What I read in 2024

A full list and some made-up but very accurate Book Awards

General patterns

I read 40 books in 2024. For another year in a row, I read only books by women, mostly on purpose. I read literary and popular fiction, thrillers, and memoirs. I read about three to four books a month, usually in long sessions on my Kindle. I love reading on my Kindle, even when I own a physical copy of a book, because I can read it curled up in bed. I got most of my book recommendations from friends and people I follow online. I used Libby/Overdrive a lot this year and will always be a big fan of public libraries.

Book awards 🏆

Something my very neglected Goodreads account probably makes clear is that I don’t like rating books on a scale of 1-5. I envy people who track their reading more seriously with spreadsheets and apps, but I fear I can’t be that person because I’m not organized enough in that way. For the past couple of years, I’ve just kept an ongoing list in the notes app on my phone. Instead of insights about my most-read genres, reading time, average rating, etc., here are the winners of the made-up but very accurate Shailee’s Book Awards. Overall, All Fours by Miranda July really cleans up.

• Most nightmare-inducing: Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (Runner up: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn)

• Most “what just happened” moments: Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

• Most “most,” or most hard to read (this is not a bad thing): All Fours by Miranda July (Runner up: Hunger by Roxane Gay)

• Most embarrassing to read in public: All Fours by Miranda July (Runner up: Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby)

• Most mentions of Pizza Pizza: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

• Most “is this play about us?”: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

• Most tears: Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford (Runner up: Hunger by Roxane Gay)

• Most ripped from r/relationships: The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

• Most unputdownable: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (Runner up: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore)

• Most “I know where that is!” moments: Best Young Woman Job Book by Emma Healey (Runner up: Back in the Land of the Living by Eva Crocker)

• Most unanticipated dark horse: All Fours by Miranda July

• Most annoying main character: Good Material by Dolly Alderton (Runner up: All Fours by Miranda July)

• Most quirked-up main character: Extremely stacked category, but The Maid by Nita Prose is the winner. (Runner-ups: All Fours by Miranda July; Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata; Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman)

• Most depressed main character: This was another stacked category because I famously love books about extremely sad women experiencing a crushing sense of ennui and angst. I’m sure it has nothing to do with seeing myself reflected in them! Ultimately, the winner has to be Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter. (Runner-ups: Severance by Ling Ma, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman; My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh; Western Lane by Chetna Maroo; Luster by Raven Leilani, Maame by Jessica George. Roxane Gay and Alicia Elliott’s memoirs technically belong here too)

A list of everything I read in 2024

My favourite books are bolded.

1. Best Young Woman Job Book — Emma Healey

2. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine — Gail Honeyman

3. Good Material — Dolly Alderton

4. Convenience Store Woman — Sayaka Murata

5. Black Friend: Essays — Ziwe

6. Luster — Raven Leilani

7. The Maid — Nita Prose

8. The Mystery Guest — Nita Prose

9. Well-Behaved Indian Women — Saumya Dave

10. Everything I Know About Love — Dolly Alderton

11. My Year of Rest and Relaxation — Otessa Moshfegh

12. A Mind Spread Out on the Ground — Alicia Elliott

13. Come and Get It — Kiley Reid

14. The Paris Apartment — Lucy Foley

15. First Lie Wins — Ashley Elston

16. Quietly Hostile — Samantha Irby

17. Every Summer After — Carley Fortune

18. Dear Dolly — Dolly Alderton

19. Olga Dies Dreaming — Xochitl Gonzalez

20. Severance — Ling Ma

21. Bright Young Women — Jessica Knoll

22. Bliss Montage — Ling Ma

23. Somebody’s Daughter — Ashley C. Ford

24. We Are Not Like Them — Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

25. Maame — Jessica George

26. The God of the Woods — Liz Moore

27. Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn

28. All Fours — Miranda July

29. They Said This Would Be Fun — Eternity Martis

30. Hunger — Roxane Gay

31. Sharp Objects — Gillian Flynn

32. Ripe — Sarah Rose Etter

33. The Other Woman — Sandie Jones

34. Then She Was Gone — Lisa Jewell

35. What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About — edited by Michele Filgate

36. The Golden Spoon — Jessa Maxwell

37. Back in the Land of the Living — Eva Crocker

38. You’d Look Better As A Ghost — Joanna Wallace

39. Western Lane — Chetna Maroo

40. Bad Summer People — Emma Rosenblum

A picture my friend Maia took of me reading Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll in the summer

Books I plan to read in 2025

I finished my first book of 2025 in a café on New Year’s Day — Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum. Here are a few others on my list, which grows and changes literally all the time:

• Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• Go As a River by Shelley Read

• Sula by Toni Morrison

• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

• Such Big Dreams by Reema Patel

• Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

• Wintering by Katherine May

• The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

• Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

• Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

• The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue

What were your favourite books of 2024? What should I add to my list?

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