My Favorite Books of 2024

I read 60 books this year and so I had many choices when it came to compiling my list of  favorites for 2024.  These aren't necessarily the best or the most critically acclaimed books I read this year but they are the books I liked the best.  Two of the authors: Tony Horwitz and George Gissing I have read before.  The remaining seven are new to me and so in no particular order here is my list of favorites for 2024: 

Not sure if I will read 60 books in 2025.  I might go for 50 books instead.  And Libby is such a wonderful reading service. Five of my favorite books I was able to borrow through Libby.  

I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year and that we read alot of great books in 2025!

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

"There are two kinds of people in this world: those who live with shame, and those who die from it. On Tuesday, Adelaide Henry would’ve called herself the former, but by Wednesday she wasn’t as sure. If she was trying to live, then why would she be walking through her family’s farmhouse carrying an Atlas jar of gasoline, pouring that gasoline on the kitchen floor, the dining table, dousing the settee in the den? .. Was she planning to live, or trying to die? There were twenty-seven Black farming families in California’s Lucerne Valley in 1915. Adelaide and her parents had been one of them. After today there would only be twenty-six." - Victor Lavalle, Lone Women

I love books in which a character fleeing trouble or looking for a new start decides to pack their bags and head to hopefully greener pastures.  And when Lone Women begins 31 year old Adelaide Henry is escaping a very bad situation.  Her parents have been murdered and Adelaide is setting fire to their home.

What happened?  Did Adelaide kill her parents or was it someone or something else?  Regardless, Adelaide knows she can't stay in Lucerne Valley and so she decides to escape to Big Sandy, MT, a small rural community where the government is giving out free land to anyone willing to make a go of it.  Adelaide brings with her some books and a mysterious locked steamer trunk.  But if she is looking for safety Big Sandy may not be the place to find it.  In fact some of the town's people are as scary as what she is trying to flee from.  

Lone Women is a combination western and supernatural horror novel.  You find out early what the steamer trunk contains but learning this secret didn't spoil the book for me.  Adelaide is a sympathetic character and I became invested in her struggle to escape her past and start a new life.  But as Adelaide learns you can't leave your past or your family behind.  As much as you may want to move on, the guilt stays with you.

All of the characters we meet in Big Sandy are well drawn and they have their own secrets.  I recommend this novel and Victor LaValle is a writer worth checking out.

Christmas Books and Movies

It's the holiday season and I really enjoy Christmas novels and movies and so I decided to make a list of my favorites:

THE BOOKS

When I moved down to Florida in 2011 Burning Bright was one of the books I brought with me and I have it still (if I can locate where I placed it)  It's an anthology. Three stories set in Crescent Cove, VT.  And in each story a woman who is having trouble in her life around the holidays enters a candle shop and the candle each woman chooses has a certain magic to it which will lead to a happy ending.  Loved it.  And Magggie Shayne, Anne Stuart and Judith Arnold are very fine writers who will get you in the holiday spirit!

I keep telling myself I must read Fried Green Tomatoes and I will but in the meantime years ago I did read A Redbird Christmas which I highly recommend.  Time for a reread.

I purchased Christmas Witness Survival several weeks ago not knowing the author or what to expect.  But the plot interested me: 

Fleeing after discovering her fiancé is a murderer, Hailey Davenport thinks nowhere is safe this Christmas. Trusting another man is the last thing Hailey wants, but she reluctantly finds refuge in the back of Michael “Chap” Chapman’s truck. The security expert won’t let her face hired gunmen alone—even when danger follows them to his ranch" Goodreads

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel.  Hailey and Michael are characters with troubled pasts but they are well drawn and I really felt the chemistry between. them.  I intend to check out more books from Jane Choate and the Love Inspired Suspense series.

THE MOVIES

I saw A Town Without Christmas many years ago and what you want in a romantic film is chemistry and Patricia Heaton and Rick Roberts are wonderful together.  Also Peter Falk is very good as the angel who brings them together.  My only regret is that A Town Without Christmas doesn't get shown on TV anymore and that's a shame.

Discovered The Holly And The Ivy a few years ago when it was shown on Turner Classic Movies.  What a wonderful film with a great cast.  And the two aunts that arrive for the holidays are quite the pair!

No need to watch any other version of A Christmas Carol in my opinion.  The great actor Alistair Sim owns the role of Scrooge.  

Loved Prancer and Sam Elliot is so good as an apple farmer who is trying to raise his young daughter but he is struggling after the death of his wife.  And then over the holidays a reindeer arrives.

So those are my picks and if you want to share your favorite books and films for the holidays I would love to hear.

The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

"Never had there been a more confiding or trusting gentleman than the lodger, and yet in some ways he was so secret, so—so peculiar. She thought of the bag—that bag which had rumbled about so queerly in the chiffonnier. Something seemed to tell her that tonight the lodger had taken that bag out with him. And then she thrust away the thought of the bag ... Of course, the lodger was eccentric, otherwise he wouldn't be their lodger at all—he would be living in quite a different sort of way with some of his relations, or with a friend in his own class"

The Lodger (1913) by Marie Belloc Lowndes has been on my TBR list for some time.  It's a short novel based on the Jack The Ripper murders.  The setting is East London, the 1880's and when the novel begins we are introduced to a middle aged couple, Mr. and Mrs Bunting. A few years back they bought a home hoping they could attract paying guests.  But business has fallen off and the couple has become so poor that Mr. Bunting has given up buying his morning paper.  

And then a mysterious gentleman by the name of Mr. Sleuth arrives. He needs a place to stay and is willing to pay the Buntings generous rent for a few of the empty upstairs rooms which he requires for his privacy. The Buntings are thrilled and Mr. Sleuth becomes their lodger. 

Meanwhile Mr. Bunting can once again buy his morning paper and he becomes interested, like all of London, in reading about the Avenger murders.  Young women are being murdered in the East End. The police know it's the same killer because he leaves a note by their bodies: "The Avenger".  

Mrs Bunting doesn't want to hear about such gory stuff.  Instead she is delighted with Mr. Sleuth.  He is a gentleman, very generous and he gives the Buntings no trouble at all.  And so if he has a peculiar habit of walking outdoors late at night and coming back at 3:00 AM Mrs Bunting isn't concerned until things begin to add up. Mrs Bunting keeps her growing suspicion about the lodger to herself, not informing her husband.  And there is also Daisy, Mr. Buntings' daughter from his first marriage and Joe Chandler, a young police detective.  

The Lodger held my interest but when it comes to mysteries and suspense novels I have read better.  But others over at Amazon have rated The Lodger 4 and 5 stars and this book has the historical significance of being the first novel to be published based on the Jack The Ripper murders.  So you might want to give The Lodger a try.

I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

The Nether World by George Gissing

"Well, look here. Supposin' he died an' left most to her; an' then supposin' she was to go off; would Jo have all her tin?

Course he would.

Clem mused, eating her lower lip. 'But supposin' Jo was to go off first, after the old bloke? Should I have all he left?'

I think so, but I'm not sure.' '

You think so? And then should I have all hers? If she had a accident, you know."

George Gissing is one of my favorite writers and The Nether World (1889) is the third novel of his which I have now read and it did not disappoint.  But if you are new to Gissing I would begin with The Odd Women or New Grubb Street. The Nether World is a great book and it will be on my best books of 2024 list but it is depressing. Even the title gives you a clue, the setting being a very poor part of late 19th century London and the lives and the struggles of the people who live there.

And at the core of The Nether World is an inheritance.  An elderly gentleman, Michael Snowden, returns to London a wealthy man.  One of his sons passed away and left Michael a fortune in his will.  But Michael's attitude towards money is not what you would expect.  It doesn't mean much to him.  Michael is more interested in using the money to help the poor in the little time he has left in his life. 

Michael also has a granddaughter Jane who he has never met.  Jane is the daughter of his other son, Joseph Snowden, and Joseph is a disreputable character abandoning his young daughter Jane to the care of Mrs Peckover and her daughter Clem who abuse poor Jane and treat her as a servant.  Michael returning to London is able to rescue Jane and has plans to leave her the bulk of his fortune in the hope that she will use it to help the poor.

Joseph Snowden gets wind of this and promptly returns to London to reconnect with his daughter Jane but she is a young woman now and has plans to marry Sidney Kirkwood who is a good man and loves her.  Joseph cannot let this happen since Jane and Sidney are set to inherit all of his father's money.

In addition to the Snowdens we have the Hewett family. Their struggles involve a separate storyline which is no less fascinating.  And for me the most tragic character in The Nether World is Clara Hewett.  She is young, attractive and ambitious.  Raised in a very poor family she runs away at age 17 with the hope of becoming a famous actress.  

