I read 104 books in 2024. I know it’s excessive, but I won’t apologize for it. I’m lucky enough to be able to listen to audiobooks while I work, which really helps me get through more books. I also read a lot of manga and novellas this year, which pads the count a bit.
Despite enjoying my time reading or listening to all these stories, it was surprisingly easy to pick a top 10. I keep a list of books I’ve read during the year, and I simply grab the books that stick out to me as memorable reads. From there, I narrow it down. Then I rank them.
10. Sea of Silver Light (Otherland #4) by Tad Williams
Sea of Silver Light is the fourth and final installment in Tad Williams epic near-future scifi series Otherland. In this series, we follow a large cast of characters as they attempt to figure out why their loved ones are trapped in a VR world. I listened to these books on audio, and it was a great way to read them. The narrator was great, and Tad William’s writing moves along smoothly. The books are 30+ hours each, with Sea of Silver Light clocking in at over 37 hours.
In this final volume, we finally get the answers to all the questions we’ve so desperately wanted. Every plot thread is wrapped up nicely, with some great comeuppance for the villains.
That is one thing that shines for me in this series: the villains. We had a main bad villain, who we get to know very well, and we have his primary goon, a truly terrifying person who frightened me every time he made an appearance.
If you’re into late-90s VR scifi and you love intricate worldbuilding with fantastical tropes galore, you’ll love this series. I know I did.
9. The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells
This was a re-read for me. I read it way back in 2013 when I first discovered LibriVox (a place where you can listen to free audiobooks for novels in the public domain written by volunteers). This novel captivated me, especially the ending, and it’s stuck with me ever since.
When I found this TOR Classics edition with the wacky artwork for $5 at a used bookstore, I grabbed it. It was a quick read, but just as good as I remembered. It was so good, in fact, that it beat out 90 other books to make my top 10. Definitely pick it up if you haven’t already. You can find it for free online.
8. Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
Once I started reading Stephen King about 15 years ago, I couldn’t stop. There are very few King novels that I haven’t read, and this was one of them. At the time I first encountered this book, I wasn’t really into non-supernatural King. I wanted his ghouls and monsters. I picked this one up because I needed an audiobook, and I’ve become more open to non-supernatural literature in general.
The entire novel is a single monologue, with no chapter breaks. It concerns the titular Dolores Claiborne, a 65-year-old widow who is telling the police her story. She tells her story in an attempt to set the record straight, even if the truth isn’t flattering for her.
I was blown away by the way this novel was able to create a tense narrative that kept me on the edge of my seat, despite not having any chapter breaks. It speaks to King’s skill as a storyteller. I think listening to it in audio also helped. It’s a monologue, so why not hear it out loud? Frances Sternhagen does a phenomenal job.
7. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
This fable written by Salman Rushdie right after his most famous novel The Satanic Verses is a departure in tone, though not in message. It concerns a boy, Haroun, who must go on an adventure to figure out why his city is so miserable. He meets a lot of colorful characters along the way, and learns important lessons on how his world works.
This novel is aimed at children, but still deals with the theme of censorship, something that Rushdie was living first hand because of the fatwa against him issued by Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran.
This story was a breeze to get through, and while I was reading it, I already knew it was going to be a favorite of mine. This paperback edition is also so beautiful, I want it as wallpaper in my house.
6. Worlds Beyond Time by Adam Rowe
I don’t reach much non-fiction, even though I know I should. I’m hoping to remedy that by reading a few books on writing and at least one history book in 2025.
I’ve followed Adam Rowe’s blog 70s Scifi Art for a long time, so when he announced a book dedicated to scifi art with profiles on the artists, I had to get it. This is a stunning book, with full color scans of some of the most iconic scifi book cover art from the 70s and 80s.
I read this book cover to cover, but of course it’s size and nature makes it the perfect coffee table book to thumb through on an idle afternoon. Pick this book up if you haven’t. You’ll not only support a great art archival project; you’ll also find a lot of books you’ll want to read.
5. On Vicious Worlds (The Kindom Trilogy #2) by Bethany Jacobs
The follow-up to Bethany Jacob’s Philip K Dick Award-winning These Burning Stars does not disappoint. After the stunning revelations and bloody battles of the first book, we dive right into the aftermath of our characters’ decisions. There is no period of rest. We jump straight into the next conflict, which I can’t reveal here without spoilers. Let’s just say that not only do the stakes get raised, they get shot out of orbit at the end. I can’t wait for the last installment in this series. It’s going to be bloody, that’s for sure.
If you like fast-paced space opera that reads like an epic fantasy, you’ll love the Kindom Trilogy (no that is not a typo).
4. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
This novel was a sleeper hit for me. I picked it up from the library out of curiosity. You can hardly be on the internet without hearing about the book that essentially kicked off the dark academia literary movement. It isn’t my normal genre, but I enjoyed The Goldfinch when I read it about a decade ago, so I decided Tartt was in for another read.
We follow six classics students at an elite liberal arts college in Vermont. That may not sound like much, but the beginning of the novel reveals that one of these students is already dead, murdered. The novel is narrated by another one of these students, Richard, who reveals the events leading up to the murder.
Donna Tartt’s writing is sharp and beautiful. She can pull you along through scenery to arrive at a stunning realization all without you noticing. She reverse pick-pockets you, secretly putting things into your mind that you can’t forget.
This novel is written as a thriller, so if you like reading those, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by what you find here. The length will probably not bother you either. I read this book in only a few days.
3. The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin
Le Guin’s tale of twin utopias needs little introduction. Published in 1974, this novel went on to win the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards, an achievement as rare as spotting a unicorn riding a griffin.
We follow Shevek, a mathematician who lives on Anarres, a collectivist planet. He goes to Urras, a hyper-capitalist planet, to see if he can get any recognition for his work. This fish-out-of-water scenario leads to exanimation of what makes a utopia.
Le Guin is able to construct a believable world using only the barest of suggestion. That’s how this 300-page novel is able to pack in more worldbuilding than a lot of 600-page epic space operas.
No matter what your thoughts are on the topics addressed, The Dispossessed will surely make you question some of what you thought to be true, even though this book is over 50 years old.
2. A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg
This was the first book I finished in 2024, and it remained my number one book of the year until something snuck in and replaced it. Despite that, A Time of Changes is a novel I will never forget. It won the 1971 Nebula Award.
The novel is set in the far future on a distant planet. In this society, the words I and me are forbidden, as they express individuality. The protagonist, Kinnall Darival, starts to take a drug so he can gain telepathic contact with others. This sharing causes him to question the society he lives in and lead a revolution.
The story is told in the first person, in a confessional and contemplative manner. The narrator of the audiobook, Grover Gardner, pulled me along in his narration. The novel is short, but it packs a punch. I am slightly jealous of myself one year ago, when I first borrowed this audiobook from the library with no idea if I would like it or not. Thankfully, it exceeded my expectations.
One of the last audiobooks I listened to this year, Piranesi managed to snag the number one spot away from A Time of Changes to become my favorite read of 2024. This short fantastical tale tells of a kind and gentle man named Piranesi who lives in an infinite house filled with infinite statues. He studies these statues, as well as the tides that inundate some of the halls of the house. He also has a keen interest in birds.
This novel isn’t what I expected at all. It starts very strangely, and only gets stranger from there. We have another character known only as “The Other” who is doing research of his own in this strange place. No one else seems to exist in this world. Over the course of the novel, Piranesi discovers that his world isn’t what he thinks it is. “The Other” is up to something, and it may not be benevolent.
I loved the worldbuilding in this novel, as well as the creative way Piranesi interacts with his surroundings. The text is all from his own notebooks, which he keeps in meticulous care. The writing is beautiful and dazzling, and I found myself wanting to walk through the halls of Piranesi’s house, even though they sound spooky.
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There you have it. There’s my top 10 books read in 2024. You might notice a pattern. I certainly do. Most of these books are decades old, and not a lot of them are epic fantasy or space opera series, two of the kinds of reads I indulge in on a regular basis. A lot of the books are on the shorter side, and lot of them lean towards the fantastical. Not sure what this says about my reading tastes, but once we’re back here in one year, I can see if the pattern holds, or if 2025 has a different theme entirely.
The Night Bulletin 