The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 940 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Queer as Folklore: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters

Elizabeth Hopkinson ❤️ loved this book because...

I had been anticipating this book for quite a while, as I was one of the people who helped crowdfund its publication. And I recorded a podcast with Sacha Coward a few months before it came out, which really whet my appetite. As soon as I started reading the introduction, it drew me in. I have a huge interest in myths, legends and folktales, and in finding Queer representation within them. I felt I was safe with Sacha, that he would be respectful and balanced in his analysis. For example, he tries to avoid pinning modern sexaul identities onto historical figures; and when discussing creatures and characters from folklore outside the Eurocentric, he uses interviews with people from that culture. His writing style is easy to read - warm, well-researched, and a good balance between academic and popular. I learned many new things, such as why it is that so many Queer people are drawn towards witchcraft or a "witchy" aesthetic, or how the "satanic panic" of the 1980s was linked to homophobia. Other matters, I was famililar with - such as the Breton werewolf tale, Bisclavret, or the drag queen origins of Ursula in Disney's Little Mermaid - but the book delved into them more deeply. And while it's true that I could have added a lot more examples of asexual representation (to the chapters on mermaids, fairies, unicorns and aliens, for example) this is a pretty compresensive text on the topic, and well worth a read.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Thoughts
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Sacha Coward,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Queer as Folklore as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Moonlight Market

Elizabeth Hopkinson 👍 liked this book because...

I've always liked Joanne Harris's short fairy tales that she has posted online over the years. This book spins an original fairy tale about the ill-fated love between the Moth King and the Butterfly Queen, and intersperses it with a time-shifting urban fantasy set in London - which turns out to be the same story. As someone who lives close to the home of the Cottingley Fairies, I love the link between glass plate photography, lepidoptery and fairies. I also like the idea that, when walking in a place like London, with centuries of history overlaid, you can slip through the veil into another age, or it can slip into yours. I was fortunate enough to hear Joanne Harris speak on this book at Bradford Literature Festtival, and to have my book signed by her. It was great to hear her insights into the themes of the book, but it's equally good to form your own!

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

Elizabeth Hopkinson ❤️ loved this book because...

I had not read cosy fantasy before I decided to give this title a go, and I'm really glad I did. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and such an antidote to the sometimes dark nature of the real world. This book is both funny and original. I love the idea of a baking wizard, whose main skill is making gingerbread men dance, and who has a temperamental sour dough starter called Bob. The plot becomes something of a murder mystery, unravelling secrets about the city where Mona - the main character - lives. In the end, it's up to Mona to defend the city with the skills she has, as inoffensive as those skills may seem. She's going to need a bigger gingerbread man - and a lot more of Bob! I liked it so much that I have gone out and bought more cosy fantasy books. I think it's my new favourite genre.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Emotions
  • Writing style

    👍 Liked it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By T. Kingfisher,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Fourteen-year-old Mona isn't like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can't control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt's bakery making gingerbread men dance.

But Mona's life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona's city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Cage of Nightingales

By Elizabeth Hopkinson,

Book cover of Cage of Nightingales

What is my book about?

When frustrated charity pupil Tammo meets talented castrato singer Carlo at a music school nicknamed the Cage of Nightingales, their lives change forever. With the help of their city’s guardian, the Archangel Michael, they can grant each other their heart’s desire. But staying true won’t be easy, and their choices will affect not only their futures but that of Celestina, a young aristocrat destined to be the third person in their relationship.

A YA historical fantasy set in an alternate 18th-century Italy, with asexual, nonbinary, and disability representation. Expect opera, carnival masks, magic flutes, intelligent crows, unrequited love, and unbreakable vows of friendship.