At this time of year, it is hard to open the books section of a paper, or a literary magazine, without coming across a ‘Best of 2024’ feature or two (and we’ve done it already ourselves here). After the odd moment’s thought (and failing to think of something better) we decided to follow suit with a run down of our reviewers’ top books of the year.
The books are ordered only by the authors’ last name, as trying to rank them would have been like trying to nail a blancmange to the ceiling—almost impossible to pin down (should that be up?) yet fun to try, even as you see solidity slipping through your fingers, and wholly pointless.
Until August, Gabriel García Márquez trans. Anne McLean
Until August is not the best book on this list. Gabriel García Márquez suggested that much himself. “This book doesn’t work,” he said in 2004, ten years before his death. “It must be destroyed.” Critics largely agreed with him. They complained that the story of Ana Magdalena Bach’s summer flings paled in comparison with the Macondo-set One Hundred Years of Solitude, and not without reason. However, Until August is undoubtedly the most important book on this list.
It rivals the importance of other recent posthumously published books like Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman or Nabokov’s The Original of Laura and presents a rare opportunity for readers and academics alike. It provides insight into the aspects of story that Marquez valued as well as into his editorial process and is sure to be studied for years to come as a snapshot of the author at his rawest.
Elkyn Ernst
Piglet, Lottie Hazell
Piglet by Lottie Hazell is, without a doubt, one of the standout books of 2024 for me. This debut novel masterfully blends humour, heartache, and hunger into a stylish narrative that lingers long after the final page. On the surface, it’s the story of a woman juggling her love for food with her unravelling engagement, but beneath that lies a clever critique of societal pressures, class dynamics, and the delicate balance between desires and expectations.
Piglet’s journey to create the perfect wedding cake while grappling with betrayal and self-discovery is as poignant as it is deliciously relatable. There are numerous feminist novels on marriage and relationships but Hazell’s is tasteful and realistic. It’s equal parts tender, witty, and deeply satisfying—a standout book for 2024 that will leave you saying croquembouche for a week after reading it!
Georgia McInnes
The Price of Life, Jenny Kleeman
Have you ever considered how much your life is worth? You’d probably like to think it’s impossible to put an actual monetary figure on it. But as journalist Jenny Kleeman shows in this thought-provoking work of non-fiction, the institutions which run the world do just that every single day. The book examines twelve of the most common ways this happens, from situations when you can literally buy a human being, such as IVF (£13,750), to more oblique approaches, like the amount police budgets for solving homicides boils down to per life lost (£3,217,74).
By working through these startlingly unemotional costings, Kleeman exposes the numerous inequalities hiding in plain sight and raises uncomfortable moral questions about which lives we value most. The Price of Life’s unusual topic and endless disturbing revelations mean it will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading it—even if you’d rather it didn’t.
Eleanor Harvey
North Woods, Daniel Mason
Daniel Mason’s novel North Woods is one of this year’s literary standouts for its ambition and scope alone. Set on one plot of land in New England over the course of hundreds of years, it follows the stories of generations of characters, from Puritan colony runaways to lovelorn poets, from axe-wielding sisters to beetles and mountain lions. It is made up of part prose and part ephemera, with parts of the story being told via diary entries, letters, poems, songs and true crime magazine articles.
It is pure imagination, and the fact that it is so easy to get attached to the characters, even when there are so many and you spend a short time with each one, is a testament to Mason’s character writing. It is a story that feels as though there is room for it to go on forever, and that would be a pleasure to go on reading forever.
Casey Langton
Butter, Asako Yuzuki trans. Polly Barton
Asako Yuzuki’s Butter has become one of the standout books of 2024, earning widespread acclaim. With its rich food imagery that will leave readers craving the dishes described, the novel offers more than just incredible writing and an intriguing plot.
Butter explores the way Japanese women are viewed through the eyes of men, tackling societal beauty standards and the pressure women face to meet them.
The novel is based on the real-life ‘Konkatsu Killer’ case, in which Kanae Kijima, a woman proficient in cooking, was convicted of poisoning three of her male lovers. Using this dark inspiration, Yuzuki critiques the impossible beauty standards placed on women in Japan, examining how these pressures are internalized and perpetuated. Through its unforgettable characters and vivid imagery, Butter offers a powerful commentary on gender, identity, and the complexities of modern womanhood.
Emily Fletcher
Each of these books has impressed our reviewers enough to be chosen as their pick, out of all the books published this year. We can’t promise each and every one of you will enjoy each and every one of these books, but we think the odds are in our favour. You might also be tempted to draw conclusions about the wider state of literature from this list (good or bad), but before you do consider that it is more a snapshot than analytic study. The book world is so heavily shaped by trends and fashions—no doubt massaged by publicity departments—and so many books are published each year, that it is impossible to be abreast of every genre, mode, or form (and that is ignoring the Anglophone nature of this list, albeit one that does feature multiple works in translation).
So, take this list as a starting point rather than canon. If one of the books stands out to you, we’d recommend reading more of the author’s work, but also having a look at what else that reviewer has reviewed and enjoyed, as their tastes likely align with yours. Equally feel free to strenuously disagree. If there is a book that you think has been unjustly left out, pitch us something and argue for why it should be better known. Literature is always conversive, connecting writers and readers, and we hope to be a part of that conversation, whether you agree with our takes, or not.
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