Favourite Fiction of 2024… So Far 

I wish you had been my English Lit teacher. I would have understood so much more. Great choices x😊

My faves so far this year. 1. My Government Means to Kill Me - Rasheed Newson 2. Strangers - Taichi Yamada 3. Three Fires - Denise Mina (do on audio!) 4. Another Brooklyn - Jacqueline Woodson 5. The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle - Matt Cain 6. The Warm Hands of Ghosts - Katherine Arden 7. Lie With Me - Philippe Besson 8. The Reformatory - Tananarive Due 9. Blizzard - Marie Vingtras 10. Eastbound - Maylis De Kerangal And some crime to round out the list: 11. Helle & Death - Oskar Jensen 12. The Excitements - C J Wray 13. Over My Dead Body - Maz Evans 14. The Collapsing Wave - Doug Johnstone

Oooh, what a list. We may well have some mutual favourites of the year so far 😉🥳📚

Thank you for sharing these with us, Louise. My favourite books that I have read this year are: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler In Ascension by Martin McInnes Burnam Wood by Eleanor Catton Not a River by Selma Almada The Bee Sting by Paul Murray Happy reading for the second half of the year!!📚

My favorite books so far are: 'I have some questions for you' by Rebecca Mekkai, 'Exvangelicals' by Sarah McCammon and 'The Comfort of Crows' by Margaret Renkyl and 'The Storm We Made' by Vanessa Chan. I'd love to recommend Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. It was my absolute favorite book last year and is now my favorite book ever besides 'Poisonwood Bible'.

My favourite of this year so far is an oldy but a goody - The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher. 😊

Irish authors lead my fave books of the year every year. This year, debut novelist Alan Murrin is in the #1 position with “The Coast Road” followed closely by Orla Owen’s “Christ on a Bike.” I wasn’t going to bother with “Prophet Song” but you’ve swayed me.

I just got copy of Prophet Song after hearing your accolades. Cannot wait to read. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Yay to all the Irish! 🎉🇮🇪

I paused your video and immediately bought Ferdia Lennon’s book. It is one of Waterstones shortlisted books for a debut novel. Recently I was stunned to find that I own SO MANY Irish novels. I have read 7 of them this year. I hope to read more before the year is over. I want to read: Prophet Song, The Bee Sting, The Rachel Incident, and Kala.

My favourites so far this year Songs in Ursa Major - Emma Brodie Bright young women - Jessica Knoll The Sentence - Louise Erdrich The way home - Mark Boyle Assimilation- Sophie Buchaillard Arcadia - Lauren Groff Fruit of the drunken tree - Ingrid Rojas Cantreras The soul of a woman - Isabel Allende And currently reading The lost flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland 📚📚📚📚📚📚

Another great video Louise, as usual! I'm glad you've had such a good reading year! Thin Air and Prophet Song both sound so interesting, I really want to pick them up! I ordered a copy of Glorious Exploits on your recommendation and I'm so excited to read it soon! As an Irish woman, I'm happy to see so much Irish literature represented. 😂😂

Thanks a lot for your wonderful channel!

Lovely list of books. I too read and loved The Brotherless Night and Prophet Song.

Thank you for sharing. All of these books have been added to my list.

I, too, retired at the end of last year and have read over 50 books so far this year. I really enjoy your reading and it is informing my future reading choices. Thank you!

Hi Louise, My favorite books this year so far have been: 1. Us Against You - Fredik Backman (second book in Beartown series) 2. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - Isabel Wilkerson 3. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir 4. Looking for Jane - Heather Marshall 5. Everyone On This Train is a Suspect - Benajmin Stevenson (fave on this list) 6. Elle r'viendra pas, Camille : Journal d'un amoureux - Guillaume Pineault (French-Canadien book - doubtful this has been translated to English)

I also have a few of your favourites Louise, GE, PS, of which I’ve only read Brotherless Night so far. Always enjoy and appreciate your reviews that have added to my ever growing tbr😊📚

I totally agree with you....Prophet Song will hold a place in my mind and soul for a very long time. Thank you

Yay! A fellow StoryGraph user!

Totally with you in prophet son. Absolutely outstanding. Got the others on order from the library. My favourite this year has been The Women by Kristin Hannah. Just fantastic x

Fabulous necklace! Please “waffle” away, it’s always so interesting. All 6 sound wonderful, drat! must buy more books! Thank you for your great videos, they’re a highlight of my week….though my pile of to be reads is teetering dangerously….

