Hello!

Arguably, it’s too far from the beginning of the year to be making a post like this, but in my defence I made my 24 in 2024 list in about November, so that was way too early! 😂 (and I posted the list on my YouTube channel when I was doing vlogmas so… if you average it out, I’m bang on time)

This is a concept that I only saw for the first time last year – people were choosing 23 books they wanted to read in 2023 and I was like that sounds fantastic – I glanced through my unread books and easily picked out a list that I was really eager to read… but then what I did was I spent the first two thirds of the year choosing what I read based almost entirely on my tbr jar (a jar that has all the titles of my unread books on bits of paper that is embarrassingly full) so I was relying entirely on fate as to whether I was actually going to read this books.

And considering this was my system, the fact I read 5 out of the 23 isn’t too bad at all! But looking at the concept more generally, 5 out of 23 is terrible and I know it.

But this year is a new year! I love a fresh start and 24 is divisible by 12 so I only need to read two of these books a month to actually achieve my goal! I was about to say I’m off to a great start but also there’s 10 books on my tbr for this month and I’m only just getting close to finishing the first one on the list and it’s the 18th as I write this so… maybe not getting off to the best start… Anyway!

These are the 24 books I’m going to actually make an effort to read in the year of 2024:

(in no particular order – there’s no favouritism yet)

Strong Female Character – Fern Brady

I first encountered Fern Brady when she was a contestant on Taskmaster and it was only doing the cursory googling of people you’re currently watching on TV that I found out that she was autistic, so when I saw she was releasing a book I was desperate to get my hands on it! I’m really intrigued to see how her comedic timing comes across on paper and I want to read what she has to say about her life as an autistic person in the public eye. The reviews I have seen on this have been really positive, plus I’m looking forward to actually having some non-fiction on my reading lists for this year!

The Name of The Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles #1) – Patrick Rothfuss

This one is a weird one – I accidentally bought a sequel novella called ‘The Slow Regard of Silent Things’ when I went to a Waterstones that had an entire basement level of sale stock, not realising that it was a sequel, let alone that it couldn’t really be read without reading the original texts! So I used a couple of audible credits to get the first book in the series, The Name of the Wind, and the sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear (it’s 42 hours long…) so that I will actually be able to read the novella I picked up cheap!

I have already started listening to The Name of the Wind and I’m only a few hours in (it’s 28 hours long, so also very long) which equates to about 10% and so far there hasn’t really been anything to sink my teeth into? But it’s one of those series’ that I’d never heard of but now that I’m aware of it, I see it everywhere and apparently it’s an unfinished trilogy that fans have been waiting for the conclusion for over a decade? So not sure whether starting this series is a good idea, but I do know that another novella was very recently released so at least there’s that…

The Hobbit – J.R.R.Tolkein

Am I a fake fantasy fan as I’ve not read this? Probably, but I feel very torn about Tolkein as an author – I love the Lord of the Rings movies and the general concept of the stories, I love the film ‘Tolkein’ starring Nicolas Hault – it’s arguably one of my favourite films of all time – but… I’m predicting that I won’t like his writing style.

I don’t enjoy literary fiction and I feel like Tolkein may be the pinnacle of literary fantasy and I think I’m going to find that style quite hard to comprehend – I’m a very basic reader! Give me a contemporary romance any day! So this one is on the list very hesitantly. But I am hoping to be proven wrong!

Powerless – Lauren Roberts

Here’s a secret I try not to shout about on the internet, but the original reason I initially took an interest in Powerless when I first saw people raving about it on TikTok, was because it’s a book by a debut author who has the same surname as I’ve taken as my married name, so I felt like I had to be supportive even though there’s a whole host of authors with the surname Roberts! But then it got super popular on TikTok anyway so the book absolutely didn’t need my silent support.

I’m hoping this is going to be the kind of book I can just absolutely devour and I’m really looking forward to it.

Girl, Goddess, Queen – Bea Fitzgerald

A Hades and Persephone retelling? When I spent what feels like hours of my life explaining the Hades and Persephone series by Scarlett St Clair because six books in two parallel trilogies is quite difficult to explain succinctly? Yeah, go on then. My sibling bought me the gorgeous Waterstones exclusive edition with the stunning sprayed edges as well so this one went almost immediately onto my January tbr list! (no, I haven’t started it yet, don’t ask)

The Fine Print – Lauren Asher

I’ve heard so much about the Dreamland Billionaires series and honestly, it checks all my boxes – contemporary romance about really rich guys who run an off-brand Disneyland? Yeah, I’m in. I’ve been very restrained and so far have only bought book 1 and intend to keep it that way until I know I actually like the series and the writing style, but reading this may force me to buy the rest of the series if I like it… just saying…

Verity – Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover as an author confuses me because everyone on TikTok seems to hate her books, but offline people in the ‘real world’ adore her – she’s always in the book charts, there’s always rows of her books on supermarket shelves and I feel very conflicted about having some of her books. I read and enjoyed ‘It Ends With Us’ and ‘It Starts With Us’ last year and one of the few reader friends I have recommended I move this to the top of my tbr so this is the closest I get to that! I’ve heard this is very fast paced and hard to put down and that’s the kind of book I want more of in 2024.

Gwen and Art Are Not In Love – Lex Croucher

Another author I’ve heard mixed things about but I haven’t read before – I’ve only ever known Lex as a YouTuber and initially thought this was another instance of another content creator being given the opportunity to write a book because they’ve got a platform, but from what I’ve seen, it’s that Lex no longer makes YouTube videos and is doing the author thing full time and honestly, that makes me feel much more inclined to read their books (I’ve been let down by Zoe Sugg too many times now). Plus, it’s a gay story set around Arthurian Legend and I bloody love some Arthurian Legend so I’m excited to read this one too (I’m excited to read all of these books, or they wouldn’t be on my tbr, obvs)

Darkness on the Edge of Town – Adam Christopher

This is an official book set in the Stranger Things universe that looks at Hopper’s story before the events of Season 1 – I’ve already read the other ST book ‘Suspicious Minds’ by Gwenda Bond and I honestly still think about how brilliant that book was regularly. So taking one of my absolute favourite characters from the show and an officially licensed set of books that I already know are good and we’re on to a winner. If there’s ever a Season 5 release date, maybe I’ll tie reading this in with that!

Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood – Sarah J Maas

Look, it’s been too long. I’ve been in the bookish corner of the internet without reading a single book by Sarah J Maas and this year it ends! Should I start with a finished series like Throne of Glass or a series that has a first book that isn’t long enough to actually be used as a brick like A Court of Thorns and Roses? No, I’m going in with the absolute chonker that is House of Earth and Blood. Book 3 is about to come out so if I like it, I’ve got plenty of content to get stuck in to!

Gild – Raven Kennedy

This is another fantasy series that has gone completely over my head that I’ve had plenty of people recommend to me and I’ve seen lots of people talking about on TikTok and I don’t really need anymore encouragement than that. Though, this is another series where I’ve been very sensible and only bought book 1, rather than buying the entire series before finding out if I actually like it.

One of Us is Lying – Karen M. McManus

Now, this one I’m not sure I’m going to like because I think I’m too old for YA, but it’s one that I’ve seen literally everywhere, I think it has a TV adaptation somewhere and it’s categorised as a mystery/thriller on Storygraph so if it’s not fast paced then I definitely won’t enjoy it. I loved A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and that’s a YA mystery I was probably too old to enjoy, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for this one.

Stone Blind – Natalie Haynes

It’s been a little while since I’ve mentioned a Greek retelling so here’s another one! A new take on Medusa’s story that has had rave reviews – Natalie Haynes is meant to be the Greek author, so I’m looking forward (shock horror ) to reading my first book by this author!

Immortal Longings – Chloe Gong

Another new author, this time (I believe) a Shakespeare retelling that somewhat gives off Hunger Games vibes? Chloe Gong is another one of those authors that has cemented herself as a TikTok favourite so I’m excited to be able to form my own opinion of her work.

Sixteen Souls – Rosie Talbot

Rosie is an author that originally found an audience in making booktok videos, then revealed she’d been working on her own story and just as she was about to self-publish she got a deal to be traditionally published and honestly, she’s living my dream! I have both Sixteen Souls and the sequel Twelve Bones on my shelves and I think I’m going to save this one to read in October because what better time is there to read a YA ghosty book than spooky season?

