This is always one of my favorite posts to write! I love looking back on everything I read and seeing which ones stuck with me. When I pick favorites, I pick the books that made an impact on me – the ones that I’m still thinking about now, months and months later. 2024 was a really good reading year for me – not only did I read a lot of books I really loved, I also read a pretty good variety across genres! These are all my favorites from last year.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I am not typically a sci-fi reader (and space kind of overwhelms and scares me!), but so many people I trust told me to read this book – and they were absolutely right. Ryland Grace finds himself on a spaceship, tasked with the mission of saving Earth from something mysterious in the atmosphere – except when he wakes up on the ship, he’s not sure why he’s there or what he’s supposed to do. The story jumps back and forth a bit as Ryland recovers more and more memories, and as he works out how he can save Earth… alone. It sounds overwhelming, but it’s actually heartwarming (though stressful at times!). This is one of those books where the less you know going into it, the more I think you’ll enjoy.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
This is one of those books that starts out kind of strange, but I ended up loving. Annie Bot is a robot made to be the perfect girlfriend for Doug – her personality and looks are customized exactly to his preferences, which he selected after a bad breakup. But her AI also allows her to learn, and she’s constantly trying to please Doug and learn how to make him happy. But as Annie starts to learn, she starts to realize more about the complexities in life – about what she wants, versus what Doug wants, and about what happiness for her would actually look like. It’s honestly such an intriguing look into AI, and made me feel a little bit weird when I talked to my Alexa device after I finished reading!
Real Americans by Rachel Khong
This is an absolutely incredible generational story, and really stuck with me. The story starts out with the love story between Lily, an unpaid intern at a media company, and Matthew, who sweeps her off her feet and introduces her to how the other half lives. Lily and Matthew fall in love despite being opposites in almost every way, and are happy – until Lily learns something that turns her world upside down. Years later, Nick, after feeling like he’s never quite fit in, decides to try to find his biological father, and ends up learning more than he bargained for. The story beautifully weaves together identity, generational trauma, social and class issues, nature vs. nurture, and so much more. I loved how the different generational pieces fit together perfectly in the end.
The Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
This book is one of those that just feels so personally perfect to me, and I knew I had to include it. It’s set on Price Edward Island, where Lucy goes to meet her friend Bridget one fateful summer. But before Bridget arrives, Lucy meets Bridget’s brother Felix… except she doesn’t know that this mystery man is her best friend’s brother. After sharing a night together, the two realize their connection to Bridget, and promise to never repeat that night. But both of them keep finding it very hard to keep their promise! This book is full of Anne of Green Gables references, and those books meant so much to me when I was younger (and honestly, they still do today!). Reading it brought me back to the magic of Anne and Avonlea in a new way, and I loved it so much. Pour yourself a glass of vinho verde to enjoy while you read.
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
This is such a weird little book, but I loved it! Lauren comes home one night to find herself greeted by her husband… a man she has never met before. But there are signs of him all over his place, text messages to and from him, and all her friends know who he is, too. Then he goes up into the attic to change a lightbulb, and when he comes back down the stepladder, it’s a different husband. Lauren kind of feels she’s gotten a little loophole to life – when she gets bored, or wants to change something she just did, she just sends the husband back up and poof, a new one (and a new life) appears. But how do you know which husband is the right husband – and which of your lives is the “right” one – when you don’t have any of the backstory? It’s such a strange yet fascinating thought, and I loved how the book handled it, too. It was a delight to read.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
The premise of this book isn’t one that I thought I’d be into, but go in with an open mind, because it’s definitely worth it.Margo is a community college student who has an affair with her professor, gets pregnant, and decides to keep the baby somewhat naively, and because she feels like it’s what a good person would do. Her life is, unsurprisingly, completely changed, and when she struggles to find consistent childcare and loses her waitressing job, she needs a way to make money fast. So she decides to make an OnlyFans, and takes some character-creation ideas from her dad, a pro-wrestler who is newly back in her life. And with the help of TikTok, her OnlyFans takes off! The book is so funny and so insightful about what jobs we value (and don’t) and the lack of support for mothers. It’s also really interesting in the way it plays with the narrative voice and point-of-view, often switching between first- and third-person, which was confusing at first but actually worked really well for the story.
Sociopath by Patric Gagne
This book was incredible. I kept seeing this book everywhere – a real-life account of a sociopath – and I don’t know exactly what I expected, but it wasn’t this. The book was so much better than I ever could’ve anticipated. The book isn’t steamy or wild, or at least not in the ways you’d think. It really is an account of the author’s life as a sociopath – a way to normalize a term that we throw about wildly, and almost often negatively. And yes, some of the things she did surprised me, but only because I can’t imagine doing some of the things she did an attempt to “treat” her own sociopathy, because no real treatment protocols existed. This is a book I think that everyone should read – it gives so much insight into mental health disorders. I listened to the audiobook, which was read by the author, and I highly recommend that.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
(The description of this book isn’t exactly uplifting, but bear with me, because the story is incredible. Phoebe arrives to check in at a luxe hotel in Rhode Island only to find that her reservation has been accepted mistakenly – the rest of the hotel has been booked out for guests of a wedding happening that weekend. Phoebe is determined to stay anyway, though – her stay here was supposed to be a celebratory, fun stay with her husband, but is now a solo stay where’s planned to have one decadent stay before committing suicide. The book is both poignant and surprisingly funny, too – it’s an investigation of sorts into the decisions that we make and how our lives unfold. It’s really heartwarming and I absolutely recommend it, though I’d warn you to check if reading about attempted suicide or infertility may impact you.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Again, science-fiction is not typically one of my favorite genres, but I really loved this story. In what seems to be the near future, a few British civil servants are secretly tasked with being “bridges;” basically acting as liaisons to people the British government has brought back from the past to the current time through a door that acts as a time portal. Commander Gore, who the main character is a bridge for, is thought to have died on a failed exhibition to the Arctic, and is very confused to find himself living in modern times, and devastated to learn that his crew did not survive. There are the expected learning bumps between Gore and modern times, but his bridge finds herself increasingly drawn to him… and finds that there’s a lot more going on that the bridges weren’t told about. It’s a really beautiful story, and covers a lot – racial microaggressions, feminism, global warming – in a way that doesn’t feel preachy. It’s a bit slow at first, and is definitely more character-driven at the start, but I loved how it came together.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
I absolutely loved this book – it’s literary fiction combined with a mystery, but not fast-paced like a thriller. And it’s so perfectly moody and atmospheric; it’s set at summer camp, which I always love even though I’ve never actually been to one! Barbara Van Laar is found to be missing from her cabin at camp one morning, which would be a problem in and of itself, but is even a bigger problem because her family owns the camp, and her brother went missing years before and was never found. The story alternates back and forth between present day and the past; trying to solve the mystery of what happened to Barbara while also unwinding the Van Laar’s complicated history with the camp. There are a handful of different POV’s, too, but they all come together perfectly in the end.
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
Gilmore Girls is one of my absolute favorite shows, so obviously I was going to read Kelly Bishop’s memoir! I did this one on audio, which I really recommend, as Kelly herself narrates it. I only knew a tiny bit about Kelly’s life outside Gilmore Girls before reading this, and I came away from it being completely in awe of her. She led such an incredible life, and was so completely dedicated to pursuing her dreams and putting in the work to make that happen. I especially loved hearing all her Broadway stories. She just seems to be so completely and totally herself, it’s so impressive.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
I’ve always been a casual Ina Garten fan, watching clips of her TV show and cooking from her recipes, but after reading this I am so impressed by and in awe of her! The book follows Ina throughout her life – starting with her childhood, on to her time working for the government, and then, of course, when she decided to buy a small store in the Hamptons and the career we know her for began. I really loved how open she was, both about her childhood and about her relationship with Jeffrey, after being called “couple goals” so many times. And her passion and dedication and ambition made me reinvigorated to work on my own projects! I listen to this on audio and highly recommend it that way, as she narrates it herself.
Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe
This was such a beautifully, slightly weird story – I loved it so much. This is a modernized retelling of the Chinese folktale “The Legend of the White Snake” – I’m not familiar with the original, but this story on it’s own is beautiful and poignant and funny! Emerald and Su are sisters who are seemingly as different as possible, except for the fact that 1,000 years ago, they were both living as snakes in China. Now, Su does her very best to pass as human – she is married to a politician in Singapore and lives in orderly, seemingly perfect life. Emerald has always kept a little bit of her wild, snake-life self near the surface, and lives day-to-day, using her charm and wit to get by. When Su comes across a news story that she thinks might mean Emerald is in trouble, she boards the first flight, finds Emerald, and brings her back to live with her in Singapore… where Emerald’s presence threatens to topple the life Su has painstakingly worked to craft. It’s so darkly funny, but also really witty, and has some really poignant themes about found family and about being truly seen. It was such a beautiful story!
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
This was just absolutely delightful – I loved it so much more than I thought I would! Maggie and Ethan are both the top authors in their genres – cozy mystery and thriller, respectively. They’re also, in Maggie’s eyes, sworn enemies… and they also both receive a mysterious invitation to spend the holidays at the house of an anonymous huge fan. When they arrive, they learn the “fan” is actually the super popular author Eleanor Ashley, who is basically Maggie’s idol. After the party the first night, Maggie and Ethan wake up to find that Eleanor has disappeared from her locked bedroom, and the whole group is snowed in at her house. Maggie begins to suspect that Eleanor has purposely escaped, and that the whole thing is a setup for her to solve. She begrudgingly agrees to work with Ethan to try to solve the case… and the two find themselves growing closer. This was a fun, cozy mystery plus romance, and the banter was so charming I didn’t want to stop reading! I kind of couldn’t believe how much I loved this.
