2024 picks of the year

 This (last year) has been a good year for reading for me.  I've completed 107 books and got a good start on number 108. I've read a good mix of genres and have really enjoyed the vast majority. There were 4 that I managed to finish despite hating (they were shortish) and my first DNF since I started the blog.  All my full reviews are a simple scroll away.

In the order that I read them, my top 10 for the year are

A very short but satisfying tale of supernatural detectives.  A great start to the year

Another novella, this one told from the point of view of a mountain lion living above LA. I love that weirdness like this is now available in mainstream book shops.

Paul Auster's final novel is as good as anything else he's written.  A beautiful and moving character study.

Adam Nevill's All the Fiends of Hell is one of the two most terrifying reads of the year.  Possibly the scariest book he's written to date, with some truly hair-raising set pieces

I expected to hate this but loved it.  A gorgeously told story of Shakespeare's son's death.

The other one of the most terrifying books I read this year.  It had me jumping at shadows looking for Other Mommy.

This one is genuinely disturbing. Great writing and needs to be experienced to be believed.

Based on the true story of a medical hoax where a woman was allegedly giving birth to rabbits.  This is an odd one, brilliantly told.  The eponymous Mary might be the most mistreated character I've read about all year. 

Cthulu, mysterious corporations, black magic detectives in the big city.  This book has it all.  One of the most mind-bending things I've read in years.

Finally, this one- a crime story without cops. Brilliantly written.  It turned my internal narrator into the cast of Father Ted. A multi-layered story of small town secrets in Ireland.

So there we have it, the 10 best books I read last year.

The DNF was Almost White by Simon Thirsk. The worst book I finished by an absolute country mile was The Breast by Philip Roth.  How that guy has a career in literature is an absolute mystery to me if that is typical of his work.