Top 10 books of 2024-WIP
Taste is subjective, especially when ranking something. There used to be a youtube channel that specialised in doing top 10 lists for film. However, instead of doing an arbitrary 1 to 10 list, they would select one aspect of a film, list a few examples that did it very well and then pickthier favourite of that particular type. If I ever recall what the channel was called, I will credit and link. In the spirit of that channel, please find below 10 books that I found memorable, meaningful, or that plain made me giggle and kick my heels in glee. I can’t promise they were the best books read in 2024. I can only say that I liked them or else found them memorable. Please be aware, there will be light spoilers for all books mentioned.
Most Memorable book that spoke to the current moment: "The Saint of Bright Doors" by Vajra Chandrasekera
2024 was a year of thwarted hope and increasing existential despair, at least for me. From the American election, the ongoing violence in Ukraine, the continuing genocide in Palestine and in Congo, as well as the systemic erosion of human rights and dignity for LGBTQ+ people and unhoused people closer to home, it is easy to fall into either uncaring cynicism or existential despair, instead of stepping back and asking what can be done?
I myself have always fallen back on fiction to try and find the answer to this question and to look for guidance. Jordan Ifueko's “The Maid and the Crocodile” asks what happens to the little people after broasd systemic change, and what can they do to make sure they are not crushed. Adrian Tchaikovsky's “House of Open Wounds” details the efforts of a fantasy MASH unit made up of the remaining priests of forbidden gods to survive and treat the soldiers of the empire that has killed and outlawed thier fellow-worshippers.
That said, for me the book that best spoke to the current moment is Vajra Chandrasekera's "The Saint of Bright Doors." "Saint of Bright Doors" is the tale of Fetter, a man who has been raised by birth by his mother, Mother-of-Glory to assasinate his father, a religious leader known as The Perfect and Kind who abandoned her and Fetter after attaining enlightenment. (N.B. The Perfect and Kind is a fantasy version of the Buddha) Now an adult, Fetter spends his days floating through life, helpping other imigrants to the citry of Liriat navigate paperwork and attending a support group for thwarted and failed chosen ones. His day to day passivity is interrupted by the impending arrival of The Perfect and Kind who is coming on pilgramage to Liriat, as well as the more revolutionary bents of members of his support group. Fetter begins to become more aware of not only his own past, but gradually awakens to the systemic injustices that plague the city of Liriat, realities which his day to day complacency and wealthy boyfriend have hitherto sheltered him from.
One thing I deeply appreciated about this novel is the way the symbolism is delightfully on the nose. When I say Fetter floats through life, he does so literally. His mother cut his shadow away when he was a baby, and so he has to concentrate in order to not constantly float a few inches off of the ground. When he grows in social awareness, he no longer floats without effort. He begins to need to focus and act in order to float, something which was once effortless.
The main question the novel poses is what changes the world. Early in childhood, Mother-of -Glory tells Fetter that "The only way to change the world is through intentional, directed violence." Fetter spends the rest of the novel wrestling with the question of whether this truly is the way to change the world, or not. The answer I think the novel leans towards is that intentional, directed violence is by itself insufficient to change the world, but it can act as a catalyst. When we last see Fetter, he is with the more revolutionary members of the support group, building a barricade and once again debating the question of directed violence as they work to push back against the systems of violence and oppression. Meanwhile, the narrator parts ways from Fetter, hopeful that Fetter will be able to manage by himself going forwards.
Part meditation on Buddhism and religious trauma, part post-colonial narrative of Sri Lanka, and part coming of age, "The Saint of Bright Doors" is a beautiful novel that sidesteps easy solutions or pat advice, even if the imagery can be very on-the nose.Most Memorable Novel Outside my Comfort Zone (i.e., a book that didn't work completely for me but was really good anyway): "Those Beyond the Wall" by Michaiah Johnson
Most Memorable YA novel-"Wszystko Inaczej" by Irena Jurgielewiczowa
YA is a marketing category encompassing a wide variety of genres, plots and motifs. As a category for sorting out what a book is actually about its basically useless. That said, it is increasingly treated not as a category, but as its own genre for both review and marketing, so in this I will bow to convention.
I read a lot of YA, and to be frank a lot of YA is really excellent. Joan He's historical fantasy retelling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms "Sound the Gong" was a fitting conclusion to an excellent duology, and had one of the most satisfying ambiguous endings I’ve read in a long time and the best WTF romance since "The Queen of Attolia." June Hur’s historical mystery "A Crane Among Wolves" is a well drawn portrait of a violent chapter in Joseon Korea, as well as a testament to love between sisters and the specific ways in which revolutions are compromised by those seeking personal power.
The Volume I am picking is one my mother lent to me "Wsystko Inaczej" (Everything Otherwise) by Irena Jurgielewiczowa, a novel that we would now probably class under contemporary YA. Well, it would have been contemporary YA when my mother read it for the first time (it was published in 1968), were it not that YA was not a marketing category back then.
This very slim novel of 140 pages tells the story of two bored teenagers in 1960's Warsaw. One is a 14 year old girl, Maja, who after failing geography has been barred from going to the seaside with her best friend as her parents think this friend is a poor influence on her. Living in the same apartment block she has recently moved to is a 16 year old boy, Michal, whose mother has left to study abroad for the summer in order to complete her masters degree and has left him with his stepfather. Michal feels guilty because before his mother left they had a tiff, and he is eagerly awaiting a letter from her that does not seem to be coming.
When the pair meet at the building’s postbox, it turns out that he is a whiz at geography, and so he offers to tutor her before she tackles her make-up exam. What follows is an exploration of friendship, responsibility, and the complexities of feeling like yesterday you were a kid, and you're not that any longer, but also, the adults around you aren't ready to see you as an equal yet.
The novel is also quietly haunted by the second world war. Michal's father had fought in the Warsaw Uprising (something the author also did), and while very little of the war is discussed, an early reflection on how it seems that his parents lived through and experienced so much, and how strange it is to just go on living normal quiet lives in the shadow of that knowledge. There is a theme of coming of age through a growing sense of social awareness and responsibility. For Michal, this is in realising that his step-father is also a human being, and that his mother has a right to her own interests. For Maja, this is the discovery that the post-box thief is a kid younger than she is, skinny and underfed.
A quiet novel about deep things, Wszsytko Inaczej is the novel that most perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being 14.Most Memorable Book that speaks to my specific experiences: "When Among Crows" by Veronica Roth
Most Memorable Nonfiction: "The White Mosque" by Sofia Samatar
Most Memorable Series: "The Neapolitan Novels" by Elena Ferrante
Most Memorable Novel that hit all my favourtite notes in fiction: "Long Live Evil" by Sarah Rees Brennan
Most Memorable Novel someone lent me:"Big Little Lies"by Liane Moriarty
Most delightfully twisted little beastie I read in 2024 "The Monster of Elendhaven"by Jennifer Giesbrecht
Most Memorable Novel of 2024: "The Spear Cuts Through Water"by Simon Jimenez