try Mirror, your new favorite browser - mrr.re/invite/VCHNPBIYDJ/ adding later, daughter of the forest by juliet marillier and the invocations by krystal sutherland deserve a honorable honorable mention for fantasy!
I so need Mirror to be available for Windows 😢 every time you mention your husband's browser I'm like: yes I absolutely need that! And then I realize it's only for iOS
I only use audiobooks for years now. I have a long drive to work, haha. Plus saves your eyes from strain. Many audiobooks are better than movies to me. I also enjoy fantasy mostly, but I can't think of a good one from 2024. Here's some of my fav audiobooks: Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn 6 books Chinle Miller - Cafe Mysteries (starting 8th book changed to bad narrator) Cleo Coyle - The Haunted Bookshop Mysteries David Gemmell - Troy trilogy Greg Keys - Briar King 4 books Kenneth Oppel - Skybreaker Terry Pratchett - Bromeliad Trilogy If you really liked the Princess Bride movie, Cary Elwes' book "As You Wish - Making of The Princess Bride" is good.
just wanted to thank you for being a large part of why i got back into reading this year! my depression and other life factors led to me not being able to focus or have the desire to read, but last april i started watching you (and a couple other channels) which inspired me to pick up the cruel prince. i flew through that book in a day, ordered the next two from the library, flew through them, and i ended 2024 having read 108 books!! i’ve found so many new favorite authors and figured out more of my reading tastes and have felt more myself than i have in a long time. thank you for your videos, i’ve loved watching them this year 💕
Hi Cari! I don’t know if you will see this but I just wanted to thank you for your videos this year 🫶🏻 I live in Palestine and you know what’s happening, your videos almost every Thursday and in general made this year a lighter amongst all the heaviness and really helped!! Thank you again and I wish you a great 2025 filled with so many amazing books
cari you have no idea how much it means to me you posted this!!! a few hours ago I found my elderly neighbor collapsed on the ground and had to call 911, he was having a stroke. he's being treated at the ER and my nerves have been torn up the rest of the night. this vid made me feel so much better
Omg omg omg!! It’s happening!!! Everybody calm down!!! But no kidding my day becomes 100x better when you upload. My favorite book this year is definitely Project Hail Mary. It’s sickening how good that book is.
I'm a law nerd and the courtroom scene in that book is so bad I'm going to tape a piece of paper over it in my copy 😂 it's otherwise an absolutely perfect book! It didn't need that scene! If that scene doesn't exist it's a S+ tier read. It's so so so good.
I firmly believe that fokx who loved When Ghosts Call Us Home will also love House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland. Mystery, fandoms, sisterhood, light horror, etc. Ghosts wasn’t quite it for me but Hollow was one of my faves is the year.
I loved The Hollow and the Haunted! I went into a walk-in clinic and one of the nurses was the author’s mom and she recommended the book to me! Such a sweet and darkly fun story and I need the second to come out!
OMG I'm so happy you started to read Clarice! "The Hour of the star" is definitely one of her more accessible books it's usually the one picked for studies in the schools, but i can assure you her other works are also amazing! I really think you would like Machado de Assis or Itamar Vieira Junior. Both are really good introductions to Brazilian literature.
Literally all of my favorites this year were from your recommendations. Eternally grateful for you making me excited to read when I can’t get the motivation from myself!
timestamps for those interested! honorable mentions: 4:35 the god of the woods - liz moore 6:01 swimming in the dark - tomas jedrowski 7:34 drive your plow over the bones of the dead - olga tokarczuk 9:19 hour of the star - clarice lispector 10:48 foster - claire keegan 11:55 this woven kingdom - tahereh mafi 13:29 where sleeping girls lie - faridah abike-iyimide 15:04 the hollow and the haunted - camilla raines 16:04 zami, a new spelling of my name - audre lorde top books: 18:33 the library at mount char - scott hawkins 20:36 the english understand wool - helen dewitt 21:33 when ghosts call us home - katya de becerra 23:53 you should be so lucky - cat sebastian 25:25 to shape a dragon’s breath - moniquill blackgoose 27:41 braiding sweetgrass - robin wall kimmerer 29:20 intermezzo - sally rooney 30:17 evenings and weekends - oisin mckenna 30:58 martyr! - kaveh akbar 32:57 heir - sabaa tahir 34:23 a memory called empire - arkady martine
I read part of Braiding Sweetgrass, and I could hear the author speaking through her written words. The writing itself is already so breathtaking that I struggle imagining the audio version adding anything. I love the first couple chapters as well as the 8th I believe, "Asters and Goldenrod"
one that really stuck with me was that it was written decades ago, too. the master and margarita by bulgakov. it was so unexpectedly entertaining. i was really intimidated by it at first. but it was delightful and really honest. it sent me into a rabbit hole of russian authors. i loved the captain's daughter by pushkin and chekhov is also amazing. there's something about the tone that felt comfortable but expansive at the same time. felt like i was learning a lot but not intimidated. happy next year 🎉❤
Thank you for all you do Cari! This has been a hard year for us Palestinians everywhere and you have been a bright spot for me in all this. I hope your 2025 is fantastic and that Gerard delivers some new music for us all ❤
i love how cari says “god of the forest” with so much confidence. 😂😂 i really liked this book, too, and i even named my new rescue cat, “bear” after the book because we could never find out where the hell the cat was.
the summary of When Ghosts Call Us Home really reminded me of Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, which was my absolute favorite book I read for book club last year. But instead of a haunted house it's a killer mermaid mockumentary
braiding sweetgrass was required reading for a freshwater biology class i took in college and it has stuck in my head so intensely since then; so happy to see someone else reading and enjoying it outside of a school setting :)
drive your plow over the bones of the dead is one of the BEST books i’ve ever read EVER !! i’m so glad you loved it too and it’s so awesome to see it shouted out 😍
thank you for your videos cari! i just started uni and it’s been difficult to find time to read, but i’m motivated to because i love watching your reviews after finishing a book! happy new year!!
Happy new year from Portugal!! Some of my favorites this year were the Elements of Cadence duology, Blood Over Bright Haven, The Count of Monte Cristo, I Who Have Never Known Men, Seven Days in June, Gwen and Art are Not in Love, Funny Story, The Warm Hands of Ghosts, In the Lives of Puppets and the Murderbot series! (a lot of them thanks to your recommendations hehe
I'm currently listening The Sword of Kaigen and praying one of the MC's gets less time screen because I just loved the other one much more, but so far so good. Hope you read it this year.😊
Big thank you Cari. You got me back into reading late 2023 and all of 2024. I've read so many greats some i did not finish and others that were ok-ish. I look fwd to watching your videos and using the next 4 years finishing my list and staying off of social media more. unless its bluesky. Cheers
A memory called empire is so good. I listened to the audio book of this but now i want fo read it and the second book. I'm like you with audiobooks but i was so engaged with this one
Happy new year!! For me 2024 was a year of getting harsher at rating books, because I've been actively reading only for a year and a half, so I guess my taste has just not necessarily improved, but also changed? If you look up my ratings from 2023, I think that every second book was 5 stars lmao. So this year I'll try to find a particular area of genres, authors, settings, whatever. Starting this year with "Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano, so far it's slow, but I'm enjoying it! Thanks for being my endless source of book recs, hope to get even more for you this year!! Happy holidays!
Braiding Sweetgrass has been on my TBR for a while! I find that listening to an audiobook at 1.25-ish speed AND reading a physical copy at the same time is the ideal way to enjoy an audiobook for me, especially in terms of keeping my attention 😋
this is my first time watching your videos and you loving martyr! and a memory called empire is incredibly elite taste 🙌 now i’ve added some books to my tbr too
Happy New Year! Looking forward to reading some of these books. My favs of the year were Frankenstein in Baghdad, Enter Ghost, Shubeik Lubeik (beautiful graphic novel from Egypt), and The Husbands.
Immediately downloaded the audiobook of Braiding Sweetgrass, and put A Memory Called Empire, Intermezzo, and To Shape A Dragon's Breath audiobooks on hold at the library! Excited for them all after hearing your thoughts on them!
North Woods was my absolute favorite of 2024. It was like nothing I’d ever read before…epic, spanning time, beautiful and heartbreaking. It really stuck with me for a long time.
@caricanread please give the Audiobook of Gideon the Ninth a try. Moira Quirk did an exceptional job. Omg I think it made me love it even more which I didn’t think was possible. “Nooooo, Magnus” has become a staple in my lexicon strictly because of her narration. I can’t get over the way she tells this story!!!
Thank you Cari for sharing with us your favorites from 2024. I love how diverse your taste is and it’s making me want to step out of my comfort zone and try other genres ❤ oh and i had a feeling a memory called empire would top your list 🎉
The Library at Mount Char is also one of my favorite books of the year. I'd recommend checking out Knock Knock Open Wide by Neil Sharpson and Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin. Both are really weird, eerie, and emotional books that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Thank you for all you do! 💗
Two of my surprise favorites of the year: - Body Grammar by Jules Ohman- a recent high school graduate witnesses a tragedy and decides to uproot her whole life and become a model in NYC. Kind of a weird premise but one of the best sapphic coming of age stories and meditations on grief that I’ve read in a while! - The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter-stumbled across this in a little free library and fell in love. Also a coming of age story full of magical realism. So beautifully written but definitely look up trigger warnings
@ it’s so good! I think it can be a little hard to get a copy (I think it was like a really small printing or something?) but it’s worth it to try. Also, you should check out Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay if you want another book about a horror movie that doesn’t really exist
Cari, I am so grateful for these wonderful reading ideas and for sharing your experiences. I have already added a few to my reading list. Thank you again so much✨️
Thank you for sharing your fave books of 2024!! You’ve helped me get back into reading and I’ve continuously added books to my TBR b/c I watch your book recommendation videos!!
Such different books from what I expected! Will try some of them. Your description of Braiding Sweetgrass reminded me of Awareness by Anthony de Mello (also an audiobook gem). My absolute favourites this year were: The Sword of Kaigen, Half a Soul, Oathbringer (reread) and Best Served Cold (need to read First Law trilogy first though).
I read Where Sleeping Girls Lie because you talked about it and wow, definitely one of my favourites this past year, I still think about it. Thank you so much for all the awesome book content, Cari! Excited for another great reading year with your recommendations.
You're amazing cari! I highly recommend the audiobook for The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, the book originally started as a podcast and the writing is very pretty!
I made a list of everything you mentioned that I haven't already read because I think we have really similar tastes! Today I read Foster and The English Understand Wool and loved them both, and I'm 25% of the way into a memory called empire and LOVING it!
Thank you Cari, this video definitely made my tbr longer!! A few of my favorites this year were in memoriam by Alice Winn, there’s always this year by hanif abdurraqib and private rites by Julia armfield. I did not love our wives under the sea by JA, admittedly, but I thought private rites was fantastic
Just saw and started the video - already know I would love it! Thank you, Cari, for being a comforting and mindfull creator ❤ (sorry if the grammar/vocabulary or punctuation is off, English isn’t my native language)
The highlight of my 2024 was Robin Hobb, author of the Realm of the Elderlings! It's a 16-book fantasy saga divided in 5 trilogies (the first two were published back in the 90s). I'm in the middle or the third trilogy and it's just the best fantasy I've ever read. Truly a masterclass in writing, worldbuilding and character develpment. ❤️
So many new additions to my TBR list after this video! 💛 I read I Who Have Never Known Men last year, and it’s one of those books that will stick with me for a long time.
I picked up that Cat Sebastian book from my library on your recommendation and oh my goodness I am so glad I did. Now I must read all of her others as well.
Oh my god! how happy I wasseeing you read Lispector! I love that book so much and seeing brasilian literature being enjoyed makes me delighted. Also, hour of the star references jewish persecution from the world war in such a way that it almost feel like a easter egg. it is on such tiny details that it can be missed, but it also holds such weight once you notice it, it changed the whole narrative for me.
When Ghosts Call Us Home was also one of my favorites this year. Immeadiately after I read A Place for Vanishing and it had similar vibes absolutely amazing amazing and I can't tell more people to read it because I can't stop thinking about the atmosphere of these two books.
Read Mount Char on your recommendation and Master of Djinn. Thank you ! So appreciate your thoughtfulness and for sharing the unvarnished opinion in such an empathetic and humours way. Always a delight to watch your videos. Hope you have had time to rest ! I mostly read detective thriller types so you have helped me explore outside. My favourite reds this year The Seeker about England post Revolution and The Crossing Places about a forensic archaeologist in Norfolk but the top red this year was The Trees by Percival Everett. Incredible how he ratchets up tension whilst making you laugh and feel.
