Reading time: About 6 minutes (faster if you scan)
Looking for some recommended books in time for Christmas reading or gift-giving? Here’s my semi-annual roundup of books I’ve read this year.
I aim to read at least 52 books every 12 months, and my habit is to post a complete list of the titles for you every June and November. Here is a description of the remaining 36 books I’ve enjoyed this year. (In my summer list, I told you about the 18 books I finished in the first six months.)
Following a style I developed several years ago, I list my top five fiction reads followed by my top five non-fiction ones. After these highlighted titles, I name the other books I’ve read in each category, in order of preference.
Please note I don’t generally read sci-fi or fantasy. I pass no judgment on those who do; my tastes don’t usually run in those directions.
Yes, I really do read a book a week. If you’re looking for advice about how you can read more, check out my post on the topic or my video. Or, if you want to become a better reader, see my advice on that topic.
TOP 5 FICTION TITLES:
- Everett, Percival. James. Masterful retelling of the Huckleberry Finn story, from the point of view of Jim, the enslaved Black man.
- Keegan, Claire. Small Things Like These. Remarkably written novella, set in 1985, about a small Irish town over Christmas.
- Murata, Sayaka. Convenience Store Woman. Charming Japanese book about a woman (who appears to be on the autism spectrum) who falls in love with the convenience store where she works. Highly creative.
- Lehane, Dennis. Small Mercies. A horrifying portrait of racism and violence in America, this book focuses on a poor family in the Boston projects in the summer of 1994. Very violent and won’t be to everyone’s taste. But I typically have little tolerance for violence, and I found the book extremely moving.
- St. John Mandel, Emily. The Glass Hotel. I found the beginning of this book — the story of the mysterious disappearance of a woman at sea — to be very slow and dark, but once I hit the 15% point, I really started to enjoy it. Mandel is magical with plot.
Do you have any fiction titles you can recommend? Please share them in the comments section, at the end of this post.
TOP 5 NON-FICTION TITLES:
- Dedman, Bill and Newell, Paul Clark Jr. Empty Mansions. Remarkable book telling the story of Huguette Clark, a reclusive copper heiress who spent the last 20 years of her life in hospital, even though she wasn’t sick. (Her nurse received $30 million in gifts, though.)
- Vaillant, John. Fire Weather. This bestseller examines fire through the lens of the 2016 tragedy in Fort McMurray, where a wildfire flattened the town and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. We’d better be prepared for more events like this, according to Vaillant, who is a masterful non-fiction writer.
- Montgomery, Sy. The Soul of an Octopus. Charming and highly readable book about the amazing intelligence of the octopus. If you enjoyed the movie My Octopus Teacher, you’ll love this book.
- Aviv, Rachel. Strangers to Ourselves. This gifted writer, who experienced anorexia nervosa as a child, explores the stories we tell ourselves about mental disorders and investigates the difference between psychotherapy and drug treatments. Fascinating!
- Crosley, Sloane. Grief Is for People. Interesting book reflecting on the loss of a friend to suicide (and comparing it — in interesting ways — to the theft of jewelry). Sometimes she’s too clever by half, though.
Do you have any non-fiction titles you can recommend? Please share them in the comments section, at the end of this post.
OTHER FICTION (in order of preference):
- Hamya, Jo. The Hypocrite. A clever story about a novelist father and a playwright daughter who, manipulatively, writes a play about the many tensions between them.
- Keegan, Claire. So Late in the Day. Didn’t like this book of short stories as much as I liked the one I read earlier, but it suffers only by comparison. Keegan is a masterful writer.
- Brodesser-Akner, Taffy. Long Island Compromise. Compelling story of a Jewish family in disarray following the life-changing event of a kidnapping. Very interesting to see how it plays out across a generational divide. Really well written and often very funny, although it’s overly long, and it won’t be for everyone.
- Trillin, Calvin. About Alice. Short but well-written book by the celebrated New York based writer who lost his wife, to lung cancer, when she was just 63.
- Attenberg, Jami. All Grown Up. I very much enjoyed the structure of this novel about a 39-year-old, single, childless woman. Each chapter is like a short story, exploring a different aspect of the main character’s life. A dramatic plot point gives the novel its propulsive acumen. I felt myself pulled along to the ending.
- Zevin, Gabrielle. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Charming story about a grumpy bookstore owner and the child who changes his life. I liked it, although I didn’t find it as delightful as the author’s much better book from 2022, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
- Bo-reum, Hwang. Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop. Korean book telling the story of a woman who recovers from a divorce by opening a bookstore. It reminded me a little of a Korean drama like Extraordinary Attorney Woo — both charming and silly at the same time.
- Kang, Han. The Vegetarian. A sophisticated book, it addresses shame and desire by examining the decision of a contemporary South Korean woman to become vegetarian. (To me, it seemed more like she had become anorexic — not because she didn’t eat meat, but because she didn’t eat anything.) The author has since won the Nobel Prize, but it wasn’t one of my favourite books of the year.
- Myers, Christina. The List of Last Chances. Not my usual style of book — it’s what I’d describe as a rom-com of a novel — but charming and well written. It’s the story of a 38-year-old woman who takes a job driving an aging senior from Prince Edward Island to Vancouver. Lots of fun!
- McFadden, Freida. The Housemaid. This thriller proves the maxim that smart people can succeed at just about anything. McFadden is a doctor who took up writing as a hobby and who has produced a string of bestselling psychological thrillers. While she won’t win any prizes for producing great literature, she sure knows how to keep a plot twisting and turning. Great summer or holiday read.
- Cunningham, Vinson. Great Expectations. Beautifully crafted, albeit over-written book about the first Black president of the U.S., from the eyes of a young staffer. This author has an eye and ear for figurative language — but not so much for believable characters, even though some of them are based on real life.
- Reichl, Ruth. The Paris Novel. The ultimate beach read for a foodie. A coming-of-age novel by a former editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine, telling the story of a young woman who grows up by going to Paris.
- Kawaguchi, Toshikazu. Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Although this book is rated as an international bestseller, it didn’t do it for me. If I’d known it was a time travel book, I don’t think I’d have picked it up.
- Moshfegh, Ottessa. My Year of Rest and Relaxation. The title of this book is misleading: There is nothing restful or relaxing about it. It’s the story of a woman who takes medication to sleep her life away (several days at a time), and it’s uncompromisingly bleak. Funny in spots but not funny enough for me.
- Ferrante, Elena. My Brilliant Friend. I’d attempted to read this popular book — the story of childhood friends growing up on the outskirts of Naples — many times but just couldn’t manage it. Finally finished it this time but found I just didn’t care for it.
- Atkinson, Kate. Normal Rules Don’t Apply. I don’t normally read short stories because I don’t find them appealing, but I made an exception in this case because I love Kate Atkinson’s writing. Her writing appealed but, sadly, these stories didn’t.
- Coe, Jonathan. The Winshaw Legacy. Funny in parts, this is a British comedy of manners, but overall I found it to be too long and not engaging enough. And the ending was just bizarre — it was as though a French farce had suddenly been overlaid on the plot.
- Poulin, Jacques. Volkswagen Blues. When I started reading this 1984 book, which I’d picked up at a library discard sale, I was thrilled to discover a French Canadian author I’d never heard of. His writing is enjoyable and highly readable. Then I figured out why the book was being discarded: The plot focuses on an older man who picks up a young Indigenous woman and travels across North America with her. Such a plot would never be published today.
- Gaitskill, Mary. Veronica. This story, about two dissimilar women who meet in 1980s New York, goes nowhere. Gaitskill is a marvelous writer with remarkable figurative imagery, but I found her quite clueless with respect to plot.
- Coll, Susan. Bookish People. I discovered this book on the remainder table and the word “remainder” is as apt a description as any. Weakly written book (about people in a bookstore) with pretty lame efforts at humour.
OTHER NON-FICTION (in order of preference):
- Homes, A.M. The Mistress’s Daughter. Heartbreaking story about a writer who was given up for adoption before she was born and who eventually meets her (troubled and troublesome) birth parents.
- Deraniyagala, Sonali. Wave. I found this book hard to read — the story of a woman who lost her two children, her husband and her parents to the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. Even though it was a bestseller, I don’t think I can recommend it. Too bleak and not quite well enough written.
- Waite, Jessica. The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards. One of the best titles (and most unprintable but arresting opening sentences) in any book I’ve ever read. Too bad the remainder of the book didn’t live up to it. I thought I was reading a novel, but it turned out to be a memoir about a living woman who lost her husband to a heart attack at age 47 and then discovered he was a liar and a cheat.
- Klitzman, Robert. In a House of Dreams and Glass. Subtitled “becoming a psychiatrist,” this book recounts the residency of a man who is currently a professor of psychology at Columbia University. I found the story interesting, but, sadly, Klitzman doesn’t have the writing chops of Atul Gawande.
- Birdsall, John. The Man Who Ate Too Much. Found this book about the dean of American cookery to be too focused on name-dropping — hence, boring. That said, I was appalled to hear about some of Beard’s behaviour, especially his failure to credit others for their recipes.
- Schroff, Laura and Tresniowski, Alex. An Invisible Thread. Somewhat predictable although charming book about a female ad executive who ends up befriending an 11-year-old street kid.
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What are some of the best books you’ve read this year? We can all learn from each other, so please, share your thoughts with my readers and me in the “comments” section, below. If you comment on today’s post (or any others) by Nov. 30/24 , I’ll put you in a draw for a digital copy of my first book, 8 1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better. To enter, please scroll down to the “comments,” directly underneath the “related posts” links, below. You don’t have to join Disqus to post! Read my tutorial to learn how to post as a guest. (It’s easy!)
