Time, again, to post an Annual Book List (makes me think I should stop and see how many of these I’ve posted since the blog began . . . and I’ve been thinking I should also go back and see which of those books I remember clearly, which ones I should book back on my TBR list, which I’d still recommend. . . You might know I’m a big fan of “the backlist.”)
So far, I’m not posting these, or my monthly book posts, on Substack. That may happen in the next while, depending on how cranky that second email in your mailbox makes those of you kind enough to subscribe to my accounts here and there. For now, this post is here only.
However, I did recently put up a Walking, Wearing, Listening post (remember those?) over on Substack, and I’m not going to include an excerpt from it here because I think that detracts from the focus on the Books Read in 2025; because the post is already long and chock-full of content; and again, because I don’t want to irritate subscribers with too much duplication. I’m open to your thoughts on what to post where as I’m testing out this possible transition, but meanwhile, it’s really easy to pop over to read the post there and check out my first OOTD photos in many months!
Here’s how I’ve been introducing my annual book lists for the last two years (turns out I’ve completed it three calendar days earlier than I did in ’23 or ’24 — Go me!):
It’s taken me a bit to compile, and I’m going to send it out as is, no embellishments. I had thought I might try to organize by categories and/or to highlight favourites. But there are so many books I really loved this year that even that list of favourites would make this post even longer that its already ridiculous length.
So here, for your perusal, is my 2022 2023 2024 Reading List — just enough tags in each entry to give you a sense of genre, subject, setting, other pertinent elements. If you’d like to know more about a title, just click on the Month link (at the top of each section) to see my brief review. (Many of you will have read this already, but you may want to check back to see if you’ve missed some of the wonderful reader comments.)
I’m curious to know which of these titles you’ve read — and I feel confident in suggesting that there are at least ten here that you could happily (and profitably!) spend time with. (First, I know, you need to find that time 😉
- 1. The Mystery Guest. Nina Prose. Mystery. Hotel maid / female protagonist. Sequel to The Maid
- 2. Normal Rules Don’t Apply. Kate Atkinson. Literary fiction; Short story collection; Fantastical realist; Fantastical domestic fiction.
- 3. The River We Remember. William Kent Krueger. Mystery/Crime novel; American history; 1950s Minnesota; racism.
- 4. Study for Obedience. Sarah Bernstein. Literary fiction; psychological fiction; anti-semitism; social alienation; family dysfunction; gender politics.
- 5. Demon Copperhead. Barbara Kingsolver. bildungsoman/coming-of-age; elegaic; historical fiction; protest/activist literature; American history; Appalachian setting; foster system; opioid/drug addiction; poverty.
- 6. Black Summer. M.W. Craven. Mystery; police procedural; Washington Poe & Tilly Bradshaw series; set in Cumbria, England.
- 7. Let Us Descend. Jesmyn Ward. Literary fiction; historical fiction; magical realism; American history; Slavery; Black female writer; Black female protagonist.
- 8. August Blue. Deborah Levy. Literary fiction; Women’s lives; Female concert pianist; Adoption/identity; Melancholy/Alienation; Travel — as searching, dislocation; Athens, Greek Islands; Paris.
- 9. The Transit of Venus. Shirley Hazzard. Literary fiction; Domestic fiction; Historical fiction; Class; Immigration; Women’s lives; London; New York.
- 10. So Shall You Reap. Donna Leon. Mystery; Police procedural; Guido Brunetti series; Venice; Refugee/ immigrant life.
- February Reading 2024
- 11. Babel: or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. R. F. Kuang. Speculative fiction; Historical fantasy; Coming-of-age narrative; Academe; Language; Translation; Oxford Setting; Colonialism.
- 12. The Angel of Rome. Jess Walter. Literary fiction; Short stories; Coming-of-age.
- 13. The Guncle. Steven Rowley. Domestic fiction; LGBTQ+ fiction; humour; bereavement/grief; Palm Springs setting.
- 14. Edenglassie, Melissa Lucashenko. Literary fiction; Indigenous Australian writer; historical fiction; colonial history; colonization; Edenglassie/Brisbane.
- 15. The Curator. M.W. Craven. Mystery/Crime; Police Procedural; Washington Poe & Tilly Bradshaw series; Setting Cumbria, England.