Omg I’m so happy you read Zami by Audre Lorde! It’s been on my tbr for almost a year and I’ve made it my mission to read it during 2025, so I’m really glad you gave a review of it, and a positive one too 😊
Now I have to read the Library at Mt Char! I’m mostly horror and thriller girly. My favs this year were Tinfoil Butterfly, Cabin at the End of the World, the Silent Patient, the Bog Wife, Educated, and Frankenstein! Also, I finally read the Secret Life of Bees and I can already feel it being a comfort read that I go back to again and again. ❤
Hard agree on A Memory Called Empire - also not sure if you’ve read this one yet, but I def recommend She Who Became The Sun! Thanks as always for the fantastic book recs and can’t wait to see what you get up to in the new year 😌🎉
Ooo also, I hadn’t gotten to the end of the video when I commented this, but an older book that has stuck with me for awhile: Slow River by Nicola Griffith. Its a near(ish) future sci fi novel I found on a rec list for books about what it means to be human, and it is a super interesting non-linear story about identity (with some crime drama/mystery thrown in). I’m not a big re-reader, but this is one I’ve returned to at least 3 times in the last few years :)
I added a lot of books to my TBR from your recommendations, hopefully I can get around to them this year! Books I read in 2024 that stuck in the recesses of my brain are Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, and Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee!
Cari, I just wanted to say thank you so much for everything you do! You are the only person across the internet that I can trust to give me recs. I know by now that anything you like I probably will, and it’s super refreshing to have found that!
try Mirror, your new favorite browser - mrr.re/invite/VCHNPBIYDJ/
adding later, daughter of the forest by juliet marillier and the invocations by krystal sutherland deserve a honorable honorable mention for fantasy!
omg and also we're having a book swap in seoul next weekend! come if you can :)
instagram.com/p/DERpjnSSIqr/
Beautiful work as always Cari. Have you seen books of Kadare, they are breathtaking.
I so need Mirror to be available for Windows 😢 every time you mention your husband's browser I'm like: yes I absolutely need that! And then I realize it's only for iOS
I only use audiobooks for years now. I have a long drive to work, haha.
Plus saves your eyes from strain.
Many audiobooks are better than movies to me.
I also enjoy fantasy mostly, but I can't think of a good one from 2024.
Here's some of my fav audiobooks:
Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn 6 books
Chinle Miller - Cafe Mysteries (starting 8th book changed to bad narrator)
Cleo Coyle - The Haunted Bookshop Mysteries
David Gemmell - Troy trilogy
Greg Keys - Briar King 4 books
Kenneth Oppel - Skybreaker
Terry Pratchett - Bromeliad Trilogy
If you really liked the Princess Bride movie, Cary Elwes' book "As You Wish - Making of The Princess Bride" is good.
just wanted to thank you for being a large part of why i got back into reading this year! my depression and other life factors led to me not being able to focus or have the desire to read, but last april i started watching you (and a couple other channels) which inspired me to pick up the cruel prince. i flew through that book in a day, ordered the next two from the library, flew through them, and i ended 2024 having read 108 books!! i’ve found so many new favorite authors and figured out more of my reading tastes and have felt more myself than i have in a long time. thank you for your videos, i’ve loved watching them this year 💕
so glad youre back into reading even if it was an insufferable fae prince who got you hooked hahahah hope 2025 is a great reading year too!
Same but I got back into reading thanks to the ACOTAR series cari made 🙈
i’m glad polish literature is getting so much recognition. i hope more books get translated from polish for the world to enjoy 😊
Hi Cari! I don’t know if you will see this but I just wanted to thank you for your videos this year 🫶🏻 I live in Palestine and you know what’s happening, your videos almost every Thursday and in general made this year a lighter amongst all the heaviness and really helped!! Thank you again and I wish you a great 2025 filled with so many amazing books
i hope that you and all of palestine have the best 2025 of all of us 🙏
stay safe!! ❤
Sending you love, I've been thinking of all of you and praying for peace in Palestine in 2025.
Inshallah I hope you stay safe and Palestine will be free this year
Stay safe akhi; inshaAllah we will taste freedom this year
cari you have no idea how much it means to me you posted this!!! a few hours ago I found my elderly neighbor collapsed on the ground and had to call 911, he was having a stroke. he's being treated at the ER and my nerves have been torn up the rest of the night. this vid made me feel so much better
Thank you for being such a caring neighbour. I hope he recovers well.
Omg omg omg!! It’s happening!!! Everybody calm down!!! But no kidding my day becomes 100x better when you upload. My favorite book this year is definitely Project Hail Mary. It’s sickening how good that book is.
yesss loved that one :')
The way im listening to the audiobook right now!!!! Its incredible!
I'm a law nerd and the courtroom scene in that book is so bad I'm going to tape a piece of paper over it in my copy 😂 it's otherwise an absolutely perfect book! It didn't need that scene! If that scene doesn't exist it's a S+ tier read. It's so so so good.
