Presenting the 2024 Commonly-Agreed-by-the-People-Who-Publish-Best-of-2024-Book-Lists-Before-December-31 top 60 books.
(This is my annual community service to book-bloggers – a list of the books that appear most frequently on the 55 lists that I listed on Best Books of 2024 – A List of Lists – enjoy!).
Books that made seven lists –
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
Challenger by Adam Higginbotham
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
Get the Picture by Bianca Bosker
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly
Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko
Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa
Patriot by Alexei Navalny
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
Wild Houses by Colin Barrett
You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue
Books that made eight lists –
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk
The Extinction of Irena Ray by Jennifer Croft
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
You Are Here by David Nicholls
Books that made nine lists –
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
Entitlement by Rumaan Alam
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
Small Rain by Garth Greenwell
Books that made ten lists –
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
Clear by Carys Davies
The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Books that made 11 lists –
Knife by Salman Rushdie
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Books that made 12 lists –
Playground by Richard Powers
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
Books that made 13 lists –
Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
My Friends by Hisham Matar
Books that made 14, 15 0r 16 lists –
Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham
Real Americans by Rachel Khong
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Books that made 17, 18, 19 lists –
Long Island by Colm Tóibín
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Books that made 20 lists –
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
Books that made 27 or 28 lists –
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
All Fours by Miranda July
Books that made more than 30 lists –
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
James by Percival Everett
I’ve read nine (Nicholls, Mellors, Alderton, Davies, Tóibín, Brodesser-Akner; Kushner, July and Rooney); have another three in the TBR stack (Strout, Crosley, and Van Der Wouden) and I am busting to read another bunch. Will I read the ‘winner’ (Everett)? I’m not sure… probably not! (It doesn’t appeal to me at all, despite a few friends enjoying it).
Do you agree with the critics – will any of these titles make your ‘Best of 2024’ list?
In the latter part of this year I pre-ordered three works that I wanted to read as soon as they were released. I’m glad to see two of them made the list: Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo, and Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls – which I am only part way through. The third was Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson who deserves to be up there too.
No surprise that Everett and Rooney came out top but I’m pleased that Help Wanted made as many as it did. I thought it wouldn’t get much attention.
The audio book of James is amazing. Highly recommend.!
I’ve read five (including James, which I did enjoy, but perhaps didn’t rate quite as highly as many others. My Friends would be the pick of the five I have read).
Thank you for your humungous effort once again in pulling all these lists together into one coherent list!
Goodness, some really made ALL the lists, right? And that’s why we’ve seen them all over the place. I’m sure some of them are on merit, but I’m such a contrarian that it makes me LESS eager to read them.
I was surprised to find that I have some of them on the TBR: Entitlement, Knife and My Friends; and I’ve read Clear by Carys Davies and Long Island by Colm Toibin.
I’m not very good at keeping up with international literature.
I haven’t read enough to say whether I agree or not, but I will be reading James next year because a few in my reading group were keen, including some who had read it. I was not behind it, but I am glad, in a way, that we are going to do it. I am also interested in Knife. Is that strange of me?
I am impressed by the work you put into this year after year Kate, because it’s such an interesting list always.
(I will be publishing my little rather random Australian list tonight!)
Knife is a powerful read, Sue. It’s essentially a love letter to Rushdie’s wife.
Thank you for all your effort putting this together, Kate. It’s a topic I’m interested in, but I’m not willing to put all the work into actually DOING it.
These lists are far too North American / Northern-Hemisphere centric for me, I’m afraid. I’ve only read three – Knife by Salman Rushdie, Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel, and My Friends by Hisham Matar. I abandoned James by Percival Everett because I could just get on with the tone of voice, but perhaps I just tried to read it at the “wrong” time. I’ve got a few on the TBR — Intermezzo (obviously), The Safekeep, and Long Island.
I’ve only read six of these and there are a lot I have never hear of!
I was waiting for your list and then missed it. I copied you and created a list myself this year, finding 39 lists with end of the year list by the time before I published. I would have to do a side by side comparison but it seems like our lists are very similar. Check mine out: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2024/12/best-books-of-2024-after-analyzing-39.html
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