Best From My 2024 Reading List

The other day I finally sat down to make a list of books that I liked from last year’s reading pile. Making the list is relatively easy. I put books on the list that I liked. Books I remember.

It’s simple enough, isn’t it? Well, it is but I noticed two things while I was putting this list together.

Photo by Aliis Sinisalu on Unsplash

A) The majority of the writer’s of the books I liked the most were men.
B) I had a serious problem saying anything interesting about the books I liked.

My favourite book from last year’s pile was without a doubt CRYPT OF THE MOON SPIDER by Nathan Ballingrud. It spoke to me in a way a book hasn’t in a long time. The story of Veronica and the horrible things she goes through and how she manages, against ALL odds to turn the situation in her favour. It is a book without it’s like and I encourage anyone and everyone to read it. Can’t wait for the sequel, and believe me I NEVER say that. I rarely even read books I know have a sequel.

Next in line was a book by Steven L. Peck called A SHORT STAY IN HELL.

I am a big fan of Hellscapes. I like to read about different religions versions of hell as well as different individual people’s vision of hell. This means anything from the film EVENT HORIZON to Wayne Barlowe’s GODS DEMON. Peck’s vision of hell is especially intriguing as it envisions hell as a giant library, a thing that seems quite delightful for a bookworm like myself, yet this turns out to be horrifying as the books are mostly gibberish and you have to find one special book in the vast, unfathomable sea of books in a library that has any and all conceivable books. It is a bleak world, intriguing and in its own way quite terrifying.

The rest come in no special order. UZUMAKI is a Japanese graphic novel by Junji Ito. A spiralling cosmic horror that apparently partially inspired the video game Bloodborne among other things. I really liked it.

Then there was RUSSIAN GOTHIC by Aleksandr Skorobogatov is a book that seems to come out of the past (because it does) but feels current in its discussion of misogyny, violence, love and grief.

SWIMMING IN PARIS by Colombe Schneck is autofiction set in Paris and written in a way that sheds a light on the female experience in a way that is rare to see or read about. it is heartfelt, intimate and honest. I loved it.

WE USED TO LIVE HERE by Marcus Kliewer is a haunted house story, quite intriguing and a bit different. I liked it, not least because of the ending.

That’s six books and with only one female author.

But here are some honourable mentions, books I read that stayed with me and stuck in my head. The first that comes to mind is SKELETON KING by Charity B. It is based somewhat on NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS with it’s own twist on the characters and it’s own, somewhat perverted, story. I quite liked what Charity B did in this book and it has stayed with me since. I may need to find more of her books.

DARK HARVEST by Norman Partridge is a strange, fast-paced story about dire fates of youngsters in a harvesting town. The story felt familiar, possibly because I’d seen the film but I must say I appreciated the book much more. I bought it for the delightful cover but fell into it quickly and am not sorry I did.

I started reading THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS by Rupert Thomson on a day when I was supposed to travel from Norwich to Copenhagen. I borrowed the book and I believe I had finished it when I sat down on the plane in Stansted, having read it all day on the train and at the airport. It is a horrifying psychological thriller about a man who gets kidnapped and raped. It is a ruthless discussion about consent and societies norms and rules and what we think can and cannot happen. It is ruthless, quite bleak and discusses societies norms in an unconventional way, experiments with what is acceptable and what toll a terrible experience can have on a human being.

NO ONE WILL COME BACK FOR US is a short story collection by Premee Mohamed. Delightfully horrifying cosmic horror stories that I feel like delving into again. And maybe I will, re-reading has never been my forté but I just finished re-reading CRYPT OF THE MOON SPIDER and what is more fitting for a re-read than cosmic horror inspired short stories?

The last book I’ll mention from the list of notable books I read last year is terrifying without being a horror story. Truth is always more horrifying than fiction, isn’t it? And this one paints a picture so vivid, a warning so tangible it is astounding that we seem to be walking down the same road again. This is a book you need to read. And keep in mind that the author is showing his true colours in every word, showing you just what was important to him at the same time that he shows you that terrible people are just normal human beings, and not anything special. COMMANDANT OF AUSCHWITZ: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RUDOLF HÖSS is a horrifying read, and not for the faint of heart. It serves as a reminder and a showcase of what can become of regular human beings in a world that is hostile and dark. It is a reminder that darkness isn’t necessarily something in the past, something that belongs to the devil or the antichrist or Hitler but consumes even others, the people born of a society that has failed them. This is a book that everyone should read because it shows you the truth face of evil. He wrote this book in prison and the income from it went (goes?) to the victims of the holocaust.

When I tried to write this before I decided instead to start a reading journal. Why I haven’t done that before is beyond me. It is fun, I get to use stickers and make utterly grotesque drawings that nobody needs to see. I can make notes on the things I am reading and note my thoughts and reactions to certain things I read. And that too can make me more mindful about what books I pick up. Like the fact that I need to pick up more books by women. I am an utter believer in the literary theory about the Death of the Author but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a bit mindful about the books I decide to read and who has written them. Having started this year strongly with INCIDENTS AROUND THE HOUSE by Josh Malerman, a book I can recommend to people who are interested in child narrators and haunted stories. The ending is excellent. Then there is BARROWBECK by Andrew Micheal Hurley and I am now listening to THE CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS by Haruki Murakami and STAR MAKER by Olaf Stapledon. I am also currently reading NOT FOREVER BUT FOR NOW by Chuck Palahnuik.

So you see, dear reader, I have failed desperately so far.

So please - would you be so kind to recommend good books written by women? I have some on my TBR pile but I need more. Cosmic horror, horror of any kind or just interesting books, books that will blow your mind, my mind, like SWIMMING IN PARIS did.

Who knew that autoficiton could be so compelling?

Mindfulness