Heen struggles to find his footing as things aren’t what they used to be and struggles with the fact that they never can be the same away again.

With the turn of every few pages, Heen learns (and unlearns) aspects of himself. He also learns how to cope with the strangeness of reality, and what it means to discover unlikely relationships along the way. This was the first book I finished in 2024. Funny enough,I’m about to start the second book in the series, Where’d You Park Your Spaceship: There’s Only One Noon Yeah.

Admittedly, many of Rob Bell’s previous books have made it to my top favorite books from other years as well so it’s no surprise he made it to one of my top favorite books from 2024!

Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuck ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Type: Self-Help/ Personal Development

I enjoy watching Gary V.’s videos from time to time. I’ve even listened to quite a few episodes of his podcast. He has a great mindset around finding opportunities and a great outlook on business growth and creating a name for yourself. He’s accomplished a lot in his career, and how he’s grown successful companies like VaynerMedia.

Sure, he can be really brash at times, brutally honest, and explicit in his wording. But that’s what makes him authentically himself. It also shows that you can make your own rules when it comes to building and growing your own thing. He’s a very no BS type of person, and he’s not for everyone. However, as a business owner myself, especially as a digital marketer, I’m always inspired by how he shows up. Admittedly, though, I’ve never read any of his books—until this past fall.

What I Loved

When I picked up this book, Crushing It: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can, Too, I expected much of the same language and honest feedback he regularly posts on his own social media. However, I was surprised by the many success stories of other business owners who started from scratch and created something much larger than themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about how other business owners started growing online and how each industry changed the trajectory of their lives.

There were a few names I recognized, like Pat Flynn, entrepreneur and founder of Smart Passive Income, an influential business figure my husband and I actively follow. And, of course, there were several other names I hadn’t recognized before.

But what I loved about reading each of these “case studies” is that each person found their groove in a specific social media platform, created a strong community, and overcame their own set of challenges. From naysayers and trolls to getting fired from jobs and finding themselves at rock bottom, each of these stories is what happens when you choose to remain resilient, flexible, adaptable, and open to whatever life has for you.

It goes to show that there is always opportunity around you – sometimes, you have to go out of your own way to find it. And that sometimes, the most challenging things that happen to us lead to the most fruitful seasons of our lives. The overall message is that you can crush it – in your business, in your personal goals, and your influence.

The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Type: Self-Help/Personal Development/Positive Psychology/Leadership

I read a lot of books each year, so I rarely give five stars to books nowadays. I follow a few criteria when rating a book. For example, I ask myself these few questions:

Did it keep my attention? Was it “unputdownable”? Would I recommend this to a friend? Did I learn something new? Did it challenge/inspire/motivate/entertain me?

But when I started reading The Gap and the Gain: The High Achievers’ Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success, I automatically knew I was going to give this one five stars. First of all, I loved the positive psychology spin. Naturally, I am optimistic and always strive to see the bright side of things. You could say this is implied by the title—it focuses more on what we gain vs. the gap (what we lack).

It very much asks the question, “What are you not seeing?” When it comes to our natural abilities and skill sets, it can be easy to name our weaknesses and areas we lack. We may not be good at a specific thing; therefore, we focus on that. However, this book reminds the reader that we should focus on the specific things we are good at and the strengths we do have.

What I Loved

I believe we all have something to offer to the world (even if it’s just our inner world), and this book really focuses on what we can bring to the table. This book is geared toward entrepreneurs. However, I’d highly recommend it to anyone who needs a reminder of their greatness or a confidence boost. It shows you how to appreciate your progress and how far you’ve come, and it even reminds us to be grateful for what we have (rather than the things we lack). It also reminded me that sometimes what we lack can be a strength of ours. In fact, what we may not know, we can reframe as knowing a different way of doing things. we may not have the skills or strengths in one area, but this can be our competitive edge because we have something else we can offer.

Never Split the Difference by Chriss Voss ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Type: Self-Help/Personal Development

If you’ve ever struggled with negotiating on your terms, this book is for you. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended on It is a masterclass on how to get what you want in a way that makes others feel like they got what they wanted. What I especially loved about this book is the psychology that goes into negotiation. As a Psychology major, I’m always learning how our brains work, especially when communicating our needs. Chris Voss highlights how to use leverage to get your desired results.

Another thing that I loved about this book is that the author is a former top hostage negotiator in the FBI, so you know his real-world experience is legitimate. As he uses real-world examples, such as keeping families safe during hostage situations, the author explains how to negotiate effectively and efficiently.

What I Loved

But it’s not about being selfish with your desires. It’s about creating outcomes that make sense for everyone. While a hostage situation is much different than a business transaction for entrepreneurs, much of the body language, verbal communication, and mindset shifts are applicable in both areas. Negotiation has never been my strong suit, so reading through this gave me great tools to practice in my own business pursuits.

I loved reading through this book because it taught me valuable lessons in communicating clearly. It also taught me that negotiation can be a learned skill. I also enjoyed reading about his high-stakes experiences in the FBI. Overall, I would recommend this book to all entrepreneurs, business owners, and anyone who wants to learn how to ask for what they want without having to settle on something they don’t.

The Imperfect Church by Mark Cox ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Type: Religion/Spiritual

One of my favorite books from 2024 just so happens to be an author that I know personally!

Admittedly, I’m a little biased when it comes to this book. Mark Cox was my former youth pastor from 9th to 12th grade, and he and his wife, Christi, were huge mentors for me in some of my most transformational years of discovering myself and finding my foundation rooted in Christ. Mark was actually a huge inspiration for me when I started my blogging journey back in 2011. The Summer of my Freshman year of college, Mark, Christi, and their three boys moved to Ohio to start a church plant. The Imperfect Church: The Story of Our Church Plant and What I Learned (and Unlearned) About God in the Process summarizes Mark’s journey through student ministry, beginning from his own walk with Christ as a child and the evolution of his faith and ministerial career.

What I Loved

I loved learning about Mark’s early days as a Christ follower and what ultimately led to his decision to pursue ministry. About halfway through, I could visualize much of the experiences he shared during the time he served as our Youth Pastor. It definitely brought back several fond memories and pivotal points in my own faith journey. The other half of the book walks through their hardest journey of planting a church that didn’t go the way they had originally intended and how it led to where he is now in his career.

Much of his writing reminded me of why I loved Mark and Christi as teenagers and how much I appreciate their authenticity, truth, and love. This book also serves as a reminder of what I loved about the church during my teens and early 20s. What’s more, through my own learning (and unlearning) about God, Mark has been a great mentor even when I was going through my own rough patch with the Church in my mid-20s.

Some of My Favorite People

Although I don’t regularly see or talk with Mark and Christi, I love how when I get to chat with them on the phone, exchange podcast conversations, or even visit them at their Texas home, it’s like time never stopped. We can pick up conversations and talk about things that happened over 10 years ago like it just happened yesterday. There is no judgment from them, and I always admired that about them. Admittedly, this was the last book I read in 2024. It also just so happened to be a couple of weeks after I visited them for dinner on a client trip!.

Also, a side note: in my early youth group days, we often watched clips of Rob Bell’s Nooma series on YouTube during sermons and leadership meetings, which probably led to my love for Rob Bell’s books and podcast later in life. Thanks, Mark!

My Top 5 Favorite Books from 2024

Have you read any of the above books? Let me know which of these made it to your favorite books from 2024. Also, if you have any book recommendations for me, I’d love to hear them. And who knows? They may end up on my favorite books from 2025!

Need more recommendations? You can check out my blog to learn more!