I always marvel at how quickly the last part of the year seems to go. The summer holiday seems barely to have ended before I spot the Christmas lights in Regent Street. The other day I had a quick look at some of my photos, just to remind myself that summer actually did happen.

Summer in London is nice, but this year I also visited a country in Europe, which was a lovely experience. Everywhere I went was utterly picturesque and some of the villages were even colour coordinated, so everything including signs and advertising was kept in soft cream colours. Can you guess which country it is?

Besides from a relaxing summer period, 2024 has been quite a stressful year. I hope things will calm down in 2025.

Reading

In 2024, I read 47 books. When looking at my Goodreads stats, it seems like a mediocre reading year. Lots of books with 3 star ratings and lower, many DNFs and relatively few favourites. I don’t know if the general stress of the year affected my reading or whether I did a bad job of selecting the books.

2024 Favourites

Three books got a five star rating from me.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is a feminism novella which will most likely make you furious, but it’s an excellent account of all the more or less subtle ways women can be harassed, discriminated and put to a disadvantage in modern society. 

Julia and the Shark focuses on growing up, dealing with mental health issues, forming relations and finding yourself. It is beautifully written and emotionally impactful. Targeting a middle-grade audience, the novel can easily be enjoyed by all age groups.

Finally, The Woman in White is a classic gothic novel with delightful heroes, even better villains and a page-turning plot, delivering all the drama your heart can desire.

Crime Fiction

A large part of the year, I was in the mood for light entertainment, which explains crime fiction being my most read genre in 2024 (30%). Unfortunately, I am rather picky with my crime reads and most of the books were rather underwhelming.

My favourite was Liz Moore’s God of the Woods, which has gained a surprising degree of traction, including winning this year’s Goodreads Prize for Crime Fiction. Does that mean the times are turning and the character-driven stories are taking over from the fast-paced, twisty thrillers with unreliable narrators? One could hope so.

Honourable mentions go to Kala and Maybe Tomorrow, which also belong in the slow-paced, character-driven category. The latter was a pleasant surprise, being part of the “free library” from Audible. Most crime novels I’ve tried from this free library have ended in DNF, but Maybe Tomorrow was gripping, interesting and sad. Which is how I like my crime fiction.

Nonfiction

My second biggest category was nonfiction (26%). This category didn’t provide any favourites either, but the best one was probably The Penguin Lessons followed by How to Say Babylon.

The Penguin Lessons is a memoir about the author’s experiences working in Argentina during the turbulent years following the collapse of the corrupt Peronist regime. The bond formed between the author and a penguin is fun and utterly heartwarming.

How to say Babylon is an interesting peek into what it means to grow up in a Rastafarian family with a weak patriarchal father, who tries to control and dominate his family.

Science Fiction

I’ve only read two books, qualifying for the sci-fi category and I enjoyed both of them.

Network Effect is the first full length novel in the Murderbot series and it turned out to be my favourite in the series so far. The longer format allowed for a more complex plot and a wider range of characters.

Bringing back historical people to the present allows The Ministry of Time to explore changing perceptions and prejudices through time. Also, the novel offers reflections on colonialism, mixed race identity and adapting to a society, when feeling estranged.

Fantasy

2024 was the year, where I started exploring modern fantasy. Without much success, I might add.

The Fifth Season is one of the most praised fantasy novels in modern time. It even made it to The New York Times’ 100 best books of the 21st century. I found it boring. Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris fared marginally better. 50% in, I started to be somewhat entertained. Finally, I DNF’ed another fantasy favourite, The Tainted Cup.

I haven’t given up on fantasy yet, but if 2025 doesn’t bring any improvement, I will have to conclude that fantasy as a genre probably isn’t for me.

Classics & Reading the Best British Books

I’ve continued with my Reading the Best British Books project, but seem to have got stuck with my second batch. Wuthering Heights probably has the most unpleasant characters ever, which isn’t necessarily a problem, except I don’t find them remotely interesting. The Waves is in true Virginia Wolf style difficult to get into. So far I’ve had two false starts.

Anyway, I very much look forward to see what 2025 brings and I hope to make progress with my Fantasy, Best British Books and Reading Around the World projects.

That’s all folks. See you in 2025.