The BEST Books of 2024!

แชร์
ฝัง
  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ม.ค. 2025

ความคิดเห็น • 106

  • @reaper721
    @reaper721 หลายเดือนก่อน +43

    1. 0:40 - A Letter From An Unknown Woman by Stefan Zweig
    2. 2:00 - Bourne by Jeff VanderMeer
    3. 4:54 - Klara And The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
    4. 7:56 - Toll The Hounds by Steven Erikson
    5. 9:54 - Changes by Jim Butcher
    6. 11:15 - House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky

  • @MrYouDougTube
    @MrYouDougTube หลายเดือนก่อน +42

    You probably heard this or seen a comment about this, but Erikson wrote Toll the Hounds after his father died, so the grief themes are no coincidence.

    • @bobbob-cd9yl
      @bobbob-cd9yl 26 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Slight correction he wrote the book while his farther was dying, his farther died during the book and there is a noticeable change in mood at that point

  • @AndreaMGC
    @AndreaMGC 29 วันที่ผ่านมา +13

    I binged 15 Dresden Files books the summer of 2020 during lockdown. I am a big fan now haha Couldn't stop listening to James Marsters

    • @TheXboxlive5
      @TheXboxlive5 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

      He’s the best!

  • @the_Nameless_One99
    @the_Nameless_One99 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    Erikson always writes a WOTesque climax where all things come together, or in Malazan words, "converge" at the end of the book. But, the convergence in TTH was next level and the cast of the characters involved far surpassed any expectations!! Also, I believe the climax started at about the 75% mark, so a full quarter of the book was just frantic page turning after frantic page turning. Loved that you loved it! Cannot wait for your full spoiler review. Make it as long as you want. :)

    • @kylarstern42
      @kylarstern42 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I keep seeing how amazing the series but I'll admit I'm a bit intimidated by it. But I think I'm going to give it a shot because I keep seeing comments like this for multiple books in the series.

  • @delfordchaffin5617
    @delfordchaffin5617 หลายเดือนก่อน +13

    Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go" is amazing but heartbreaking! The film adaptation (screenplay by Alex Garland who also did "Annihilation") is great as well.

  • @thomastroop2180
    @thomastroop2180 25 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Thank you so much for City of Last Chances and House of Open Wounds! I discovered them through you and absolutely love them!
    Also, huge wins for me, discovered through this channel: Tainted Cup (I've read so many of that author's other works now, I can't wait for the sequel) and Letters from the Luminous Deep (likewise on the sequel)!
    Thank you for helping me have an incredible year of reading!

  • @readingwarlock
    @readingwarlock 29 วันที่ผ่านมา +3

    Borne is one of my all-time favorites! I love how its strangeness lures you in but its earnest portrayal of relationships, personhood and humanity is what makes it a beautiful story. 💙 I like Vandermeer’s prose and how he tells stories from a female mc’s POV

  • @piplupz1586
    @piplupz1586 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    I really loved a Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking. It was a treat. I also really loved Wind and Truth, I read it in like 4 days lol

  • @redviper3090
    @redviper3090 29 วันที่ผ่านมา +3

    Fantastic to see one of my fave SFF youtubers get into Zweig, because Austrian literature (as an Austrian) is my second main reading interest. I plunged into Zweig's works with his autobiography "The World of Yesterday", and it remains my favourite work of his, though one has (or wants :)) to deal with heavy nostalgia for the Habsburg monarchy. Zweig was a devoted European pacifist, a lover of literature and people; and his passions and writing craft shine throughout the book, which culminates in the dark times that commanded his last years, leading to his exile and death during WWII.
    Then, "Beware of Pity" is a marvellous novel, in which he brings all his strengths in passionate and obsessive writing of his novellas to a longer form. This is the one I'd recommend to all who fell in love with his novellas.
    Among the novellas, I love "Confusion of Feelings" best, but there are many I quite enjoyed (also "Amok").
    He also looked through history (again, from a European perspective) to find significant moments deserving of his most ecstatic prose and collected them in "Sternstunden der Menschheit" (the english title "decisive moments in history" does not do it justice, literary translation would be "stellar hours of humankind"), which would be my final recommendation.

  • @mikesbookreviews
    @mikesbookreviews 28 วันที่ผ่านมา +3

    I have stalled out on Toll the Hounds in the same spot twice. Perhaps 2025 will be the year!

  • @anthonyparkernearlifeexp
    @anthonyparkernearlifeexp หลายเดือนก่อน +13

    Can you do (or have you done) a video on the best books NOT named Harry potter to read a child under 10 that the parent will enjoy as well?

    • @CarrotSkull
      @CarrotSkull หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Try the The Keys to the Kingdom seris by Garth Nix.

    • @KidRisky
      @KidRisky หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Authors Edward Eager, Roald Dahl, and E. Nesbit are good, and the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Winnie the Pooh, the Wind in the Willows, A Wrinkle in Time, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, and The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper are all good fantasy, which is what I know because that’s mostly what I read when I was that age.
      Outside of fantasy, I remember enjoying The Great Brain, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and The House with a Clock in Its Walls.
      Now, I have to stop going back and adding more books to that list or I’ll never stop.

    • @prenticeclark1454
      @prenticeclark1454 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin was one of my absolute favorites as a kid. It’s a mystery story with some wonderfully clever twists. As someone who’s been reading the HP series to my nine-year-old daughter for the last year, I totally sympathize with your question… I think I’ll plan to dig out my old copy of Raskin’s classic once we finally get to the end of Hogwarts

    • @orisegel4055
      @orisegel4055 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I think most of Diana Wynne Jones fits the bill

    • @RhinoViper
      @RhinoViper 29 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      Redwall by Brian Jacques
      Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

  • @notrixamoris3318
    @notrixamoris3318 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Merry Christmas to you and your family Merphy!!! ❄️🎄✨️🎁

  • @mattkean1128
    @mattkean1128 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    I definitely want you read more Zweig. I've heard great things about his World of Yesterday.
    A selection of my favorite reads of the year:
    Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion - Beth Brower
    The Unseen - Roy Jacobsen
    Thessaly trilogy- Jo Walton
    Saint Sebastian's Abyss - Mark Haber
    Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
    The Ambassadors - Henry James
    Look at Me - Anita Brookner
    The Trees - Percival Everett
    Stranger in Olondria - Sofia Samatar
    The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
    Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey
    The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Catherine Webb

  • @ladymairreads
    @ladymairreads 24 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    House of open wounds was in my top 10 this year. I loved it so much. I read it going through a hard time and definitely found comfort in the characters (even though they were in a war zone 😂) can’t wait to read the next book

  • @thehighground_
    @thehighground_ 20 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I think I read Klara and the Sun from an earlier review of yours (I think) loved it and really became obsessed with reading Ishiguro this year and a lot of other Japanese fiction that was all really good and really new to me.

  • @Missfireblossom
    @Missfireblossom 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

    New subscriber here, my second vid of yours. I had to stop because I just started Klara and the Sun and I didn't want to know any details in advance! So stoked that it's on your best Of list! Now I have to go resume reading it... 😊

  • @janellerowe609
    @janellerowe609 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

    This is a random comment but I love this sweater and I’m so glad you wear it as often as you do in the winter. Looks amazing on you.

  • @Arawn505
    @Arawn505 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Merry Christmas, Merphy!! ✨

  • @aanne12
    @aanne12 25 วันที่ผ่านมา +69

    I can’t recommend Your Life, Your Game by Keezano enough! This book truly changed my life. It beautifully illustrates how connecting with God and prioritizing your family can lead to profound spiritual growth, stronger relationships, and success in every area of life. A life-changing read-don’t miss it.

  • @rancidrylan5460
    @rancidrylan5460 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Great video Merphy, love you!!!

  • @phen0menos
    @phen0menos 14 วันที่ผ่านมา

    My top 5 books of 2024:
    - Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
    - The Bridge by Iain Banks
    - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
    - Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
    - The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
    I also read Klara in 2024 and loved it though it didn't make my top 5. Definitely gonna read more Ishiguro though!

  • @LarinaValarin
    @LarinaValarin 24 วันที่ผ่านมา

    My Zweig recommendation is always Joseph Fouche: Portrait of a Politician. I read it many years ago and I still occasionally think about it! Set against the background of revolutionary France, it's truly a fascinating character study.

  • @fletcherwojtowick4944
    @fletcherwojtowick4944 24 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Vandermeer is my all time favorite author. Dead Astronauts is the best in the borne series. The Strange Bird is beautifully tragic and ties into Borne if you haven’t read it.

