So far, it's going to have to be Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood. It was my first SJM book and went back to read all her other books, and nope, nothing else compared for me. The grief story, the slow burn, ufff, I read it back in February and it can still make me cry if I think about the story a lot. I've never experienced an emotional chokehold from a book like that ever in my life. Yes it has some of SJM's tropes and maybe it won't be for everyone. But man, this was a life-changing book for me and although not perfect, the way it made me feel made it an all-time favorite, not just of 2024. :')
One of my best books of 2024 is.. "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" 🎉 And I picked it up because of your recommendation! So thanks 🙌 Wow I am so early commenting, I was just on TH-cam watching another booktuber lol
My best book this year (so far) was A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon. I know you've read that one. My next favorite book was One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. (I'm reading Blood Over Bright Haven now).
My favorite book of the year was Jade Legacy (I know, I am hella late to the party and also new to reading as a hobby😅). My favorite nonfiction was The language of the Night by Ursula K Le Guin. It’s a collection of essays on her approach towards fantasy, sci-fi, and writing in general. It gave me lots to think about and was relatively short.
My best book of 2024 was The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro! I've been dying to reread it from the moment I finished the last sentence of the book. I'm planning on rereading it this spring and I'll definitely be annotating it this time!
I really enjoyed the Alperton Angels one. Very twisty! I'm planning to read The Word is Murder this month too. It just came in at my library. So far one of my favourite books this year has to be The Dry by Jane Harper. I love her writing and her characters!
My faves of the year so far are: east of eden by John Steinbeck and these burning stars by Bethany jacobs (a space opera written by a woman, I think you would really like!!)
My favorite book most likely will be The Secret History, but I also loved -Watership Down (classic) -The Secret Book of Flora Lea(literary/HF) -The 100 Years of Lenni & Margot (contemporary) -Sometimes I Lie The Broken Girls (myst/Th) -Flowers for Algernon & Other Birds (which I know you loved)
Okay omg here are some favorites!!!! (I'd have added The Spear Cuts Through Water if you hadn't included in your haul!) ❤️ -The Daughters' War by Christopher Buehlman -The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan -Eynhallow by Tim McGregor -The reformatory by Tananarive Due -Ring by Koji Suzuki -The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow -The Failures by Benjamin Liar -These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs
Yay for The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. It is my second favorite Janice Hallett. The Twyford Code is the best in my opinion. It is a transcript of recordings. Her most recent book, The Examiner, was my most anticipated book of the year, and I unfortunately found it a horribly disappointing. She still remains an instabuy author, though. I've only read a handful of good books this year: I Hope This Finds You Well, Fantasticland, Miss Benson's Beetle, All my Friends Are Superheroes, The Wedding People, and The Wonder State.
Best out of 159 so far Top 3 -The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec -Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See -Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Best roance -The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston (time travel) Sci fi -Star Scrapper by J.N Chaney (funny adventure) Mystery Thriller -The Lost Village by Camilla Sten -Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck -Silent Dolls by Rita B Herron I Who have never known men(ish) - "after the fall before the fall during the fall" by Nancy Kress -Planetfall by Elizabeth Moon
I'm watching the BBC production of Mayflower Murders right now - it's fun. I tend to watch more mysteries than read them. I've been meaning to read Assassin of Reality as well - that first book was a trip!
Some of my top books of the year are "Middlegame" by Seanan McGuire, "Parable of the Sower" by Octavia E. Butler, "Harrow the Ninth" book 2 in the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, "The Jasad Heir" by Sara Hashem, "The Shepard King" duology by Rachel Gillig, "Six Scorched Roses" by Carissa Broadbent, "Killers of a Certain Age" by Deanna Raybourn, and the "Gravekeeper" series by Darcy Coates.
Can’t narrow it down, but here are my top 3: 1. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal 2. The Boy and the Dog by Seichu Hase 3. Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (I read this book in a day, which never happens to me. And it’s not a romance, more just about going through life. But so insightful and captivating)
Assistant to the villain has zero spice as well as the second book! When I started it I thought it was just okay, but the further I went the more attached I became to the characters. I ended up loving it, but I am not really sure if you’ll like it 😅
Best books this year: The Wall (thank you Emily) The Women (nurses in Vietnam), The Lion Women of Tehran (feels like history is repeating itself), The Book of Doors, The Kingdom the Power and the Glory (about the rise of Trumpism in the evangelical church).
