The Best Books I Read in 2024

This is going to be a fairly long article so be warned. There are many books this year that I have read that I would class as an amazing experience, both in fiction and in nonfiction. My goal this year was to read more nonfiction and as you have probably seen, I became pretty addicted to modern political philosophy which honestly, doesn't sound like me at all but here we are. I will list my very favourite books of the year, note whether they are fiction or nonfiction and tell you a little bit about them, linking reviews where I can. Now, let's begin this lengthy article without much further conversation on the topic. The books will appear in order of when they were read throughout the year.

Note: Before you ask, no I don't have a GoodReads account.

If you would like the entire deal of what I've read this year (even the books that I haven't reviewed or, more importantly - the reviews that will be coming out in 2025 though I read the books in 2024) then you may find that on a post entitled: The Literary Entirety of 2024.

The Very Best Books of 2024 Belong to:

• Fiction: The Romantic by William Boyd
• Nonfiction: The Social Distance Between Us by Darren McGarvey

Key:

• F = Fiction
• NF = Nonfiction
• A = Anthology of Stories

The Complete List: The Best Books I Read in 2024

1-10

1. Mister Magic by Kiersten White (F)

2. Crawlspace by Herbert Lieberman (F)

3. The Haar: a Horror Novel by David Sodergren (F)

4. The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li (F)

5. The Terror by Dan Simmons (F)

6. Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken (NF)

7. The Romantic by William Boyd (F)

8. Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee (F)

9. The Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates (F)

10. Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier (NF)

11-20

11. The World and All That It Holds by Aleksander Hemon (F)

12. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker (NF)

13. Among the Trolls by Marianna Spring (NF)

14. Alchemy by Rory Sutherland (NF)

15. The Social Distance Between Us by Darren McGarvey (NF)

16. How They Broke Britain by James O’Brien (NF)

17. The Painter's Daughters by Emily Howes (F)

18. Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (F)

19. The Inner Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett (NF)

20. Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton (NF)

21-30

21. No Logo by Naomi Klein (NF)

22. Influenced by Brian Boxer Wachler (NF)

23. Unruly by David Mitchell (NF)

24. Brutes by Dizz Tate (F)

25. Henry Henry by Allen Bratton (F)

26. The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (NF)

27. Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell (NF)

28. The White Hare by Jane Johnson (F)

29. The Gathering by CJ Tudor (F)

30. No One Saw A Thing by Andrea Mara (F)

31-40

31. Apple and Knife by Intan Paramaditha (A)

32. I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai (F)

33. DH Lawrence and Italy ed. by Michael Squires (A/NF)

34. Byron: A Life in Ten Letters by Andrew Stauffer (NF)

35. Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (F)

36. Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou (F)

37. Go as a River by Shelley Read (F)

38. The Divorcées by Rowan Beaird (F)

39. The Offing by Benjamin Myers (F)

40. The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing (NF)

41-50

41. The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder (F)

42. The Devil and Mrs Davenport by Paulette Kennedy (F)

43. I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue (F)

44. The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark (F)

45. Penance by Eliza Clark (F)

46. Mongrel by Hanako Footman (F)

47. O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker (F)

48. The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin (F)

49. Girls by Kirsty Capes (F)

50. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (F)

51-60

51. Badenheim, 1939 by Aharon Appelfeld (NF/F)

52. The Glutton by A.K Blakemore (NF/F)

53. Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd (F)

54. The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe (F)

55. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton (F)

56. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (F)

57. A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater (NF)

58. The Escape by Matthew Slater (F)

59. Vertigo by Harald Jahner (NF)

60. Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (NF)

61-70

61. The Enlightenment by Ritchie Robertson (NF)

62. Patriot by Alexei Navalny (NF)

63. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (NF)

64. The Peepshow by Kate Summerscale (NF)

65. William by Mason Coile (F)

66. A Taste for Poison by Neil Bradbury (NF)

67. The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (F)

68. Table for Two by Amor Towles (F)

69. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (F)

70. The Barn by Wright Thompson (NF)

71-80

71. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (F)

72. Dirt Music by Tim Winton (F)

73. Levitation for Beginners by Suzannah Dunn (F)

74. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James (F)

75. Fire by John Boyne (F)

76. The Riders by Tim Winton (F)

77. Harriet Said... by Beryl Bainbridge (F)

78. The Rock Pool by Cyril Connolly (F)

79. The Turning by Tim Winton (F/A)

80. The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst (F)

81. Tiepolo Blue by James Cahill (F)

82. You Are Not Alone by Dr Ken Duckworth (NF)

83. Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari (NF)

84. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale (NF)

85. Mozart's Letters ed. by Eric Blom (NF)

86. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (NF)

87. The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton (NF)

88. Paris Was Yesterday: 1925-1939 by Janet Flanner (NF/A)

89. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (NF)