2024 was an absolutely incredible year for reading for me and filled with so many memorable books that I keep recommending to friends and family right & left! I read 142 (!!!) books throughout this past year — far and away the most books I have ever read in a year. My goal was to read 72 books, and I am so pleased to have far surpassed and nearly doubled my annual goal. As many books as I was able to devour this year, though, it’s so much less about the number and surpassing a goal for me. Reading is and always has been one of the great loves of my life, and it’s something that has brought me deep happiness my entire life. Reading is a pure delight and joy, and I personally never want reading to be a chore or simply something to check off the list. There are SO MANY incredible books to be read, and my to-be-read book stack is constantly growing. I read quickly and often, but I barely feel like I can keep up with all of the books that I want to read and all of the knowledge I want to learn!

A few fun book stats for 2024:

142 books read

49,155 pages read

116 fiction books + 26 non-fiction books

50 library visits

read 100 books by August 22nd

I love when dear friends recommend books to me, and those are the ones that instantly go to the top of my reading queue. Truly, one of the happiest gifts I could ever give someone is a book that he or she loves and connects with, and the same is true when I am given an excellent book recommendation, too. I have shared annual book and reading recaps at the end of every year for quite a while now (2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2015, 2014, 2013, my 2022 non-fiction book list, my 2021 non-fiction book list, and my all time favorite books), and here is my 2024 recap of all of the very best books that I read this year! I hope some on this list inspire you to read them and love them, too.

My top 8 fiction books of 2024 include:

• Table for Two by Amor Towles
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
• How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
• The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon
• The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
• Family Family by Laurie Frankel
• Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

8 honorable mention/runner-up fiction books of 2024:

• How to Solve Your Own Murder
• How to Age Disgracefully
• The God of the Woods
• The Paris Novel
• The Echo of Old Books
• Funny Story
• The Women
• The Lost Story

My top 5 (new) non-fiction books of 2024 include:

• Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant
• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
• Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara
• Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten
• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia

5/5 rankings:

Table for Two

The Wedding People

Family Family

Hidden Potential (non-fiction)

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness (non-fiction)

beloved Mitford re-reads: At Home in Mitford, In This Mountain, A Common Life: A Wedding Story, Light from Heaven, Shepherds Abiding, Come Rain or Come Shine, & Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good

4.75/5 rankings:

The Briar Club

The Frozen River

How to Read a Book

Shark Heart

The Outlaw Noble Salt

Be Ready When the Luck Happens (non-fiction)

How to Solve Your Own Murder

The God of the Woods

How to Age Disgracefully

Funny Story

The Echo of Old Books

The Anxious Generation (non-fiction)

Unreasonable Hospitality (non-fiction)

The Paris Novel

The Women

Rebecca

4.5/5 rankings:

Outlive (non-fiction)

Where the Butterflies Wander

The Lost Story

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers

The Life Impossible

The Small and the Mighty (non-fiction)

All the Colors of the Dark

The Paris Daughter

Bright Young Women

The Comfort of Ghosts

The Last Love Note

How to Know a Person (non-fiction)

Why We Read (non-fiction)

The Sicilian Inheritance 

A Grief Observed (non-fiction)

4.25/5 rankings:

When the Jessamine Grows, The Saints of Swallow Hill, The Phoenix Crown, The Cliffs, The Unmaking of June Farrow, The Demon of Unrest (non-fiction), My Life in France (non-fiction), The Psychology of Money (non-fiction), The Guncle Abroad, The Magnolia Palace, Quiet (non-fiction), In Defense of Food (non-fiction), Beyond the Door of No Return, The Enchanted Hour (non-fiction), Birds of a Feather, Wellness, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, How to Say Babylon (non-fiction), Among the Mad, How to Stay Married (non-fiction), Leaving Everything Most Loved, Did You Hear about Kitty Karr?, The American Agent, The Consequences of Fear

4/5 rankings:

