In Memoriam by Alice Winn. Public school boys discover Having Feelings during WWI. This book utterly consumed me. Ate me up, spat me out, and I am better for it.

Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming by Eva Chin. Ava Chin’s Mott Street is a memoir but it’s also a history of Chinese people in the United States, from workers on the transcontinental railroad, to the holding center at Angel Island in San Francisco, to the Chinese Exclusion Act.

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman. Exactly the Arthurian book I didn’t know I needed but now will be pushing on all my friends.

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton. Climate change devastates the state of Florida, and we follow Wanda throughout her life in this small town that goes under water. For the amount of loss in this magical realism book it’s astonishing how hopeful it also manages to be.

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín. I’m late coming to Eilis Lacey, but it meant I got to read Brooklyn and Long Island back to back. Brooklyn is quiet and precise and a treasure of words.

Honorable mentions go to: The Mars House by Natasha Pulley, Real Americans by Rachel Khong, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, Bear by Julia Phillips, and Bellies by Nicola Dinan.

Kate

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe. I’m obviously years late to this one, but it was just as captivating as everyone said it would be. I recommend reading this while visiting married friends in Boston who hail from Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively, so they can share their very different perspectives.

The Unseen World by Liz Moore. I read this on a recommendation from the poet Kate Baer and later discovered that LibraryThing’s own Abby Blachly put it on her Best of 2017 list.

I don’t have the words to describe how much I love Liz Moore’s work. She’s such a skilled writer, adept at bringing you into her worlds and forging bonds between characters and readers. I thought about this book for some time after finishing it.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue. I recommended this book to a number of friends in reading ruts and it did the trick every time. I want to say it’s like a warm cup of tea, but it’s not without conflict or heartbreak. It’s a wonderful book which I wish I could read again for the first time.

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. While I consider myself a Rooney Tune (h/t to Brandon Taylor), I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to spend 450 pages exploring the inner thoughts of two men. Perhaps my low expectations are what led to me loving this book as much as I did? And I did love it. Very, very much. It’s a story of family and miscommunication, of trying & failing to let go of hurt and of attempts to move forward. It was relatable and beautiful and I (of course) cried.

Priestdaddy: A Memoir by Patricia Lockwood. Patricia Lockwood is a national treasure. She is SO funny and irreverent and just such a clever writer. I originally picked up this book because she wrote about her childhood in St. Louis (my current home), and I fell in love with her writing while reading it.

Honorable mentions go to: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, and The Wedding People by Alison Espach.

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher. Sometimes a book is so charming and full of heart that you’re willing to overlook its imperfections; this was that type of book for me. The character of Griz was immediately so likeable and compelling. I always love a post-apocalyptic book, and it was nice to read one that was not as bleak.

The Martian by Andy Weir. This book was so much fun to read, just like Project Hail Mary. Such an enjoyable narrator that was funny and intelligent. I learned so much reading this book! Definitely worth reading even if you’ve seen the movie.

Mania by Lionel Shriver. This book was intense. Similarly to Shriver’s book The Mandibles, I found myself thinking that I was living in the world of the story. Overall, this book made me very sad for the characters living in that world.

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. The stories in this book are fascinating sci-fi/speculative fiction. I’ve always loved short story collections. Even if not all the stories are great, there is always the next one!

I particularly enjoyed “Understand” – the story of a person whose intelligence has been enhanced; “Division by Zero” – the story of a woman who inadvertently proves that all of known mathematics is false; “Hell is the Absence of God” – the story of a man who has lost his wife and tries to find God; and “Liking What You See: A Documentary” – the story of an attempt to eradicate “lookism”.

Fail-Safe by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Wow! This book is intense! I knew it was going to be since I saw the movie first, and it was also incredibly intense.

I was surprised I’d never heard of this movie or book, since Red Alert/Dr. Strangelove came out at nearly the same time and that movie definitely overshadowed the film for this book, but I think this one is actually better. It is a great character study and really relates the fears and anxieties of the time.

Honorable mentions go to: This Book is a Planetarium by Kelli Anderson, Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore, John Dies at the End by David Wong (AKA Jason Pargin), Fractured Fables by Alix E. Harrow, and The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi.

We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin. I have not loved a book this much in a long time. Excellent writing, plot, character development; I was fully invested the whole way through. There was a unique sense of place, and you could tell the characters were well-researched. I’ll definitely be reading more by Julia Heaberlin!

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. This story has a very similar feel to The House in the Cerulean Sea: the problematic main character has a life—or, in this case, death—changing experience, becomes a better person, and has a sweet and happy ending. There’s a few endearing characters, a few ugly ones, and at least one catalyst for climactic effect. An easy, enjoyable read!

The Best of Me by David Sedaris. I needed a lot of easy, light reads this year. If you enjoy snort-laughing and a spot of dark humor, look no further.

