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Our Favourite Books of 2024 - Nominations and General Chat
I would nominate:1 Toward Eternity by Anton Hur, such a pleasant surprise how he is not just a brilliant translator but also a great author.
2 The Details: A Novel by Ia Genberg, my favorite of the International Booker prize this year. Originally apparently translated in Aug23, so if this is not acceptable add my nr4
3 Held: A Novel by Anne Michaels, favorite of this years Booker prize nominees
4 (remove if The Details is not acceptable) Playground by Richard Powers, brilliant and of the now with AI, climate change a genuinely touching novel
Praiseworthy - in UK was November 2023, but was published in English - in Australia - in March 2023. It feels this forum is more UK/Ireland/US dominated so I'd be tempted to say it qualifies - but any views?
Paul wrote: "Praiseworthy - in UK was November 2023, but was published in English - in Australia - in March 2023. It feels this forum is more UK/Ireland/US dominated so I'd be tempted to say it qualifies - but ..."I think it dominated the conversation in early 2024 and definitely qualifies.
I was looking forward to this topic expecting a lot of variety in our selections with a number of books named which others members had not read, and still I feel many good books will go unmentioned. 1. Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González
2. The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle That Saved a Child’s Life by Rachel Clarke
3. There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
Paul already named another book of my top five and Stoneyard Devotional would make my fifth but I was not sure of its 2023 release date, so I went with all 2024 books.
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This is one of my favorite times of year on this forum!1. My Friends by Hisham Matar
2. The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma
3. Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler
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Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk
Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking by Han Smith
Enlightenment by Sarah PerryHeld: A Novel by Anne Michaels
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
Oh, dear, all three have already been been nominated, so,
In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Dates might not fit, though, but those are my next three for 2023-24. All read this year.
Bella (Kiki) wrote: "Enlightenment by Sarah PerryHeld: A Novel by Anne Michaels
There Are Rivers in the Sky by [author:Elif Shafak|6..."
Sam has already nominated the Shafak so you can swap that for another if you’d like.
Yay! Can’t wait to see everyone’s favorites. Thanks David for nominating Season of the Swamp, that would definitely have been one of mine.
I’ll nominate:
The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild (published in late 2023 in U.S.)
Fury: A Novel
May Our Joy Endure
Great nominations so far! Hopefully we see The Most Secret Memory of Men from someone who read it in 2024 (I read it in 2023 and couldn't nominate it this year).
Oooh I thought about it because I read it in 2024 but thought its pub date in 2023 was a little too early to qualify. Definitely in my top 5 of the year though.
Rachel wrote: "Bella (Kiki) wrote: "Enlightenment by Sarah PerryHeld: A Novel by Anne Michaels
There Are Rivers in the Sky by ..."
Thank you, Rachel. Actually, all three of mine have already been nominated, Henk nominated Held and Huge, Enlightenment. So, I will have to move down my list.
Rose wrote: "The Simple Art of Killing a WomanState of Paradise
The Repeat Room"
Loved (enjoyed would be harder to say) The Repeat Room, it is an underappreciated gem by an underappreciated novelist in my view!
Rachel wrote: "Oooh I thought about it because I read it in 2024 but thought its pub date in 2023 was a little too early to qualify. Definitely in my top 5 of the year though."Good catch. I remember being on the fence last year about nominating it. I held off because I thought it would be more of a 2024 book. The big surprise was how roundly it was ignored by the prizes we follow here.
David wrote: "The big surprise was how roundly it was ignored by the prizes we follow here."Yeah I’ll never get over that. Silence of the Choir seems to be getting some of the hype that MSMOM didn’t but I thought it was vastly inferior.
I will go:1. Praiseworthy - UK Nov 23, US Feb 24, even if Australia Mar 23]
2. The Night Alphabet - UK Feb 24, and like MSMOM prize-snubbed
3. The Son of Man - UK May 24, Aus June 24, US Jul 24
Rest is just comments:
Poor Deer; Portraits at the Palace of Creativity and Wrecking; and Gretel and the Great War would have been in contention if not already nominated
The Most Secret Memory of Men, The Box and Landscapes would all be on/close to my top 3 for 2024 reads ... but were published in September 2023 so miss out
Two of my other favourites are ARCs of 2025 books - Universality and We Do Not Part - so best not to pick those
Which means the only eligible 5 star read not nominated is Herscht 07769 - any takers to pick it?
I would like to add:1. How to Contact the Living - Bryan Farell
2. Proximity Factor - S.S. Jung
3. Wolves at the Gate - Bart Stark
Is the 2nd one on your list by you? We have featured books by forum members before on this list but nominated by others who've read and liked them - I'm not sure what Hugh's take is on self-nominations?
Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia LennonJames, by Percival Everett
The Night Alphabet, by Joelle Taylor (already chosen)
What I Know About You, by Éric Chacour
Ben wrote: "Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia LennonJames, by Percival Everett
The Night Alphabet, by Joelle Taylor (already chosen)
What I Know About You, by Éric Chacour"
Ben, so glad someone nominated What I Know About You. I thought this book was amazing but I haven't seen a lot of discussion about it in the groups I frequent.
My three with that criteria I've read, really enjoyed, finished in 2024 and not already mentioned are:Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel
Time of the Flies
Fire Exit
I am currently reading Herscht 07769, and am not that far along, so can't weigh in on it yet. I might've added Small Rain and You Dreamed of Empires if I had more than three choices... ;) I have such a hard time ranking books!
Also thrilled that you picked Fire Exit, Erin! That would have been my #4 choice.