- 16. Happy-Go-Lucky. David Sedaris. Essays; Humour; Personal Memoir; LGBTQ; Family Dysfunction; Relationships.
- March Reading 2024
- 17. The Unseen. Roy Jacobsen. Trans. Don Bartlett and Don Shaw. Literary fiction; Books in translation; Norwegian literature; 1st volume in Barrøy chronicles; coming-of-age; domestic fiction; historical fiction; rural island life.
- 18. The Secret Hours. Mick Herron. Thriller/suspense; Espionage/politics; Slough House series prequel; Cold War Berlin; MI5; London.
- 19. Uprooting: From the Caribbean to the Countryside — Finding Home in an English Country Garden. Marchelle Farrell. Literary memoir; gardening memoir; horticulture and colonialism; women’s lives; health and wellness; Caribbean-British writer; Black female writer.
- 20. Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted. Suleika Jaouad. Literary Memoir; Coming-of-Age; Women’s Lives; Cancer; Survival; Creativity; Road Trip; Romance.
21. The Hunter. Tana French. Mystery/crime; Rural Ireland; Cal Hooper series. - 22. Elizabeth Finch. Julian Barnes. Literary fiction; psychological novel; philosophy; stoicism; elegiac.
23. Standing in the Shadows. Peter Robinson. Mystery; Police procedural; Inspector Banks series — final volume. - 24. The Windsor Knot. S.J. Bennett. Mystery; Series featuring Queen Elizabeth II as amateur sleuth; palace culture; ageing.
- April Reading 2024
- 25. The Wren, The Wren. Anne Enright. Literary fiction; Bildungsroman (Coming-of-Age); Generational narrative; Absent fathers; Father-Daughter; Women’s lives; Set in Ireland. Irish writer.
- 26. The Eternal City. Domenica de Rosa. Domestic fiction; Romantic fiction; Armchair travel; Rome.
- 27. C’mon Papa: Dispatches from a Dad in the Darkness. Ryan Knighton. Memoir; Humour; Fatherhood; Disability; Blindness.
- 28. My Garden (Book). Jamaica Kincaid. Memoir; Horticulture; Essays on Gardening and Life; Racism; Colonialism/Imperialism; Antiguan-American writer.
- 29. All the Queen’s Men. S.J. Bennett. Mystery novel; Queen Elizabeth II detective series; palace culture; female detective; elderly detective.
- 30. La vérité sur l’affaire Harry Quebert. Joël Dicker. Read in French; Published in English as The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, trans. Sam Taylor; Adapted for a TV series (featuring Patrick Dempsey); Mystery; Novel about writing; Romance; Bromance/mentorship; Set in New York and New Hampshire.
- 31. The Burning. Jane Casey. Murder mystery; Police Procedural; Maeve Kerrigan series; Female detective; London Setting.
- May Reading 2024
- 32. The Raging Storm. Ann Cleeves. Mystery; Police Procedural; Matthew Venn/Two Rivers series; Set in Devon, England. LGBTQ+ detective.
- 33. Sur la dalle. Fred Vargas. French mystery novel; roman policier/ police procedural; Inspector Adamsberg series; set in a small village in Brittany; read in French, not yet translated into English.
- 34. Nothing to Be Frightened Of. Julian Barnes. Literary memoir; aging; death and dying.
- 35. Absolution. Alice McDermott. Literary fiction; historical fiction; women’s lives; Vietnam; Americans in Vietnam.
- 36. Save Me the Plums. Ruth Reichl. Memoir; Women’s Lives; Restaurant Critic; Food; Publishing; Gourmet magazine.
- 37. It Is Wood, It Is Stone. Gabriella Burnham. Literary fiction; Women’s Lives; Marriage; Domestic Fiction; Ex-pat life; Set in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
- 38. Wandering Souls. Cecile Pin. Literary fiction; Refugee/Immigrant narrative; Vietnam; Family/Siblings.
- 39. What You Are Looking for Is in the Library: A Novel. Michiko Aoyama. Trans. Alison Watts. Books in translation; Set in Japan; Books/Library; Creative Self-Help; Linked short stories.
- 40. Prophet Song. Paul Lynch. Literary fiction; Speculative fiction; Dystopic fiction; Civil War; Dublin; Domestic fiction; Refugees; Displacement; Booker prize-winner, 2023.
- June Reading 2024
- 41. Meditation on Murder: A Novel. Susan Juby. Mystery; Set in British Columbia (Vancouver and southern interior); Helen Thorpe series; Butler; Buddhism.
- 42. How to Say Babylon. Safiya Sinclair. Memoir; literary memoir; coming-of-age; Jamaica; Rastafarianism; Colonialism; Education; Development of a writer; Poverty.
- 43. Bloom: On Becoming an Artist Later in Life. Janice Mason Steeves. Memoir/Self-Help/Case Study Survey; Art and Ageing; Mid-Life/Senior Life Change.
- 44. Her Side of the Story. Alba de Céspedes. Trans. Jill Foulston. Afterword Elena Ferrante. Literary fiction; Literature in Translation (from Italian); Feminist Fiction; Historical Fiction; Domestic Fiction; 1930s-40s Italy.
- 45. Mexican Gothic. Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Gothic Horror; Feminist fiction; Historical fiction; Mexico; Colonialism.
- 46. Western Lane. Chetna Maroo. Literary fiction; Domestic fiction; Immigrant life; Scotland; Squash (the game, not the vegetable); Grief.
- 47. Yield: The Journal of an Artist. Anne Truitt. Literary Memoir; Artist Memoir; 20th-century US history; female artist; female sculptor; women’s lives; lifewriting.
- 48. After Annie. Anna Quindlen. Domestic fiction; Grief; Lives of Girls and Women . . .
- 49. Rules of Civility. Amor Towles.Literary fiction; historical fiction; period fiction; 1930s-50s New York; female protagonist.
- 50. The Heron’s Cry. Ann Cleeves; Mystery/Detective novel; police procedural; Two Rivers series; Matthew Venn.
- July Reading 2024
- 51. Mr. Loverman, Bernardina Evarista. Literary fiction; Domestic fiction; LGBTQ+, Ageing protagonist; Gay protagonist; Immigrant’s lives; Set in London.
- 52. The Forbidden Notebook. Anna de Céspedes. Trans. Ann Goldstein. Foreword by Jhumpa Lahiri.
- 53. Held. Anne Michaels. Literary fiction; Historical fiction; Memory; Time; Love; Generations; War.
- 54. When in Rome. Liam Callanan. Travel fiction; Love story; Woman at mid-life; Religion; Rome.
- 55. The Drowning Woman. Robyn Harding. Psychological fiction; Women, friendship; homelessness.
- 56. Vers d’autres rives. Dany LaFerrière. Literary memoir; Graphic memoir; Artist coming-of-age; Immigrant narrative; artistic heritage; Haiti/Haitian art and literature/Haitian culture; Canadian literature; French-Canadian literature. Haitian-Canadian writer/artist.
- 57. Deaf Utopia: A Memoir and a Love Letter to a Way of Life. Nyle Di Marco and Robert Siebert; Memoir; Coming-of-Age; Growing up Deaf; Deaf Culture; Cultural History; Educational History; American Sign Language.
- August and September Reading 2024
- 58. Satsuma Complex. Bob Mortimer. Detective novel; comic; set in London.
- 59. Sandwich. Catherine Newman. Domestic fiction; 3 generations; marriage; women’s lives; midlife; summer seaside.
- 60. The Thursday Murder Club. Richard Osman. Mystery/detective novel; Thursday Murder Club series; Elderly / old protagonists; comic.
- 61. The Kamagawa Food Detectives. Hisashi Kashiwai. Trans. Jesse Kirkwood. Detective novel; Food; Japan; Linked Short Stories.
- 62. Sabbia Nera. Christina Cassiar Scala. Italian; Mystery; Police Procedural; Vanina Guarassi series; Set in Catania, Sicily.
- 63. The Appeal. Janice Hallett. Mystery; Epistolary (emails, texts) novel; amateur theatre; England.
- 64. Dead Ground. M.W. Craven. Mystery; Police procedural; Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw series; set in England.
- 65. Poor Deer. Claire Oshetsky Literary fiction; Children’s magical thinking; Coming-of-age; childhood trauma; grief. But note that this is a lovely, gentle, quirky novel, deftly sketched endearing protagonist.
- 66. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. Janice Hallett. Mystery; Journalist-detective; epistolary novel; old unsolved mystery; possible cult; set near London, England.
