Favorite Books Read in 2024

 My reading stats for 2024 were about on par with the best of what I've got logged at Goodreads.  I read 139 books, which is one more than my second-best total from 2022, which is better than the highwater mark from 2015 but five below the benchmark set last year, which also still holds the record for most pages read, while 2024 lags behind 2022 by about a thousand pages (so I guess I read shorter books).  All this is fine.  I held back some reading at the end of the year so I could have plenty of graphic novels to help the 2025 totals, and started the year off knocking off two of those yesterday.  I know I devoted more time to reading at home last year, beyond graphic novels.

Here're my top ten favorite reads:

1. Septology by Jon Fosse, won the 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature, and well worth the effort to read it.
2. Alice Through the Looking Glass: A Matter of Time by Carla Joblanski, the most pleasant discovery from my large assemblage of random bargain discoveries I've been working my way through along with every other book I've bought...Not just a unique take on the choose-your-own-adventure model, but an actual great read from a movie tie-in publication.
3. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke, the biggest reward I had from a spate of digging away at my ridiculously expansive Amazon Wish List.
4. The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez, a book (and another) I held onto for years hoping it was as good as I hoped, and it was, and now I have another favorite author.
5. Tomorrow in the Battle Think of Me by Javier Marias, another book in the bucket from one of my favorite authors.
6. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, which I thought was going to be one kind of reading experience, but happily turned out to be another entirely, and none the worse for it.
7. Looking Up by Stephan Pastis, his latest book for young readers.
8. Orbital by Samantha Harvey, another book I read that was adored by critics, this time I happily discovered at an airport before I knew anything about that.
9. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, the first in a whole series, including the latest entry just published, I read through in 2024.
10. The Dog Sitter Detective Takes the Lead by Antony Johnston, the second in another series I began last year.