And Clara has talent and beauty.  But halfway through this novel after landing the leading role in a play a jealous rival does something so vicious to Clara that it shocked me and this does seem to be a theme that runs through The Nether World.  Poverty with no hope for the future ends up in tragedy for some of the characters in this book. Others turn to criminality and cruelty and a few like Jane Snowden and Sidney Kirkwood are able to keep their humanity and kindness.  But SPOILER ALERT no one gets a happy ending. 

And yet I still recommend The Nether World.  It's an excellent novel and George Gissing who is not as well known as he should be is such a talented and quintessential late Victorian author.  And I won't go into it here but George Gissing had a life that was a Victorian novel in itself.  The man knew his territory.

Publisher's Weekly Top 10 Books of 2024

I haven't posted in awhile because I am reading, and very much enjoying, The Nether World by George Gissing.  He's one of my favorite writers but the Nether World is a long book and so I hope to have something posted in a week.  

In the meantime I wanted to check in and Publisher's Weekly has listed their top books for 2004.  I was glad to see My Friends by Hisham Matar made the list.  I also must read James and Travelling On The Path of Joni Mitchell sounds interesting.  Here is the full Publisher's Weekly list of their top ten books for 2024:

All Fours by Miranda July

James by Percival Everett

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle

The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War by Carl Sciacchitano

Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai, trans. from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet

My Friends by Hisham Matar

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers

When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by John Ganz.

As I look at this list I am so grateful to Libby which I discovered earlier this year.  It has really changed and improved my reading life.  So many titles are available through Libby.  It's a great service.

Hope everyone is having a great Autumn!

The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

The Safekeep (2024) by Yael Van Der Wouden is one of six books short-listed for this year's Booker Award.  I have been on hold for this book since July and it was worth the wait.  The Safekeep is a haunting, sensual novel, beautiful prose and the fact that this is the author's debut is remarkable 

The Safekeep is set in Overijssel, a rural community in the Netherlands, and the year is 1961.  People in Overijssell don't talk about World War II as much anymore and the country has structurally rebuilt itself since the war years. 

 

And when the novel begins we are introduced to three siblings: Louis, Isabel and Hendrik.  They are in their late 20's Their mother has recently passed away.  Louis and Hendrik no longer live at home and have moved on with their lives.  But Isabel continues to live in the house they grew up in.

Isabel lives alone.  The only person she interacts with is the maid who comes in to cook and do housework.  Isabel is a recluse and she likes it that way.  She has no friends and prefers to tend to her garden.  And lately she has been counting her dishes and silverware to make sure the maid isn't stealing from her.  

And then Louis introduces Isabel and Hendrik to his latest girlfriend, Eva.  Louis tells them he is serious about Eva.  But Hendrick and Isabel have been here before wiith Louis who gets bored quickly with the women in his life.  But they agree to join Louis and Eva at a restaurant.  Isabel takes an immediate dislike to Eva and does not disguise that fact.  Eva is perky, cheerful, the exact opposite of Isabel. 

The dinner ends and Isabel goes back to her house where she is safe.  But then Louis meets with Isabel a few days later.  His job will require him to spend the summer travelling.  Can Eva, who Louis lives with, stay with Isabel?  Eva can' t stay at Louis' place because there is a third roommate who lIves with them, a man, and it wouldn't be appropriate.  Isabel's response is no:  

"It’s my house,” she said, and it was out and she knew she had misspoken, and Louis knew it as well, barely letting her finish the phrase to cut in with an “Is it, Isabel?” He took a step forward. “Yours?” Isabel’s heart gave a dull thud. She looked away. Uncle Karel had promised the house to Louis, should he ever want it. The unspoken caveat was: should he ever want it for a family of his own. Isabel never had reason to worry: ... They would allow her to stay here, her brothers. Her uncle. They had to, where else could she go?" 

Isabel has really no choice but to let Eva stay with her and when Eva moves in Isabel is rude and silent.  Despite this Eva is cheerful and friendly.  Isabel in comparison is keeping close tabs on her silverware and the other objects around the house sure that first the maid and now Eva are stealing her things.  And that is as far as I can go with this novel without giving too much away.  

After I finished The Safekeep I watched an interview with the author Yael Van Der Wouden.  She was partly inspired to write The Safekeep because of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.  And I think the connection is that in both novels a house plays a major role in the story.  Both homes, Manderley in Rebecca and Isabel's home in The Safekeep are haunted, haunted by the past. There are two significant plot twists in this novel.  One I anticipated but the second twist which comes later in the book I did not see coming and it is powerful.

I will be pleased if the Booker comittee chooses The Safekeep for this year's prize.  But regardless Yael van Der Wouden is an excellent writer to watch