Risa’s Reading Wrap-up for 2024

With minimal preamble, here’s my complete list of books for 2024. The categories are pretty self-explanatory. BTW, I read 52 books this year (!!!), a new record since my record keeping began! I’d say at a glance I still favour murder mysteries, but am not fussy about the setting or style (past, future, Holmes, cozy, scifi) but I also branched out a bit more this year, partly thanks to the Amnesty book club that I joined back in January.

I’m not doing a Reading Challenge wrap up, it turns out it was too much. As in too many things and I’m irritated at the prospect of a long, drawn-out assessment of my performance. For 2025, I’ll keep it simple – read 52 books! And if one more person recommends The Year of Magical Thinking, I’ll consider reading it.

LOVED it

Loved it

• The Sleeping Car Porter, by Suzette Mayr
• Starter Villain, John Scalzi
• Lock In, by John Scalzi
• Greenwood, by Michael Christie
• Close to Hugh, by Marina Endicott
• A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
• The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• Bad Cree: A Novel, by Jessica Johns
• Artemis, by Andy Weir
• In The Woods, by Tana French
• Broken Harbour, by Tana French
• Scarborough, by Catherine Hernandez

Imperfect, but with redeeming qualities

• The Age of Magical Overthinking, by Amanda Montell
• Mother-Daughter Murder Night, by Nina Simon
• The Women, by Kristin Hannah
• A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, by Alicia Elliott
• Enduring Love, by Ian McEwan
• The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
• Medicine Walk, by Richard Wagamese
• The Magician’s Assistant, by Ann Patchett
• Transcription, by Kate Atkinson

I liked it, but you might not

• My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
• Apeirogon, by Colum McCann
• The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, by Theodora Goss
• European Travel for the Monstrous Gentleman, by Theodora Goss
• A Siege of Bitterns, by Steve Burrows
• A Pitying of Doves, by Steve Burrows
• A Cast of Falcons, by Steve Burrows
• Unnatural Creatures, stories selected by Neil Gaiman
• How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix
• The Final Girl Support Group, by Grady Hendrix
• Woman, Watching, by Merilyn Simonds
• Long Division, by Kiese Laymon

Good, not great

• Elementary, She Read, by Vicki Delany
• Body on Baker Street, by Vicki Delany
• The Cat of the Baskervilles, by Vicki Delany
• A Scandal in Scarlet, by Vicki Delany
• Tiny Beautiful Things, by Cheryl Strayed
• What Strange Paradise, by Omar El Akkad
• The Immortal King Rao: A Novel, by Vara Vauhini
• The Absolution (Book 3 of Children’s House), by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Hated it

• The Maidens, by Alex Michaelides
• Anna O, by Blake Matthew
• The Story of Us, by Catherine Hernandez

HATED it

• Fifteen Dogs, by Andre Alexis
• Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov