The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 1,355 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Road

Paul Jantzen ❤️ loved this book because...

Cormac McCarthy delivers once again with "The Road". He is one of my favorite authors with his gritty prose. This story is visceral and evokes so much in the reader. Be prepared to feel it.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Emotions 🥈 Character(s)
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Cormac McCarthy,

Why should I read it?

32 authors picked The Road as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive, this "tale of survival and the miracle of goodness only adds to McCarthy's stature as a living master. It's gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful" (San Francisco Chronicle).

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of A Persistent Echo

Paul Jantzen ❤️ loved this book because...

​Brian Kaufman delivers a wonderfully heartfelt account of perhaps the last journey of our well-travelled hero, August Simms. The story is set in 1897 Rhome, Texas. August has returned to a familiar place where he seeks knowledge about what he calls air ship sightings, UFOs. He is a very engaging soul, and he encounters a wonderful array of characters along his path.
August’s charismatic demeanor settles in to each of the ensemble gathered around him. That same charisma has an equal effect on the reader. We are charmed by a modest and honest man as he seeks the truth of something no one truly understands.
August chose this part of the world for his last story because it has familiarity. He spent time with his wife in these parts and also witnessed atrocities he wanted to reconcile. His lifelong experiences help him navigate a world that is not only changing but staying the same.
Kaufman has a way of bringing the reader into the farthest depths of the minds of his characters. This is more than a story. It is a provocative detail of one man’s journey.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Emotions
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Brian Kaufman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Persistent Echo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Kaufman is a fantastic writer with a distinctive poetic touch... It will be the rare reader who will not be moved by this soulful, poignant novel." –Kirkus Reviews

"It's a powerfully rendered novel that holds the rare ability to traverse genres to attract a wider audience of reader than the 'historical fiction' label portends." –Midwest Book Review

1897.

August Simms-explorer, soldier, world traveler-returns to Rhome, Texas to chase one last adventure.

Hundreds of UFO sightings have been reported, seven years before the Wright brother's initial flight, and August intends to solve the airship mystery.

Instead, the past comes calling. A…


My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Gopher King

Paul Jantzen ❤️ loved this book because...

A dark comedy shines plenty of light with this twisted yet brilliant depiction of a Vietnam veteran addled by war and muddled by a gamut of pharmaceuticals. It would not be stretch to describe this story as a slightly off version of Alice’s latest adventures into a rabbit hole, or gopher hole in this case that leads her to the Cu Chi tunnels of Vietnam where she meets a gopher Chaz, a friend and ally of our war hero/newspaper editor.

This story has many layers of craziness. The dark is quite dark the comedy quite hilarious. Gojan Nikolich pulls off this wildly odd delve into the psychological consequences of war. It is intense and takes the reader on quite a journey.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Gojan Nikolich,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Gopher King as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

2021 American Fiction Awards Finalist

2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist

"Imaginative and often beguiling, like a mashup of Platoon and Gremlins scripted by William S. Burroughs." -Kirkus Reviews

"Nikolich's story shimmers with intersecting layers of identity and fantastical complexities." -Authors Reading

A suicidal former platoon sergeant, sole survivor of a Vietnam War jungle ambush, is haunted by what he perceives as his cowardly past. Debilitated by guilt and mourning the death of his wife, small town newspaper publisher Stan Przewalski lives in a PTSD-fueled world where it is impossible to distinguish reality from fantasy.

Returning from a Vietnam…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Sour Apples: A Novel For Those Who Hate to Read

By Paul Jantzen,

Book cover of Sour Apples: A Novel For Those Who Hate to Read

What is my book about?

The year was 1975, and that summer would prove epic for Jimmy Hamilton. Imagine, an eleven-year-old boy with an imagination so powerful that he uses it like others would use a compass. Jimmy Hamilton sets out for the adventure of a lifetime. But summer, with all its promise, throws him a curveball, and he loses his fort on three separate occasions to unwanted squatters. He comes to discover each new unwelcomed tenant proves more difficult to evict than the last. His plans have a modicum of success but each comes with unintended consequences.

Book cover of The Road
Book cover of A Persistent Echo
Book cover of The Gopher King

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