Best of the Best: 2015 to 2024
Welcome to another seasonal “Best Of” list featuring my best reads of the years: 2015-2024.
Inspired by Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog, I’ve put together my own “Best of the Best” list which I’ll add to each year.
Each year I’ve been blogging, I’ve put together a most memorable reads of the year list (complete list for 2024 publishing tomorrow). Now, inspired by Davida, here are my top TEN reads of the last TEN years. I’ve only been blogging for seven and a half years, but I started keeping records a few years before that, so I’m including all ten years. For each year, I’ve included a link to my most memorable reads of that year. It’s excruciating to pick the best of the best and I’ve excluded many favorite reads. However, these are the books I still think about years after I’ve read them and will probably want to reread at some point.
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
2015:
(Preblogging) The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
(reviewed the first year I started blogging)
2016:
(Preblogging) Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (not reviewed on the blog)
2017:
(I didn’t choose a favorite this year because I chose to use categories.) Looking back at the list now, I will have to choose Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman as my favorite of the year (not reviewed on blog). See my complete list for the year here: 2017 Really Recommendable Reads
2018:
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
See my complete list for the year here: Most Memorable Reads of 2018
2019:
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
See my complete list for the year here: Most Memorable Reads of 2019
2020:
The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
See my complete list for the year here: Most Memorable Reads of 2020
2021:
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
See my complete list for the year here: Most Memorable Reads of 2021
2022:
The Girl From Guernica by Karen Robards
See my complete list for the year here: Most Memorable Reads of 2022.
2023:
Go as a River by Shelley Read
See my complete list for the year here: Most Memorable Reads of 2023
I’ve made a FREE Book Club Kit for Go as a River for your book club!
2024:
James by Percival Everett
My complete 2024 Most Memorable Reads list is publishing tomorrow.
I’ve created a FREE Book Club Kit for James for your book club!
Ranked in Order:
Ok….this isn’t my favorite thing to do but Davida has set the bar high, so I’ll give this daunting task a try! All of these are on my lifetime favorites list and I have vivid memories of reading each one. I have awarded each of these books five stars, so they could all be #1. Tomorrow I might arrange them differently.
#10
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
#9
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
#8
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
#7
Go as a River by Shelley Read
#6
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
#5
The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
#4
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
#3
The Girl From Guernica by Karen Robards
#2
James by Percival Everett
#1
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
(The book with the most emotional, heartfelt, and poignant ending.)
QOTD:
If you ranked your books over the past few years, which would be your #1 read?
Do you keep a list of favorites from year to year?
Do we share a favorite?
Happy Reading Book Buddies!
“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke
“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text
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Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.
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Nice post🌅🌅
Very nice! I’m glad I could be an inspiration. I’ll do my own sometime during January, but it is getting harder and harder to rank them…
Thanks! I try not to overthink it! Just figuring out where the current book fits and moving the rest up or down as a block.
Hi, Carol – I enjoyed your list of favourite reads. So far, I have read two on your list Eleanor Oliphant and The Bookwoman of Troublesome Crreek. My favourite reads this past year were Grapes of Wrath, To Kill A Mockingbird and Covenant of Water.
Wishing you a wonderful 2025 ahead.
All memorable reads!
Great list, Carol. I have read a few, but the ones that I put on my TBR shelf after seeing your recommendation still haven’t been read. I need to pick one each month to get them off that shelf. I think I will start with A Place For Us, being as I bought the audiobook.
Thanks Carla! That last part of A Place for Us is poignant and memorable!
What a good idea. It would be interesting to see over the years whether our favourites stay the same
Thanks!
Impressive feat, with some good/good looking picks.
I don’t know if I’d be able to do this, I’d overthink things and would spend an hour or so picking a book each year.
Each blogging year, I name my best book of the year, so it was east to collect titles from those posts. But if I had to start from scratch I’d definitely overthink it! Thanks for commenting!
[…] Reading Ladies’ Carol has a few 2024 Blog Reflections to kick off 2025 She also posted: Best of the Best: 2015 to 2024—a nigh-Herculean task Lashaan’s A Year in Review — 2024 at Roars and Echoes. I’m […]
Thanks so much! 🥂📚🙌
[…] Don’t miss my Most Memorable Reads of 2024 post!Also, this Best of the Best 2015-2014 post. […]