I have enjoyed reading Carrie Sun's Private Equity-her harrowing account of working at a hedge fund in NYC, pushed by her parents Chinese cultural expectations of being 100% all the time and being at the top of her gain no matter what it costs her. I learned more about the Cultural Revolution in China than I had heard about before through her parents who escaped. Brotherless Night is on my TBR after I finish reading Force of Nature by Jane Harper. I will consider getting Thin Air as it sounds intriguing.

Hi Louise 👋🏻 I really enjoyed your ‘fave fiction so far 2024’ : of your 6 choices I have Ordinary Human Failings on library loan waiting to be read & I found Thin Air in a charity shop (following your previous recommendation 👍) I just totted up how many books I’ve read so far & it comes to 23, but I’m currently juggling 3 titles!! So, once I’ve finished those, I’ll be on target to read 50 for the year which was my goal. I’ve recently got distracted by the tennis & football, so need to focus more 😂 My top books to date are: Stanley & Elsie (Nicola Upson), The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence), The Essex Serpent (Sarah Perry), North Woods (Daniel Mason), Brotherless Night (V.V. Ganeshananthan) & I also enjoyed 2 of last year’s longlisted titles for the Booker Prize: The House of Doors (Tan Twan Eng) & Old God’s Time (Sebastian Barry). Prophet Song (Paul Lynch) was my winner & you described it perfectly 🥹 I’m looking forward to the longlist announcement (30/7) for this year’s Booker Prize & aim to read a few & definitely the shortlist again 😌 ttfn & tc 😘 x

I agree about Brotherless Night; I was so surprised to read the author had studied writing and had not become a doctor! I was sure she had lived the story she told.

I'd really like to pick up Ordinary Human Failings now. After your last video I mentioned that I was reading Beyond The Sea by Paul Lynch, which I finished last night. I almost didn't finish it because it was very dark and not the kind of novel I would ever normally pick up. I am still thinking about what rating I might give it but it certainly fits into that category of a novel taking you somewhere where you would never go and hopefully never experience! - After reading two of his novels now, I think it is very much Paul Lynch's style and that maybe all of his novels are like that? I might have to read more - but not yet - think I need a bit of a break!! So maybe it would appeal to you!

I enjoyed Cleopatra's Daughter, Mona At the Manor and others, it's taking me forever to finish the first Tommy and Tuppence Christie novel, really don't know why, unless it is because I started the others.😅

Would you ever consider doing a video on modern takes on the classical world with a look at the myths I would love that so much

These aren't in any order really: As long as the Lemon Trees grow by Zoulfa Katouh Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulson Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu The Oaken Heart by Margery Allingham Winter at Cliff's End Cottage by Sheila Norton These are the one's that I rated the highest, I think. I listened to Murder in the Mill-Race and The Oaken Heart on Audiobook, the narrators very good. I'm enjoying delving into British Murder Mysteries from the British Library's archives. Murder in the Mill-Race was originally published in 1952. I've listened to a number of them and enjoyed many, there is a lot of them on audio and available on eBooks today.

Glorious Exploits is my favourite book of the year so far (but then I haven't read Brotherless Night yet). I've recently been thinking about re-reading my A Level set texts (just the novels) as next year will be the 40th anniversary of me sitting my exams. I wonder if I'll hate them any less 😂

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What a great list. I too loved Ordinary Human Failings, Thin Air and Brotherless Night. This might be an odd question but when do you read?

Greatly list Louise! I've just finished Clytamestra by Costanza Casili. I'm not familiar enough with the source material to know how faithful it was to canon but ot was a very emotional, human story with a feminist agenda.

My favourites so far have been Pet by Catherine Chidgey In Memoriam by Alice Winn I did not enjoy Brotherless Night, I have very mixed feelings about this book, I started off by reading the book, I was finding it a bit flat and laborious so I switched to reading and listening. This was a bit of a mistake because the narration was dreadful, I could only listen for short periods of time. When I switched to reading I was definitely hearing a different more pleasant voice. However, the book which covered a fascinating period of history of which I was largely unaware, even though it happened in my lifetime. The whole history side of it is shocking but the delivery of it was disappointing. All of the characters were cardboard, lacked depth, personality and I really didn’t care about them. Such a shame because some of the scenes could have been very moving I know I am in the minority here especially as it won the Booker Prize