Every year I read other people's "best of" lists but I've never done one myself. I'm a little ambivalent about the word "best" because it is, in my opinion, subjective but often interpreted as objective.
To me, literature is a dialog between the author and the reader. The author writes the book and puts it out into the world where it has a life of its own. Each reader is different. Some books will speak to you but leave others cold; some books will leave you cold but be adored by others. In books that I really love, I often find myself talking in my head (and sometimes aloud) to the author. As AS Byatt wrote:
Think of this - that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other.
So this is a list of books in which I most felt that I was in dialog with the author this year. I decided to limit myself to 10 books. Two books were non-fiction, the rest were novels. These books will not speak to everyone as they spoke to me. I don't need a lot of plot in my novels, but I demand deep characterizations and I gravitate to books that give me a clear sense of place. And, of course, the excellence of the writing is a must.
You will see that, in terms of novels, I love literary fiction (although I read almost as many mysteries). Six of the eight novels were historical fiction. Seven of the books were written by women; three were written by men of which two were persons of color. I would have liked a bit more diversity. Maybe next year.
I've linked to my original posts about each book if you want to click through and read more.
1. James by Percival Everett. I could pretend that this list is in no particular order but I would be lying. James was my very favorite book of 2024. This is a re-telling of Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but told from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man accompanying Huck on his adventures. I did re-read Huck Finn before reading this novel but it is NOT necessary; this novel can stand on its own. Everett has changed a few parts of the original story, including the time period (this novel is set closer to the Civil War) but he retained the spirit of Twain's original. It is simultaneously serious, heartbreaking, absurd and funny.
2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. This was the first book I finished in 2024 and I was blown away by it. At first I was doubtful that a novel about young gamers building a successful company would hold my attention (I don't game) but it was not necessary to be a gamer to enjoy the plot of this book. It was also refreshing to read a novel about an intense relationship between a man and a woman that wasn't sexual. As Sadie tells Sam, lovers are common; true collaborators are rare.
3. Clear by Carys Davies. This is an exquisitely written, short novel set during the Highland Clearances in Scotland. John Ferguson, a minister who has broken away from the official church, is under tremendous stress, wondering how he will support himself and his wife Mary. He takes a job to travel to a small island (somewhere near Shetland) and, on behalf of the landlord, oust the only remaining inhabitant of the island, a man named Ivar. Ivar doesn't speak English, he speaks only a language called Norn. This lovely little book about relationships and cultures is a quick read at less than 200 pages, but it stayed with me for months.
4. The House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland. A novel based on the true story of a devastating 1811 fire at a theater in Richmond Virginia, Beanland follows the lives of four main characters: Sally Henry Campbell, a young widow and the daughter of Patrick Henry; Cecily Patterson, a young enslaved woman who is sitting in the "slave gallery"; stagehand Jack Gibson; and Gilbert Hunt, an enslaved man who wants to buy his freedom and comes upon the theater in flames. Each of their lives is changed by the catastrophe.
5. Shakespeare: The Man who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench. The great British actress Judi Dench's memoir, it is written in the form of an interview of her by her co-author. She talks about (and brilliantly analyzes) Lady Macbeth, Tatiana, Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet and others. She talks about rehearsals, audiences, famous scenes, and much more. She is very funny but also enlightening. I'm not usually into audiobooks but I recommend this one on audio because hearing the recitations of Shakespearean lines somewhere other than in my head was delightful.
6. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. Strout returns us to Crosby Maine where Lucy Barton is still living with her ex-husband William and is still friends with Bob Burgess. Bob introduces her to Olive Kittredge who is living in the local retirement home and Lucy and Olive begin to share stories of "unrecorded lives". Strout explores loneliness in its many forms and the nature of love. Strout is not for everyone. People who need a lot of plot don't generally like her and, in fact, it took me a while to appreciate her understated writing. But now I look forward to each of her novels.
7. She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer. Zimmer is a columnist for the New York Times who writes about science. This book is about heredity - both scientifically and culturally. He writes about complicated subjects (like genetics and CRISPR) in a completely accessible way. I learned so much reading this.
8. The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. This is the fictional story of when Somerset Maugham visited Penang, resulting in him writing a famous short story. Besides being a story of the British in colonial Southeast Asia, it also includes a Chinese community that is trying to overthrow the Emperor of China. The plot is slow moving but the characterizations and sense of place drew me in.
9. The Real Charlotte by E. CE. Somerville & Martin Ross. A classic of Victorian Irish literature, this is the story of Charlotte Mullen, an Irish spinster, who reluctantly takes in her pretty young cousin Francie Fitzgerald. Charlotte plans to marry Francie to the son of the local gentry but Francie has other plans. Things build slowly (as with most Victorian literature) to, as the back of the book says, a shocking conclusion.
10. Held by Anne Michaels. An exquisitely written little novel by Anne Michaels, a Canadian poet and novelist. It is structured as a series of vignettes involving various characters in different time periods who are all linked in some way to each other. Even within a chapter, the story is often told in little snippets of pictures. This is a beautifully written study of the effects of trauma, war, and love on individuals across generations.
