Favourite Books of 2024

 

Dear friends. I've completed the Goodreads challenge 2024, 100 books this year. Yay! Now it's time to share my favourites.  I selected the books which got my ultimate accolade of 5 stars. 

At the start of the year. I resolved to try to read more genres. Big fail on that front, because I didn't deviate from my favourites of thrillers, literary, historical and occasional non-fiction. I tried a couple of romances, sci-fi and fantasy, but they're not my cup of tea.

Let's start with January 2024.  Leaving by Roxana Robinson captivated me as one of the best books I've read about heart break and divorce. Beautifully written with crisp, memorable prose. 

In February I was thrilled by the offbeat Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney. Thirteen-year-old Ava Bonney is unlike other children. Exceptionally bright, she has an obsessive interest in the rate at which dead animals decompose. Her expertise is sought by a local police officer after Ava makes a macabre human find in the middle of the night. 

I also loved The Wartime Book Club by Kate Thompson, which had a longer review as part of a book blog tour. A must if you love historical fiction set in WW2.

Reality TV contestants trapped on a remote sea fort created an exceptional thriller in March from LD Smithson, The Escape Room. 

I was generous with 5 stars in April when two of my favourite authors published new books. In Earth, part of his Elements series, John Boyne gives us a sobering tale for our times. Two footballers are pilloried as they wait for their trial on sex offences involving a 19 year old girl. For one of them, the alleged offence makes him question his life, and how he can become the man he wants to be.

Fellow Irish writer Marian Keyes is also dealing with serious subject matter but adding her trademark wit and humour in My Favourite Mistake. 

May saw a great crop of books but no stand out 5 star review.  In June the accolade went to Sandwich by Catherine Newman.  I described it as the most luminous, passionate account of family love I've ever read. Rocky is the sandwich filling between her parents and her children, trying to keep it all together while going through menopause.

There were no book reviews in August as I was on my 3 week cycling holiday, Land's End to John O'Groats.  

I made up for it in September by awarding 5 stars to two dazzlers. Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout was back with a brand new book, Tell Me Everything.  This thrillingly brought together the redoubtable Olive Kitteridge, now 90, with the skittish Lucy Barton. A very well deserved 5 stars.

Clare Chambers' Shy Creatures also won 5 stars. Art therapist Helen unravels the life of a wild looking man who hasn't been outside for decades. A gentle and compassionate read. 

October's 5 stars went to Waiting for a Party by Vesna Main, which unusually featured a 92 year old woman, but in a contemporary voice. Claire is waiting to be taken to the birthday party of a 102 year old friend. As she waits, her mind wanders to her marriage and subsequent romances after the death of her husband. There are astute observations and learnings about relationships. 

Crime thriller The Drowned by Irish writer John Banville also received 5 stars.  Banville, I wrote, "is a fine writer who elevates the crime thriller to an art form. There are so many things that took my breath away in this latest Strafford and Quirke novel I don’t know where to start."

It was a Boyne No Brainer in November as John Boyne returned with Fire. Freya, a successful plastic surgeon in her 30s, has a secret life based on cruelty and revenge.  Is she a sociopath? We must decide. 

And what of December? I haven't read any books coming out in December, I regret to tell you.  As I've mentioned before, publishers in the UK don't release many books at this time of year.  But I've read some thrilling titles for 2025, and I can't wait to share them with you in the next few months.

That concludes my top books of 2024. Any you read as a result of my reviews?  Or that you're adding to your list?  Make a blogger's day.

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