Reading has been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember.
From books of theology, to history, science, biography, and politics—to all kinds of fiction—if it’s written well I want to read it.
Great Books
As we come into 2025 I’m offering two lists of the favorite books I read in 2024. One fiction, one nonfiction. Some of these books are new, others have been around for a while.
These books meet three criteria:
- They taught me (nonfiction) or made me feel something (fiction) even if I didn’t agree with them.
- They were very well written.
- They stuck with me after I read them.
The ones in this article are in my top fiction picks. The first one is my overall Book of the Year. The rest are in no particular order. My top nonfiction picks will come next week. (Note: Language and content in some of these books are PG, with occasional bursts of PG13, especially the more recent ones.)
To see everything I’ve read, and all the books I’ve written, feel free to follow me on Goodreads.
Book of the Year: Fiction and Overall
James: A Novel (Percival Everett, 2024)
Percival Everett has done the impossible. Taking one of America’s most heralded classics and given it a worthy successor that stands side-by-side with the original.
James starts with a retelling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the perspective of Jim, the runaway slave. But it becomes so much more. While giving us new eyes through which to see Twain’s masterwork, it offers insight into its legacy of racial tension, literary contribution, societal upheaval, and more. Plus, it’s a ripper of a fast-paced story on its own terms.
You don’t need to have read Huckleberry Finn to love this book, but it will make you want to go back and read it again. James: A Novel stands with the all-time greats. It’s my overwhelming pick for novel of the year.
Lord of the Flies (William Golding, 1959)
A deserted island, a group of schoolboys, a conch shell, a pair of glasses, and an animal’s head on a stick. Those indelible elements were the only specifics I could remember from the last time I read this book—probably over 50 years ago in junior high school. That, and the eventual brutality they fell into.
Reading it again as an adult is a reminder of why those images have stuck in our collective minds. It’s a simple story about fallen humanity and how corrupt leaders stoke fear to keep followers in line, create enemies, and destroy everything they touch. This story is even so concisely and brilliantly told that it remains completely unforgettable.
The Call of the Wild (Jack London, 1903)
Jack London had a life with more ups and downs than most people. And he brought it all to his writing. What a story he could weave!
In re-reading this, his most well-known novel, I was struck by how quickly he drew me in, how immediately I cared about the fate of a dog (I’m not an animal lover, by nature), and how fresh his 120-year-old writing felt, propelling me forward like a thriller that was written yesterday.
London makes you feel the cold, the abuse, the hunger, the loneliness, the teamwork, and finally (much later in the book than I had remembered) the call of the wild.
Hannah Coulter: A Novel (Wendell Berry, 2005)
This book was my introduction to Wendell Berry and the characters in the fictional town of Port William — its farms, its lives, and its loves. This is a story in which it seems like very little happens (don’t expect a complex plot, a lot of action, or a mystery) but, in fact, all of life happens.
I’ve heard a lot about the writing and the wisdom of Wendell Berry in recent years, so I finally dipped my toe in, and I’m glad I did. Berry has a profound ability to walk alongside fictional people, making them feel very real. And his skill at turning a phrase with everyday words is something all readers can appreciate, and all writers, communicators, and storytellers can learn from.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter: A Novel (Kim Edwards, 2006)
The author of this book demands the reader’s attention from the very first chapter. A doctor in the 1960s is snowed in with his wife, who’s about to give birth to twins. During the delivery he’s met with a surprise that he knows will alter everyone’s life.
Dr. David Henry is a loving husband, but he makes a cowardly decision. This creates a family crisis that leaks out through every crack over decades. The sadness of the story is something that most readers will find compelling, and the family dynamic is one that even more of us will relate to.
The Women: A Novel (Kristin Hannah, 2024)
“Women can be heroes,” is the oft-repeated theme of this book whose first half will remind older readers of the last few seasons of the TV series, MASH (even giving it a mention near the end). While MASH centered on doctors in Korea, this highlights nurses in Vietnam.
The writing is solid, with a cinematic readability. Its second half is strongest, when they come home to a divided country. It gives much-overdue appreciation to the forgotten women whose work was essential and whose sacrifices have gone mostly untold.
The Cartographers: A Novel (Peng Shepherd, 2022)
What if, instead of just showing you places that already exist, maps could create new places that are only available to the people who hold them?
That’s the intriguing premise of this page-turning mystery. Written in a style that lands somewhere between John Grisham’s readability and Tom Clancy’s attention to detail (but far closer to Grisham), it’s a fun ride that pays off.
Ordinary Grace: A Novel (William Kent Krueger, 2013)
I grew up in a pastor’s home in the 1960s, so it’s hard to resist the pull of a well-written mystery novel told through the eyes of a pastor’s kid in the 1960s. Forty years after the summer of 1961, Frank Drum sits down to write about the series of deaths that occurred in his small Minnesota home town. With the maturity of adulthood, he is now able to retell these events with a greater appreciation for their importance.
Krueger crafts compelling characters, a true whodunit plot, and a very believable setting in a novel that will draw you in, keep you guessing, and touch your heart.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel (Mark Haddon, 2004)
This is a great example of a book that sneaks up on you, then won’t let go. I didn’t think much of it when I first read it. The mystery is solved very quickly, for instance. But I’ve found myself thinking about it and referring back to it regularly.
It’s written as a first-person account by a fictional author, a boy with autism. His account of what it’s like to see the world through his eyes is uplifting and enlightening. Especially if you know and love someone with autism, this could be a very helpful, non-clinical way of giving you a window into their world.
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (Theodora Goss, 2018)
A murderer is loose in London, so a group of women with familiar last names (Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Katherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein) work with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to solve the crime that may have something to do with their famous forebears.
The author makes the most of this fun premise, using plenty of humor and dynamic mystery. She also employs a unique writing style in which the book is presented as written by all the women, who have gathered to read their account and comment on it as the story is told.
You don’t need to know the original stories to have fun with this book, but if you do your knowledge will pay off. This book is the first in a series, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it became a movie or TV series.
What Did You Read This Year?
Did you read any of these books?
Did you read any other books you loved?
Let me know on Facebook, Instagram, or X.
Also, check out these articles to enhance your own reading journey.
(Disclosure: I will receive a small percent of the purchase price of any books you buy through clicking the Amazon links in the article.)
