(Pretty Much) Every Book I Read in 2024

Best read with a cup of tea

After trying GoodReads again, starting - and failing to keep up with - a reading journal, and various attempts at spreadsheets, I now have a relatively low-tech and definitely low-key way of keeping track of what I’ve read (which I do mainly so I can actually remember it!). In Google Keep (my favourite version of a phone Notes app) I start a new note each month, and just note down the title of each book I’ve finished reading. No date stamps, no notes, no fuss.

And as the year has finished - I wanted to share the books with you. Once again, I read over 100 books in the year; although, as you’ll see, a big chunk of them are easy-reading fiction. I’m not reading a hundred tomes of serious non-fiction or classics! These easy reads are what I enjoy instead of watching much TV; I would much rather curl up with a book and a blanket. I’ve not narrowed down a ‘top ten’ or anything like that - but I have bolded some of the books that particularly stick with me as we move into the new year. I’ve also put a few words after each title to give you an idea of what the book is about - let me know if you like this format?

The book links are all affiliate links - it doesn’t cost you any more to buy a book through one of them but does mean I get a very small kickback from Amazon. Thanks in advance!

This is a long, full-of-links, email which will get cut-off by some email providers - I recommend clicking through to my Substack webpage; Substack is the service I use to send out these emails; think of it as a blogging platform hosting my one-woman magazine.

Alternatively, why not download the Substack App, which puts all your Substack newsletters in one place? I use it myself and really enjoy it.

1. Tommy Cabot Was Here - Cat Sebastian: gay, 1950s, Massachusetts academia

2. A Marvellous Light - Freya Marske: gay, Edwardian, magic

3. Peter Cabot Gets Lost - Cat Sebastian: gay, 1960s, US roadtrip

4. Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner: age-gap romance, best friend’s mom, college

5. Check and Mate - Ali Hazelwood: young adult, chess, family secrets

6. Eating for England - Nigel Slater (on audio): memoir, food, British people

7. Love and Other Words - Christina Lauren: second-chance romance, family secrets, opening up

8. Plot Twist - Erin La Rosa: book about books, romance, personal quest

9. The Book of Delights - Ross Gay: essays, ordinary wonders, beauty

   

   

   

10. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries - Heather Fawcett: magical academia, mystery, grumpy romance

11. The Siren of Sussex - Mimi Matthews: Victorian London, pushing boundaries, forbidden romance

12. Five Times Faster - Simon Sharpe: climate, science, diplomacy

13. A Restless Truth - Freya Marske: sapphic, murder mystery, cruise liner

14. The Belle of Belgrave Square - Mimi Matthews: Victorian London, marriage of convenience, reputations

15. Role Playing - Cathy Yardley: Demisexual rep, mistaken identities, grown-up romance.

16. A Season for Scandal - Laura Wood: Victorian London, women detectives, floristry

17. The Lily of Ludgate Hill - Mimi Matthews: Victorian London, slow-burn, getting gumption

18. Are You Happy Now - Hanna Jameson: pandemic (not Covid), melancholy, what-if

    

    

    

19. Paris Daillencourt Is About To Crumble - Alexis Hall (on audio): competitive baking, queer romance, mental health

20. The Fallback - Eleanor Goymer: falling in love with a friend, making a deal, great characters

21. The World After Alice - Lauren Aliza Green: family secrets, grief, wedding

22. Hither, Page - Cat Sebastian: post-war England, gay, spies

23. Maurice and Maralyn - Sophie Elmhirst: survival, sailing, true story

24. Better Hate Than Never - Chloe Liese: The Taming of the Shrew, enemies to lovers, neurodivergence

25. Second Chance Summer - Phillipa Ashley: Scilly Isles, personal rebuilding, romance

26. The Summer Skies - Jenny Colgan: grumpy/sunshine, Scottish islands, female pilot

27. It Had To Be You - Beth Moran: romance, family, caring

    

    

    

28. Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross: romantasy, magic typewriters, war journalism

29. Not The End Of The World - Dr Hannah Ritchie: data, climate optimism, science

30. Studies - Jenny Colgan: boarding school teachers, romance, student drama

31. The Persephone Code - Julia Golding: Illuminati, regency romance, thriller

32. Untypical - Pete Wharmby (audio): autism, memoir, handbook

33. Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships - Sarah Grunder Ruiz: superyacht, family, romance

34. The Pairing - Casey McQuiston: best friends, second chance romance, European food and wine tour

35. The Other Side of Disappearing - Kate Clayborn: true crime, family secrets, romance

36. The Paris Novel - Ruth Reichl: 1980s Paris, self-discovery, food and wine

    

    

    

37. Pure Juliet - Stella Gibbons: mathematical genius, eco-millionaire, eccentrics

38. Oar Than Friends - Lulu Moore: university rivalry, rowing, romance

39. Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots - Cat Sebastian: 1970s New York, community, gay romance

40. Love Your Life - Sophie Kinsella: holiday romance, opposites attract, rom-com

41. Life, Loss, and Puffins - Catherine Ryan Hyde: genius kid, outsiders, road trip

42. Enchantment - Katherine May: nature, spirituality, awe

43. Night Shift - Annie Crown: library, poetry, college romance

44. You’re The Problem, It’s You - Emma Alban: ‘gay Bridgerton’, enemies to lovers, banter

45. You Should Be So Lucky - Cat Sebastian: 1960s baseball, gay romance, journalism

    

    

    

46. Right On Cue - Falon Ballard: rom-com, Hollywood, on-screen couple

47. Coasting - Elise Downing: adventure, coast of Britain, perseverance

48. The Secret Book Club - Shauna Robinson: small town, breaking the rules, romance

49. The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy - Megan Bannen: fantasy rom-com, family tensions, unknown penpals

