These are all the books I read in 2024 – in separate catagories but in order of recommendation – so my very own Best Books List!
Best Fiction
Praiseworthy, Alexis Wright
Bee Sting, Paul Murray
The House of Doors, Tan Twan Eng
The Arch of Triumph, Eric Maria Remarque
The Empusium, Olga Tocarczuk
Second Best Fiction
Black Narcissus, Rumer Godden
Salonika Burning, Gail Jones
Father, Elizabeth von Armin
This Devastating Fever, Sophie Cunningham
The Post Office Girl, Stefan Zweig
Iris Murdoch – in a category of her own – all best books except the last
An Unofficial Rose
The Sea, The Sea
The Sandcastle
The Bell
The Black Prince
The Rest
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, Shankari Chandran
The Engagement, Chloe Hooper
Below the Styx, Michael Meehan
Force of Nature, Jane Harper
The Last Devil To Die, Richard Osman
Twelfth Night / Or What You Will, William Shakespeare
One Another, Gail Jones
Mr. Skeffington, Elizabeth von Armin
Baron Bagge, Alexander Lernet-Holenia
Getting It Right, Elizabeth Jane Howard
Not Recommended
Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood
Held, Anne Michaels
All Fours, Miranda July
This Plague of Souls, Mike McCormack
The Party, Tessa Hadley
Best Non-fiction
The Letters of Seamus Heaney, Christoper Reid
Stepping Stones, Dennis O’Driscoll
Being Wagner: The Triumph of the Will, Simon Callow
Question 7, Richard Flanagan
Second Best Non-fiction
Miss Dior: A Wartime Story of Courage and Couture, Justine Picardie
Lee Miller: On Both Sides of the Camera, Carolyn Burke
RSC William Shakespeare Complete Works, Ed Jonathon Bate & Eric Rasmussen – Introduction
Enid, Robert Wainwright
Swimming With Seals, Victoria Whitworth
The Rest
Poetry Volumes & Translations, Seamus Heaney
Shooting The Actor, Simon Callow with Dûsan Makavejev
The Age of Shakespeare, Frank Kermode
Soul of the Age: the Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare, Jonathon Bate
Did I Ever Tell You This, Sam Neill
Metaphysical Animals, Clare Mac Cumhall
The Women Are Up To Something, Benjamin J. B. Lipscomb
Iris Murdoch: A Life, Peter J Conradi
The Friday Afternoons Club, Griffin Dunne
Young H G Wells, Claire Tomalin
Days Like These, Michael Gurr
Diary of a Foreigner in Paris, Curzio Malaparte
Not Recommended
Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction, intrigue and power, Sonia Purcell
Sleeping With The Enemy: Coco Chanel Nazi Agent, Hal Vaughan
Agatha Christie Mysteries – in a category of their own – and always recommended
The Secret Adversary
Ordeal By Innocence
The ABC Murders
The Pale Horse
Five Little Pigs
Appointment With Death
The Mystery of the Blue Train
The Hollow, Agatha Christie
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