Crib Notes: My Top Ten Reads of 2024

A speedily compiled list of the best books I read (in the margins of motherhood) in 2024.

I finally managed to compile this last night (December 30th), whilst spending hours and hours putting both of my wildly out-of-routine children to bed.

So it’s a bit no frills.

Some stats:

• I read 54 books in 2024.

• 10 were audiobooks.

• 4 were short story collections (This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, Openings, She’s Always Hungry and Winter in the Air).

• 4 were rereads (Middlemarch, Jane & Prudence, In The Cut and Heartburn).

• I Did Not Finish 5 books. (I didn't actively dislike any of these books but I lost interest in them. On the other hand, I read the entirety of one novel I was hoping to love but which left me cold).

I loved so many of the books I read this year, it was a real challenge to pick just ten.

There's a real mix between books I read when the mental load felt weighty, and I wanted enjoyment and comfort; and books I read when I felt like my brain needed a jump-start.

Here they are.