This Book Can Read Your Mind by Susannah Lloyd, illustrated by Jacob Grant. I try to give a nod to my son Finnegan’s collection each year, and this SantaThing pick from 2023 was a great one! Downright silliness, in the best way. My son couldn’t wait for the part about the pink elephants wearing underpants. Written in a style that speaks to the reader, your little ones will love this.

The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life. by Robin Sharma. Dishonorable Mention. Sorry, Robin: while your formulas for success seem simple and straightforward enough, your delivery could really use some work. This self-improvement book was written through a fictional story, which I simply couldn’t get past. It was a distraction of cheesy lines and unbelievable plot, making light of the actual strategies he was trying to get across to the reader. I just couldn’t take this one seriously. Get the Cliff’s Notes version, and call it a day.

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. Opening on Midwinter Eve, this immensely powerful and intensely engaging children’s fantasy, the second in Susan Cooper’s five-volume Dark Is Rising Sequence, is a book I read again and again as a girl. This year I undertook a reread of the entire series, together with some friends, and found all of the books as beautiful and engrossing as ever. With its magical Christmas setting, exciting time travel and fascinating Buckinghamshire folklore, this may be my favorite of the lot, although The Grey King comes a close second.

The Unicorn Treasury: Stories, Poems and Unicorn Lore edited by Bruce Coville. Prolific children’s author and fantasist Bruce Coville presents eighteen poems, short stories and novel excerpts in this unicorn-themed anthology from 1988, enhanced by the beautiful artwork of illustrator Tim Hildebrandt. Wondrous, exciting, poignant, humorous—these selections explore the enchantment of this magical creature. Contributors include such authors as Madeleine L’Engle, Jane Yolen, Ella Young, C.S. Lewis, Nicholas Stuart Gray, and Patricia C. Wrede.

Midsummer Magic: A Garland Of Stories, Charms, and Recipes edited by Ellin Greene, illustrated by Barbara Cooney. Storyteller and author Ellin Greene gathers folk and fairy-tales set during midsummer in this lovely anthology, pairing the stories from various sources with brief descriptions of folk practices related to this time of year, as well as midsummer recipes. The latter include such delicacies as Swedish creme, fruit soup, Irish currant cake, heart-shaped cookies and Midsummer cake, while the former covers customs such as the Midsummer tree, various forms of divination (usually to determine a future husband or wife) done at that time, love charms, and magical herbs and flowers.

‘Round the Yule Log: Christmas in Norway by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen. A young military lieutenant, recently ill and unable to travel to his childhood home in the country, looks forward to his first Christmas without his family in this holiday story from Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, the noted Norwegian author and folklorist who, together with Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, is celebrated for his role in collecting Norwegian folklore in the 19th century. I enjoy tales with inset stories, and this one was particularly well done. I was tickled to see that one of the stories related by the lieutenant was The Cat on the Dovrefell, which I have encountered in picture book form at least three different times. The book is part of the late 19th/early 20th-century Christmas in Many Lands series, presenting holiday stories for young people set in diverse locales.

The Mightiest Heart by Lynn Cullen, illustrated by Laurel Long. I have loved this picture book retelling of the traditional Welsh folktale concerning that faithful canine Gelert since its first publication in 1998, and once owned a copy of my own, now lost in a flood. I recently reread it, and it is just as gorgeous a book as ever, pairing a heartbreaking but intensely involving narrative with breathtakingly beautiful illustrations from Laurel Long. I always have a lump in my throat when I think of Gelert wandering lonely in the wilderness, driven off by the one who should have most protected him.

Honorable mentions go to: East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon by Sir George Webbe Dasent, illustrated by P.J. Lynch; and The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Clarke has a knack for inciting intense feelings about her characters in subtle, surprising ways. I almost threw the book out the car window when I finished because I felt too much for these characters. Mysterious, poetic, heartbreaking.

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones. The ballad Tam Lin is a tricky one to relay because it’s dense with folk customs and magical imagery, while also being a mire of moral discomfort. Jones uniquely captures this, and reshapes the ballad format so that a modern reader can see through the fairy glamour to the human tensions therein.

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. This unlikely collision of beings, personalities, identities, and values is special. I fell in love with everyone a little bit, and I want the very best for them – no matter how many demons, intergalactic wars, or awkward concerts they need to conquer in the process.

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. She makes you think.

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin. I had never read a book with so many unlikeable characters that I enjoyed so thoroughly. They all suck, but it’s great. Made me laugh loudly many times in awkward places at awkward times. Warning: high crass.

Honorable mentions go to: Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski, The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo, Slewfoot by Brom, A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers.

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Nourish: Simple Recipes to Empower Your Body and Feed Your Soul by Gisele Bündchen.

Really Very Crunchy by Emily Morrow.

Come record your own Top Five Books of 2024 on our December List of the Month, and join the discussion over in Talk.

Labels: top five