Mine is actually a light novel series called Re:zero time traveling, witches, and epic world building love it sooo much! Its a little dark but for good reason.
The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell. I'd recommend the audiobook which is read by Bill Nighy. I've just discovered that its been turned into a film as well which comes out next year. 😊 I also read Warbreaker this year on your recommendation and loved it.
Spittng Gold by Carmilla Lowkis, Co-Intelligience by Ethan Mallick, Re-reading Margaret Frazers Players Series, A Play of Lords, Extinction by Douglas Preston.
My best books of 2024 are The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, Funny Story by Emily Henry, The Pairing by Casey McQuiston, and The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun.
i actually don't think listen for the lie will be your favourite at all but i am curious to see how you will feel about it! maybe try the audiobook the podcast part was really cool
I had so many goodies! My Dark Vanessa was amazing for a modern day Lolita. The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon gave me an existinal crisis and made me sob. The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle for a fantasy! Actual enemies to lovers, romance fantasy about assassins and thieves. If you liked One Dark Window, then you'll like it.
Definitely “The Book That Wouldn’t Burn” by Mark Lawrence by quite a bit actually. My second favorite book would be “My Brilliant Friend” which I’m still grateful that I even found out about it thanks to you hahaha.
My best books of the year as of right now are Northanger Abbey and Heir by Sabaa Tahir, unfortunately the latter is YA and I know you’ve said you feel kind of done with YA. I read my first Megan Miranda (The Only Survivors) and liked it way more than I thought I would?? Oh! Since you also loved Bright Young Women, you might want to try Jessica Knoll’s earlier book Luckiest Girl Alive. It’s not as good and it’s full of triggers but it’s still a powerful read. And if you’re interested in any poetry, I really recommend The Moon That Turns You Back by Hala Alyan.
My fav so far this year has been Dune, but I know that one isn't really for you. Editing to add: My other fav is Elantris, which is my first Sanderson.
The obvious popular authors (Heather Fawcett, T. Kingfisher, etc.) aside, I have to say that I really enjoyed listening to Max Brooks' dystopian thriller "Devolution" (best in audio form!), and Rachel Joyce's historical/literary fiction novel "Miss Benson's Beetle" was really lovely too (I listened to it for the different accents).🧡
My best books of the year are Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Shining by Stephen King, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson, The Examiner by Janice Hallett and Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
It wasn't an extraordinary year of reading. I read over 140 books, but I couldn't recommend many of them (also because they weren't published in English;). However, I can recommend two with a clear conscience: *The End of the Ocean* / Maja Lunde (this is the second part of the norwegian, ecological quartet, the first part is The History of Bees). I'm getting ready to read the next parts just like you are to read the Neapolitan Quartet - I'm postponing them, mentally preparing myself for the next strong emotions. Another book I read this year that I highly recommend is *Beautiful Shining People* by Michael Grothaus. It's sci-fi, but very accessible. A vision of a world that could soon be something very real. It made a strong impression on me (apart from the ending - it's not bad, I just would have preferred something different). If I were to insist on something that you should try, it would be Maja Lunde's series with The History of Bees to start with. It seems to me that this literature is very different from American literature, which may be interesting for you. Greetings from a cat lady from Berlin :)
My top books for this year: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon Why Does He Do That by Lundy Bancroft House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen Come Closer by Sara Gran How To Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
I just picked up my last book of 2024 today . My mom emailed me Icebound by Dean Koontz. I haven’t read it yet so it was my first time my mom emailed me a book . I count it as my best haul .
Haven't really had a great reading year, so I'll recommend my favorite book from last year instead: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka.
Here's some recs, Emily! Hope you'll find something fun!❤ Throne in the Dark by A.K Caggiano (a more light, fun read) Peaches & Honey: These Immortal Truths by R. Raeta (1st in a duology; I remember you liked Addie LaRue: I didn't, and this duology was everything I wanted Addie LaRue to be) The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow (short story, only 30 pages, on Kindle Unlimited; would recommend to go into this blind to fully enjoy it)
Well, my favourite was The Will Of The Many but you have already read that. I also really liked Project Hail Mary but you also read that I think. The only other worth recommending is The Stardust Grail, I gave it 5 stars. Not a favourite though (I'm very selective with that term), it was still a really good read. Followed by the other Yume Kitasei book, the Deep Sky. I haven't rated any other fiction book 5 stars this year.
