#favoritebooksof2024 hashtag - Bluesky

1 year ago

Runner-Up: Best New and Old Novel New: Burn by Peter Heller Jess and Storey, experienced and capable outdoorsmen, are on a hunting trip in the remote woods of Maine when they stumble on scenes of destruction that leave them reeling, unsure where to find safety or means of escape. As the danger becomes clear, Storey focuses on returning to his family while Jess faces his memories of love, regret and loss. Grounded in the beauty of the natural world, this searing novel will stay with me for a long time. Old: The Last Ranger by Peter Heller n this emotionally complex novel, Ren Hopper, a park ranger at Yellowstone, finds himself exceeding his jurisdiction while trying to get to the bottom of the threats and sabotage escalating in the park. A beautifully written novel so evocative of the natural world that it will make you want to head for the forest ASAP, while also deeply compassionate and painfully human. This one's going on the keeper shelf next to The Dog Stars. Best New and Old Novel New: James by Percival Everett This powerful novel relays events from the novel Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, an enslaved man who hides his love of books behind broad dialect and feigned ignorance. His travels are a terrifying journey through a deadly landscape, aided by an ally who can hide in plain sight. Moments of absurdity tinge the story with humor, but it is ultimately a gut-punch, the reality of slavery on full display as he struggles to reunite his family. Old: The Trees by Percival Everett Two special investigators from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are called in after white residents of Money start turning up gruesomely murdered, accompanied each time by the body of a mysterious black man, beaten beyond recognition, who subsequently vanishes. The initial broadly comic tone gradually takes on the weight of a terrible and bloody history, as someone or something demands vengeance for the dead. Unforgettable.

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1 year ago

Best Fantasy Novel with Murder Owls: The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka Mad returns to her hometown in West Virginia to teach a chemistry class for kids at the local library, only to find herself trapped inside by a swarm of murder owls. Mad is no stranger to trauma; as the danger increases, unwanted memories surface and force her to face her past. Alternating with chapters of The Silent Queen, her favorite childhood book, this inventive novel explores survival, grief and resilience in the face of the unthinkable. Best Fantasy Novel with Telekinesis: The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Hector, a famed performer of telekinesis, has moved to the city where his former fiancee lives with her wealthy husband. Ten years ago, Valerie promised to wait when Hector left to seek his fortune, only to tersely break their engagement and his heart. Now Hector has found a way to insinuate himself back into her presence, by courting Nina, an unconventional young woman. By the end of this, I was on the edge of my seat and fully invested. Loved it! Best Fantasy Novel with a Dragon's Eye: Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi Davico is heir to a wealthy, powerful banking family in Navola, a republic where allowing your true thoughts and feelings to show on your face is the ultimate sign of weakness. Although Davico has an affinity for the natural world, his birthright is an all too human tangle of plotting and manipulation, a fate forever altered by touching a potent relic, the eye of a dragon. An absorbing, immersive and increasingly brutal story of power and betrayal.

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1 year ago

Best Novel in Translation: Every Many Dies Alone by Hans Fallada This deeply affecting novel follows an older couple who decide to undertake their own small campaign of resistance against the Nazi regime in 1940s Berlin. Otto and Anna leave postcards throughout the city, hoping to inspire others to resist. They are not particularly heroic and their efforts are almost entirely ineffectual, yet their decision to choose decency over the vile corruption around them is ultimately incredibly powerful. Unforgettable. Best Climate Fiction: Mobility by Lydia Kiesling At 15, Bunny is a boy crazy Foreign Service kid spending the summer in Baku; later we see her transformation from an aimless 20-something to a successful PR professional for a family-run oil company. At first it seems that's all there is to it: a girl, a life; by the final scenes, in a near future that is all too plausible, it sinks in that this is a truly devastating novel about climate change. An artfully detailed slow burn, brilliantly done. Best Crime Novel: Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper Chris is an ex-cop turned hired muscle; Mae is a PR flack paid to protect clients from the consequences of their bad decisions. When a murder brings them back together, they start pulling the thread on a web of secrets, hoping to punish the guilty and score big at the same time.The results are fatal. With vivid characters and propulsive prose, this LA noir thriller practically sizzles on the page--once I started it, I did not want to put it down.

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1 year ago

Best Horror: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due Set in rural Florida in 1950, this unflinching depiction of brutality at a reform school follows 12-year-old Robbie Stephens, sentenced for kicking an older white boy, and his 17-year-old sister Gloria, who is determined to secure his freedom. Ghosts haunt the grounds, but the true monsters are among the living. If I'd known how intense this would be, I might not have read it--but once I'd started, I had to know how it would end. Truly haunting. Best Literary Fiction: Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili Saba's brother has disappeared, having left London to search for their father in Tblisi, the city they fled as refugees many years before. Haunted by the voices of those he lost, Saba follows a breadcrumb trail through the ruins of his past on an increasingly dangerous and desperate quest. A heart-wrenching depiction of what it means to return to a home that no longer exists. A brilliant debut novel--I'll be looking for more from this author. Best Non-Fiction: Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen This book came out in 2020, before the violence of January 6, and provides a clear-eyed and methodical look at the attempted autocracy of the first Trump administration. Gessen examines the normalizing of the unthinkable, the ways in which Trump strips words of meaning and drags the media along in his wake. Vital reading for anyone interested in understanding how we got here and what is likely to come next. I wish I'd read it sooner.

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1 year ago

Best Trilogy: The Final Architecture Series by Adrian Tchaikovsky Decades have passed since the war ended and the mysterious, artistically destructive Architects disappeared. Idris, one of the few surviving Intermediaries modified to interact with the enemy, hasn't slept or visibly aged since. Now a pilot for a ragtag crew of spacers on a salvage vessel, Idris finds himself on the run as his past and future collide. Brilliant, inventive world-building from one of my favorite SF authors. Best Start to a New Series: The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey had high expectations for this new book by the authors of The Expanse; this riveting novel managed to exceed them. Dafyd is a research assistant, the lowest cog in an acclaimed research team, and the nephew of a powerful administrator. When unknown objects appear above his planet, his world must face the violent judgment of a powerful colonizing race of aliens. A compelling account of trauma, survival and impossible choices. Next book, please!

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