The Berry Pickers, The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post, Four Thousand Weeks (non-fiction), In the Shadows of the Greenbrier, The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County, The Lost Bookshop, The Mapping of Love and Death, Maisie Dobbs, The Cuban Heiress, The Last Train to Key West, An Incomplete Revenge, A Lesson in Secrets, Elegy for Eddie, Journey to Munich, In This Grave Hour, To Die But Once, The No-Show, None of This is True, A Sunlit Weapon, This Summer Will Be Different, Swan Song

3.75/5 or below rankings:

Banyan Moon (3.75), The Second Mrs. Astor (3.75), The White Lady (3.75), A Fatal Grace (3.75), The Matchmaker (3.75), The Rachel Incident (3.75), The Cruelest Month (3.75), The Feather Thief (3.75), Tell Me Everything (3.75), A Rule Against Murder (3.75), The Night We Lost Him (3.75), The Next Mrs. Parrish (3.75), Varina (3.75), The Perfect Couple (3.75), Husbands & Lovers (3.5), Becoming Madame Secretary (3.5), The Heiress (3.5), The Fury (3.5), Revenge of the Tipping Point (3.5), How to Do Nothing (3.5), The Wake-Up Call (3.5), Small Wonder (3.5), Expiration Dates (3.25), The Rumor (3.25), Here’s to Us (3.25), All This and More (3.25), The Hunter (3.25), The Summer Pact (3.25), Greek to Me (3.25), Commonwealth (3.25), The Kingdom of Prep (3.25), A Dangerous Place (3.25), The Other Mothers (3.25), The Road to Character (3), Still Life (3), Everyone on This Train is a Suspect (3), The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club (3), The Lioness of Boston (3), The Wife Stalker (3), An American Beauty (3), Kitchen Confidential (3), Here One Moment (3), Wives Like Us (2.75), Within Arm’s Reach (2.75), Watching You (2.75), Unsheltered (2.75), The Villa (2.75), Nightwoods (2.5), The Honeymoon Crashers (2.5), The Cautious Traveler’s Guide to the Wastelands (2.5), Come and Get It (2.25), The Southern Book Club Guide to Slaying Vampires (1)

I also had a goal to read 25 non-fiction books over the course of 2024, and I am very pleased that I read 26 non-fiction books this past year! I didn’t check every single book off my pre-set non-fiction book list for 2024 that I shared a year ago, but I did read many of them – plus many more. I love, love, love non-fiction books (fiction, too!) covering a wide range of topics and written by a wide range of authors. There is SO MUCH to learn, so much wisdom to soak up, so many unique perspectives to listen to and immerse myself in, and an incredible array of topics to discover and deepen my thinking and knowledge base. Many of my non-fiction reads cover topics that are deeply important to me, like faith, personal growth and development, and business – plus topics I just love reading about, like food and travel and interesting people. It’s so important to me to constantly be learning and to read the works of people I admire or look up to… and some who just entertain me! I’ll be sharing my 2025 non-fiction book selections very shortly.

Whew! It’s always hard – in a good way! – to narrow down my favorite books of the year, and what a fun year of reading it was. I am a little in awe that I managed to read 142 books this year (almost 50,000 pages!). I would highly, highly recommend all of the books that I shared above in the 4/5 rankings or higher, and obviously my favorite books and most recommended ones have the highest ratings and reviews. My library queue is already overflowing with books that I can’t wait to read in the new year.

Now it’s your turn! What is THE best book you’ve read in the last year? What’s your most recommended book to your own family or friends? I would absolutely love to hear from you and add to my queue, and I hope you enjoyed this roundup of my recent reads, as well!

I always share what I’m reading in real time over on Instagram (#stephaniereads), along with Goodreads – so find me on one or both of those! I share rankings and recommendations on Instagram Stories as I finish every book, so all of my reviews and recaps are on there. You can read a ton more previous blog posts of mine about books: my 2021 non-fiction book list, my favorite books of 2020, my favorite books of 2019, my favorite books ever, all things books, let’s talk about books, best books of 2014, best books of 2013, the South’s best books and authors, and plenty more in my blog’s archives!

Affiliate links are used in this post – but I can’t sing the praises of shopping from smaller, independent bookstores (or supporting the library!) enough!