One of my best books of 2024 was definitely A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid! She’s become one of my favorite authors because her writing is so beautiful and her stories are so good. It was my third book by her so far but I would absolutely say it’s the best place to start with her books. It’s about a girl who is an architectural student at university who is taken on to redesign the home of the her countries most famous and beloved author after his passing. She’s excited to take on the task because he’s also her favorite author, but when she gets there the house is slowly sinking, the son is strangely sinister, and there’s a literary student also staying there determined to sully the name of the author. It does blend a couple of different themes but ultimately it’s a book about stories and our relationships to them and it’s absolutely fantastic. It is a YA, but it doesn’t read like a YA, more like her adult books but . . . nicer? I think is the best way to describe it. Her adult books just tend to go harder into adult themes, but this one definitely has some dark elements that I was kind of surprised made it into a YA book, but they are all there to make a very specific point. Overall it’s just an absolutely fantastic book that I highly recommend giving a try!
What’s your best book of 2024?
Mrs. Death Misses Death and Sky Full of Elephants
The God and the Gumiho by
Sophie Kim was so good 😍
One of my favorite books is 'Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup'.
So far, it's going to have to be Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood. It was my first SJM book and went back to read all her other books, and nope, nothing else compared for me. The grief story, the slow burn, ufff, I read it back in February and it can still make me cry if I think about the story a lot. I've never experienced an emotional chokehold from a book like that ever in my life. Yes it has some of SJM's tropes and maybe it won't be for everyone. But man, this was a life-changing book for me and although not perfect, the way it made me feel made it an all-time favorite, not just of 2024. :')
Kindred! My very first Octavie E. Butler book.
One of my best books of 2024 is.. "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" 🎉 And I picked it up because of your recommendation! So thanks 🙌 Wow I am so early commenting, I was just on TH-cam watching another booktuber lol
The Spear Cuts Through Water ❤
My best book this year (so far) was A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon. I know you've read that one. My next favorite book was One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. (I'm reading Blood Over Bright Haven now).
My favorite book of the year was Jade Legacy (I know, I am hella late to the party and also new to reading as a hobby😅).
My favorite nonfiction was The language of the Night by Ursula K Le Guin. It’s a collection of essays on her approach towards fantasy, sci-fi, and writing in general. It gave me lots to think about and was relatively short.
I love those spooky shadows behind you whenever the cats pass in front of the lights😂
I read The Spear Cuts Through Water this year and loved it, I just finished his debut novel and really enjoyed that too. Highly recommend.
I love Claudia. Please show more of her. She is so precious
My best book of 2024 was The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro! I've been dying to reread it from the moment I finished the last sentence of the book. I'm planning on rereading it this spring and I'll definitely be annotating it this time!
My best book of 2024 is Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
One of my favorite non-fiction
the best one so far 'The Safekeep' by Yael van der Wouden
One of my best books was A Sorcess Comes to Call followed by The Tainted Cup
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was an easy 5 star!!!
I really enjoyed the Alperton Angels one. Very twisty! I'm planning to read The Word is Murder this month too. It just came in at my library. So far one of my favourite books this year has to be The Dry by Jane Harper. I love her writing and her characters!
My faves of the year so far are: east of eden by John Steinbeck and these burning stars by Bethany jacobs (a space opera written by a woman, I think you would really like!!)
Clytemnestra and Dungeon Crawler Carl! The first is a feminist retelling and second is so funny! Highly recommend both.
My favourite one so far is "Yellow Face" by Rebecca F Kaung, such a page turner, love it 😍
my favorites this year were sword of kaigen(thank you for the recommendation), the broken earth trilogy and the heaven officials blessing series 😊
My favorite book most likely will be The Secret History, but I also loved -Watership Down (classic)
-The Secret Book of Flora Lea(literary/HF)
-The 100 Years of Lenni & Margot (contemporary)
-Sometimes I Lie
The Broken Girls (myst/Th)
-Flowers for Algernon & Other Birds (which I know you loved)
Okay omg here are some favorites!!!! (I'd have added The Spear Cuts Through Water if you hadn't included in your haul!) ❤️
-The Daughters' War by Christopher Buehlman
-The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan
-Eynhallow by Tim McGregor
-The reformatory by Tananarive Due
-Ring by Koji Suzuki
-The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow
-The Failures by Benjamin Liar
-These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs
My favorite book of the year was Chlorine by Jade Song! It's a bit weird but I absolutely loved it!