I think about the characters all the time 🎵⏰🎶
"Do I even like to read?" thank you for putting into words this toxic relationship I have with books
Ready for this! I'm starting off the year with Six of Crows and hoping to find more inspiration for my next read! Thanks Cari! 🩷
i am overdue for a soc reread!
omg i decided to start the year with six of crows too!! it has been sitting on my shelf since 2022😭😭
@@greatmm11 I'm excited for both of us!
I have it on hold at my library! It’ll be one of my early 2025 reads as well!
I firmly believe that fokx who loved When Ghosts Call Us Home will also love House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland. Mystery, fandoms, sisterhood, light horror, etc. Ghosts wasn’t quite it for me but Hollow was one of my faves is the year.
Also loved a memory called empire! Also loved: the will of the many, the nightingale, the tainted cup, and when the moon hatched.
i already want to reread a memory called empire!
Seeing Daughter of the Forest in the description as an honorable mention was all I needed to know that I did well to be loud in recommending that
!!!!!
I read it last year too for the first time. Feel like it's underrated. I love sorcha
Soooo good
I loved The Hollow and the Haunted! I went into a walk-in clinic and one of the nurses was the author’s mom and she recommended the book to me! Such a sweet and darkly fun story and I need the second to come out!
OMG I'm so happy you started to read Clarice! "The Hour of the star" is definitely one of her more accessible books it's usually the one picked for studies in the schools, but i can assure you her other works are also amazing!
I really think you would like Machado de Assis or Itamar Vieira Junior. Both are really good introductions to Brazilian literature.
Literally all of my favorites this year were from your recommendations. Eternally grateful for you making me excited to read when I can’t get the motivation from myself!
Cari: posts a video
Me: mood instantly improves ❤
❤❤❤
You are the perfect youtuber to put on while i'm working. Soothing, long videos, books, aesthetically pleasing. Love your channel ❤
timestamps for those interested!
honorable mentions:
4:35 the god of the woods - liz moore
6:01 swimming in the dark - tomas jedrowski
7:34 drive your plow over the bones of the dead - olga tokarczuk
9:19 hour of the star - clarice lispector
10:48 foster - claire keegan
11:55 this woven kingdom - tahereh mafi
13:29 where sleeping girls lie - faridah abike-iyimide
15:04 the hollow and the haunted - camilla raines
16:04 zami, a new spelling of my name - audre lorde
top books:
18:33 the library at mount char - scott hawkins
20:36 the english understand wool - helen dewitt
21:33 when ghosts call us home - katya de becerra
23:53 you should be so lucky - cat sebastian
25:25 to shape a dragon’s breath - moniquill blackgoose
27:41 braiding sweetgrass - robin wall kimmerer
29:20 intermezzo - sally rooney
30:17 evenings and weekends - oisin mckenna
30:58 martyr! - kaveh akbar
32:57 heir - sabaa tahir
34:23 a memory called empire - arkady martine
I read part of Braiding Sweetgrass, and I could hear the author speaking through her written words. The writing itself is already so breathtaking that I struggle imagining the audio version adding anything. I love the first couple chapters as well as the 8th I believe, "Asters and Goldenrod"
I've been waiting to find out your 2024 favourites for so long, happy new year Cari!
happy new year!!
one that really stuck with me was that it was written decades ago, too. the master and margarita by bulgakov. it was so unexpectedly entertaining. i was really intimidated by it at first. but it was delightful and really honest. it sent me into a rabbit hole of russian authors. i loved the captain's daughter by pushkin and chekhov is also amazing. there's something about the tone that felt comfortable but expansive at the same time. felt like i was learning a lot but not intimidated. happy next year 🎉❤
Thank you for all you do Cari! This has been a hard year for us Palestinians everywhere and you have been a bright spot for me in all this. I hope your 2025 is fantastic and that Gerard delivers some new music for us all ❤
🇵🇸🤍
i love how cari says “god of the forest” with so much confidence. 😂😂
i really liked this book, too, and i even named my new rescue cat, “bear” after the book because we could never find out where the hell the cat was.
lol i trusted my notes but forgot past me wrote them right before falling asleep hahaha
Braiding Sweetgrass was also one of my favs this year 🫶
the summary of When Ghosts Call Us Home really reminded me of Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, which was my absolute favorite book I read for book club last year. But instead of a haunted house it's a killer mermaid mockumentary
oh i loved into the drowning deep too!!!
braiding sweetgrass was required reading for a freshwater biology class i took in college and it has stuck in my head so intensely since then; so happy to see someone else reading and enjoying it outside of a school setting :)
drive your plow over the bones of the dead is one of the BEST books i’ve ever read EVER !! i’m so glad you loved it too and it’s so awesome to see it shouted out 😍
thank you for your videos cari! i just started uni and it’s been difficult to find time to read, but i’m motivated to because i love watching your reviews after finishing a book! happy new year!!