The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides

This is a book that I believe has become somewhat of a modern classic and considering I picked this up for about £1 in a charity shop, it’s satisfying before I even read it! This was a recommendation that game from gabbyreads via Chandler Ainsley on YouTube and I’m glad I’ve forced myself into having a reason to actually read it! This is another mystery/thriller and I don’t read a lot of those so it’s nice to diversify my genres a bit in this list.

Legends and Lattes – Travis Baldree

But not for long! We’re back to fantasy, but this time it’s cosy – this book’s tagline is ‘High fantasy. Low Stakes. Good company’ and honestly that sounds like a vibe I can get behind! I need some low stakes for both my mental and physical health and I believe there’s an aspect of romance here too, so this is one I was really glad to get my hands on when it was officially published in the UK last year.

The Cheat Sheet – Sarah Adams

It wouldn’t be a list of mine if there wasn’t some contemporary romance! The main reason I bought this is because the girl on the cover is wearing ballet shoes and despite the blurb saying she can’t dance anymore due to injury; as the girl that spent her entire childhood in a dance studio is really looking forward to reading a book that has dance in it. Any books with ballet in and I’m there, honestly! Plus, contemporary romance is always a nice, quick palette cleanser for me.

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece – Tom Hanks

Did I want to read this book entirely because Woody from Toy Story wrote it? Pretty much yeah. I’m intrigued to see what Tom Hanks is like as a writer, though I need to look into the context with which this was written and see whether a ghost writer was involved before I make any statements on Tom Hanks’ ability as a writer, but I do love books about famous people, movie stars and celebrities so I’m kind of hoping this will scratch that itch.

The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck – Sarah Knight

I definitely need a bit of a non-fiction after all that and I definitely need some education on how to give less fucks! I won this book in a giveaway when I lived in my old house, and I’ve been in my ‘new’ house for nearly three years now so it’s definitely passed it’s due to be read! This might be a birthday month read – September seems like a good time to learn how to give less fucks.

0.4 – Mike Lancaster

When I was making this list I went mostly through my tbr and listed titles I was really pulled by but I didn’t let myself reuse anything from my 2023 list because it felt like cheating (don’t ask why). I ended up with four spaces so I picked them out of my tbr jar to finish off the list and this was one of them!

I picked up this book when I was a teenager from my favourite bookstore (High Peak Bookstore, Buxton – if anyone’s interested!) which is like a massive discount warehouse, so I got it for about £2? I remember reading it when I was a teenager and thinking it was clever but I want to reread it to see whether I still like it enough to keep in my collection.

The Worst of Me – Kate Le Vann

Book 2 of the tbr jar pick and another one from my favourite bookstore! I either bought this when I was a teenager or on a COVID holiday in 2020, but it sounds like a very stereotypical YA romance and from the blurb, I know for a fact I wouldn’t choose to read this now so the benefit of having it on this list is that I am giving myself the opportunity to read it and if I hate it, fab – one less book on the tbr and one less book taking up space on my shelves, but if I like it, also fab – I’ve read a book I liked!

Radio Silence – Alice Oseman

Book 3 of the tbr jar picks feels a little bit like cheating because I had ‘Solitaire’ by Alice Oseman, which comes from the same collection as ‘Radio Silence’, on my 2023 list, but honestly, any opportunity to actually read Alice Oseman’s novels and I’m all over it! I absolutely adore their Heartstopper graphic novels and I’ve read the two novellas, so I know I like their writing style so I’m glad for the opportunity to actually read one of their full length novels, which will hopefully lead to me reading all of them!

The Book of Two Ways – Jodi Picoult

And the last of the tbr jar picks and the end of the list – this is a book I actually quite vividly remember buying as part of a 2 for £9 deal in Tesco because I thought the cover was pretty. I’ve attempted to read this book before and couldn’t quite figure it out, so this time if I find I still can’t get into it I might actually DNF it? I very rarely DNF (did not finish) books because I’m paranoid that they’ll start getting really good the page after I stop reading but I really want to be braver about conquering that fear and spending less time on books I don’t like, but I hope I do like it second time round!

And that’s it! There’s no way a post about 24 books wasn’t going to be long, but I’ve nearly cracked 3000 words with this one so if you’re still reading this far, I really appreciate it!

Fingers crossed I can manage more than 5 of these books this year!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx