What are the BEST BOOKS you've read in 2024?

[hermetic]

This discussion thread is pinned.

PLEASE NOTE: This is the new, current year post, for books you've read this year, 2024. Look for last year's books (2023) farther down the page.


This is a traditional pinned post for you to use to list the most outstanding books you read during the year of 2024. They don't have to be books that were published in 2024, just whatever books you've read in 2024 that you think are particularly noteworthy.
This post is to provide a handy place for people to find suggestions without having to search through hundreds of threads.
Happy reading!

[Hekate]

1. The Land of Milk & Honey by C Pam Zhang, who I swear must have read Douglas Rushkoff's...

…Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires. Or maybe she just channeled the same information we all can read,, since the books came out about the same time last year.

Zhang’s heroine longs for the sunshine and abundance of mouthwatering food growing everywhere in her native Southern California. She is a chef stranded in London, exiled by closed borders in a planet gone gray with an inexplicable sticky smog that has killed crops everywhere.

From the start, her descriptions of certain foods are sensuous, bordering on hallucinatory. A fragrant sun-ripened strawberry as soft and luscious as a woman’s inner thigh. The longing for what is gone, seemingly forever.

The billionaire trying to escape what the Earth has become hires her to be his chef in a far and very secret location.

A haunting and most excellent book.

[japple]

2. Paulette Jiles, CHENNEVILLE.

[japple]

3. Lark Ascending by Silas House.

[Mz Pip]

4. The River We Remember

William Kent Kruger.

Set in a rural town in Minnesota in 1958 following the murder of a local landowner who was hated by not just members of the community but his family as well. The investigation reveals deep seated racism, abuse, ptsd from WW2 and the secrets and lies people cling to.

[yellowdogintexas]

5. So far...The Testaments by Margaret Atwood Sequel to Handmaid's Tale

Runner up: The Girl In The Letter

[NanaCat]

6. Maame by Jessica George

Although Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka nearly edged it out.

[hermetic]

7. I Cheerfully Refuse by Lief Enger

It's still early in the year but I haven't read a book this profound in a long time so I suspect it will hold the title for a while. It is a fantasy where we see Enger's vision of what our country will be like in a few years if we continue to let MAGAt's control things. And it's terrifying, yet totally believable. But it's also a book filled with music and nature. It honors books and writing, reminding us how important these things are. There are happy moments and there are constant surprises. Like the comet, one of which we are actually about to be visited by.

"Enger is a writer to be appreciated by anyone who cares about words." -- Seattle Times