- 67. Death at the Sign of the Rook. Kate Atkinson. Mystery; wryly comic; Jackson Brodie series (with re-appearance of Reggie Chase); Mock-Downton Abbey setting, 21st-century style.
- 68. The Binding. Bridget Collins. Historical fantasy; Books / Reading; Romance; Mystery.
- October and November Reading 2024
- 69. The Last Word. Elly Griffiths. Mystery novel; Harbinder Kaur, detective; LGBTQ characters; Senior/elderly detective; set in Sussex, England.
- 70. The Paris Novel. Ruth Reichl. Romance; Coming-of-Age; Food; Fashion/Style; Paris; Young Female Protagonist.
- 71. Ah, l’amore, l’amore. Antonio Manzini. Mystery/Crime; Giallo; Police procedural; Rocco Schiavone series; set in Valle d’Aosta, Italy.
- 72. Black Butterflies. Priscilla Morris. Historical fiction; Bosnian war; Sarajevo.
- 73. La Disparition d’Herve Snout. Olivier Bordaçarre. Mystery; Roman policier; Satire/Social Critique; Domestic Fiction; Vegetarian vs. Meat-Eating.
- 74. The Last Devil to Die. Richard Osman. Mystery novel; Thursday Murder Club series.
- 75. The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time. Jane Bertch. Memoir; Paris Ex-pat life; Bold career change; Foodie culture.
- December Reading 2024
- 76. Tata. Valerie Perrin. Domestic fiction; Women’s lives; Family history/French history. Read in French; English translation coming soon.
- 77. Pulvis et Ombra. Antonio Manzini. Italian giallo; Read in Italian; Police Procedural; Rocco Schiavone series; Set in Italy: Valle d’Aosta and Rome.
- 78. And Now She’s Gone. Rachel Howzell Hall. Crime/thriller. Private detective; Female protagonist; Domestic violence.
- 79. Intermezzo. Sally Rooney. Literary fiction; Domestic fiction; Psychological fiction; Coming-of-Age; Irish writer; Female writer; Set in Dublin.
- 80. Life Sentences. Billy O’Callaghan. Literary fiction; Historical fiction; Domestic fiction; 3-generational family narrative; Irish history; poverty.
- 81. The Man Who Died Twice. Richard Osman. Murder mystery; Elderly protagonists; Thursday Murder Club series.
- 82. Impossible City: Paris in the 21st Century. Simon Kuper. Memoir; Life in Paris; Social/Cultural Analysis.
- 83. The Anthropologists. Ayşegül Savaş. Literary fiction; Expat/immigrant life; Coming-of-Age; Domestic fiction.
And there it is, 2024 Reading all wrapped up . . . except that earlier this month I realized that I’d missed telling you about a memoir that I was reading, in Italian, for many months . . . threading it through my other reading, picking it up and putting it down, always in the background. So I think I’ll probably add it to my January 2025 Books post — which I should start putting together soon! The year’s already whipping by, isn’t it?
I understand if you’re tired of looking backwards, or if you’ve already forgotten much of your 2024 reading, but should you want to tell us about which, say, 1 to 5 books you’d choose to recommend to a good friend who has similar tastes to your own, we’d love to hear. Or if, instead, you have a suggestion for a book you’re quite sure anyone would love, that would be good to share as well (who doesn’t like to have a copy of an “everyone will love this” gift book on hand?!)? Or any recommendation you might like to make, offered with a suggestion of who would be its ideal reader. . . .
I’ll look forward to your comments below. Meanwhile, Happy Reading!
xo,
f
Yes, go you! Quite an achievement to put up your annual reading list early. I never cease to admire the breadth of your reading and the sheer number of books.
What would I recommend to others? All four books in S J Bennett’s Her Majesty Investigates series. This is an improbably delightful series in which Queen Elizabeth II solves murders. The first three books are set in chronological order in the more recent past and they’re best read in order. But the fourth book “A Death in Diamonds” is set in the 1950s and anyone new to the series could easily start there. I love books set in the decade of my birth and learning about the what the world was like when I entered it. Bennett’s books are escapist delights, well researched and well written. And a fifth novel will be released this year.
The final book I’d recommend is Jennette McCurdy’s “I’m Glad my Mom Died”, an intensely personal and honest account of the trauma of growing up with an mentally unwell mother, and Jennette’s life as a child actor. She writes with clarity, precision and humour. I read it early last year and it still resonates.
