My Favorite Reads of 2024

January 6th, 2025Posted by Nancy

This year’s total was 143 (give or take a few physical books I may have missed), of which 48 (33%) were non-fiction. The non-fiction percentage is down from 2023, but I maintain that Tony Judt’s Postwar and Caroline Elkins’ Legacy of Violence both count as at least two books.

As always, here are some of my favorites.

FICTION

On the ‘Best Thing I Read’ list: The Shepherd.com list covers a slightly different time period, but of course I have to mention the two that do qualify for 2024. Menewood by Nicola Griffith and Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell. These could not be more different. One’s a rich, immersive fantasy about 8th century Britain, one’s a rich, immersive depiction of a midwestern middle-class family between the wars…. In all seriousness, they’re both brilliant, even if the prose, the milieu, and the concerns of the characters are very different.

Fairies, Encyclopaedia of: I thoroughly enjoyed both of Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde books. Charming, inventive, and lots of fun. And thanks to my husband, for reading them first and recommending them to me.

The Year of the Kingfisher. T. Kingfisher, that is. In 2024, I managed to inhale A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, Nettle & Bone, A Sorceress Comes to Call, A House with Good Bones, What Moves the Dead, and What Feasts at Night. I read also Paladin’s Grace, written in her Ursula Vernon guise. I’m glad there’s a substantial back catalogue to keep me busy in 2025.

“Like” isn’t really the word: Certain portions of Paolo Bacigalupi fantasy novel Navola left me quite queasy, and I can’t get them out of my head, even if I wanted to. It’s set in a richly imagined version of Renaissance Italy in which the fantasy elements are minimal and intriguing and backstabbing are a way of life. Best of all, it’s essentially a stand-alone novel, though the door remains open for more tales in the world.

Not really fantasy but…”: Nights of Plague by Turkish writer Orthan Pamuk isn’t really a fantasy novel, but it ticks a lot of the same boxes for me: a vividly described world, a wide range of characters, love, death, satire, comedy, politics, heroic action, wilful stupidity. It chronicles the impact of a plague on a fictional Mediterranean island in the waning days of the Ottoman empire – and of course a good deal more.

NON-FICTION

Catching up on the 20th Century: A lot of my history reading is centered on the distant past, but this year I dove into the aforementioned Postwar by Tony Judt (what happened in Europe from 1945 to the 2000s) and Legacy of Violence (which covered more than one century of British colonial violence).

Mars? You first: Winner of a Hugo, A City on Mars (Kelly and Zach Weinersmith) is a serious look at the perils and possibilities of colonizing another planet, told with humor and cartoons. I don’t object to space exploration or even planning for a colony, but the bulk of our energy, innovation, and money should be spent maintaining the health of a planet where everything won’t kill us.

Yellowknife? You first: Ok, it did sound more fun than Mars. Canadian musician-writer Dave Bidini takes a summer job working for a newspaper in Yellowknife and writes Midnight Light, in which he explores the pleasures, dangers, and weirdness of life in the north.

We’re screwed, Part II. Last year’s list included Fire Weather, about the Fort McMurray fire. This year, I paired The Water Will Rise and The Heat Will Kill You First, both by Jeff Goodell. Both good, but sobering.

Squirrel!: There are a lot more than squirrels in On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz, but I did see a squirrel run up a tree to his nest at the exact moment that the audiobook narration featured a wildlife expert explaining how to spot a squirrel nest. Synchronicity! Horowitz explores the blocks around her Manhattan home with eleven experts, including a geologist, a sound designer, an artist, a dog, and her own toddler. As a committed flaneur, I loved it.

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