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Welcome to my favorite blog post of the year! These are the best books I've read so far in 2024. It's a short list because I've only read 34 books, so I'm just going to show off my top-top-top favorites, and I'm not going to include rereads. For extra drama, I organized the list countdown style.

Drumroll please . . . .

🥇  Best Books Of 2024 (So Far)  🏆

5. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Adult Fantasy

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success—not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

Why I recommend it: An orc, a succubus, and a Ratatouille open a Medieval Cinnabon . . .

I'm not sure why a book about working at a coffee shop is labeled "cozy." Have you ever had a customer service job? "Cozy" is the last thing I'd call it. Technically, the book is "cozy fantasy." The "fantasy" part is where the customers are nice to the staff.

Mostly, this novel made me crave cinnamon rolls.

Legends & Lattes is subtilty hilarious. Most of the humor comes from watching the characters step outside of stereotypes. Orcs and succubusses succubi aren't usually the heroes of stories. And there's an entire movie about how people don't want their cinnamon rolls cooked by Ratatouilles. It's amusing to watch the characters enthusiastically pursue their dreams while sidestepping everybody's expectations. There are even moments where Viv has to sidestep her own expectations. She's not a violent soldier anymore. Now she's a coffee shop owner and has to act accordingly.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It's quick and fun. I like fantasy worlds where customer service is "cozy."

Buy it on Amazon

4. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, And The Teachings Of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Adult Nature Nonfiction

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.

Why I recommend it: You don't need to be a scientist to understand this book. The author makes the information extremely accessible. I can feel her passion for plants through the text.

She has a lot of ideas that made me stop and think. Many of the essays focus on gratitude and reciprocity. She sees humans as part of nature and talks about how some plants—like sweetgrass—have evolved to live with us. We should treat these plants as gifts. Instead of being greedy, we should take what we need and then give back to the earth by protecting it. The author believes humans will be happier if we see ourselves as part of nature rather than the masters of it. If you put yourself above the rest of the world, you're going to be lonely.

I love that the author promotes passion and awareness. She believes that humans should use the earth's natural resources, but we need to do it responsibly and be aware of the consequences. She also talks about how science is useless without passion. You can study plants in a detached way, but if you don't have passion and wonder for your subject, the results of your study won't change anything.

I was sad when I dropped this book into the library's return slot. I want my own copy so I can fill it with sticky notes.

Buy it on Amazon

3. Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, And The Imposter Behind The World's Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson

Adult True Crime Nonfiction

In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage self-destruction. The supposed diary of a middle-class addict, Go Ask Alice terrified adults and cemented LSD's fearsome reputation, fueling support for the War on Drugs. Five million copies later, Go Ask Alice remains a divisive bestseller, outraging censors and earning new fans, all of them drawn by the book's mythic premise: A Real Diary, by Anonymous.

But Alice was only the beginning.

In 1979, another diary rattled the culture, setting the stage for a national meltdown. The posthumous memoir of an alleged teenage Satanist, Jay's Journal merged with a frightening new crisis—adolescent suicide—to create a literal witch hunt, shattering countless lives and poisoning whole communities.

In reality, Go Ask Alice and Jay's Journal came from the same dark place: Beatrice Sparks, a serial con artist who betrayed a grieving family, stole a dead boy's memory, and lied her way to the National Book Awards.

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries is a true story of contagious deception. It stretches from Hollywood to Quantico, and passes through a tiny patch of Utah nicknamed "the fraud capital of America." It's the story of a doomed romance and a vengeful celebrity. Of a lazy press and a public mob. Of two suicidal teenagers, and their exploitation by a literary vampire.

Unmask Alice . . . where truth is stranger than nonfiction.

Why I recommend it: It's the story of Mormon con artist Beatrice Sparks and how her collection of phony diaries sparked (hahaha) the Satanic Panic in the 1980s.

There's a lot going on in Unmask Alice. It's a mix of biography and history. It examines young adult literature and why it's so compelling. It's also a critique of the publishing industry and how it consistently puts profit ahead of people.

The author of Unmask Alice—Rick Emerson—was clearly inspired by Beatrice Sparks. Just like in Sparks' books, Unmask Alice has breakneck pacing and a plot that goes in a million directions at once. It leaves the reader breathless. You don't want to stop reading to question what's real. Like Sparks, the author inserts his opinions into everything. It's nonfiction, so you're inclined to believe what he's saying, but . . . the whole book is about an author who lied in nonfiction. How "nonfiction" is "nonfiction"? This book makes you question everything you've ever read.

I recommend Unmask Alice to anyone who's interested in 1980s culture or the publishing industry. It's provocative for sure.

Buy it on Amazon

2. The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett

Adult Historical Fiction

Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time: the twelfth century; the place: feudal England; and the subject: the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape.

Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters. Into their dreams, their labors, and their loves. Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.

The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

Why I recommend it: This is one of the biggest books I've ever conquered. Looking at it gave me chest pains because I knew it was a 976-page brick about building a cathedral. Yes, building a cathedral. How tedious can you get? It sounds miserable! I fully expected to read a few hundred pages and then quietly jam the book into the library return slot. (Can it even fit in the slot? Would it cause a minor earthquake when it hit the floor?)

But. Um. I read the whole book. All 976 pages. And I accidentally loved it? Seriously. This beast consumed my life for twenty-one days. I couldn't leave it alone. I miss lugging it around like a morbidly obese house cat.

It's a book about building a cathedral in the Middle Ages. I promise it doesn't suck! Actually, it's a lot like A Game of Thrones without dragons and zombies. It starts with a mason searching for a job and then keeps sprawling outward until it's about a whole town. There are a ton of characters, but I never got confused because they're developed beautifully. They have distinctive personalities and goals. I was never mad about switching perspectives because I was invested in this town. I wanted to be in everybody's business.

For a giant book, the pacing moves quickly, and there's a new plot twist every few chapters. I can tell that the author was originally a thriller writer. Nothing goes right for these characters.

Buy it on Amazon

1. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia Of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Adult Fantasy

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart.

Why I recommend it: It's a cozy fantasy where faeries casually decapitate one another.

I've been craving a medium-stakes fantasy book with fun characters and a world that doesn't require my whole brain to understand. This is the exact novel I wanted! I loved it!

The book has cozy vibes like a small town rom-com, but there's still danger because the faeries are unpredictably violent. They torture humans for fun. It's not always a light, whimsical story. However, it's not a stressful story either. That's probably because it's written like a diary. You know that Emily and Wendell are alive and safe because they're writing diary entries about the scary stuff they experienced. Dead people can't write. (I don't think . . .)

Speaking of Emily and Wendell, their banter is hilarious. They have big personalities and use their research to help humanity, even though they dislike people. I enjoyed reading about them.

You should believe the hype about this novel. It's a fun time. I'll be reading the sequel when my library gets it.

Buy it on Amazon

What's the best book you've read in 2024 (so far)?

Do you want more book recommendations? Here's my 2024 mid-year reading check-in.