Best Books of 2024
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#posts #year-in-review #booksIt's been a good year for books. I've finished 42 this year (here's the full list) which is a little below usual, but I've enjoyed savouring and taking my time with them. Currently I'm halfway through Don Quixote and unlikely to finish before the new year. So here are my favourite books of the year in arbitrary categories.
Best big book
Demon Copperhead was the only really chunky book I finished this year. It's a powerful exploration of adoption and the opioid crisis in the USA, following the model of David Copperfield. I absolutely loved it. It's beautifully written and hugely empathetic to its characters, while criticising the system of poverty and misery.
Best short book
The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn is a series of prose poems set in a space station, where androids are affected by strange rocks. It's absolutely unique in its execution and story, with shades of Deep Wheel Orcadia. Stunning.
I also thought Orbital by Susanna Harvey was a lyrical plea for humanity in all its glory and misery, from the perspective of the international space station. Very light on plot but with beautiful writing, such as; "...all beings are living in life-support machines commonly called bodies and all of these will fail eventually." Wow.
Best short story collection
I quite enjoyed The Gospel According To Blindboy by the podcaster Blindboy Boatclub, which features frequently surreal and strange characters as well as an elevated writing style that makes full use of the Irish vernacular. It may not be to everyone's taste.
Best Poetry Collection
Laurie Bolger's collection Spin is an excellent exploration of exercise and transcendence, as well as alcohol dependence and female led stories. There's a clarity of writing here that is really impressive.
I also loved Dart by Alice Oswald, following the river from source to sea and incorporating many voices on the way. It reminds me of Under Milk Wood in the lyricism and flow.
Best Non-fiction
Naomi Klein's Doppelganger doesn't say a lot new, but it's still an essential exploration of the right wing conspiracy theory pipeline and how people are living in different realities. Using her experiences of being confused for Naomi Wolfe as a guide, it shows how active the right wing are in recruiting people to their cause. Sadly, its become much more relevant since the US election.
I also got a lot of use out of The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carrol. It's a description of how to set up a bullet journal but is secretly a guide on how to be more mindful and intentional with your time.
Best Novel Overall
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell is a beautiful exploration of Shakespeare's wife and children and life in the sixteenth century. I didn't think I needed another book about Shakespeare but I was wrong. This works by mostly ignoring the plays and focusing on the humans involved. Absolutely stunning writing throughout and an empathetic, devastating tone.
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