Best Books of 2024

Here’s my 2024 list (that’s books I read this year — they weren’t all published this year, though several were) is very varied, and a bit arbitrary. It’s so hard to pick ten out of nearly a hundred books, most of which I enjoyed and many of which I absolutely LOVED.

I’ve been doing this for many years, and I used to do it in more of a “countdown” style, from number 10 to number 1 … but that doesn’t feel honest to me anymore. I love different books for different reasons. When I look back at “Top Ten” lists from previous years, some of them are books that still linger with me and probably always will, while others haven’t stood the test of time nearly as well.

So now I just look through all the books I’ve read during the year (you can find reviews of almost all of them, except for re-reads, by scrolling through the last 12 months of posts right here on this blog). Here are the ones that I think will stay with me longest — not ranked in any way, but listed in the order I read them chronologically throughout the year, with links to my brief reviews/responses on them.

The Rachel Incident, by Caroline O’Donoghue (bonus content: here’s a podcast episode of me and my daughter Emma discussing this novel in detail and comparing it to another novel that we liked much less).Come and Get It, by Kiley ReidFunny Story, by Emily HenryEyes in Front When Running, by Willow Kean (local author!)Vigil, by Susie Taylor (local author!)North Woods, by Daniel MasonCecily (link also includes a review of its sequel, The King’s Mother, which I loved too), by Annie GarthwaiteThe Ministry of Time, by Kaliane BradleyBlood in the Machine, by Brian Merchant (unusually, the only non-fiction title on this year’s list)Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar