Top ten best books of 2024

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books that coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining here!

This week’s theme is our top ten books of 2024!

Another year came and went in the blink of an eye, and here I am again, sharing my favourite reads of this year. I love looking back at the year and assessing what books gave me the greatest joy. I hope you’ll enjoy my small recap, and please let me know your favorite reads in the comments!

2024 was a bit of a letdown in terms of the number of books I read. I was caught up in work for most of this year and didn’t really have the time to focus on books.

That said, it was hard to choose just 10 books – where I lacked in quantity, I more than made up for in quality. I struggled with deciding on this list and had to sadly but ruthlessly cull some books from the top 10. Although I read just 21 books this year, most of them were good enough to make my top 10 list.

Without much ado, and in no particular order:

1. Stories of your life and others by Ted Chiang – Thoughtful and original, these science fiction stories will be with me for a long time, and I am keeping this book to cherish and reread.
2. The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin – The first book in the series started slow, but the rest of the books were mindblowing. Again, very different from the usual Fantasy stories I have read.
3. The only one left by Riley Sager – Very atmospheric, creepy, and extremely satisfying.
4. The reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson—Holly Jackson knows how to write a twisty thriller. So far, I have loved everything she’s written, and this book was no exception.
5. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke – I adored, adored, adored this book. Such a sweet, hopeful story!
6. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman – A graphic novel story about the author’s father who lived through World War 2. Funny and harrowing at the same time. This book is easily the best book I read, not just this year but in a long, long time.
7. The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson – Funny and informative book about the human body written in the inimitable Bryson style. He always knocks it out of the ballpark for me.
8. The Cider House Rules by John Irving – I watched the movie ages ago and loved it, so I thought I’d try the book. The book is great as well – I love the characters and the story; I was sobbing so hard by the end – just an emotional wreck.
9. Troubled Blood and The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith – I think these two books are really strong additions to the Cormoran Strike series. The mysteries were strong and satisfyingly convoluted.
10. Violeta by Isabel Allende – I felt this book wasn’t as strong as her other novels. There seemed a bit too much packed in. I almost dropped this book in favor of The Burning Girls, but eventually, I think I ended up liking this book more just because of that peek into South American politics and life – I have been wanting to revisit South America since my trip to Peru, but haven’t been able to find the time or money. So, this book satisfied my travel craving somewhat.

So, these were my best books of 2024. What were your favorite books?