50. Funny Story - Emily Henry: her ex’s new fiancée’s ex, fake relationship, rom-com

51. Summer Romance - Annabel Monaghan: grief, co-parenting after divorce, romance

52. Behind Every Good Man - Sara Goodman Confino: 1960s politics, revenge, glow-up

53. I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston: small town high school, trail of clues, prom queen

54. Breathe - Sadiq Khan: air pollution, urbanism, green politics

    

    

    

55. I’m Mostly Here To Enjoy Myself - Glynnis MacNicol: Paris, shenanigans, living without a romantic partner

56. You Belong With Me - Mhairi McFarlane: celebrity/normal person, romance, shenanigans

57. My Name is Lucy Barton - Olive Kitteridge: mother-daughter relationship, literary, personal

58. Romantic Comedy - Curtis Sittenfeld (re-read): SNL, Covid, taking a chance on love

59. Cloistered - Catherine Coldstream: becoming a nun, life inside, leaving the convent

60. Match Point - Katherine Reilly: recovery from breakup, forced flatmate, tennis

61. Possible: Ways to Net Zero - Chris Goodall: climate tech, optimism, case studies

62. Lovelight Farms - BK Borison: Christmas tree farm, friends-to-lovers, fake relationship

63. In The Weeds - BK Borison: grumpy/sunshine, working with your one-night-stand, going offline

    

    

    

64. Float My Boat - Harri Beaumont: fake dating, rowing, team dynamics

65. The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen - KJ Charles: smuggling gangs, queer romance, historical Kent

66. Head Over Heels - Hannah Orenstein (re-read): Olympic gymnastics, getting your groove back, making a difference

67. A Lady’s Guide to Scandal - Sophie Irwin: young widow, roguish poet, Regency Bath

68. Tiny Beautiful Things - Cheryl Strayed: life advice, agony aunt, compassion

69. The Undermining of Twyla and Frank - Megan Bannen: friends to lovers, facing danger, dragons

70. Cacophony of Bone - Kerri ni Dochartaigh: isolation, partnership, Covid

71. Love Story - Lindsey Kelk: secret romance writer, forced proximity, back to your hometown

72. Autism in Heels - Jennifer Cook O’Toole: memoir, autism in women, self-discovery

    

    

    

73. Threadneedle - Cari Thomas: magic, embroidery, modern London

74. Slow Horses - Mick Herron: disgraced spies, thriller, ignoring orders

75. Teddy - Emily Dunlay: late 60s Rome, diplomacy, getting in over your head

76. Not Here To Make Friends - Jodi McAlister: friends-to-lovers, reality TV, main character energy

77. Mixed Signals - BK Borison: dating lessons, small business owner, long-term crush

78. What the Lady Wants - Emma Orchard: young widow, bucket list, friends to lovers

79. The Hike - Lucy Clarke: thriller, long-time friends, Norwegian wilds

80. The Manifesto On How To Be Interesting - Holly Bourne: YA, faking it, popularity

81. The Truants - Kate Weinberg: campus novel, breaking rules, murder mystery

    

    

    

82. I Love You, I Love You, I Love You - Laura Dockrill: 2000s, teenage love, sticking together

83. One Night Only - Catherine Walsh: forced to spend time with your one-night-stand, destination wedding, learning to trust in love

84. Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel (re-read): post-apocalypse, power of art, humanity

85. One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson: detective thriller, white-collar crime, murder in Edinburgh

86. Look Up, Handsome - Jack Strange: Hay-on-Wye, gay romance, bookshop owner

87. Probably Nothing - Lauren Bravo: accidental fake widow, people-pleasing, family dynamics

88. Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear: World War One ghosts, maid to private investigator, family secrets

89. The Collected Regrets of Clover - Mikki Brammer: death doula, remembering to live, going on a quest

90. The Wedding People - Alison Espach: running away, friendship, family secrets

    

    

    

91. The Year of Less - Cait Flanders: minimalism, money, relationships

92. Hope in the Dark - Rebecca Solnit: hope, activism, doing the work

93. Orbital - Samantha Harvey: space, humanity, science

94. Rewitched - Lucy Jane Wood: magic, quest, coming-of-age (at 30)

95. How To Stay Sane In An Age of Division - Elif Shafak: perseverance, hope, mental health

96. Christmas Is All Around - Martha Waters: rom-coms, tropes, film star

97. The Muse of Maiden Lane - Mimi Matthews: Victorian romance, art, disability

98. The Comeback - Ella Berman: coming-of-age, taking control of one’s own story, abuse

99. The Typo - Emily Kerr: rom-com, Edinburgh, theatre

    

    

    

100. Some Of Us Just Fall - Polly Atkinson: nature, chronic illness, identity

101. The Rom-Commers - Katherine Center: rom-com, Hollywood, ambition

102. Land of Milk and Honey - C Pam Zhang: climate fiction, plutocracy, hope

103. Playing The Field - Becky Ward: football, community, romance

104. The Life-Changing Magic of Falling in Love - Eve Devon: crosswords, hurt/comfort, community

105. The Other Half of Augusta Hope - Joanna Glen: family secrets, coincidence, humans being human

     

     

106. Sabriel - Garth Nix: magic, friendship, war

107. Morbidly Yours - Ivy Fairbanks: dating lessons, grumpy/sunshine, friendship

108. Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder - Kerryn Mayne: PTSD, friendship, secrets

109. The Kellerby Code - Jonny Sweet: thriller, secrets, “friendship”

110. Experienced - Kate Young: dating quest, confidence, friends-to-lovers

     

     

Well, that was a lot of books, wasn’t it?

Speak soon,

Lily