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Welcome to our 2024 Reading Wrap Up!
This year, I met my self-imposed goal of reading 100 books – with the bookish clock ticking over at 117! Huzzah!
The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice that we’ve still got a bit of 2024 left in the tank. The Fishbird Team look forward to a 2 week Christmas break at the end of the year however, so it’s time to wrap up our reading with a festive bow before we take a well-deserved nap.
Regardless of how many books you read this year, or the genre of stories you prefer – you may find a few books on our reading wrap up list that spark your interest!
There’s also still time to gift some of these great reads to your bookish loved ones this year!
This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click on the link and purchase the book from that link, I get a few dollars at no extra cost to you! This way we can both stock up on more books for 2025! 😀
Happy Reading, Friends!
Dear reader, everyone has their own metric for ranking books. Some readers hoard their 5 star ratings like precious jewels – other reviewers will hand out 5 star golden tickets like the whole world is invited to Wonka’s Wonderland. You do you.
I tend to give a book 5 stars if I immediately want to recommend it to a friend. Sometimes the book will leave me with a feeling that I can’t kick, and stays on my mind for a variety of reasons. A 5 star rating might come to mind if I’m eager to continue with more books in the series, or hunt through the author’s back catalogue.
A 5 star rating doesn’t automatically mean that the book has literary merit or would be considered ‘high brow’, or that it will even appeal to the majority of people. All it means, is that – at the time of reading – the book spoke to me in some way, and I liked it.
Can I pick my favourite book of the year from this list of 30 five star reads? … …. No.
I was surprised and delighted by ‘Tress of the Emerald Sea’ as I hadn’t loved the one YA book of Brandon Sanderson’s that I’d read previously. Mick Herron’s ‘Slow Horses’ series hit just right for me this year, with 3 of his books on my top tier. I also loved the fun meta style of Benjamin Stevenson’s quirky ‘Ernest Cunningham’ series. There’s a lot to love on this list.
Which ones have you read? What would be your favourite book of the year?
A 4 star book means for me, that it ticked a lot of boxes when I was reading it, but didn’t quite push the novel into prime place. Either I’ve read better stories from the author before; some of the subject matter might make me rethink recommending to a friend; or maybe I was just feeling slightly less generous at the time of rating.
On reflection, some of the books that I’ve rated 4 stars this year, would easily fit in the 5 star category. Some of my favourite authors are in 4 star place this year – looking at you Stephen King and Richard Kadrey!
I enjoyed a few more cosy mysteries with ‘Nightshade for Warning’ by Bailey Cattrell and ‘Kernel of Truth’ by Kristi Abbott. Cosy crime is so comforting this time of year – let’s not look too closely about what that may say about me.
We enjoyed taking book recommendations from award winner lists this year – and I’m not sure I ever would have picked up ‘The Madwomen of Paris’ or ‘Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line‘ without these great lists!
Check out our Fishbird Book Awards posts for some great reading challenges!
How many book series are you in the middle of at the moment? Do you have a system for keeping track of them all?
A 3 star book for me, means that it did what it said on the tin and not much more. It means that I read it through to completion, but there were either issues with pacing, story or subject matter that would make me reluctant to recommend to anyone or rush out to own a copy.
None of these books are bad, by any means – and again, some of my current favourite authors have generated 3 star reads for me this year. I thought Justin Cronin’s ‘The Ferryman’ had a fantastic premise, however the ending got away from me a bit. Similarly, ‘The Oracle’ by Thomas Olde Heuvelt was such a fantastic idea, but just lost me in the landing.
Some of books on this list are young adult or middle-grade books, which means I’m not the target audience – but enjoyed the stories enough to see them through to the end. ‘The Hotel Witch’ by Jessica Miller and ‘You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight’ by Kalynn Bayron will find great homes with younger readers.
You’ll note that some of the book-community’s most loved authors only made it to my 3 star list. I’m sure Agatha Christie would love to sit down with me and explain why I should push ‘The Murder on the Links’ a little higher on the list, and so would the handful of other award-winning books and authors.
Each story on this list was appreciated for its own merits, even if it’s not one that will grace my shelves for eternity.
How do you feel when you’re not fussed on one of your favourite authors novels? Do you keep reading a book to the end, even if you know it will only be a 3 star read?
It’s unusual for me to rate a book 2 stars, that’s the lowest I’ll go. Often times I’ll stop reading if I know I’m not enjoying the book. As such, only 2 books made it on to this list for 2024.
You can check out my review of ‘Bloodwood Creek’ in the Books With Blood in the Title! post. No shade to Kerry McGinnis, I’m sure they have a devoted readership.
I really enjoyed the first book in this series by India Holton, however this instalment was a bust for me. I am still looking forward to the third novel in the ‘Dangerous Damsels’ series and it’s on my shelf to read.
Will you keep reading a series if you hit a book in it that you don’t enjoy?
Life is too short to push through books that you’re not enjoying.
If I pick up a book and I just know that it’s not to my taste, or it definitely won’t make it above a 3 star ‘average’ read – I’ll tend to stop reading and DNF it before it throws me into a reading slump and kills my whole vibe.
Some of the books on this list are reader favourites, and I can hear the Internet cracking its knuckles ready to go into bat for books like ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ and ‘Finlay Donovan is Killing it’. It’s ok if you love a book and we don’t. Hug your darlings closer.
A book DNF’d today, may be a firm favourite tomorrow. There are exactly one million books out there waiting to be read (don’t fact check me on that), so keep the reading train moving on to a station you’ll actually enjoy stopping off at for a spell.
Where do you draw the line with books you’re not enjoying?
2024 has been a blast, kids. Blessed be the readers!
Read for enjoyment, for fun, for knowledge, for bragging rights, to send you to sleep or to raise your blood pressure.
Read for the joy of it, for a bet, for a challenge or just because you heard Taylor Swift read one and it influenced her songwriting.
Keep reading for you, and read for me. 2025 will be a fantastic year!
Peace out, friends & happy reading.
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