Happy new year from Portugal!!
Some of my favorites this year were the Elements of Cadence duology, Blood Over Bright Haven, The Count of Monte Cristo, I Who Have Never Known Men, Seven Days in June, Gwen and Art are Not in Love, Funny Story, The Warm Hands of Ghosts, In the Lives of Puppets and the Murderbot series! (a lot of them thanks to your recommendations hehe
Também estou a ler a série murderbot. Estou a gostar, principalmente os audiolivros são muito acessíveis
I'm currently listening The Sword of Kaigen and praying one of the MC's gets less time screen because I just loved the other one much more, but so far so good. Hope you read it this year.😊
yes! still on my tbr!!
Big thank you Cari.
You got me back into reading late 2023 and all of 2024. I've read so many greats some i did not finish and others that were ok-ish.
I look fwd to watching your videos and using the next 4 years finishing my list and staying off of social media more. unless its bluesky. Cheers
I have been looking forward to this! I’m currently reading A Spirit Bares It’s Teeth and The Will of the Many!
looooove spirit bares its teeth!
I read The Will of the Many last month and absolutely loved it!! I hope you’re enjoying your read!
@SienaPietraszak-el1idthank you!
happy new year to you Carrie, thank you for being apart of my reading journey for three or four years now, appreciate all that you do🫶🏻🤍
A memory called empire is so good. I listened to the audio book of this but now i want fo read it and the second book. I'm like you with audiobooks but i was so engaged with this one
Happy new year!! For me 2024 was a year of getting harsher at rating books, because I've been actively reading only for a year and a half, so I guess my taste has just not necessarily improved, but also changed? If you look up my ratings from 2023, I think that every second book was 5 stars lmao. So this year I'll try to find a particular area of genres, authors, settings, whatever. Starting this year with "Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano, so far it's slow, but I'm enjoying it! Thanks for being my endless source of book recs, hope to get even more for you this year!! Happy holidays!
"If you liked Gideon the Ninth" is exactly the way to get a book to the top of my TBR
I loved how you described all of these books, you made my tbr longer and longer and longer as the video went on
Thank you for all of the wonderful videos and recommendations in 2024! 💖 The Locked Tomb series were definitely my favorite reads of the year
I also listened to braiding sweetgrass as an audiobook, that's one of my favourite books.
Braiding Sweetgrass has been on my TBR for a while! I find that listening to an audiobook at 1.25-ish speed AND reading a physical copy at the same time is the ideal way to enjoy an audiobook for me, especially in terms of keeping my attention 😋
this is my first time watching your videos and you loving martyr! and a memory called empire is incredibly elite taste 🙌 now i’ve added some books to my tbr too
Happy New Year! Looking forward to reading some of these books. My favs of the year were Frankenstein in Baghdad, Enter Ghost, Shubeik Lubeik (beautiful graphic novel from Egypt), and The Husbands.
I love that you highlighted some unique and lesser-known titles. Thank you for all the contents you've shared in 2024! 💙
COMPLETELY agree about braiding sweetgrass audio
Immediately downloaded the audiobook of Braiding Sweetgrass, and put A Memory Called Empire, Intermezzo, and To Shape A Dragon's Breath audiobooks on hold at the library! Excited for them all after hearing your thoughts on them!
Literally said "yesssssss" out loud when you announced your book of the year. One of my all time favs, so glad you loved it!
North Woods was my absolute favorite of 2024. It was like nothing I’d ever read before…epic, spanning time, beautiful and heartbreaking. It really stuck with me for a long time.
always a pleasure to hear your voice ❤ happy new year cari!
happy new year!!
Swimming in the dark was a gorgeous book, I got it from the library, finished it and then immediately bought my own copy
not being able to rank-list your books is so real, thank you for this video even though dreaded!! currently updating my TBR... :)
Here's to a great 20205. I hope you get some great stories. Best wishes and happy reading.
