The Best Books of 2024

2024 is over and now it’s time to talk about the books. As you probably know, this year I kept tedious track of the books I read, so in this post I’m sharing the stats and my twelve favorite books of the year.

Stats:

This year I read a grand total of 108 books this year, which for those of us keeping track is 1 book more than last year. 
    
Out of that 108, 100 were fiction, 6 were nonfiction and two were in other categories such as poetry. I dnfed 20 books which aren’t counted in the grand total.
    
My most read genre this year was historical fiction, and my most read author was L.M. Montgomery (I read seven books by her and some various shorter works.)
    
This year was a year of branching out, a year of adult historical fiction, middle-grade comforts, dense classics, Montgomery and Austen, facsimiles, audiobooks, memoirs, and ya fantasy.
I rated 105 out of the 108 books I read, and my most common rating was three stars.

    
​Now, let’s get into what you’re really here for, my favorite books of the year. These are the books that I would hand to anyone who reads this blog to read. These are the best of the best, varying in all categories. Each of these books were rated 5 out of 5 stars and were books that I read for the first time in 2024.

​The Golden Road by L.M. Montgomery
Genre - vintage children's fiction

This book is the follow up to my favorite book of 2022, The Story Girl. It’s a book about a group of friends and cousins who live on Prince Edward Island and the stories Sarah tells them. In this book the children create a newspaper and we see more of the other characters. The book primarily focuses on the characters growing up and growing apart in a beautiful and impactful way.

It’s touching and moving, beautifully written (perhaps the most beautifully written L.M. Montgomery book), and very funny. This book is really hard to sum up because it’s neither plot nor character driven. Read The Story Girl first, and then have the time of your life with The Golden Road.

​“Once upon a time we all walked on the golden road. It was a fair highway, through the Land of Lost Delight; shadow and sunshine were blessedly mingled, and every turn and dip revealed a fresh charm and new loveliness to eager hearts and unspoiled eyes.”

The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella
Genre - Christian Young Adult Dystopian Fantasy (yes I made that genre up)
    
If there ever was a book written with me in mind, this might be the one. It follows Alice Liddel, a 16 year old girl living in Oxford in a world that bans magic. Alice doesn’t like to follow the grain, and is curious about a secret underground group of people called Wonders. Through a course of events she finds herself in Wonderland and competing in the famed Wonderland Trials. 
    
​This book is fast paced and exciting, a new spin on Lewis Carroll's Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with an edgy yet cozy vibe. Tea, Alice in Wonderland, Oxford, an edgy yet shy main character, magic, friendship, and annoyingly charming boys with pink streaks in their hair. This book was a knockout for me.

Me, Myself, and Bob by Phil Vischer
Genre- memoir
    
This book is Phil Vischer, the creator of Veggietales’ story. It’s about his journey to creating the first direct to video computer animated series and how God worked through his company Big Idea.
    
He writes about the mechanics of animating a singing cucumber, the Veggietales theme park that never came to be, a clears the air about the events that eventually caused Big Idea to go under and what that meant for his life and his faith. All throughout the book he talks about his journey with God and how God led him through his journey. The book is about the power of dreams, and more importantly the valuing our relationship with God more than our dreams.
    
This book was amazing, it made me cry and it made me reconsider how I view my creativity. If you grew up on Veggietales, or are just in need of some inspiration this book is for you. It’s also funny, encouraging, and all about my favorite show growing up.

Little Women: The Official Movie Companion by Gina McIntyre
Genre - Idk
    
Okay, so hear me out on this one. This book is a behind the scenes look at Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. It touches on all of the little things that create a period drama. Interviews with actors and Greta herself, how the story was adapted, how Jaqueline Durran created the costumes, how the set was created to feel lived in, and even details about the food.
    
I know this book isn’t for everyone, but I had so much fun with it and it gave me a lot of information that really helped me with The Little Women Face-Off series I did on the blog.

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
Genre- historical fiction
    
I adored this World War Two historical fiction. It is truly everything I love in a book. It’s about Grace, a young woman who moves to London just before the onset of World War Two. She gets a job in a bookshop run by a crotchety old man, and tries her best to bring life to the shop. 
    
​During the Blitz she volunteers to patrol and help those injured by bombs. Using her newfound knowledge of books, Grace brings hope into people’s lives by hosting reading events at the bookshop and reading to people during bombings. This book is incredibly bookish, and charming. There is a sweet little romance subplot, and a female friendship subplot as well. 

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Genre- classic
    
The most widely hated of all of Jane Austen’s works quickly became one of my absolute favorites. This is the only book I read more than once this year, and also the only book I've annotated as hard as I annotated this.
    
It’s about Fanny Price, a young girl who goes to live with her wealthy relatives. She grows up in the lap of luxury, but she is a step behind her cousins in everything. The only person who really cares for her is her cousin Edmund. 
    
