I finished 45 books – exactly the same number as last year, a few shy of my goal of 52 and still far less than I was finishing in 2020-2022. I entered this year thinking I’d knock 2023 numbers out of the park, but life continued to move at a speed that often didn’t leave much time or brain space for reading. When I look back at my finished books though, there was a lot I really loved, and more than ever, I’m starting to learn what really works and doesn’t work for me in my reading life. For instance, 1 or 2 rom-com books a year are great and I have fun reading them. Any more than that and I sort of find myself hating them. Same goes for thrillers. They’re just really not for me and everytime I try.. I end up feeling like I’ve wasted my time. But sweeping literary fiction, captivating memoirs, narrative non-fiction or even a hint of magical realism.. as long as all of it is well-written (meaning beyond the plot or the characters, the sentence level prose feels quality) and I’m usually on the right path. This pursuit of quality over quantity feels like a great direction for 2025.
But first, in no particular order, a recap of the 10 best books I read in 2024 – plus a few fun ‘honorable mentions’ at the bottom.
For more of my ‘best of the year’ reading lists, here are the past 5 years’ worth: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019! Surely enough to fill your shelves with great books in the coming year.
Real Americans by Rachel Khong: Real Americans is the sort of novel I wish I’d written, but with a far defter hand than my own. I loved Khong’s debut novel Goodbye, Vitamin – but this sweeping, multi-generational story feels like the book she was meant to write. It examines parenthood, destiny and what it means to be American in a completely fresh way.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe: This book knocked me out. Not only is the storyline so wholly original (talk about world building – the concept and characters feel so weirdly real.. which plays into the narrative perfectly), it also plays with perspective shifts in a way that felt impossible to pull off and yet Thorpe did it. I’m not going to even speak to a synopsis here.. just go into this book blind and get ready for a really fantastic literary ride.
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo: Sometimes a book makes the list because of how much it surprises me. How much I’m swept up in it when I’m not expecting to be. That was this book. A little bit historical fiction, a little bit magical realism, a dash of romance, some feminist rage thrown in – I’ve thought about this book often since finishing and if you’re in a reading rut, I feel like this would be the perfect thing to jumpstart things.
The Things We Carried by Tim O’Brien: I would have never read this if not for my book club that decided to pair The Women by Kristin Hannah with a backlist non-fiction book about Vietnam, from a soldier’s perspective vs. her historical fiction from a nurse’s. Originally published in 1990, this was another book that I went into with zero expectations and it felt like a gut punch. Raw and scattered and visceral and strange. This book will stay with me for a long time.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett: If it’s a year in which Ann Patchett has published something new, I can be almost sure she’ll rank on this list. And in years when she hasn’t and I’m exploring her backlist – she’s still making the list. I’m a Patchett fangirl through and through. There was a point in this novel where I exclaimed out loud ‘Damn it Ann, how do you do it?’ – because she’s working at a level of narrative consistency (across decades) that I think is unmatched. She’s the queen of complex family novels written with a sort of quiet dignity that’s really beautiful and her characters leave a lasting memory long after I’ve finished reading. Tom Lake was no exception.
Grief is For People by Sloan Crosley: Another auto-buy author for me, I’ve long been a fan of Sloan Crosley’s dark wit. But Grief is For People felt different for her – in a good way. It’s cutting close to the bone and things aren’t wrapped up with a convenient punch line. It’s a story of grief and friendship and loss in many forms. I loved it.
James by Percival Everett: All you have to do is Google this book to see how many accolades it’s earned.. and with good reason. For me, I was initially hesitant – thinking I’d need to reacquaint myself with Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn to understand it, or that the experience of reading would feel like high school English assigned homework. None of that proved true. The book is a masterwork in American literature yet stunningly accessible. Satire and heartache sit side by side on the page and you walk away having more appreciation for Twain’s original but also grateful that Everett deigned to give us another perspective.
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher: The most backlist (published in 1987), I read this with my book club and loved it. I was completely swept away in this English world and totally charmed by the protagonist Penelope (and loved that she was an older woman), looking back on her life and dealing with the turmoils of adult children relationships. It was long and yet, I would have read another 100 pages of it. More than anything it was fun to read something from an author who has plenty of other backlist works to explore. Hoping to pick up another Pilcher this year!
My Life in France by Julia Child: What an absolute joy. Published in 2007, this is the book that went on to inspire the movie Julie & Julia. What I loved about this book is how unconventional Julia’s story is – she’s not a young ingenue when she gets married or starts her career or makes it big. She’s a woman firmly in middle age, determined to keep learning and chasing big dreams and following her heart. And Paul.. what a a gift. I was so enamored with this book that Adam and I started watching old videos of Julia’s cooking show on YouTube afterwards. I love a book that inspires a deep dive into something else!
Talking At Night by Claire Daverley: Why aren’t more people talking about this quiet knock-out of a book? I’m not sure if it just struck a chord with me in particular but to me – this is what I wanted Normal People by Sally Rooney to be (sorry to her diehards). It felt so much more achingly real and captured that feeling of first love and deep teenage friendship so well.
This year’s Honorable Mentions are books that surprised me, delighted me and were just all around a fun time to read:
Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid: I love a feminist retelling – taking a known story (in this case Shakespeare’s Macbeth) and revisiting it from a female character’s perspective. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this up but it was beautifully written, gothic fiction and even though I wasn’t deeply familiar with the original work – I didn’t need to be to love this.
Be Ready When The Luck Happens by Ina Garten: I generally liked Ina Garten before reading this, but hadn’t watched her show and didn’t honestly know that much about her. But I grabbed it on audiobook free from the library and thought – why not? Turns out, I love her. So much so that after I finished I bought a hard copy. This memoir is a story of passion and career and ambition and risk. It’s a story of a marriage and what it takes to make it work, even when you know they’re the love of your life. It’s a story of food and Paris and chasing what excites you. 10/10. And some really fun parallels to Julia Child’s My Life in France that made my list, which I had read 6 months prior!
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross: I officially entered the world of romantasy with this one. To be clear there were dragons and there was also a love story, but the two were not combined.. to each their own, I’m not sure that’s my speed. But I will say – I was totally swept up in this YA book and truly couldn’t put it down, which felt so fun.
You, Again by Kate Goldbeck: Exactly the sort of rom-com that really does work for me – biting wit, great dialogue and a (fairly) believable story with solid character development. This book is essentially a modern re-telling of When Harry Met Sally – and while normally I’d be opposed to anyone touching that classic.. in this case I thought it really worked and was a fun time all throughout.
