My Top 5 Books of 2024

In 2024 I met my reading goal of 75 books with 15 books earning a 5 star rating. This was down from a total of 19 books in 2023 that earned 5 stars.

Covering a range of genres, three of the books featured in this Top 5 list were reviewed for a publisher, one was from my own backlist and another was borrowed from the library.

Turns out winter was my best reading season of the year with three of my selections falling within the month of July.

Here are my Top 5 Books of 2024 in the order I read them:

1. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

This is a fantasy novel with time travel featuring a bookseller in New York by the name of Cassie. When a regular customer leaves her a book with an inscription inside, Cassie discovers it's a one of a kind with the ability to turn any door into a door to anywhere. It transpires that there are more books with differing powers actively being sought by eccentric collectors, nefarious actors and scary people who travel the world hunting the books for their own dark purposes.

The writing is rich and evocative and I loved learning about the other special books, the powers they held and the motives of those seeking them. The Book of Doors is an impressive debut with a stunning cover design.

2. The Summer I Robbed a Bank by David O'Doherty

David O'Doherty is an Irish comedian and I listened to this middle grade novel for kids on audiobook so I could enjoy his distinctive accent and endearing storytelling style. 12 year old Rex is sent to stay with his Uncle Derm on remote Achill Island for the school holidays and was expecting to have a boring time, what with all of the sheep, but things didn't quite go to plan.

The author's sense of humour and imagination worked exceptionally well with his observations of people and relationships in a very appealing way, making The Summer I Robbed a Bank a funny, feel good read.

3. A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke

It's 1885 in Paris and Aubry Tourvel is a precocious young girl of just nine years of age when she falls inexplicably ill. Suffering excruciating pain and bleeding from the nose and mouth, the only thing that soothes her seems to be movement. Forced to travel to keep her illness at bay from that point on, days and weeks pass but the reader experiences her travels in flashbacks when sharing her encounters with people she meets along the way.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke could be categorised multiple ways, it's a travel story, historical fiction, action adventure, science fiction and urban fantasy. It contains a mystery puzzle ball and a secret library, I mean what more could you want?

4. The End and Everything Before It by Finegan Kruckemeyer

An intergenerational saga that is far from linear, each generation of characters within The End and Everything Before It offers a parable within their tale, yet this happens without clear dates to place characters in chronological order.

In doing so, Kruckemeyer has produced a highly original, loosely structured dreamlike group of stories connected by geographical proximity through time and I loved this literary fable about love, loss, legacy, purpose and community.

It's an uplifting allegory rich in meaning that makes you appreciate the importance of love and remember we're here for a short time and need to make it count. The ending was sublime and I learned later in the year that an excerpt of my review has been published in the praise section of the book's second printing!

5. 12 Rules For Life - An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson

It's likely 12 Rules for Life - An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson is now one of my favourite self help books of all time. Incorporating psychology; psychoanalysis; neuroscience; philosophy; ancient and modern literature; history; mythology; religious texts; poetry; current affairs; cases from his work as a clinical psychologist and stories of his life growing up, it's a difficult book to define.

Listening on audiobook to his distinctly Canadian voice, the author's overall message is to encourage and inspire all of mankind to strive and improve themselves and continue to evolve. While plenty of people in the world don't want to do that, or believe they don't need to do that, I don't know anyone who wouldn't benefit from doing precisely that. I'm also planning to read Beyond Order - 12 More Rules For Life this year.
________________________________________________________________________________

Being published in the praise section of The End and Everything Before It by Finegan Kruckemeyer was an absolute highlight for 2024!

That said, what I love about this year's list is that every book was by a new-to-me author. I've been creating these annual top 5 book lists since 2014 and this is the first time that's ever happened.

Have you read any of the books on the list?

Carpe Librum!