The Top Book Picks for 2024 from Two Bookworms
Because sometimes you just need to stick your nose in a book and get lost in some words…
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We love to read. There we said it. Long before #booktok and people on social media buying trophy copies of books they listened to, we were nose deep in a book. We both have Bachelor’s degrees in English (among other things!) and we are both always on the hunt for our next great read. With so many to choose from, we wanted to round up our personal top ten books we read this year.
Sarah’s Picks:
A voracious reader, I don’t set book goals every year. I just read what I like and I don’t really have a preferred genre. I will read pretty much anything and I find lots of new suggestions via said #booktok and through my book club (hey, Bad Babe Book Club). I am also a die-hard library girl and the librarians at my local branch know me as the cuckoo bird who is walking through those doors weekly to pick up a giant stack of books. An equal opportunity reader, I love a good audio book too - I’ll argue that some books are just better via audio - so Libby and Hoopla are two of my favorite apps. Both connect to your library system so you can rent books to listen to or read via your device. You can keep up with some of my faves on Pinterest. I’d guess I’ve read around 100 books this year but five of my faves are…
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne: I put this one off for so long and then finally listened to the audiobook because it happened to be available when I was in need of my next book. Um, why’d I wait? A dysfunctional family is on vacation in an Italian villa when our main character begins to battle some supernatural things. Beautifully written and just spooky enough.
The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel: I give this one a glowing review. Get it? Glow…you know what? Let’s move on. I love a book about history and powerful women…and apparently I really like a radium-based trope because Radium Girls was one of my top picks when I read it a couple of years ago. Elements popped up as recommended reading for me and I really liked it. Full of great information about the women behind some modern science and well-paced, I have already suggested this to history and science-loving book friends.
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin: Where do we stand on watching the movie or TV show before reading the book? I can go either way usually. I watched Saint X on Hulu when it first came out and liked it enough. During a quick library stop early this summer a librarian suggested the book and I dove in. It is full of lots of drama, kind of a whodunit, and has an ending that broke my heart in the best way. If I recall there are lots of differences from the show so its worth a read even if you’ve watched the Huluness already.
Never Whistle at Night: An anthology of Indigenous dark fiction, this read featured stories from Indigenous authors and most of them are pretty scary. Every story is so different and there are so many different themes from revenge to grief to ghosts. My favorite story was Before I Go but there isn’t a bad one in the batch.
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer Another booktok recc, this one has such mixed reviews from some people saying it is the best horror book they’ve ever read to others calling it a waste of time. I loved it. Discomfort, dread, confusion, and a creepy dad who in my head looked like Danny Tanner, this one was great as a lead in to spooky season. I read the paper copy but heard the audiobook is an immersive experience so it might be worth a listen, too.
Molly’s Picks:
For the past few years, I have really only made time to read non-fiction. I reasoned: “If I’m taking time to do this, I need to learn something!” But luckily, my book club has forced me to step out of those confines and this year, I really hit my stride in gobbling up fiction. In fact, during the month of October, I may have gotten a little TOO carried away with thriller suggestions on #booktok and Pinterest, because here we are in December, and I’m still reading from that genre off my library queue.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah: I know everyone L-O-V-E-D The Women this year. We read it for our book club and I very much enjoyed it, to the point where I started down a Kristin Hannah rabbit hole. So far, I’ve read Four Winds, Magic Hour and The Great Alone, with the last one being my favorite of all. Yes, it’s depressing, but that seems to be Kristin Hannah’s MO, so I went into it expecting that. The Great Alone takes place in remote Alaska in 1974, which is a brand new setting for me. I really enjoyed the character development, plot and how much the location participated in the book. I know I have a lot more Kristin Hannah to get through (people have told me The Nightingale is the best by far!), but this was my favorite of 2024.
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese: Let me preface this by saying: don’t make the mistake I did. This is NOT a beach read. I made the mistake of packing this over the summer and ended up having to put it to the side until after vacation, because it’s just not that kind of book. That being said, I ended up really getting into the intricacies, loopbacks and interconnections this novel offers. It’s the kind of book that makes me wish I wasn’t such a self-imposed “speed reader” because you cannot rush through this one. I had to force myself to slow down, re-read certain sections and absorb it all. Even after all that, I bet I could have gotten even more out of it with a second read. But with two kids, a job and a library queue full of thrillers, who has time for that? The beauty of the writing and the uniqueness of the concept (hint: everyone is connected through water) is plenty to support a recommendation of this book.
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston: I restrained myself and only put one of my thrillers on this list even though those are what is fresh in my mind toward the end of the calendar year. This one was probably my favorite because I actually didn’t predict the twists and turns. It’s not scary per se, but it’s a mysterious thriller with plenty of action. Ironically, I read a lot of books about lying this year: Everyone Here is Lying, Sometimes I Lie and None of This is True (doesn’t technically mention lying, but …). So, the fact that First Lie Wins came out on top out of all those others is really quite a triumph in the lying genre. This was a pick for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club as well, so we’re in good company here.
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano: This one took me a few pages to get into, but by the end, I was totally invested in the characters and plot, which takes place over a couple of generations. I still have a few questions about the end result of the novel, but one of the things I loved about this one (besides the fact that it’s set in Chicago!) is that it took me totally out of my personality element. I could not relate to a single one of the characters, so I had to work extra hard to understand each one’s motivation and psyche. Very well written and one that left me thinking a bit more about it afterward.
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki: I’m not usually a huge historical fiction fan, but this one was interesting! If you can get past just how many times she got married (spoiler alert), her life was fascinating. The reason I don’t generally like historical fiction is because as you read, you’re not sure which parts are true and which are fictionalized, so I struggled with that a bit in this book, but it seems the author kept most of the major details in order and just filled in some dialogue and fluff around it, so that helped a lot. I still spent a lot of time Googline “did Marjorie Post really … “ but I guess that adds to the fun.
If you want to follow along as I read more in 2025, please follow me on GoodReads, TikTok and Pinterest.
We could talk about books all day but we are dying to know, what are some great reads you came across this year?
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