I set a lofty reading goal in 2024. I was going to read twenty-five books. Devour them like a Dominos pizza. Read all twenty-five and carry on going.
Where I got this idea from, I don’t know. Particularly as I didn’t hit my reading goal for the last two years, but despite reading every day the Goodreads counter irritatingly showed I was behind.
Now, you may think it’s not about goals and as long as you’re reading it’s great. I agree, in principle – but I still wanted to win. Yes, participation is nice and I’ve collected many participation trophies over the years but when there’s a chance to reach a goal, to win, how can anyone not want to?
I digress. Without further rambling, here are the eleven books I read in 2024, ranked from favourite to least favourite.
- Here I am – Jonathan Safran Foer
- Percy Jackson & The Chalice of the Gods – Rick Riordan
- Close to Death – Anthony Horowitz
- Hell Bent – Leigh Bardugo
- Reacher: Killing Floor – Lee Child
- The Hobbit – J R Tolkien
- Luster – Raven Leilani
- The Sun and The Star – Rick Riordan
- Percy Jackson & The Wrath of the Triple Goddess – Rick Riordan
- Ink – Alice Broadway
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – J R Tolkien
Before any hobbits come out of their holes to find me, I really tried to enjoy The Fellowship of the Ring, but it bored me. Terribly. I watched the films when they came out and enjoyed them enough, but the world never captured my interest as much as Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. I did enjoy The Hobbit and loved Bilbo Baggins, but it took me ages to plod through The Fellowship of the Ring and I hold it mostly responsible for derailing my reading goal. It just took a long time for anything of consequence to happen and the endless nature descriptions quickly drained the life out of me. I had planned to read the trilogy but decided to take a break after that one and move on to another book. Maybe I’ll finish the series one day!
Overall, I’d say it was a good year for books on my list. Ink by Alice Broadway was an interesting premise, if a little creepy. A community of people use tattoos to chronicle their lives, marking different events and milestones. When they die, their skin is turned into a book for their loved ones. Again, it was interesting but didn’t tempt me into reading the rest of the trilogy.
In ninth place is Wrath of the Triple Goddess. I’ve loved the Percy Jackson books since the beginning and while this wasn’t my favourite it was still a nostalgic read. If anything, it felt more like a drawn-out short story filled with your favourite characters. It’s a good Halloween read and if you’re an old fan like me, it’s a nice easy book to get through.
Another from the world of Percy Jackson, The Sun and The Star follows Nico Di Angelo and his boyfriend Will Solace through Tartarus. I love Nico as a character and liked him and Will when they appeared in other books, but this was a bit of a slog. Yes, I know it’s set in Tartarus but it was still a gloomy read. Great to see a Nico story but I doubt I’ll re-read it like I have many of the other books.
Luster by Raven Leilani was different from my usual choice of books, but I quickly got swept up in the story. Intriguing characters and the struggle to stay afloat in adult life were particularly relatable. A unique story although, from memory, the graphic descriptions of adult situations were a little much.
As mentioned above, I enjoyed The Hobbit a lot more than the Fellowship of the Ring. Bilbo is relatable as a character, happy where he is, but still tempted by the idea of adventure, however ill-suited he is for it. For me, the pacing was much better in this book and Bilbo’s personality came through far stronger than Frodo’s.
Reacher: Killing Floor was a Christmas present that took me far too long to start reading. A chunky book, I got through this fairly quickly by taking it on holiday. I always liked books about spies and detectives so I was soon swept up in the story. Like Reacher, the writing was blunt and to the point. No wasted words or fancy prose, just a quick-moving narrative with interesting characters and plenty of twists.
I read Ninth House a while ago and I probably should have re-read it before embarking on Hell Bent. Even so, I quickly got back into Alex’s world and the hidden horrors of Yale. I’m not a fan of horror, but the paranormal elements in this were fascinating rather than a turn-off. I love Leigh Bardugo’s work, particularly the way she crafts her characters. Alex is a great protagonist and the supporting characters are almost as memorable. I believe there is going to be a third, but I might need to do a re-read before embarking on that.
I will add a disclaimer here: Anthony Horowitz is my favourite author. Since reading Groosham Grange and the Alex Rider series, there is barely a book Anthony Horowitz has written that I haven’t read. I was particularly excited about Close to Death for several reasons; I’ve loved the rest of the Hawthorne books, I enjoy mysteries, the narrative style is unique, and I went to the book signing. Yes, I went to an Evening With Anthony Horowitz at Waterstones in Liverpool and have a signed copy of this book! It was a fantastic evening and Anthony came across as a genuinely nice guy. Hearing him talk about books and his writing was great as both a writer and reader. Perhaps I’ll do a blog post about authors and go into more detail.
For now, back to Close to Death. Loved it. Unlike other books in this series, this one deals with an old case of Hawthorne’s about a murder in a wealthy close. All of the neighbours have motives and the twists and turns make this a fun, quirky read.
In second place is Percy Jackson & The Chalice of the Gods. Percy is trying to get three Letters of Recommendation for college but to get the letters he has to complete new quests, the first being for Zeus’s cupbearer. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the target audience for these books anymore, but it’s impossible to not read a new book in a series you used to love, isn’t it? Unlike earlier books, this wasn’t as action-packed and leaned more into nostalgia, but for me that made it better as it left more room for character exploration. Percy’s humour and the return of familiar characters made this a great feel-good read.
The top spot has to go to Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. Like Luster, it is more literary fiction than the genre fiction I usually read but the reviews were great and I’m trying to read more widely. This book chronicles the lives of the Bloch family as they navigate a Bar Mitzvah, death and war. Yes, it somehow does it all. What really made this book stand out was the characters. The main characters were written with such depth it felt as if I knew them personally and it kept me glued to the narrative as it developed.
The children were stand-outs, particularly Sam. His perspective deftly captured the awkwardness of developing your own ideals and voice while still feeling the pressures of parental expectations. Jacob Bloch was equally relatable in the way he got attached to an idea. He wants to prove he isn’t boring, predictable – a coward, but when it comes down to it, is he those things? I found this book intriguing from the beginning. A family exploring their places in that family, their community and the wider world. By the end, I was racing through the book and it lingered in my mind long after I finished reading. It’s quite a big book but I would highly recommend you give it a try!
That’s it for the books of 2024. I’m starting 2025 with The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I’ve set a more reasonable goal of fifteen books this year.
Maybe it’s not the quantity of books that counts but the quality, and there was a lot of quality on this list.
Have you read any of them? Let me know below!
Until next time,
