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The 144 Most Read Books of the 2024 Reading Challenge
Goodreads regulars will be aware that our 2024 Reading Challenge is coming to a glorious conclusion with the ringing in of the new year. This is, of course, our annual group reading exercise, in which members pledge to read a certain number of books over the course of the calendar year. Think of it as a fitness class for book nerds.
Well, the numbers are in, and they’re kind of eye-popping: More than 9 million readers signed up to read more than 356 million books in the year 2024. It’s inspirational! It’s aspirational! It’s amazing!
Perhaps you’re curious: Which books were the most popular in this year’s Reading Challenge? We were curious, too. Below are the top 12 books marked as Read by participants in this year’s challenge, sorted by genre.
Scroll around and you’ll see that several familiar names placed multiple books in the collection—some across different genres: R.F. Kuang, Alex Michaelides, Ali Hazelwood, Taylor Jenkins Reid, David Grann, Sarah J. Maas. Quite a few hugely popular recent books made the charts, too: Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Demon Copperhead and James McBride’s Kirkus Prize winner, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
There’s also a fun scattering of old genre classics, high-school English class favorites, popular memoirs, modern queer fiction classics, deeply weird true stories, and even a bit of fan fiction. Plus, of course, you’ll find the enduring delights of hockey romance.
Click on the book cover images for more information about each title, and use the Want to Read button if you’re already thinking about 2025.
Fiction
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Historical Fiction
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Mystery & Thriller
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Fantasy
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Romantasy
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Science Fiction
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Horror
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Romance
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Young Adult
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
Memoirs
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
History & Biography
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
General Nonfiction
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
How many of these books have you read? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments Showing 151-200 of 251 (251 new)
message 151:
by
Debbie Jo
(new)
Dec 29, 2024 03:55PM
26 from this list - but many were read before 2024. Some of the genre choices seem off. Will we see a most read list of overall books read this year? It would be interesting to see what changes it would show.
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I've read 12 of these. A few are on my TBR.
I have read 7 of 12 in first section and a total of 14 altogether
I’m pleasantly surprised by more Hasbrara Zionist propaganda not polluting the list.
I’ve read 52 of these. Reading to read the rest of them.
Are you serious Goodreads? MANACLED IS NOT A FUCKING BOOK. IT'S FANFICTION. THIS IS THE BOOKS WEBSITE.
Dessi wrote: "Are you serious Goodreads? MANACLED IS NOT A F BOOK. IT'S FANFICTION. THIS IS THE BOOKS WEBSITE."See my post #147. Fanfiction is now allowed on Goodreads under certain conditions. The author is now a Goodreads author.
16 read and 7 on my tbr!! I’m actually so surprised about some of these, especially the twisted series 😰 that is definitely bringing back some unwanted trauma
Also, I can’t help but laugh at everyone’s reaction to manacled being here 😭 I’m gonna be honest w you all I did read this but I am not afraid to say it was shite. Genuinely why would someone, especially a woman by the way, put those words on paper-
I have read 1 book on romantasy and 5 romance books.
I’ve read nearly half. I added a handful to my wtr list.
I’ve read 49! At least one from all but one category.
As a person who reads fanfiction religiously: the fanfic shouldn’t be on this list, or on GoodReads at all. The author has asked people not to add it here for good reason, and continuing to put it on GR / published lists endangers the author, the fandom, and the whole concept of fanfiction & transformative works as a whole.
Josten wrote: "As a person who reads fanfiction religiously: the fanfic shouldn’t be on this list, or on GoodReads at all. The author has asked people not to add it here for good reason, and continuing to put it ..."If the author wants her fan fiction removed, all she has to do is contact Goodreads & they will remove it.
I'm a Goodreads Librarian & that is the main reason I won't do any work on fan fiction.
I am impressed with myself I have read 12 of these before. A lot of these I have read years before too.
bruhhh if you're gonna introduce more challenges to this site, at least let us choose our own books what the 😭😭
Rashid Khalidi being in this list is so heartwarming - couldn’t recommend his book more. 🍉
I didn’t even know fanfic COULD get featured on these challenges! Woah!
Someone please reccomend me an actual good romance, all of these have such bad reviews and I really want to read a good romance, where I won't be annoyed by the characters or have a lot of problems.
Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Dessi wrote: "Are you serious Goodreads? MANACLED IS NOT A F BOOK. IT'S FANFICTION. THIS IS THE BOOKS WEBSITE."See my post #147. Fanfiction is now allowed on Goodreads under certain conditions. T..."
Yes, I'm aware fanfiction has been allowed on Goodreads for a while, and as both a fanfiction author and reader, I don't think that's right, especially as in many cases it's not fanfic authors who add it, but users. If people want to track the fanfic they read, that's what Ao3 is for. Treating fanfiction as books helps no one.
Manacled? That's fanfiction, that shouldn't be here. Popular or not, it's not published work -- in fact the author recently took it offline to rework it into a published work, so people can't even access it from this rec list anyway.But also this is how people get in huge legal trouble with the original IP holder. If Manacled gets popular enough to hit JK Rowling's radar it's entirely possible Senlinyu gets hit with a lawsuit. Dangerous stuff, putting this on here.
Why is James (Perceval Everett) not on this list??? 🤔
Manacled was drawn out, toxic torture kink. Why is it on a Goodreads challenge?
Wow , 30 of these and just found the list...all word of mouth , book club picks and goodread reviews
Love how manacled and Tom Feltons memoir is on the lists! Pleasently surprised
So wonderful to see The 100 Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi!
I can't believe there is a made-up category of "romantasy," but they got rid of the children's category. There could be MANY middle grade categories with actual good books. So many adult books are trash.
I've read 35 of these- too bad none of them count for the buzziest book challenge lol.
I don't like nor do I read these types of books!
I've read 18 of these, but not all in 2024. I plan to read 18 more in the coming year! The Covenant of Water is my top book of the year.
I’ve read 18 of these so far. I wonder if I can get all of them by EOY! I have a few already on my TBR but it’s gonna be tough whilst I’m on a BBB book buying ban !!
I will consider it a success if none of the books I read appear on these challenge lists. Goodreads book recommendations are so narrowly prescribed that one would think only two types of authors exist.
wtf i've read almost everything in the ya section 😭
I finished September House the other day, but Buzzy Books Challenge doesn't give me my achievement. Did it happen to you, too? Other community challenge section perhaps?
Most of the books I read are in the Mystery category. Surprising to me!
Surprisingly I’ve read 16 of these on this list and alot are on my TBR already
I've read a few already. Still no reward. How does this work?
While part of me was prickly in the beginning about having to read things I've no interest in I've since had a change of heart. Instead I've reshaped my thinking into seeing this as an opportunity to expand my horizons, step outside my reading comfort zone and the chance to learn new things. Good luck to all in this 2025 Reading Challenge!
I've actually already read a good many of these back in 2023 and 2022 for some reason. I was surprised to see that.
