Since the beginning of this blog I have been posting my top ten films of the year (the 2024 edition will appear in mid to late January after I’ve caught up with all the recent releases) and for the past five years and randomly once before then, I’ve posted my top ten TV shows. The glaringly obvious question is why haven’t I posted a list of my favorite books of the year? The answer is: I don’t know. One stumbling block is that I don’t necessarily read a lot of newly released books in a year. I would guess that in some years I might read more than a dozen new books but in another half that. So unlike for TV shows and movies with this list I’m not restricting myself to what was released in the past twelve months, of for that matter, the past twelve or 120 years. Also unlike my film and telly lists, I’m not putting the list in order as one often does with a top ten. The exception being that the first two books listed are my favorite non-fiction and fiction books I read this year. Also note that I did not include books that I re-read, if they’re on this list I never read them before 2024. Finally, this list includes sixteen books (actually eighteen but I’ve twice lumped two together). Why? I don’t know. I suppose because these were the standouts and a top ten wasn’t enough and why feel restricted to a total ending in zero?
Caste: The Origins of our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson This is a book that everyone in the country should read although there being so many functionally illiterate racists in the country that’ll never happen. Certainly to understand the United States Wilkerson’s book is a must. Caste explores racism in this country in a way different than anything I’ve previously read. It’s challenging and accessible and vitally important.
In Memoriam: A Novel by Alice Winn. To me one of the most amazing things about this debut novel is that it was written by a young woman. It is a great example of how thorough research can inform a novel. Ms. Winn must have spent nearly as much time researching as she did writing. In Memoriam centers around two young British men who meet in school and then join the army as World War I breaks out. It is a love story, a war story, an epic. It is moving and brutally realistic. It recalls a past time so vividly that it’s hard to believe it wasn't written contemporaneously. The book is a singular achievement that I cannot recommend highly enough.
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan. Reads like a really good novel. The 1920s, the KKK, a con man, a brutal murder, a plan to rule the country, an amazing story from an amazing writer.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingslover. You need to be an extraordinary writer to take a much and long beloved novel like David Copperfield and give it a modern twist that succeeds. Ms. Kingslover pulled this feat off with a setting of modern-day Appalachia. It would be sacrilege and wrong to call it the equal of the original but it would’d be a stretch to say that this one of the best novels of the 21st century.
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain. I read a lot by Cain this year and could only wonder what took me so long. He’s right up there with Raymond Chandler as one of the great writers of “hardboiled” detective stories. His writing is sparse but evocative. He can say more in one sentence than other writers can in a page. Postman is my favorite of his books.
The Passenger and Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. The books are companion pieces, the last from McCarthy. For me McCarthy is the type of writer who makes me feel I’ve no business even trying. He ranks among this country’s great and here are two more books in evidence of that.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang. Reading this book was a visceral experience and I can think of no higher praise for a piece of literature. Ms. Kang's Nobel Prize in literature was well-earned. An a times shocking book but always compelling.
Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow. I don’t really enjoy watching Ms. Maddow do her schtick on TV, I find the way she talks off-putting, but the woman can write. This is the second book of her’s I’ve read, Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House being the other and I am duly impressed. Prequel is the story of the rise of and fight against fascism in the U.S. in the 1930s, a topic of great interest to me and of course one that is relevant to today.
In the Woods and The Likeness by Tana French. These are the first two novels by Mr. French. I only recently completed Into the Woods and am currently reading Likeness so technically I don’t suppose it should be on here, but my blog, my rules. I’ve got to credit the missus here who recommended the author to me. Into the Woods has all the elements of a great detective story including interesting and relatable characters and a well-plotted engaging story. I’m looking forward to reading the other half dozen or so books she’s written.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. I saw a shabby copy of this book in a little free library, hardly judging a book by its cover I was for some reason intrigued. I gave the beginning a quick skim and immediately knew I had to procure a copy, this one wouldn’t do. Good move. An excellent book that touches upon sports but delves deeply into relationships. A thoroughly engaging read.
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks. I’d long admired the film based on the book and had recently read another Banks novel so gave The Sweet Hereafter a go and am glad I did. It’s as moving and thought-provoking a book as I’ve ever read.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. Another case of a film I loved so why not try the book. I wrote about it earlier this year on this here blog.
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig. This is one of those biographies for which the word “magisterial” was coined. It’s a cradle to grave look at the great Dr. King’s life but is not hagiography. We get the dark side of the story as well. Best of all it made me more fully understand an already familiar figure.
Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson) by Robert Caro. I’ve been chipping away at all of Caro’s LBJ books for years but zipped through Path to Power which is a quicker read than the others and may be the best of the lot. It examines, in wonderful detail, LBJ’s stealing of the 1948 Texas senatorial election. An amazing but true story.
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Having just watched the latest film version of the story (the excellent Ripley on Netflix starring Andrew Scott) I finally read the book and it didn’t disappoint (though the second of the series did). It’s quite a feat to write a book that is a page-turner even when the story is well-known by the reader. A great companion to any version you’ve seen on the screen.
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. He hasn’t written a clunker yet. Whitehead is one of the best novelists currently plying his trade and this is but one example.
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