Here are my 10 favourite books I read in 2024! I've had a great reading year – although I've somehow fallen out of the habit of blogging so much here in the past several months. Between regularly discussing what I'm reading with my online bookclub and making videos on my BookTube channel, I've had less time for writing longer reviews. I continue to enjoy following a number of book prizes including the Booker, the Women's Prize, the National Book Award, the Nobel Prize and others. I've written multiple articles for the Booker website this year including 'novels perfect for book clubs', 'heartbreaking books' and 'the best page-turners'. It's been a special pleasure reading the entire longlist of the 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for the first time as its winner is a new favourite. As always, it's been wonderful discussing great books with so many readers online.
The best books I've read this year include a classic told from a revelatory new angle, a protagonist who leaves her everyday life to radically reconsider how to exist purposefully, a Caribbean novel about the desires and schemes of four women connected to a notorious gangster, the discovery of an artistic and quiet recluse with a mysterious past, the story of an actor whose been both an insider and outsider in English society, a sailor and pirate who reinvents herself many times, a man who walks across London reflecting on a life in exile from his homeland, the intertwined stories of Irish immigrants who witness a city changing around them over decades, an epic which spans many lives and periods of time focused through the perspective of a drop of water and a fascinating man who journeys between twin versions of our planet searching for a safe home.
I've read many more fantastic books this year but these ten novels are all ones which I keep recommending to people and wanting to discuss with other readers. What have been some of your best reading experiences and favourite books from the past year? I'd love to hear about them and if you've also read or are interested in reading any of my picks listed here.
