Some Books I Enjoyed in 2024
I shall keep this short and sweet. I read some great books in 2024. I also read some infinitely forgettable books and some truly terrible ones. This may just be my opinion. Other people probably loved the books I thought were terrible. That’s the great thing about books, they mean different things to different people. Here are the books I enjoyed and thought about for longest in 2024. They weren’t all published in 2024. As I say, every year, a good book’s a good book regardless of when it crosses your path.
If you’re thinking about reading a book in 2025, you really should. Read whatever you like. Read as much or as little as you like. Read old books. Read new books. Read audio books. Read on your Kindle. Read banned books. Read books everyone is talking about and books no one is talking about. Borrow books from the library. Swap books with your friends. Steal books if you have to, (though not from an independent bookstore). You get to decide what you want to read and what feels meaningful to you. Hope 2025 is a cracking reading year.
In no particular order, my favourite reads of 2024. (First two books in each list were highlights for me.
Translated Fiction:
Puk Qvortup - Into A Star (Translated by Hazel Evans)
Mariana Enriquez - A Sunny Place for Shady People (Translated by Megan McDowell)
Marian Yusczuk - Thirst (Translated by Heather Cleary)
Veronica Raimo - Lost on Me (Translated by Leah Janeczko)
Sarah Jolien Fardet - My Favourite (Translated by Holly James)
Olga Togarczuk - The Empusium (Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones)
Hanna Nordenhök - Caesaria (Translated by Saskia Vogel)
Selva Almada - Not A River (Translated by Annie McDermott)
Ia Greenberg - The Details (Translated by Kira Jusetsson)
Mayliss Besserie - Francis Bacon’s Nanny (Translated by Clíona ní Ríordáin)
Eva Baltasar - Mammoth (Translated by Jula Sanche
Poetry
Martina Evans - Petrol
David Nash - No Man’s Land
Charlotte Eichler - Swimming Between Islands
Hannah Sullivan - Was It For This
Fiona Benson - Ephemeron
Victoria Kennefick - egg/shell
Declan Ryan - Crisis Actor
Caroline Bird - Ambush at Still Lake
Mícheál McCann - Devotion
Jane Clarke - A Change in the Air
Non-Fiction
Ian Penman - Fassbinder, Thousands of Mirros
Lavinia Greenlaw - Some Questions Without Answers
Noreen Masud - A Flat Place
Kathryn Harkup - A is for Arsenic - The Poisons of Agatha Christie
James Baldwin - The Fire Next Time
Salman Rushdie - Knife
Martin Doyle - Dirty Linen; The Troubles in My Homeplace
Mark Aldridge - Marple; Expert on Wickedness
Stephen Marche - On Writing and Failure
Timothy Garton-Ash - Homelands; A Personal History of Europe
Fiction
Garth Greenwell - Small Rain
Kevin Barry - The Heart in Winter
Camila Grudova - The Dolls’ Alphabet
Elspeth Barker - O Caledonia
Margaret Drabble - The Millstone
Ira Levin - Rosemary’s Baby
Yael Van der Wouden - The Safe Keep
Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love
Justin Torres - We The Animals
Manya Wilkinson - Lublin
Horace McCoy - The Shoot Horses Don’t They?
Miriam Toews - The Flying Troutmans
Davis Grubb - The Night of the Hunter
Cecile Pin - Wandering Souls
Cathy Sweeney - Breakdown
Charlotte Wood - Stone Yard Devotional
Orla Mackey - Mouthing
Anne Michaels - Held
Camila Grudova - Children of Paradise
Xan Brooks - The Catchers