The 10 Best Books I Read This Year 📚 | My Top Reads of 2024

This year has been packed with incredible reads, and I’m so excited to share my 10 absolute favorites with you! From unforgettable characters to breathtaking prose, these are the books that left the biggest impression on me in 2024. Whether you’re looking for your next great read or just want to reflect on the best books of the year, this video has something for everyone.✨

Have you read any of these? What were your favorite books of the year? Let’s discuss in the comments—I’d love to hear your recommendations!

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Thanks so much for watching! Here’s to another year of amazing books! 🥂#TopBooks #BestBooksOf2024 #BookRecommendations"

Books in this video:

The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Autobiografie van mijn Lichaam by Lize Spit

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Bunny by Mona Awad

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brian Sanderson

Ubac and Me by Cédric Sapin-Defour

The Horus Heresy series by several authors

Bonus: Wolf by Lara Taveirne

The links provided in this video are Amazon Affiliate links, which means if you buy a book through these links, it will not cost you extra, but it will earn me a small commission, which supports the channel. Do not feel obligated to buy through me, but if you do, thank you for your support!

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
00:22 Number 10
01:59 Number 9
04:08 Number 8
05:32 Number 7
07:40 Number 6
10:07 A Bonus One
13:05 Number 5
15:36 Number 4
17:22 My Top 3 of 2024

[cafeaulivre]

What was your favorite book this year? Let me know down below and get the recommendation train going!

Thank you for watching and being a part of this wonderful community this year. I wish you a merry seasons, celebrate whatever you celebrate, do it with friends and loved ones, family (found or otherwise) and I will see you again in 2025!

[dagmoon]

Thank you Bart! I've enjoyed your videos in 2024 and look forward to 2025. I've added more than a few of your recommendations to my TBR. I love how you let readers know up front what kind of reader the book is geared toward. That's a great technique! I read over 60 books this year (a record for me) but one from mid-year is still hanging on to as my favorite. It is Timothy or Notes of an Abject Reptile by Verlyn Klinkenborg. It's part nature study, part philosophy, part autobiography of both Timothy and of Gilbert White, written in a prose style that made me simply joyful that I can read. Taking a cue from you, I'd say if you like a slow, soft-spoken story with the barest but beautiful plot (like Small Things Like These), you would enjoy Timothy.

[MarlaenIngles]

Anything, anything that teaches, shows, encourages the endearing, vital, blunt and loving bond with dogs is indispensable, specially for those who don't know about this life-marvel. Thanks so much for sharing, Regards from Mexico City !

[monicai.]

Happy about Claire Keegan!😊 For me is second place after Madame Hayat by Ahmet Altan (Prix Femina Étranger in 2021). Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year with great readings! 🎉📚🤗

[MarlaenIngles]

And ... because it was so great: "The Best of Jeeves & Wooster" by P.G. Wodehouse: "Anything that I can say about "The Best of Jeeves and Wooster" will never, ever reflect the joy, the wit, the speed of thought, the situations, all that these lively stories are. I am so impressed as how the characters, their entanglements, the high society, the ridicule, the errors here, blend in such a way that bring so much joy and marvel. The audiobook version narrated by Kevin Theis still merrily resonates in my mind. It is so natural and naive and so so genuine and funny. A must re-read to bring instant joy !!!"

[krisguerini]

I just finished Remarkably Bright Creatures. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

[thebristolreader]

I loved The Travelling Cat Chronicles too, and was quite surprised, because I don't normally enjoy this almost 'sentimental' style of fiction. It was beautiful. I also loved Small Things Like These. My faves of this year include Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, King's You Like it Darker, Held by Anne Michaels, The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas and Never Whistle at Night. Lots of short stories it seems. Ooh and Wolf Hall, which I finally read after years of procrastinating. 😅

[philstrand]

My favorite 2024 releases: 1) James by Percival Everett; 2) You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue; 3) Clear by Carys Davies; 4) The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry.

My favorite backlist titles I read in 2024: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez; 2666 by Roberto Bolaño; White Noise by Don DeLillo; Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov; Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut; The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith.

[susan]

Interesting and thought-provoking list. Thank you and have a wonderful holiday season!

[MarlaenIngles]

My favourite book was Miss Banson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce- This is my goodread's review: "A most endearing novel: Friendship of 'recent acquisition' which would last forever, two unforgettable characters like oil and water, exotic places, freedom. wit. A true journey. The Audible version is fantastic, comforting and bittersweet at the same time.

[BookishAdventuresInWellbeing]

We share a couple of favourites in Tress of the Emerald Sea and Small Things like these. Great list of hi-lights

[adrianmcmahon]

I was quite surprised you had Horus Heresy as you're first pick of the year. I know enough about Warhammer 40K to know the general lore outlines and where Heresy fits in to things but the sheer number of Warhammer books has always put me off diving into the novels. After your glowing review I'll have to knuckle down and give them a try.

Annihilation and the whole Southern Reach trilogy are pretty damn good, I'm planning to reread them early in the new year as the 4th book came out recently and it's a long time since I read the first 3.

The Shining & Wolf are both books I've never heard of before. I will definitely pick up a copy of the 1st one and fingers crossed Wolf gets an English translation at some point in the future. I bought the Travelling Cat Chronicles earlier in the year when you reviewed it and love every minute of it I ended up buying the audiobook too.

I hope you and your family have a fantastic break over Christmas and the New Year kicks off with a bang, and btw there's nothing wrong with being a silly man shouting into the void, sometimes a voice echoes and other people peering in can hear too. Nothing is ever wasted effort if you have passion for what you do, other people will gravitate towards you like interstellar dust & gas that maybe one day will become a new star or at least a pretty little planetoid with a great view of the universe 👍😉

[bettinagrissen]

Thank you so much for you video's this year, I really enjoy your recommendations! Have a wonderful Christmas en a very good New Year with lots of good books!
My best book of the year was A tale of love and darkness by Amos Oz.

Kind regards,

[christybearden]

Ooh I also read Annihilation this year and loved it. The book is so much better than the movie they made. I still need to pick up the second and third books in the series. My favorite book this year by a mile was Solenoid by Mircea Cartarescu… completely mind-blowing, amazing, bizarre, imaginative, surreal! Happy Holidays and we’ll see you in the new year!

[susan]

My favorite book this year was Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, a coming of age novel about a young girl set in Kansas in 1936. A wonderful YA novel that I read with my grandkids, it was worth a second read for me.

[tyghe_bright]

Some of my 5 star books this year...
Book that surprised me most: Indigo, by Beverly Jenkins --It's historical romance. And I rarely enjoy either romance or historical novels. But this features two people who are part of the Underground Railroad, and that context gives it real tension. It develops a rich setting, and I learned a lot...but the sexual and romantic tension were also incredibly well-written.

Poetry: The Sun and Her Flowers, by Rupi Kaur--I picked it up on a whim, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's sharp and moving and sometimes funny.

Delightful, clever, and moving: Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders. I read this both audio and digital, which I highly recommend. The audio performance is extraordinary, but there are also elements on the page that are part of the storytelling.

Book I can't stop thinking about: Woodworm, by Layla Martínez. It's not perfect, but I bumped it up to 5 stars because it's really stuck with me. I'll definitely re-read this weird little feminist horror novella from Spain.

[Mikie-in-the-Mist]

Although it wasn't my usual genre, I blew through ACOTR. I got the set as a gift from a cousin who loves her smut. I also finally read The Secret History and really enjoyed it. Honestly, I've been in a reading slump most of the year. If anyone has any recommendations to get out of a slump please let me know.

[stevenpace]

Happy New Year and bright blessings to you and your family in 2025. Looking forward to joining you next year. Your friend Steven in Chicago.

[zachary]

Oof I have not seen that cover for Annihilation, horrifying! Love the Southern Reach series!

[jjcabello]

Thank you for all your content!! I love this channel! Happy Holidays!!❤❤