Best of 2024

I hope you’re having an amazing holiday season full of family, friends, good food and of course, some new books under the tree. I’m so grateful for your visits to my website, and words of support in my writing journey. I love the reading and writing community and am always excited to share my thoughts through this blog.
 
I’m not one to set targets, but I did feel I didn’t read nearly as much as I usually do. Still, I believe in quality over quantity, and I discovered some beautiful writing and vitally important stories. Here are my top picks:

Top Fiction (It’s a Tie): The Bee Sting by Paul Murray AND The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Top Canadian Fiction: Latitudes of Melt by Joan Clark
Top Commonwealth Fiction: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Top Book from an Indigenous Writer: Starlight by Richard Wagamese
Top Classic: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
Top Non-Fiction: The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty & Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
Top Canadian Non-Fiction: Outsider by Brett Popplewell
Top book I couldn’t forget: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
 
Other Reads:
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
River Thieves by Michael Crummey
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
First to the Front, the Untold Story of Dickey Chappelle: Trailblazing Female War Correspondent by Lorissa Rinehart
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
The Observer by Marina Endicott
From Patrol Cop to Profiler by Kate Lines
Wild & Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Future by Catherine Leroux
Understand Pain, Take Back Control by David Walton
Going to Ground by Luanne Armstrong
This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
84 Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Joan Didion, The Last Interview by Joan Didion
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donaghue
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty
Lifetime by Liza Marklund
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
The Conductor by Sarah Quigley
Beyond the Moon by Catherine Taylor
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
Long Island by Colm Toibin
The Sleepwalkers by Paul Grossman
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
All Fours by Miranda July
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
Table for Two by Amor Towles
Trust by Herman Diaz
At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage by Carol Off
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbo
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
Held by Anne Michaels
Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
 
Wishing you a happy 2025, with loads of love, good health and much laughter.
And in the meantime, happy reading!
Joni