ON NEW YEAR’S EVE I finished my 100th book with my eyes— phew— and ended the year with 169 books, some of them excellent.
(Before I get to the TL;DR, can I just say that I do not understand best books of the year lists that feature backlist titles. Why is this a thing? It’s not like someone would say here are my top movies of 2025, and let me start with Titanic, you know?)
(Not a snarky question— I genuinely do not get it)
SKIP THESE:
Bummer Camp by Anna Garvin: Meh. **2024
Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood: Another meh. **2024
The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave: Again with the meh. **2024
SKIP THESE UNLESS, LIKE ME, YOU LOVE FREIDA:
The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden: I have already forgotten everything about this book and will probably listen to it again someday thinking I have never read it before and then be totally surprised by my Goodreads review. **2024 **Audio
Dead Med by Freida McFadden: This one was actually super cute and I loved it. **2024
Other People Seem to Like These:
How to Solve Your Owen Murder by Kristen Perrin: I just could not focus on this. **2024
Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes: I liked this sort of.
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko: I liked some of this a bunch. **2024
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio: The concept was fabulous. **2024
Backlist Gems:
The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout: I MUST HAVE read this before, right?? **Audio
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout: DELIGHTFUL **Audio
BOTY Contenders:
The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu: This is lovely and funny and touching. *2024
A Home for the Holidays by Taylor Hahn: I loved this, and even though it is set around Christmas, it is not JUST a Christmas book **2024
The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez: THIS IS SO GOOD- a must read/listen, especially if you like historical fiction **2024 **Audio
The Most by Jessica Anthony: Oh wow— this books was spare and devastating and funny. It all takes place in an apartment pool and was just wonderful. **2024
All Fours by Miranda July: WHAT EVEN HAPPENED HERE? I adored this, fluids and all. **2024
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout: LOVED THIS— like a reward to all her faithful readers who wanted updates on all our old friends. **2024
The Wedding People by Alison Espach: LOVED LOVE LOVED this one. **2024
This Month: 18 books
With my eyes: 14
With my ears: 4
From 2024: 14
This Year: 169 book
With my eyes 100
With my ears: 69
From 2024: 105
I include back list in my best of 2024 because it's meant to be a list of the best books I read in 2024. Since I almost exclusively get books from the library, my reading ends up being 50/50 between front list and backlist. I put new releases on hold early so I can try to get to the buzzy books as soon as I can, but I still end up reading more backlist. So probably 1/4 of my best of 2024 list is backlist. When it's a professional publication's best of list, of course it will be all front list. For little old me, it's always going to be a mix. Plus I like giving some attention to backlist books that might have gotten lost in the mix.
ReplyDeleteThis makes sense BUT I notice that when my friends post their lists of other media, it’s never old stuff, even on a personal list. I guess it’s because of the availability of books versus other stuff— which I totally get.
DeleteI don't usually comment, but was thinking exactly what Lisa wrote. It would be really strange to see non-2024 titles on a professional site or publication but I love personal blog lists as a way to find great backlist titles. I get all of my books from the library and almost exclusively read e-books. I only have 20 holds between two cards and a book like Tom Lake can clog up a hold spot for 6 months. It is delightful to look up recommended books and find some that are actually available, as well as a way to discover books that might not have been of interest when they were published but are now.
DeleteThis makes perfect sense— and yes, I have been waiting for some popular 2024 titles all year and never got them. I have better luck with walk-in books at the library— but this means physical books. I have yet to solve the hold dilemma on my Kindle— takes FOREVER at my library.
DeleteBacklist: a word I had to Google today.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read The Burgess Boys or Amy and Isabella, and have only read one of the Olive Kitterage books, though I have read (and adored) all of the Lucy Barton books. I love her writing, I need to check out the others.
ReplyDeleteI dont really care when a book was published so I dont know if it is backlist or whatever. I read and whatever that is goes on my best of list of that year.
ReplyDeleteI have put down The Great Divide on my TBR.
I liked The Night We Lost Him. I agree with A Cruel Winter with you – it was just meh.
Loved The Most, which was pretty amazing when you think about it and liked The Wedding People. The Wedding People ended with so much wisdom gained after her whole stunt that it was worth the read.
ReplyDeleteI found How to Solve Your Own Murder really disappointing, given the synopsis and the gorgeous cover.
ReplyDeleteDo you mean newspaper Best Books of the Year lists? I review all the books I've read in the past year, and I don't only read new books. But for an official, published list, yes, I find it weird.
We disagree on The Husbands (I really didn't like that book!) but yessss to The Wedding People!
ReplyDeleteI put backlist titles on my best of list because I read more backlist than front list. I want my list to encapsulate my reading for the year. I only read 26 books published in 2024 of the 110 books I read. That would SERIOUSLY cut down on the books I recommend if I only focused on front list, especially since I didn't love all those 26 books.
I also do this when I talk about favorite podcast series I loved over the year - they're not always podcasts published within the year. Movies feel different for me. They're a lot more accessible than front list books. You're not paying $30 for a new movie, you know? (Well, you ARE if you go to the movies haha, but not if you download it at home.)