Favourite books 2024

I had meant for this to be out earlier, but time got away from me — which is the theme of my reading year. Most notably, I’m going to fail my Goodreads target, unless I read 9 books in the next day and a bit (unlikely!).

I’ve also got 3 books on the go at once. I hate this happening, but once again time (and focusing on writing projects) got in the way. The 3 books being: The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective — Sara Lodge (research for a play I’m writing), Iron Flame — Rebecca Yarros (sequel to Fourth Wing, more on that later), and In Memoriam — Alice Winn (I bought this ages ago but as it’s a WW1 story, decided keep it for Remembrance time). As I say, I hate having unfinished things lying around, so I’ll be aiming to go back and read these in the New Year.

On the plus side, I’m now caught with all of the Sarah J Maas books (thank you to my pal Charlie for lending me her copies) and I look forward to digging more into the romantasy genre in the New Year (I have at least one V.E Schwab side eyeing me from my bookcase).

Anyway, here are 10 books that I did finish this year. A mix of fiction and non fiction, novels and plays. No particular order, all just for fun.

FICTION

Kingdom of Ash – Sarah J Maas

Sometime in 2023, I picked up an interesting looking book called A Court of Thorns and Roses. (ACOTAR) Little did I know this was the start of a love affair across 3 different series (ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, and Crescent City) and 23 books and counting. Each series has a different female central character, dealing with magic, dark threats, and romance.

While ACOTAR will always be my favourite, I spent most of 2024 reading the Throne of Glass series. I’ll admit that it took me a while to get into the series (I believe the TOG series includes some of SJM’s earliest writing), but stick with it, and it all pays off in the series finale, Kingdom of Ash. The writing is huge and epic, and it’s so frustrating that there are no firm plans for TV/Film adaptions of SJM’s work. However, she was pictured having lunch earlier this year with Margo Robbie, so fingers crossed.

Fourth Wing – Rebecca Yarros

Spending so much time in the SJM-verse, it felt such a wrench to leave it and I wondered if that was the end of the road for me and fantasy. However, I immediately fell for Rebecca Yarros Fourth Wing. The first in a series (the 3rd book is out in January), it tells the story of a world where you either become a dragon rider (terrifying, and chances of death are high) or a scribe (much safer). Violet Sorrengail has been training her whole life to be a scribe. However, her commanding general (who also happens to be Violet’s mother) forces Violet to switch her training to dragon riding. Political intrigue, engaging characters, and an enemies to lovers romance with the dashing Xaden, meant that I was unable to put this down.

I will find you — Harlan Coben

I am addicted to the Harlan Coben Netflix adaptions. Those twisty turny stories hit me just right, and I’m very excited about the latest one (Missing you) dropping on New Years Day. So this year I decided to seek out the actual books. I will find you tells the story of David, currently serving time for the murder of his son — despite the fact he is innocent. Five years into his imprisonment, his sister in law visits and tells David that his son may still be alive…An engaging thriller which kept me guessing until the end.

House of Earth and blood (Crescent City 1)– Sarah J Maas

More SJM. While ACOTAR and Throne of Glass have more traditional fantasy settings, Crescent City tells the story of Bryce Quinlan, a party girl living her best life in the nightclubs of a busy city. The brutal murder of Bryce’s best friend sets up a mystery that has Bryce teaming up with fallen Angel, Hunt Athalar. Out of all of the SJM books so far, it’s the final section of Crescent City 1 that had my heart racing the most. Books 2 and 3 (House of Sky and Breath and House of Flame and Shadow) are also out now.

PLAYS

A Tupperware of Ashes — Tanika Gupta

I read a lot of plays. When time and money and geography don’t allow, sometimes reading the playtext is the closest I’ll get to experiencing that work. Not the same of course, but sometime the only (and definitely the cheapest!) option. Unfortunately I’ve read some plays that I failed to connect with on paper, but then adored when I saw them performed. That wasn’t the case here. The story of chef Queenie, slowly losing her battle with dementia, absolutely leaps off the page. Thanks to Tanika Gupta’s engaging dialogue and well drawn characters, I could abosolutely hear Meera Syal’s portrayal as I read along. First performed at The National in the Autumn of 2024.

Some Demon — Laura Waldren

A play about a group of characters in an eating disorder unit may sound extremely dark, but there was just something in the way the characters gripped me, and the intriguing story line, that had me racing through this text. Waldren’s play won the Papatango prize for new writing, and ran at the Arcola Theatre during June/July this past year. Hopefully it gets a revival in the not too distant future.

The Human Body — Lucy Kirkwood

I’m a huge fan of Lucy Kirkwood, and copies of her plays The Children, Rapture, The Welkin, NSFW, and Chimerika, sit on my bookshelf. 2024 saw two big plays about the NHS. (The other being Nye, which I did see, so will appear on my theatre list). Kirkwood’s play tells the story of Iris Elcock, a GP, socialist, Labour Party counsellor, wife and mother, who is working hard to implement Nye Bevan’s NHS. However, a chance meeting with Hollywood actor George Blyth, makes her question everything. I also appreciated the play’s nods to Brief Encounter (one of my favourite films ever)

Bindweed — Martha Loader

This play may also have a dark synopsis (4 men convicted of domestic violence meet every week in a community centre, as they undergo a rehabilitation programme), but it’s elevated by the writing, which has a mixture of powerful moments and dark humour.

NON FICTION

The World only spins forward: the ascent of Angels in America – Isaac Butler and Dan Kois.

Tony Kushner’s two part theatrical epic Angels in America exploring the AIDS crisis, homosexuality, and faith in 1980s America, is the kind of theatrical experience that I one day hope to write. This complete oral history taking us right up to the 2017 National Theatre revival, is completely fascinating.

MCU: The rein of Marvel Studios – Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards.

I’ve long been the biggest defender of the MCU, but even I’ve struggled with their recent output. But this book outlining the growth of Marvel, and how they got to where they are, is a a really interesting read.

Coming soon: Favourite films and theatre from 2024. My favourite TV from the year can be found here