Fanny’s life is turned upside down when another family comes to Mansfield Park - the Crawfords. Mary Crawford who is a woman of the world, and Henry Crawford who is a notorious heartbreaker. Fanny sees right through them, but has to watch as her family falls for their charms.
    
More than any Jane Austen novel, this book is about religion and it’s place in society and why having strong moral character is so important. It can be slow, but I think it’s so worth it if you allow yourself to process all of the drama through a historical lens. I really love this book and think it’s so underrated. I spent a lot of time this past year thinking, researching, and writing about Mansfield Park and why I think it’s so incredibly important. If you would like to hear more about the book and the context and why I think it’s so great in detail, please let me know!
  
​ This probably shouldn’t be the first Austen book you pick up, but don’t let the rumors you may have heard about it scare you from reading it.

The Gorgeous Nothings by Emily Dickinson
Genre - poetry and literary analysis
    
Emily Dickinson has, in the past few years, become one of my favorite poets. She wasn’t very well known in her lifetime, most of her poems were written on random scraps of paper and hidden in her room. This book of facsimile scans brings her original works to light.

Most of Emily’s poems were written on envelopes, she would draft many poems multiple times and give word replacement choices in the original drafts. This book gives you a chance to experience Emily’s poetry in the way she originally wrote it. It also shows how Emily used the paper she wrote on to help convey the meaning of her poems, the different shapes of paper lend to the different kinds of poems and the subject matter of those poems.

​I really loved exploring Emily’s original work without having an editor clean up the poetry to make it more readable. This is a must read for Emily Dickinson fans, people who are fascinated by the 19th century, and anyone curious about the eternal value of ephemera.

A Drop of Golden Sun by Kate Saunders
Genre - middle-grade historical fiction
    
I discovered this book while in England and picked it up based on the cover. It’s inspired by the film The Sound of Music. The book follows Jenny, a young girl from London. She is cast in this film and her and three other kids go to France for filming. It’s a tender and fun book about making a film in the seventies. It also touches on a bunch of deep and sensitive topics in a very thoughtful and gentle way.
  
​ This book is full of glorious summer days, little bookish things, deep messages, and plenty of golden sunlight. It’s truly the perfect summer book.

Ignite by Kara Swanson
Genre- fantasy
    
This was the first book I was involved in the entirety of the release. It’s an amazing Chrisian fantasy novel about a phoenix girl named Mara. She is forced to hide her flame for reasons that she does not understand. When her flock disappears one day, she is forced to find them and ultimately herself.

This book is beautiful and heatbreaking. It empathetically addresses abuse and trauma and how someone can grow and become better despite their past.
    
​This book is also very atmospheric, it’s set in a world where the sun is dying and is covered in snow. It’s not normally a vibe I like, but in this case it really lent well to the story.

The Booklover’s Library by Madeline Martin
Genre - historical fiction 
    
This was the second Madeline Martin book I read in 2024 and I think I love it just a little more than The Last Bookshop in London. It’s about a single mother who has to send her daughter to the countryside during World War Two. She gets a job at a lending library and rediscovers a love of reading and how books help her with her daughter being gone.

​It’s such a beautiful story with a sweet romance, female friendships, and mother-daughter relationships. It can be a little intense at times (war novels can be that way.) But I genuinely loved this book so much.

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George
Genre- young adult fantasy
    
I am a sucker for a Cinderella retelling. This book is the second book in The Princess of The Midnight Ball Trilogy. It follows three characters, Poppy, Christian, and Eleanora. Eleanora is a maid who is entranced by a magical creature called The Corey who convinces her she is Eleanora’s fairy godmother. Enchantments begin popping up everywhere, and Poppy is determined to figure out what is going on.

​The romance was perfect and the book hit all of the Cinderella retelling points that I want a Cinderella retelling to hit. So good.

Now it's time for my favorite book of 2024...
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Part of My World by Jodi Benson
Genre- memoir
    
On looking back at the books I read this year this is the one that stood out as the most impactful. This is a book I have thought about so much and learned so much from. Jodi was the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. The book follows her life from her childhood, to meeting her husband, to getting her start on Broadway, as well as her experience working with Disney and everything that followed her after in her career. She also talks about being a Christian in the entertainment industry and how her faith in God has led her through her career. This book was amazing and touched on so many things that I am interested in.
  
I have also never cried so much reading a book as I cried reading this book. It’s truly an amazing book and I would highly recommend it.

So those are my favorite books of the year, what were yours? I would love to know!

Belle Thomas

Belle is the writer and dreamer behind An Old Fashioned Girl. She is passionate about reminding girls of their identity in Christ, classic books, history, Louisa May Alcott, and earl grey tea. ​​​​