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Rose wrote: "Ben, so glad someone nominated What I Know About You. I thought this book was amazing but I haven't seen a lot of discussion about it in the groups I frequent.."I must've heard about it from you, Rose, I just suggested it to my IRL book club today! (we'll have to see if they bite...)
Ben wrote: "Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia LennonJames, by Percival Everett
The Night Alphabet, by Joelle Taylor (already chosen)
What I Know About You, by Éric Chacour"
So glad to see Glorious Exploits on your list!
Paul wrote: "I will go:1. Praiseworthy - UK Nov 23, US Feb 24, even if Australia Mar 23]
2. The Night Alphabet - UK Feb 24, and like MSMOM prize-snubbed
3. The Son of..."</i>
Just finished [book:We Do Not Part in the Dutch translation and it is an incredible work, thoroughly impressed!
List from a 2024 Booker judge. The exact same feature last year was the one that meant Orbital was mentioned very early on in our 2024 Booker speculation At a quick tot up I have read 31 of the 41 novels mentioned
It’s interesting to see what of the Booker list is missed out - I think just two: Strange and Eventful History (fascinating that Choice is mentioned by her given it and S&EH were blurbed by another judge and yet the latter made the longlist), My Friends.
My two favourites from the Goldsmith - but not the winner.
Link missinghttps://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
There's a section on the "excellent year for debut novels, many of them fizzing with energy and formal innovation" where I've read 5/8 and among my favourite reads.
But the rest feels very much not my reading taste. I've read only 3 out of 36 and it feels like a different version of 'best novels' that the one I inhabit - starting a list with Sally Rooney rather tells me that. But the world I inhabit is a small world in sales terms I know.
Looking at last year, she does seem to have regressed a little to the mainstream in her taste - Booker fever I suspect. Although I've moved more in the other direction.
Yet again apparently the only fiction written last year, other than a passing mention of Garcia Marquez, is written in English. Who knew? Someone really should see if we can find people who can turn books originally written in another language into English - we could call them translators.
Yes I know there's a generous 5 books in a separate best translated fiction section by John Self - but Jordan's piece is headed "The best fiction" not "the best fiction from a small minority of the planet". Plus 41 vs 5 is a ridiculous balance.
I will indulge Erin and nominate 'You Dreamed of Empires' and also 'Small Rain'.And my third entry is for 'Bad Habit' by Alana S. Portero.
Thanks Hugh for your work!
(And I fully second Paul's remarks on the absence of translated fiction on the Guardian's "Best of" list...one has to scroll down to find the short dedicated section - but at least it contains my two favourite books of the year).
Self himself has a Fiction Books of The Year Award in the Critical Magazine which starts with a list of the 8 best books he has already reviewed in the magazine and then has the 6 best Fiction titles he has not read but not reviewed. 1/8 translated in first list
1/6 (a book written in Afrikaans) in second list.
My Friends is his overall winner - interesting given Jordan omitting it
And to be fair to JJ in Guardian - she has read around 150 English language fiction books, re read 13 and read another 6 three times so suspect has not even read a translated novel (although she does make room for short stories).
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennonhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Hard by a great forest by Leo Vardiashvili
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Clear by Carys Davies
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
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Held: A Novel by Anne Michaels
There Are Rivers in the Sky by [author:Elif Shafak|6..."
The House of Doors was published too early in 2023 (and was on last year's list). All the Sinners Bleed was also published too early.
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It's my first year in this group, so I'm curious - how do people use this list? I find myself wanting to immediately read a bunch of these that I haven't read yet. Sounds like next step is the ranking, which goes through the end of the year and then closes? Sorry if this is explained somewhere already. There are a lot of end of year lists coming out right now, but this one is by far the most interesting to me. I won't be a completist but I'd like to knock out a few more before the end of the ranking period.
I'll nominate Brotherless Night. I'm not sure about others as most have been nominated, but I'll take a look.I found two more possibilities:
Wandering Stars
Martyr!
With Brotherless Night approved, I hope someone reconsiders Stone Yard Devotional, which moved from 6th in out booker longlist rankings to 2nd in our shortlist rankings. I snubbed it because it was a 2023 release but that release came in October and we are including books with much earlier release dates.
Sam wrote: "I snubbed it because it was a 2023 release but that release came in October and we are including books with much earlier release dates. "Which books included have a much earlier release date than Oct. 2023?
Rachel wrote: "Sam wrote: "I snubbed it because it was a 2023 release but that release came in October and we are including books with much earlier release dates. "Which books included have a much earlier relea..."
Praiseworthy and Brotherless Night
BTW, I strongly support the inclusion of both, feeling that a book deserves a place if the majority of the group's exposure came in this last year.
Exceptions might be made for The Most Secret Memory of Men and The Box too, for similar reasons, but only at the discretion of the moderator.
The Mookse and the Gripes
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As in previous years we will allow books first published in English in October to December 2023 or 2024, and for translations the earliest date (1 Oct 2023) may be a first English edition of an older book, no matter how old. Dead authors are allowed, as are dead translators. The start date rule may be waived for books which were very little known last year and were not on last year's list.
Note that my preference is that books published in 2023 should only be nominated if you read them for the first time this year, but that is just guidance, as I have no intention of trying to check (sometimes it takes a while for books to find the right readership, particularly when prize judges surprise us).
When nominating, please link to the book using "Add book/author" in desktop mode. If you can't manage that please include the author's name, since a title alone may be ambiguous or difficult to find thanks to the vagaries of the GoodReads search function (not to mention the librarian bots that get titles and authors wrong).
Let's try and keep this positive - a celebration of what has been good rather than an opportunity for airing old grievances.
This is the final list of 66 nominated books: