Each year I share a list of my favorite and least favorite books hoping to help someone check out a good one and avoid the bad. I didn’t set a goal for a number this year but finished 77 by year’s end.
I lean towards mysteries and historical novels. I can’t get through a book with a lot of foul language. I don’t care for romantic novels. So, from my conservative point of view here are my highest rated reads from 2024 in the order in which I read them:
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (non-fiction)
- Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt — I did not expect to love a book about an octopus, but when asked my favorite books of the year this would be a top 2!
- Home Before Morning by Lunda Van Devanter (non-fiction)
- Healing Wounds by Diane Carlson Evans (non-fiction)
- The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin
- Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Ann Spangler (non-fiction)
- Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Lethal Objection by Michael Swiger
- The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer
- Warsaw Orphans by Kelly Rimmer
- The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
I don’t often read non-fiction books but the ones on the list above are excellent. Two are written about the nurses in the VietNam war. That’s a war I grew up in and had friends fighting in but I’d never read a book about it.
I read several books by Lisa Jewell, Blake Pierce, Ken Fite, Nita Rose, and Freida McFadden. I considered them entertaining but couldn’t tell you much about them now. I also found a mystery writer who did not use foul language or “romantic” themes and read two in his series and plan to read the rest. The author is D. D. Black.
Books I couldn’t finish and why (if I can remember):
- We Are All Good People Here by Susan Rebecca White
- Do the Birds Still Sing in Hell by Horace Greasley (horribly foul language)
- Think Twice by Harlan Coben (I’ve found Mr. Coben to be a hit-or-miss author. I enjoyed some of his books — enough to check out others — but if some had been the first I read of his I would not have checked out more)
Hope someone finds this helpful. Please feel free to comment with some of your favorites.
