The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 794 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of James

Janice MacDonald ❤️ loved this book because...

It is a wonderful thing to read the experience of the marginalized without being made to feel constantly and blamefully Other. Everett doesn't pull punches, but he doesn't exclude any readers from the amazing journey he creates.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Writing 🥈 Outlook
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Percival Everett,

Why should I read it?

25 authors picked James as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024


'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha

James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Still Life

Janice MacDonald ❤️ loved this book because...

I read this book while in Florence, at the suggestion of a friend, and it was a marvelous immersion. The more recent history of this wonderful city is just as enchanting as its Renaissance times.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    👍 Liked it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Sarah Winman,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Still Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick
 
A Veranda Magazine Book Club Pick

A captivating, bighearted, richly tapestried story of people brought together by love, war, art, flood, and the ghost of E. M. Forster, by the celebrated author of Tin Man.

Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her…


My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Tom Lake

Janice MacDonald ❤️ loved this book because...

I will read anything by Ann Patchett, but this was a sublime read. The family who hovers over the story and the story of a long ago love affair, and the melding of Our Town into the whole sensibility of the American vision, was a total delight.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Emotions
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Ann Patchett,

Why should I read it?

26 authors picked Tom Lake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER * THE NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE WITHERSPOON AND BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK 'A new Ann Patchett novel is always cause for celebration ... and Tom Lake is one of her best' i 'This comforting summer read has it all ... Young love, sibling rivalry and deep mother-daughter relationships' REESE WITHERSPOON 'Filled with the moments I live for in a story' BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry 'One of the most beloved authors of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES ----------------------------- This is a story about Peter Duke who went on…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Victor & Me in Paris

By Janice MacDonald,

Book cover of Victor & Me in Paris

What is my book about?

The first adventure in the Imogene Durant Mysteries. Imogene thinks going to Paris for a month to read Victor Hugo and eat cheese is a fine plan. She doesn't count on meeting a police officer and becoming enmeshed in a grisly puzzle, too.