  • @thejester79
    @thejester79 24 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I cannot wait for your toughts about the last two Malazan's books

  • @xcBlackDiamond
    @xcBlackDiamond 29 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    I highly recommend The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read it this year and it might be one of my favorite books now.

    • @lisaroper421
      @lisaroper421 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Very moving book.

  • @HyDrOpYrO777
    @HyDrOpYrO777 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Merry Christmas Eve Merphy and family.Great list of books as usual.

  • @kyliaaanhopping
    @kyliaaanhopping หลายเดือนก่อน +212

    I recommend reading Whispers of Astrology by Ethan Parker that book is a real eye opener about shocking stuff they hide there

    • @craigexsted6530
      @craigexsted6530 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

      I checked Amazon
      They don’t carry this book
      Where do I get it ? Please forward comment on replies I will check 1-01-25

  • @NicholasJohnson-p1g
    @NicholasJohnson-p1g หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thank you for your delightful, fun and fantabulous content- it, as well as you, always put a smile to my face!!!!! 😃 May you, your family and all of your loved ones have a razzle dazzle, scrumptious food-filled, holly jolly, present 🎁 filled very Merry Christmas ⛄🎄🦌, with a delightful and ever super 2025 to come, spectacular Mrs. Merphy!!!!! ✨🌌🎆🌆🎉

  • @No8Named8Shadow
    @No8Named8Shadow หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Merphy: I think my next one is gonna beeeeeeee
    Ad: Mucinex Nightshift!

  • @Gusbusbus
    @Gusbusbus หลายเดือนก่อน

    I've been eager for this to drop

  • @Morfeusm
    @Morfeusm หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I have read so many great books this year but if I needed to pick just let’s say 6:
    J L Borges: Library of Babel
    Joe Abercrombie: Best Served Cold
    China Mieville & Keanu Reeves: the Book of Elsewhere
    Haruki Murakami: Kafka on the Shore
    Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway
    James Islington: The Will of the Many

    • @lululala4658
      @lululala4658 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I'm reading best served cold right now. It will definitely be in my top of the year!

  • @Stephen-by7wv
    @Stephen-by7wv หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Great list Murphy. I always look forward to and enjoy your videos and your enthusiasm. It was a great year of reading for me and my top six include three series.
    Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
    Gideon/Harrow/Nona the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
    Half a King/World/War - Joe Abercrombie
    Tell me everything - Elizabeth Strout
    Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell
    Autumn/Winter/Spring/Summer - Ali Smith

  • @PowerAvocado
    @PowerAvocado หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    My favorite novel of this year is The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen. My favorite nonfiction is The Twilight Warriors by Robert Gandt.

  • @andrewberenson5717
    @andrewberenson5717 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Happy holidays Merphy

  • @crylorenzo
    @crylorenzo หลายเดือนก่อน

    Merry Christmas!

  • @mkgnlgt
    @mkgnlgt 27 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Klara & The Sun just got bumped up, glad you’re enjoying Malazan and I really need to look at Tchaikovsky- way too many positive reviews to ignore!

  • @Astilbek
    @Astilbek หลายเดือนก่อน

    I love when one of my favorite booktubers can give me more books to add to my raider/TBR. 🥰

  • @curtjarrell9710
    @curtjarrell9710 27 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Favorite Reads of 2024:
    "The Enemy" short story by I B Singer
    The Demon of Unrest
    To the Lighthouse
    A Game of Thrones
    A Month in the Country by J. Carr
    A Moveable Feast
    In Cold Type: Overcoming the Book Crisis by L. Shatzkin
    The City and Its Uncertain Walls by H. Murakami

  • @Rogue_VI
    @Rogue_VI หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Toll the Hounds!!!! My favorite Malazan book.

  • @MrFinkydoo44
    @MrFinkydoo44 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Highly recommend war and peace it’s chill

  • @Alkemisti
    @Alkemisti หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Ishiguro's _Buried Giants_ is worth reading.

  • @Dunybrook
    @Dunybrook หลายเดือนก่อน

    Just finished The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin and it's kind of restoring my faith in high fantasy as it very much the opposite of the predominately Eurocentric and heteronormative genre, on top of just being a great story full of compelling characters. A must read for somebody looking for something fresh and new.

  • @sleipnir_8364
    @sleipnir_8364 27 วันที่ผ่านมา

    looking forward to the new dresden reviews

  • @Chu9947
    @Chu9947 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    winds and truth review when ?

  • @gbisch1010
    @gbisch1010 หลายเดือนก่อน

    My favourite book of the year was the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a haunting story about family and colonialism in the 1950s Congo. I would really recommend it! The family dynamics are so fascinating and the discussion of colonialism is so eye opening. Very slow paced but still grabbing at the same time

  • @jamesduggan7200
    @jamesduggan7200 หลายเดือนก่อน

    My sister gave me a B&N gift card that I used to order Timeline and Sphere. They're due here Friday so I expect to be prepared for the discussion next month. Maybe next week I'll finish Klara and the Sun, which I am enjoying. I do have some reservations about it but still it's very good.

  • @ABookForest
    @ABookForest หลายเดือนก่อน

    If you like obsession, you might like Perfume by Patrick Suskind or Bruges-la-Morte by Rodenbach. I also think you would like Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, it is ripe with overwhelming creepy nature.

  • @esteban280889
    @esteban280889 28 วันที่ผ่านมา

    A certain scene towards the end of TtH (you will know what it is) was decided on a dice roll when Erikson and esslemont gamed that section.

  • @dianaayt
    @dianaayt หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Surprised to see klara and the sun here because i remember you talking about multiple things that didnt quite make it and that could be better. for me i can get 10 books where i have maybe 1 or 2 complains that i gave 5 starts to 😅

    • @merphynapierreviews
      @merphynapierreviews  หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I was pretty surprised that it it was here too, but it's stuck with me with distance!

  • @OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels
    @OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Awesome picks! Won't lie, I expected half the list to be Vandermeer after how your year has gone 😂

  • @the_purple_mage
    @the_purple_mage 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I have to give you serious props for sticking with Malazan. It turned out to be too monumental for me to continue, but I am extremely glad to hear that there is some satisfying payoff for those who managed to persevere!

  • @zentetsuken7385
    @zentetsuken7385 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I breathe, eat & sleep the wandering inn this year. It was glorious

  • @PeruseProject
    @PeruseProject หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    as a lover of strange fiction.. I need to read Borne lol

  • @Thecatladybooknook_PennyD
    @Thecatladybooknook_PennyD หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    You need to read Ethan Fromme by Edith Wharton MOSTLY because of what you said about the obsession in your top book of the year. AND it's super short AND it's perfect for winter. Very snowy.

  • @jimsbooksreadingandstuff
    @jimsbooksreadingandstuff หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Klara and the Sun is a great read 🤖🌞

  • @LightningRaven42
    @LightningRaven42 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Merphy, I remember you liked the game "Gris", do you know that the studio released the game "Nova" with the same vibe?
    Check it out, if you haven't already.

    • @merphynapierreviews
      @merphynapierreviews  หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I do! I'm waiting for it to go on sale but I'm excited to try it!

  • @felder1122
    @felder1122 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

    the best books i read this year are
    1. jade legacy (fonda lee)
    2. howling dark (christopher ruocchio)
    3. the blade itself (joe abercrombie)

  • @NowhereNarrative
    @NowhereNarrative หลายเดือนก่อน

    Merry Christmas, Merphy. More Pratchett this year?

    • @merphynapierreviews
      @merphynapierreviews  หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      hopefully! I think Johnanna and I are reading City Watch together at some point

  • @Grace-cs5sk
    @Grace-cs5sk 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I recommend you to read Murder on The Orient Express by Agatha Christie

  • @0okuzukirio0
    @0okuzukirio0 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Here I am again, listening to people talking about books that might forever be in my "TBR wait-list" 😅

  • @DonKevinBrown
    @DonKevinBrown 27 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Have you read any Anthony Ryan books series? I am thinking about trying that.

  • @dianaayt
    @dianaayt หลายเดือนก่อน

    My library only has one of these books. None of the others exist there in english or have been translated (or will ever be). how fun 😮‍💨

  • @depressedtv
    @depressedtv หลายเดือนก่อน

    Klara and the Sun is so good

  • @juanfa98
    @juanfa98 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Never let me Go by Ishiguro is a book you are definitely going to enjoy

  • @liezllovesbooks
    @liezllovesbooks 26 วันที่ผ่านมา

    My top book is The Sword of Kaigen

  • @nazimelmardi
    @nazimelmardi หลายเดือนก่อน

    That’s a list. 👏👏

  • @Mnfst011-e2o
    @Mnfst011-e2o หลายเดือนก่อน +51

    Seriously, why is no one discussing 'Hidden Signs of the Universe by Olivia Cooper'? This forbidden book is a goldmine of knowledge that can sincerely change your life

  • @Montie-Adkins
    @Montie-Adkins หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Borne was one of two of my favorite characters this year along with Minna from Doors of Sleep.
    Changes was a shocker in every way and i think is my favorite Dresden book. My favorite moment though comes in Small Favor:
    SPOILER
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    When Michael is taken to the hospital and Dresden turns to leave but Charity stops him and says, "Family would stay." 😭
    I hope you have a great Christmas.

  • @JayGTheAwkwardBookworm
    @JayGTheAwkwardBookworm หลายเดือนก่อน

    I was just waiting for Jim butcher lol

  • @glennaustin37
    @glennaustin37 24 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    A good list.
    I had Klara and the Sun just outside my top 10 books read in 2024. Here is my top 5:
    1 The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep (H G Parry)
    2 How High we go in the Dark (Sequoia Nagamatsu)
    3 My Brother's Keeper (Tim Powers)
    4 The Midnight Library (Matt Haig)
    5 Slaughterhouse 5 (Kurt Vonnegut Jr).

  • @theoneandonlygod
    @theoneandonlygod หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I think you Should watch the anime movie Tokyo Godfathers

  • @AslamYusof
    @AslamYusof 28 วันที่ผ่านมา

    wind and truth when?

  • @Transformers217
    @Transformers217 24 วันที่ผ่านมา

    When are you reading Stormlight 5 Wind and Truth?

  • @walter274
    @walter274 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

    @Merphy Napier | Books, when will we hear your thoughts on Wind and Truth? Did i miss it?

  • @HeyDo29
    @HeyDo29 28 วันที่ผ่านมา

    wtf are these new AI translated audio tracks for some videos, I can't disable them on mobile

  • @A1exShishkin
    @A1exShishkin หลายเดือนก่อน

    Come on, everybody knew you’d have a dresden book on this list 😂

  • @tiffanymorningstar7008
    @tiffanymorningstar7008 หลายเดือนก่อน

    What are the blue and pink books near bottom of Video next to the White Books with Lady on it (im assuming those white books are classics)?

  • @zap117
    @zap117 หลายเดือนก่อน

    when we are done with dresden i vote for drizzt series

  • @Corion2121
    @Corion2121 28 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    0:20 Va, va, voom! 😍

  • @VoxCentral
    @VoxCentral 28 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Have you finished wind and truth?

  • @LarryHasOpinions
    @LarryHasOpinions 28 วันที่ผ่านมา

    i've read a few of ishiguro's - never let me go, the remains of the day and pale view of hills are way superior to klara imho
    klara is a bit 'clueless boomer tries to write sci-fi' if i'm honest... :-)

  • @BigCat-z4k
    @BigCat-z4k หลายเดือนก่อน +69

    This video is a game-changer! So much helpful information packed into one clip. I personally don't like promoting anything in comments, but I simply have to share with you a book called The Gilded Nexus of Prosperity, that book changed my approach to money, the methods in that book are impressive

    • @endrutatic
      @endrutatic หลายเดือนก่อน

      I definitely agree with you my friend...impressive book, my father recommended it to me

    • @rvantong
      @rvantong 27 วันที่ผ่านมา

      The bots have arrived lol

  • @sergeybudarin7071
    @sergeybudarin7071 หลายเดือนก่อน

    My Favorite Book of 2024, "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas. But I didn't like "Clara and the Sun" at all, it seems to me that books about androids that have their own intelligence are not mine at all, I just don't believe in it! And in general, the book seemed very slow and boring!

  • @GoodyearSimp
    @GoodyearSimp 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

    You are so cute!😍

  • @just_a_character
    @just_a_character หลายเดือนก่อน

    If you could bless us with an OF account for Christmas, that would be great for you and us.

    • @dillonarm
      @dillonarm หลายเดือนก่อน

      get some help guy

    • @just_a_character
      @just_a_character หลายเดือนก่อน

      @ did you assume my gender?

  • @zahirsiddique2909
    @zahirsiddique2909 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Too much talk-acting keep laughing