For the eighth year in a row, I am doing my best books that I read during this calendar year in a category list rather than in some kind of ranked order, Why? Because why I loved these particular books matters more to me than the order in which I would place them. How I interacted with them, how they affected me, how they stayed with me over the course of the calendar year, this is what is most important because it is why they are my on personal "Best" list.
Some of the categories are the same from year to year, others change. This is because the books I read each year create their own experiences and categories to me personally and I want to capture that experience along with the titles. I am not a robot, I am a human reader, even if reading and suggesting titles is my job. In order to remind myself [and all of you] of the joy in what we are paid to do, I strive to create a year end best list that captures, celebrates, and acknowledges that.
By this time, lots of people have already weighed in with critically acclaimed "best" lists for weeks now, but I always wait to post this until end the year here on RA for All. I am keeping that tradition both because I like traditions, but also for ease of retrieving this list and other from years' past. To find any o fly year's best read lists, from any year, all you have to do is click on the year in the right gutter on the blog scroll down). It brings up every post for that year in reverse chronological order, meaning that the last post of the year is first. Always the librarian, I am sharing my favorite reads AND cataloging them in an easy to retrieve way.
I also wait to post this because my list is about my reflections on myself as a readers over the last 12 months. It is not just another best list. This is a list that is personal to me, my tastes, and my weird quirks. I need time and quiet to really think about it. I spent that time while I was off last week.
You can also use this post to help other readers, yes, but because it is so specific to me, it is actually better used by you as a conversation starter. (Click here for my post about turning conversation starters into displays) For example, you can ask people "What is the most fun you had reading a book this year?" or "What title was the biggest surprise to you?" Those are questions readers can answer much more quickly and easily than "What was your favorite book of 2024?" And these are the types of questions that engender dialog.
The categories I have listed here provide great conversation starters to offer to your patrons. You can even use my answers to keep the conversation going by saying, "I was thinking about this question because I read another library workers list and got the idea."
The point of my "Best" list is to both offer books that I loved this year, while also presenting an example of a regular reader view of a "Best" list.
Below you will find my list of the14 best books I experienced in 2024 (regardless of publication year) in 15 categories created by me. It is an arbitrary amount, but so what? It's my list of what mattered to me the most this year so I get to decide how I present it. Each title links to a longer review which will explain why it is the "best" book for that category.
Some general comments about my list this year:
- I read a lot of stellar novellas. I also love how these books can be enjoyed in one or 2 sittings. This led me to add a category not for novella, but rather, best one sitting read.
- I listened to more mysteries than I have in year's past. I binged the Shady Hollow series in its entirety as well. But, I did not make "Best Mystery" a category. I realize that after I made my first pass at this list. However, I did include mysteries in my list below as well. This said a lot to me about my reading habits. One things I have learned about myself as a reader this year is that I LOVE mysteries on audio, way more than in print and on the whole, way more than other genres in audio.
- I read both James and Dr. No by Percival Everett in 2024 and while I loved James, I adored Dr. No. It is the only book to appear in 2 categories.
- And of course-- Horror is everywhere on this list because for me as a reader, it fits in more categories than its genre. While I know that is unique to me as a reader, I wonder if that is true for you and a different genre. I am sure it is for many of your readers. If they have a favorite genre, they loved the books they loved for reasons that go beyond their genre classification. This is important to remember as we help readers.