@caricanread please give the Audiobook of Gideon the Ninth a try. Moira Quirk did an exceptional job. Omg I think it made me love it even more which I didn’t think was possible. “Nooooo, Magnus” has become a staple in my lexicon strictly because of her narration. I can’t get over the way she tells this story!!!
Thank you, Cari! I appreciate the work youve put in this year :)
so ready to add some more books to my tbr from this video!! you got me HOOKED onto t kingfisher sooo i trust everything now from you
Thank you Cari for sharing with us your favorites from 2024. I love how diverse your taste is and it’s making me want to step out of my comfort zone and try other genres ❤ oh and i had a feeling a memory called empire would top your list 🎉
The Library at Mount Char is also one of my favorite books of the year. I'd recommend checking out Knock Knock Open Wide by Neil Sharpson and Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin. Both are really weird, eerie, and emotional books that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Thank you for all you do! 💗
Ohh looking those up asap!
I love the polish representation!! I need to get back into my homeland’s literature and these seem like a great start🫶
I’ve been using mirror since you first announced it, for both work and personal life things! It’s game changer, I love it SO much!!!
Thanks for all the recommendations. I loved listening to your experience with each book.
Cheers to 2025! May your sleep be good and your books even better 🎉
same to youuuu!
god of the forest being the first was SO REAL i loved that book im always thinking about it! happy new year!
Two of my surprise favorites of the year:
- Body Grammar by Jules Ohman- a recent high school graduate witnesses a tragedy and decides to uproot her whole life and become a model in NYC. Kind of a weird premise but one of the best sapphic coming of age stories and meditations on grief that I’ve read in a while!
- The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter-stumbled across this in a little free library and fell in love. Also a coming of age story full of magical realism. So beautifully written but definitely look up trigger warnings
ohhh the book of x - im intrigued!
@ it’s so good! I think it can be a little hard to get a copy (I think it was like a really small printing or something?) but it’s worth it to try. Also, you should check out Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay if you want another book about a horror movie that doesn’t really exist
Cari, I am so grateful for these wonderful reading ideas and for sharing your experiences. I have already added a few to my reading list. Thank you again so much✨️
Thank you for sharing your fave books of 2024!! You’ve helped me get back into reading and I’ve continuously added books to my TBR b/c I watch your book recommendation videos!!
I've been waiting for this!! also patiently waiting for mirror on windwow
yeeee!
Such different books from what I expected! Will try some of them. Your description of Braiding Sweetgrass reminded me of Awareness by Anthony de Mello (also an audiobook gem). My absolute favourites this year were: The Sword of Kaigen, Half a Soul, Oathbringer (reread) and Best Served Cold (need to read First Law trilogy first though).
nothing better than a Cari new video to start the year💛
happy happy new year!
Early to a cari video omg, starting the new year right :)) Happy New Year!!
happy new yearrrr!
Happy new year from Germany! Thank you for all the great videos throughout the year.
I read Where Sleeping Girls Lie because you talked about it and wow, definitely one of my favourites this past year, I still think about it.
Thank you so much for all the awesome book content, Cari! Excited for another great reading year with your recommendations.
You're amazing cari! I highly recommend the audiobook for The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, the book originally started as a podcast and the writing is very pretty!
I made a list of everything you mentioned that I haven't already read because I think we have really similar tastes! Today I read Foster and The English Understand Wool and loved them both, and I'm 25% of the way into a memory called empire and LOVING it!
I am so happy that you liked not one but two books from my polish fellows
Thank you Cari, this video definitely made my tbr longer!! A few of my favorites this year were in memoriam by Alice Winn, there’s always this year by hanif abdurraqib and private rites by Julia armfield. I did not love our wives under the sea by JA, admittedly, but I thought private rites was fantastic
omg meanwhile i looooved our wives but am stuck at 30% of private rites :/ i will try to push through!!
@@caricanread good luck! don't push yourself too hard but I would be curious to hear your thoughts if you finish it ❤
Just saw and started the video - already know I would love it! Thank you, Cari, for being a comforting and mindfull creator ❤
(sorry if the grammar/vocabulary or punctuation is off, English isn’t my native language)
thank you so much :''')
The highlight of my 2024 was Robin Hobb, author of the Realm of the Elderlings! It's a 16-book fantasy saga divided in 5 trilogies (the first two were published back in the 90s). I'm in the middle or the third trilogy and it's just the best fantasy I've ever read. Truly a masterclass in writing, worldbuilding and character develpment. ❤️
I also started that this year! Im still only halfway throught the Farseer trilogy though, those books are loooong 😅
So many new additions to my TBR list after this video! 💛
I read I Who Have Never Known Men last year, and it’s one of those books that will stick with me for a long time.
Posting on my birthday, how kind😊🎉good luck on everyone’s reading goals this year!!!
happy birthday!!!
I picked up that Cat Sebastian book from my library on your recommendation and oh my goodness I am so glad I did. Now I must read all of her others as well.
I really have to extend thanks for making me aware of a memory called empire because it's definitely one of my favorites from this year
Cari starting our year off right
happy 2025!
Happy New Year! thank you for sharing your favorite books, putting some of it into my TBR this year :)
Oh my god! how happy I wasseeing you read Lispector! I love that book so much and seeing brasilian literature being enjoyed makes me delighted. Also, hour of the star references jewish persecution from the world war in such a way that it almost feel like a easter egg. it is on such tiny details that it can be missed, but it also holds such weight once you notice it, it changed the whole narrative for me.
Braiding Sweetgrass is one of my favorite books!
When Ghosts Call Us Home was also one of my favorites this year. Immeadiately after I read A Place for Vanishing and it had similar vibes absolutely amazing amazing and I can't tell more people to read it because I can't stop thinking about the atmosphere of these two books.
Happy Birthday Cari! I hope you had a great celebration! ❤
after hearing of martyr all year without feeling drawn to pick it up, you finally sold it to me!!
Read Mount Char on your recommendation and Master of Djinn. Thank you ! So appreciate your thoughtfulness and for sharing the unvarnished opinion in such an empathetic and humours way. Always a delight to watch your videos. Hope you have had time to rest ! I mostly read detective thriller types so you have helped me explore outside. My favourite reds this year The Seeker about England post Revolution and The Crossing Places about a forensic archaeologist in Norfolk but the top red this year was The Trees by Percival Everett. Incredible how he ratchets up tension whilst making you laugh and feel.
Omg I’m so happy you read Zami by Audre Lorde! It’s been on my tbr for almost a year and I’ve made it my mission to read it during 2025, so I’m really glad you gave a review of it, and a positive one too 😊
Now I have to read the Library at Mt Char! I’m mostly horror and thriller girly. My favs this year were Tinfoil Butterfly, Cabin at the End of the World, the Silent Patient, the Bog Wife, Educated, and Frankenstein! Also, I finally read the Secret Life of Bees and I can already feel it being a comfort read that I go back to again and again. ❤
Starting the new year with my fav person💕🫶🫂
happy new year :')
Ooo I just LOVE your thumbnail font!
I read WHEN GHOSTS CALL US HOME when it came out in 2023 and absolutely loved it!
I will check out FOSTER and the WOOL book! I love your recs! 😍
and honorable mention to Kurt lol!! I’ve been loving mirror as someone who is highly organized yet deathly afraid to close a tab
I read Where Sleeping Girls Lie because of your recommendation in a previous video and I LOVED it. It was 5 stars from me! Thanks for the rec!
Hard agree on A Memory Called Empire - also not sure if you’ve read this one yet, but I def recommend She Who Became The Sun! Thanks as always for the fantastic book recs and can’t wait to see what you get up to in the new year 😌🎉
Ooo also, I hadn’t gotten to the end of the video when I commented this, but an older book that has stuck with me for awhile: Slow River by Nicola Griffith. Its a near(ish) future sci fi novel I found on a rec list for books about what it means to be human, and it is a super interesting non-linear story about identity (with some crime drama/mystery thrown in). I’m not a big re-reader, but this is one I’ve returned to at least 3 times in the last few years :)
I added a lot of books to my TBR from your recommendations, hopefully I can get around to them this year! Books I read in 2024 that stuck in the recesses of my brain are Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, and Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee!
I waited for this since the first day of the year😂❤
I've so been looking forward to this!! hope you have an amazing 2025 cari!!
you too!!!
God of the Woods and The English Understand Wool were also 2024 favorites of mine. Looking forward to finally getting to Where Sleeping Girls Lie.
Cari, I just wanted to say thank you so much for everything you do! You are the only person across the internet that I can trust to give me recs. I know by now that anything you like I probably will, and it’s super refreshing to have found that!
Can't wait for the windows version of mirror. I have used it when I had my mac and I loved it. Now that I have switched to Windows I miss using it 😢.