Books of the Year

Seems like everybody’s doing it, so I’m joining in.

First off, there’s no way I’m going to limit myself to books published in 2024. A lot of my reading comes either from the library or from secondhand bookshops (usually Oxfam) so I tend not to be that current. I am reading ‘Orbital’ at the moment but so far—shock horror—I’m finding it okay rather than mind-blowing, and I don’t think it’s going to disrupt this list.

Second, I am including audiobooks because that’s a significant chunk of my ‘reading’ and frankly I don’t have time for the people who say it’s not real reading. If you got sick trying to read on a bus you’d change your tune soon enough. But I will admit audiobooks are vulnerable to that thing where a poor narrator can put you off.

Third, I absolutely am considering books I’ve read before. Because… well, my list, my rules.

Right, then, here we go, in no particular order.

Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger

Actually, I’m still reading this, but I’ll definitely be finished before the end of the year. Terminally ill woman imagines writing a history of the world, and recalls some of the real history she’s witnessed. Big themes enmeshed with a personal story… well, the personal is political, as they say,

David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

I’ve said before, genre should be a signpost not a straitjacket, and there’s no doubt, David Mitchell isn’t straitjacketed in the slightest here—but how to even signpost this book? Well, it won the World Fantasy Award, but it doesn’t read like a regular fantasy. I’m going to have to read it again and see if I can pin it down…

Also greatly enjoyed his Utopia Avenue.

Rob Wilkins, Terry Pratchett, A Life With Footnotes (reread)

After my first read, this went straight into my all-time list of top non-fiction books, so you can read there what I thought about it. TL:DR, a fittingly distinctive life of a unique talent by one of the people who knew him best.

And yes, I cried—again.

Paul Clements, Jan Morris

A meticulous biography of the journalist who broke the news of the first ascent of Everest—and became, some years later, one of the first people in the public eye to undergo what wasn’t yet called gender reassignment.

Ann Patchett, Commonwealth

I might wish I’d discovered Ann Patchett sooner, but it’s also great that new discoveries keep coming along. I started with Tom Lake but decided to go with this. The sort of book that gives 'family saga' a very good name.

Stuart Maconie, The Full English

Lancashire’s answer to Bill Bryson… no, that’s too glib. This is mainly a retracing of J B Priestley’s English Journey in post-Covid England. Witty narrative and sharp observation taught me a good deal about Priestley, and shed fresh light on our country.

Richard E Grant, A Pocketful of Happiness

Collected diaries tracing Grant’s wife of 35 years, Joan Washington’s, struggle with cancer and eventual death, intercut with memories of their eventful life together. Very moving, but never depressing.

Sarah McBride, Tomorrow Will Be Different

Now the first transgender member of the US Congress, Sarah McBride is clearly a force to be reckoned with. But the core of this book is less about politics than her personal journey, and particularly her relationship with Andy Cray, whom she married on his deathbed. Sorry, second book in a row that is shaped by cancer… and the third on this list to reduce me to tears.

Wade Davis, Into The Silence

Subtitled 'The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest', sums up the subject matter pretty well. I’m not qualified to pronounce on its accuracy, but I have read the contemporary books about the expeditions of 1921, 22, and 24, and Davis does an admirable job of drawing the threads into a coherent whole and highlighting how much the 'Great' War shaped British lives and aspirations. Perhaps even more could have been made of the contribution of indigenous people, but I’ve got Other Everests lined up for that.

Jeremy Wilson, Beryl

To be honest, I read this just before New Year 2024, but we’re all doing these lists before Christmas, so… A great biography of a sporting legend. Minds may boggle at the subtitle’s assertion that BB was 'Britain’s Greatest Athlete', but when you examine her career, there are very few who can rival her claims.

I raced against her once (sort of): more detail in my review.

Emily St John Mandel, Sea of Tranquility

Best science fiction novel I read this year, and one of the best time-travel books I can think of. Flits between 1912, 2020, 2203, and 2401, and takes its time drawing all the strands together, but each narrative is amply compelling on its own.

Leonard Mlodinow, Stephen Hawking

An excellent memoir by Hawking’s friend and collaborator of 20 years, giving new insight into the challenges he faced daily living with motor neurone disease. It’s reassuring to be assured that Mlodinow understands the physics, and he does a great job of explaining it for the rest of us.

An interesting companion read for a different perspective is Travelling to Infinity, by Hawking’s first wife, Jane.

Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News? (reread)

I actually reread all the Jackson Brodie books, but the first two in 2023, so here’s the third. One of the great British novelists gives us one of our great British detectives. Here, even the Edinburgh setting invites comparison with Rebus, and Brodie stands up very well. And you have to love the character of Reggie, who is arguably the real centre of this book.

Haven’t read the new one yet, but it’s on the list.

Zadie Smith, On Beauty (reread)

Tied with The Bone Clocks as best novel read this year. Isn’t it fab when something you remember fondly from nearly 20 years ago is just as good second time around? And isn’t it fab, too, that a young (30 at time of publication) British author can give us one of the great American campus novels?

The Found and the Lost, Ursula K Le Guin

I don’t suppose there’s been a year since, oh, about 1980, when I haven’t devoured at least one of UKLG’s books, but this was a bit of a standout because it has all her novellas in one volume (and a couple were new to me). But I’ve already tried to express my feelings about her, so I’ll just say that this collection is at least partly responsible for the three novellas I’m now serialising.

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