My favorite book was Stone Blind from Natalie Haynes 😊
Yay for The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. It is my second favorite Janice Hallett. The Twyford Code is the best in my opinion. It is a transcript of recordings. Her most recent book, The Examiner, was my most anticipated book of the year, and I unfortunately found it a horribly disappointing. She still remains an instabuy author, though. I've only read a handful of good books this year: I Hope This Finds You Well, Fantasticland, Miss Benson's Beetle, All my Friends Are Superheroes, The Wedding People, and The Wonder State.
Best out of 159 so far
Top 3
-The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
-Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
-Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Best roance
-The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston (time travel)
Sci fi
-Star Scrapper by J.N Chaney (funny adventure)
Mystery Thriller
-The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
-Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck
-Silent Dolls by Rita B Herron
I Who have never known men(ish)
- "after the fall before the fall during the fall" by Nancy Kress
-Planetfall by Elizabeth Moon
The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec - I was delighted with this book!
@MonikaBury
Me too! It did make me cry tho. 😢
My favourite book is Island of Missing Trees 😀
I'm watching the BBC production of Mayflower Murders right now - it's fun. I tend to watch more mysteries than read them.
I've been meaning to read Assassin of Reality as well - that first book was a trip!
Some of my top books of the year are "Middlegame" by Seanan McGuire, "Parable of the Sower" by Octavia E. Butler, "Harrow the Ninth" book 2 in the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, "The Jasad Heir" by Sara Hashem, "The Shepard King" duology by Rachel Gillig, "Six Scorched Roses" by Carissa Broadbent, "Killers of a Certain Age" by Deanna Raybourn, and the "Gravekeeper" series by Darcy Coates.
❤ Hugs for Claudia
Fleabag is such a difficult series to recommend XD But that doesn't stop me
Can’t narrow it down, but here are my top 3:
1. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
2. The Boy and the Dog by Seichu Hase
3. Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (I read this book in a day, which never happens to me. And it’s not a romance, more just about going through life. But so insightful and captivating)
I feel like the Veronica Speedwell series is perfect for fans of longing
Assistant to the villain has zero spice as well as the second book! When I started it I thought it was just okay, but the further I went the more attached I became to the characters. I ended up loving it, but I am not really sure if you’ll like it 😅
Best books this year:
The Wall (thank you Emily)
The Women (nurses in Vietnam),
The Lion Women of Tehran (feels like history is repeating itself),
The Book of Doors,
The Kingdom the Power and the Glory (about the rise of Trumpism in the evangelical church).
Listen for the Lie was pretty good, Assistant to Villain was a quick DNF for me-the star of the video -Clawdia at 12:04! 😂
Mine is actually a light novel series called Re:zero time traveling, witches, and epic world building love it sooo much! Its a little dark but for good reason.
Fleabag was such a great show
The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell. I'd recommend the audiobook which is read by Bill Nighy. I've just discovered that its been turned into a film as well which comes out next year. 😊
I also read Warbreaker this year on your recommendation and loved it.
North Woods by Daniel Mason!
Spittng Gold by Carmilla Lowkis, Co-Intelligience by Ethan Mallick, Re-reading Margaret Frazers Players Series, A Play of Lords, Extinction by Douglas Preston.
My best books of 2024 are The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, Funny Story by Emily Henry, The Pairing by Casey McQuiston, and The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun.
i actually don't think listen for the lie will be your favourite at all but i am curious to see how you will feel about it! maybe try the audiobook the podcast part was really cool
I had so many goodies! My Dark Vanessa was amazing for a modern day Lolita.
The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon gave me an existinal crisis and made me sob.
The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle for a fantasy! Actual enemies to lovers, romance fantasy about assassins and thieves. If you liked One Dark Window, then you'll like it.
Definitely “The Book That Wouldn’t Burn” by Mark Lawrence by quite a bit actually. My second favorite book would be “My Brilliant Friend” which I’m still grateful that I even found out about it thanks to you hahaha.
My best books of the year as of right now are Northanger Abbey and Heir by Sabaa Tahir, unfortunately the latter is YA and I know you’ve said you feel kind of done with YA. I read my first Megan Miranda (The Only Survivors) and liked it way more than I thought I would?? Oh! Since you also loved Bright Young Women, you might want to try Jessica Knoll’s earlier book Luckiest Girl Alive. It’s not as good and it’s full of triggers but it’s still a powerful read. And if you’re interested in any poetry, I really recommend The Moon That Turns You Back by Hala Alyan.
I’m a bit behind, but the First Law books by Joe Abercrombie have been my best reads of the year!
I read cage of souls this year by Adrian Tchaikovsky which I would say is my favourite so far.
My favorite book this year was Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero
My fav so far this year has been Dune, but I know that one isn't really for you.
Editing to add: My other fav is Elantris, which is my first Sanderson.
One of my best books of the year was The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson.
The obvious popular authors (Heather Fawcett, T. Kingfisher, etc.) aside, I have to say that I really enjoyed listening to Max Brooks' dystopian thriller "Devolution" (best in audio form!), and Rachel Joyce's historical/literary fiction novel "Miss Benson's Beetle" was really lovely too (I listened to it for the different accents).🧡
I really liked Miss Benson's Beetle. Have you read any of Rachel Joyce's other books? They all sound good.
My best books of the year are Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Shining by Stephen King, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson, The Examiner by Janice Hallett and Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
I just got Time Lost by Elyse Douglas, I haven't read it yet but she has a lot of time travel books!
It wasn't an extraordinary year of reading. I read over 140 books, but I couldn't recommend many of them (also because they weren't published in English;). However, I can recommend two with a clear conscience: *The End of the Ocean* / Maja Lunde (this is the second part of the norwegian, ecological quartet, the first part is The History of Bees). I'm getting ready to read the next parts just like you are to read the Neapolitan Quartet - I'm postponing them, mentally preparing myself for the next strong emotions. Another book I read this year that I highly recommend is *Beautiful Shining People* by Michael Grothaus. It's sci-fi, but very accessible. A vision of a world that could soon be something very real. It made a strong impression on me (apart from the ending - it's not bad, I just would have preferred something different). If I were to insist on something that you should try, it would be Maja Lunde's series with The History of Bees to start with. It seems to me that this literature is very different from American literature, which may be interesting for you. Greetings from a cat lady from Berlin :)
My top books for this year:
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon
Why Does He Do That by Lundy Bancroft
House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen
Come Closer by Sara Gran
How To Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
I think my top book so far this year is The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley.
The only "new" book I read was shogun. I know it's an old book, but it was new to me. I don't read brand spanking new books..
I just picked up my last book of 2024 today . My mom emailed me Icebound by Dean Koontz. I haven’t read it yet so it was my first time my mom emailed me a book . I count it as my best haul .
Haven't really had a great reading year, so I'll recommend my favorite book from last year instead:
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka.
Here's some recs, Emily! Hope you'll find something fun!❤
Throne in the Dark by A.K Caggiano (a more light, fun read)
Peaches & Honey: These Immortal Truths by R. Raeta (1st in a duology; I remember you liked Addie LaRue: I didn't, and this duology was everything I wanted Addie LaRue to be)
The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow (short story, only 30 pages, on Kindle Unlimited; would recommend to go into this blind to fully enjoy it)
Well, my favourite was The Will Of The Many but you have already read that. I also really liked Project Hail Mary but you also read that I think. The only other worth recommending is The Stardust Grail, I gave it 5 stars. Not a favourite though (I'm very selective with that term), it was still a really good read. Followed by the other Yume Kitasei book, the Deep Sky.
I haven't rated any other fiction book 5 stars this year.
Good afternoon my dear friend
One of my best books of 2024 was definitely A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid! She’s become one of my favorite authors because her writing is so beautiful and her stories are so good. It was my third book by her so far but I would absolutely say it’s the best place to start with her books.
It’s about a girl who is an architectural student at university who is taken on to redesign the home of the her countries most famous and beloved author after his passing. She’s excited to take on the task because he’s also her favorite author, but when she gets there the house is slowly sinking, the son is strangely sinister, and there’s a literary student also staying there determined to sully the name of the author.
It does blend a couple of different themes but ultimately it’s a book about stories and our relationships to them and it’s absolutely fantastic. It is a YA, but it doesn’t read like a YA, more like her adult books but . . . nicer? I think is the best way to describe it. Her adult books just tend to go harder into adult themes, but this one definitely has some dark elements that I was kind of surprised made it into a YA book, but they are all there to make a very specific point.
Overall it’s just an absolutely fantastic book that I highly recommend giving a try!