my top 24 reads of 2024

plus, 40 books on my 2025 list and a WVBC launch!! 👀

before we get into the fun, this edition of the sunday series is definitely too long for email, so I’d recommend clicking out to read in your browser or, even better, in the substack app, where you can like and comment! your engagement on Substack means so much to me as it’s a free way to help more people discover this weekly love letter 💌

and, on that note, becoming a paid subscriber is the ultimate way to support my work! I’ll let a generous reader chime in about why she chose to upgrade her subscription to the sunday series…

"I decided to become a paid subscriber because I appreciate how much info you still give to free subscribers *before* they get to the paywalled part of your email. Counter-intuitive? Maybe! So often a writer turns on paid subs and EVERYTHING is behind the paywall. That's how I thought yours would be too, but I've been pleasantly surprised. It made me make the jump to converting to paid!" – Alison Z., paid sunday series subscriber

hi, bookworms!

this annual send of my top reads of the year is always a fun one—it’s an excuse to review and relish all the stories I’ve pored over for the last twelve months. I still have a couple of books that I’m in the throes of as we wrap the year (helllllllo, Fourth Wing, and the just-released The Let Them Theory), but it’s looking like I’ll come up just short of my sixty-book goal. I’m set to net out somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty-six books for 2024, and I’m plenty happy with that!

I’m particularly pleased with the fact that this year, I DNF-ed (did not finish) more books than ever. it was less about the goal of finishing sixty books than making sure I was enjoying what I was reading. I threw in the towel on probably a dozen books that I was collectively hundreds of pages into—something that goes against all of my perfectionist tendencies. but hey, here’s to PROGRESS, people!!!!

I’ll come back to some of the DNFs, but I just wasn’t in the headspace to devour these particular stories at the moment I picked them up. for instance, I got about a hundred pages into The Secret History by Donna Tartt, a classic I’ve long aspired to read. I simply wasn’t able to fully immerse myself in the nearly six-hundred-page campus novel at the time, but I’ll go back and try again when I think life feels slow enough to dive in once more. and knowing me, I’ll start from the beginning when I do.

that said, this was a year of reading what felt good. it was also a year of attending as many New York book events as I could possibly manage. I got to meet some of my most beloved authors IRL and get signed copies of their books, including Rebecca Serle, Carola Lovering, Zibby Owens, Alison Espach, and Dolly Alderton!!!! I even got to attend debut author Mai Sennaar’s book launch hosted by moderator Sarah Jessica Parker. so many of these events were beside one of my bookish besties, Laura, and we truly had moments where we looked at one another and asked if we were in an episode of Younger. it was glorious.

of course, buying all the books means you have to make some time to read them. and I did that too. since 2021, I’ve tracked my reads with the Goodreads Challenge—a feature where you set an annual reading goal for yourself within the app—and the Virgo in me loves the data. as you can see below, I really got back into reading post-pandemic.

with the help of a lot of listening to nonfiction on Libby (an app that allows your local library card to get you free audiobooks, ebooks, and magazines from your local library!) and Libro.fm (an app I use for more new releases that aren’t available at the library yet—by purchasing credits here, you support your local bookstore of choice), I’m typically finishing about a book a week. and while some of the creators I follow in this space seem to do a book a day, a book a week is about the maximum I’m ever going to be able to read given the pace of my life right now. but it’s not about consuming more for me so much as it is about loving what I spend my time reading.

• so far in 2024, I’ve read 54 books (goal was 60)

• in 2023, I read 56 books (goal was 60)

• in 2022, I read 52 books (goal was 52)

• in 2021, I read 37 books (goal was 26)

with this intention to really have fun with each book I pick up, I’ve gotten pretty clear on what I enjoy reading and what I don’t.

our tastes may vary, so I wanted to put some notes together on what I like before you review my recommendations. I struggle to describe my own reading taste, so I actually turned to AI for some help here! I popped in all the titles I loved best this year and asked the model for the common threads. I fear the robots have once again won because this analysis feels so on point that I’m unwell…

AI’s assessment of my reading taste

Your reading taste spans emotionally rich and deeply human stories. Here’s how I’d describe some common threads in your 2024 favorites:

Fiction

Complex Characters: You gravitate toward character-driven narratives, exploring personal struggles, flawed relationships, and moments of transformation.

Emotional Depth: Whether it’s love, loss, ambition, or self-discovery, your favorites dive into the heart of what it means to connect and grow.

Cultural Relevance: Many picks feel timely, reflecting themes like generational shifts, societal expectations, and modern love.

Engaging Writing: You value prose that’s both accessible and literary, striking a balance between entertainment and poignancy.

Nonfiction

Personal Storytelling: Memoirs and essays dominate, showing your love for real-life insights from vibrant, creative voices.

Themes of Joy and Purpose: Food, travel, creativity, and pleasure often shine through as ways to savor life’s richness.

Intellectual Curiosity: You enjoy thoughtful perspectives on modern challenges, from overthinking to embracing serendipity.

so, if you’re looking for contemporary fiction that sometimes skews literary, relationship-focused fiction, domestic thrillers, and novels filled with suspense sprinkled with a dash of fantasy, I’m your girl. in the nonfiction space, I devour memoirs, self-improvement books, and anything with a food or hospitality setting.

my top eighteen reads of 2023

top twenty books of 2021 and 2022

I’ve gone ahead and cleaned up my Goodreads Favorites Shelf and widdled it down to my 48 all-time faves, as well as popping in the recaps from my 2021, 2022, and 2023 favorites before we get into the fun of 2024!

---

top 16 fiction reads of 2024

and without further ado, here are my favorite fiction reads of the year, in alphabetical order!

• All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (2014)*

• Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering (2024)*

• Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle (2024)*

• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (2023)

• The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (2024)*

• Good Material by Dolly Alderton (2024)*

• Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein (2025)

• Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe (2024)

• The Most Famous Girl in the World by Iman Hariri-Kia (2024)

• The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine (2024)

• The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller (2021)

• The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue (2023)

• Sandwich by Catherine Newman (2024)

• The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand (2015)

• The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza (2024)*

• The Wedding People by Alison Espach (2024)*

  *indicates it was a West Village Book Club pick!

8 non-fiction favorites of 2024

again, alphabetized, here are my favorite books of 2024 in the nonfiction realm.

• The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell (2024)

• Be Ready When The Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten (2024)*

• The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (2024)

• I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris by Glynnis MacNicol (2024)

• No Time Like The Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox (2021)

• Setting the Table by Danny Meyer (2008)

• What I Ate In One Year: (And Related Thoughts) by Stanley Tucci (2024)

• Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York Maître D’ by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina (2022)

  *indicates it was a West Village Book Club pick!

[BIG] West Village Book Club news…

notably, eight of my favorite reads of the year were books we selected for West Village Book Club. I like to think we have good taste! over two years into WVBC and we’ve received countless requests to expand—but due to an unfortunate lack of space given the New York of it all (hello, studio and one-bedroom apartment limitations!), we’ve begun to brainstorm about how to make our recommendations, book discussions, and even hosting tips accessible to a wider community. while our @westvillagebookclub Instagram is a super fun tool to share reels and snapshots of our monthly meetings, there is an untapped element that seems to call for long-form content…

so, I’m beyond excited that you’re the first to hear we’re going to have our own monthly WVBC newsletter! once a month, subscribers will hear from us about what we read this past month, how we approached hosting (we LOVE a theme), and any other reading-related tidbits on our minds. there are now eight of us in the club, so it’ll be a fun mix of personalities and voices. I can’t wait for us to launch here on Substack on January 1st with a recap of everything WVBC read in 2024. we’d be SO honored if you subscribed below! xxWVBC

---

and with all of this fun data in mind, I’ve gone ahead and consulted my real-life—and nearly toppling over—TBR (to be read) pile. I’ve got a whole lot I need to work through in my own apartment before I dare go flirt with an indie bookstore! so, this is me reminding myself of that.

I thought it might be fun to share with you the culmination of my backlist (catalog of previously published works that authors are marketing alongside new frontlist titles), priority reads, and the new releases I have on my radar for 2025. paid subscribers will be starting the year with 40 more titles—18 of which are new releases set to hit shelves between January and July—to consider in addition to the 24 I loved this year!

my backlist priority reads for 2025

here are 22 titles that I didn’t get to this year that I’m reprioritizing for next year! (again, alphabetized)

• All Fours by Miranda July (2024)

• All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (2024)

• The Astrology House by Carinn Jade (2024)

• A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams (2024)

• The Bell Jar by Slyvia Plath (2005)