Thank you for your Book Post. I use your list, to add to my towering TBR pile! Last year three books stood out for me, though there are others too, but these were my favourite reads.
‘ALLTHE BROKEN PLACES by John Boyne. About the aftermath of The Holocaust, set in London
‘THE HOUSE OF DOORS’ by Tan Twan Eng. set in Penang in the 1920s. I absolutely loved this book, evocative of colonial Asia, deftly told story, with a twist at the end.
‘TOM LAKE’ by Anne Patchett, a wonderful story of coming of age, love and family.
Ofcourse now I have started I remember many more, but enough, I am not sure, but these may have been recommended by you last year!1
Brava Frances! You were my role model to start journaling my reading again (I did it till my thirties and than stopped), and I still enjoy all of your reading posts and lists
I’ve read 22 of the books from your 2024.list
My badges of honour for 2024:
Diana Athill’s Yesterday,Morning and Somewhere Towards the End
Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Everything
Samantha Harvey’s Orbital
Toni Morisson’s Sula
Percifal Everett’s James
I agree with Maria about SJ Benett (and I’m Glad My Mom Died is on my TBR list for a long time). I love mysteries and my favourite authors whose books I’ve read in 2024.are Nita Prose, Dervla McTiernan (novels settled in Ireland),Tim Sullivan, MW Craven ( Washington Poe series),Janice Hallett,Peter May,Peter Grainger,Ann Cleeves,Richard Osman,Robert Thorogood,Peter Lovesay…there are many others,as well,but not read in 2024.
I’ve enjoyed Maz Evans’ Over My Dead Body and Jeannie Godfrey’s The List of Suspicious Things
Dottoressa
It amazes and pleases me enormously that a woman in Croatia and a woman in Australia enjoy reading the same books 📚
Author
And can you imagine how much it pleases me that you share that reading here?! xoxo
What did you think of Paris: Impossible City? I liked it, but became aware that it was very much a male view, and would have been interested to know what his wife’s experience of daily life was – also his daughter, who gave up football (if I remember because it was male-dominated) but there didn’t seem to be an alternative for her.
Author
His wife, Pamela Druckerman, has written a number of books on her French experience. I wrote a brief response to it in my December post (for any of these titles, if you want to read my response, just click on the link for that month . . .
🥇Reader!
My favorite books from last year were Her Side of the Story, Great Expectations (I had never read it before!), Maisie Dobbs, and The Thursday Murder Club. The latter two are the first in series I learned about here and am now addicted to, so I’m very grateful to all of you !
I’ve read a few on your list & also some of Dotteressa’s . At the moment I’m working my way through Ann Pachett’s books , both her novels & her memoir essays , loving them all . I can’t think why I haven’t read them before now . The only murder mystery I’ve read recently is Tim Sullivan’s latest , The Bookseller , his best yet I think . Thanks to you & the other commenters for all your suggestions . I shall pop them on the pile .
What a rich and varied list! It’s exciting to contemplate. I have not read any of the titles on it! (I really want to read Poor Deer though — and even more her first novel, Chouette.)
My favorite reads of 2024:
Nonfiction — The Book of Eels by Patrick Svensson and The Frayed Atlantic Edge by David Gange
Fiction — Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks and Matrix by Lauren Groff (I do love a literary historical novel with a smart, misfit female protagonist)
Poetry — Moder Dy by Roseanne Watt and Maria Dahvana Headley’s modern/feminist translation of Beowulf
Piggybacking on the reading discussion: I think you read in three different languages (English, French, and Italian), no? I was wondering if you might sometime talk about language learning at an age well beyond what’s usually considered “easy” to pick up new languages. What has been your program or strategy that has enabled you to get to the level of proficiency you have attained? I have been working on learning two different languages (Swedish and Dutch) the past couple of years. I have exhausted what Duolingo has to offer me and I’m not sure exactly how to pursue the next steps. I can definitely feel that it is not as easy for me to pick up new foreign language knowledge at my age (early 50s — the Swedish, which I first studied in my early 20s, feels so much more copacetic to me than the Dutch, which I only started working on in my late 40s). But then I think, “Well if Frances can do it…” And then I think, “Well how DID Frances do it?” Grateful for any advice you’d like to share!