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The 15 Best Books I Read in 2024

By: Author Laura Bronner

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The 15 Best Books I Read in 2024

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For the first time in nearly 13 years, I had full access to a library system in 2024. This meant that I didn’t have to go scrounging through the English language bin at some bookstore or search for the one English bookstore in town whenever I traveled to a large city.

It meant I didn’t have to pay for books on Kindle. I could finally cancel my Audible membership which is even more expensive than my Netflix subscription (has the price of Netflix gone up THREE TIMES this year?!).

It meant that I could put dozens and dozens of books on hold, I could read endlessly without worrying about how much money I was spending on books, and if I didn’t like a book, I could just bring it back because I didn’t pay for it so didn’t have to feel bad about not finishing it.

All of this to say, the freedom that a library card gives a booklover is one that I will not again take for granted.

It’s December 19th, and I am sure that I will still manage to read at least one more, if not two more books. But they will live in the same place as all of the songs you listen to in December on Spotify. They neither make the 2024 Wrapped list nor will they be included in books that I read in 2025. Hopefully, they aren’t the best books of the year (if they are, I will begrudgingly return to this post and add them).

To date, I have read 54 books in 2024. Thanks to my fellow bibliophile friend Katherine, this year I started keeping a book journal as a way to remember the books that I have read because I keep picking up the same book and reading a third of the way in and thinking… have I read this before?

Many of those books were good. The ones that weren’t didn’t get finished. But only a few of those books were great. Those are the books that have made this list.

Of course, whether a book is great or not is entirely subjective. I love literary fiction. However, I have also become something of a fantasy lover ever since I read every single Harry Potter book during Covid and realized the power of escapism.

Since most of you probably skipped this entire intro and went straight to the list anyway, let’s get to it.

holding up a book that says The Details with a small apartment in the background.

The most recent book I just finished, book #54 was a quick novel with wonderful character development.

1. Sea Wife by Amity Gaige

Have you ever dreamed of buying a sailboat, leaving regular life behind, and sailing around the world? Juliet and Michael do that with their two children in this book. The writing is exceptional, poetic in many ways. The characters are so well developed and you feel that you can relate to them if you have ever been in a long-term relationship, have struggled with career stagnation, or the reality of raising a family in the modern age.

The book isn’t just about the family though. It also grapples with the lasting scars of colonialism, as the family make their way through places like Panama and Colombia. It feels part travelogue in places, which I always appreciate. And it isn’t all wrapped up in a pretty little bow at the end, much like real life.

2. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

This was not only one of the best books I have read in 2024, but one of the best books I have ever read, period. I raved about this book on Instagram and to anyone who would listen. I sent it to friends and told strangers about it at the library. This book has engaging characters who, at times, made me wonder, “am I Franny?”

It is enormously heartbreaking, but in the way only an exquisitely written book can be. There were so many twists and turns of the plot as Franny tries to grapple with what is reality and what is imagined. All the while, the book is mostly focused on the enormous damage we have done to the planet. I wish I could read this again for the first time.

photo from woman's perspective as she lays down looking up at her kindle and the sky and a tree are beyond it.

I spent as much time as possible on my rooftop or at a park or the beach reading in the sunshine, which was surprisingly ore often than I thought it would be in Seattle!

3. We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

A book about friendship, family, and grief. The book centers around the friendship between Edith and Ashley as they both grapple with Edith’s cancer diagnosis and eventual death. Although you know how the book is going to end from the very beginning, it doesn’t prepare you for just how real the characters become to you. I laughed, I cried, I sobbed. This is one of the most truly human books I read in 2024.

4. Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

A novel that follows the story of native Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia as they cross into Maine to pick fruit for the summer.

While they are there, their youngest daughter goes missing. The book follows both sides of the story as the young girl grows up with people who aren’t her parents and the family continue to search for her, none believing its possible that she’s dead.

The character development and storytelling in this book is captivating. I read this book quickly because I had to know what was going to happen and it took until almost the last pages of the book to satisfy that need.

5. How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

A beautifully written memoir about growing up in a Rastafarian family in Jamaica, Sinclair paints the picture of her childhood with her controlling father and her strong, education-first mother.

I knew close to nothing about what being Rastafarian really meant and this book really opened my eyes to not only the belief system, but also to the continued colonial mentalities that persist in a place like Jamaica (although they recently decided no more to the King of England as head of state!).

6. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favorite authors for a fun, laugh-out-loud, beach read. I’ve previously read Malibu Rising and the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and loved them. Although, I had to put down One True Love because it genuinely broke my heart too much and I couldn’t bear to see who she chose.

Carrie Soto is a strong character both in a literary and physical sense. A professional tennis player at the end of her career doesn’t want to see her world record broken by a newer, younger player. So she decides to have her estranged father, an ex-player himself, coach her back to her best.

There’s love, heartbreak, sadness, competition, and a bit of intrigue tossed in to make it one of the best beach books of the year for me.

sitting on a share with a book in my lap and my legs extended in front of me and the view over my rooftop in front.

Lots of reading in the sunshine all summer. I read way more during the summer than during the colder, rainier months!

7. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

My friend Alex asked me recently for a recommendation. She wanted to read an upbeat, happy book. I immediately thought of this one and it wasn’t until we spoke on the phone about it a few weeks later that I remembered this isn’t exactly a happy book.

But reading it did make me happy. Bonnie is one strong lady and in an era when it was very difficult to be a strong woman, impossible really, she pushes on. A scientist, a single mother, and a TV personality, she demands highly of those around her.

8. Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

A breathtakingly written fantasy novel this book intimidated me at first because it is pretty thick. But I read it in a week, glued to the pages late at night wondering what was going to happen to Kel, to the Prince, and to the Ragpicker King. I want to visit Castellane and go to one of the prince’s parties.

I don’t want to give away too much, but if you’re looking for a different book that really sucks you into a new world, this is a great one.

I can’t wait for the second one to come out in 2025.

9. Poor Things by Alisdair Gray

This book had me from the first chapter. A female Frankenstein? Bell was such a likeable character, but it was the narrator that I loved most. Always a few steps ahead of both the reader and characters, the narrator was intelligent and witty. The digs at society, government, and general morality were well-placed.

One of the things I loved most about this book was its general anti-establishment voice and the ending or rather, the reveal of what is really going on is the icing on the cake of a very well-written book.

10. Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Another book with a clever narrator, this time poking fun at nationalism, the hipocracy of organized religion, and the illusion of the American dream.

The book centers around the neighborhood of a city in Pennsylvania in the 1930s where the majority of the people living there were African American or Jewish. The characters were believable and likable, with Chona being the strongest one for me, the one I was rooting for most.

stack of books at the bookstore.

I try to support locally owned bookstores when I can, especially used bookstores!

11. The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

A beautifully written book about life, death, humanity, living our truths, taking risks, and living with (and hopefully without) regrets.

Clover was such a relatable character. How many times have you said no to something or pushed people away because you were afraid it wouldn’t work out, because it would fail. Or because you didn’t want to let people down or be let down yourself.

My favorite quote of the book is, “the only way to have a beautiful death is to have a beautiful life.”

12. Motherhood by Sheila Heti

I waver with Sheila Heti. I loved this book so much, but couldn’t finish Pure Colour. She is pushing the boundaries of what a novel is, of what literature can be and for that I love her and will continue to try. I have been waiting for Alphabetical Diaries at the library for quite some time. Maybe it will make the 2025 list (or maybe it won’t).

This book was one of the closest I have ever read to how I feel about motherhood as someone who has chosen not to experience it. As I get ever closer to 40, I have sought out the opinions and words of people who are more eloquent than I am with their decisions to be childfree and Heti truly verbalized so much of what I have thought and felt over the last decade as more of my friends choose motherhood.

Whether you chose motherhood or not, this book is a wonderfully poetic look at that difficult decision and what life could look like on either side of the fence.

13. Out of the Sierra by Victoria Blanco

An investigative look into life as a Raramuri person in rural northern Mexico, this book reads more like a novel than a non-fiction report thanks to the way the story is told, as it should be, from the perspective of the Raramuri themselves.

It is one of the most honest and eye-opening reads about what its like to be an indigenous person in Mexico today. This isn’t the story of a people who no longer exist, and hopefully it doesn’t become one. This is the story of a people who are trying to persist, who are trying to keep their language and their culture in a world that would prefer they assimilate.

A yellow book on a bookshelf in a store that says Out of the Sierra with a raramuri woman on the cover.

I found this book at a little local bookshop on Bainbridge Island in Washington of all places!

14. To the Gorge by Emily Halnon

This is a book for all of my fellow runners and outdoor adventurers. A heartbreaking memoir of Emily’s life as she battles with the grief of losing her mother to cancer. Her mother, a runner as well, did her best to stay active during her initial treatments.

The book moves back and forth in time as Emily deals with the diagnosis and eventual decline of her mother’s health while simultaneously running the Pacific Crest Trail across the state of Oregon in the fastest known time.

15. Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

The story of a New Yorker with a Puerto Rican background, which as one myself, immediately piqued my interest. I think any child of 3rd or 4th generation immigrants can relate to this story. You’re far enough away from your family’s culture that you don’t yourself necessarily feel from that place, and yet, you look and speak differently, you celebrate holidays differently, you are not wholely American. Where do you fit?

It’s a story of community, of family (both blood and chosen), and a beautifully cheesy love story thrown in as well.

an outdoor table with a mug of coffee and a book sitting on top of the table.

Cafes and books were a theme of early autumn for me.

The other books that I read this year that were good but not in the top 15 were: