Ep. 172: Best Books of 2024 (So Far) with Susie and Catherine
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 26 June 2024
⏱️ 64 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Ep. 172, Susie Boutry (@NovelVisits), Catherine Gilmore (@GilmoreGuide), and I are together for the first time on the big show to catch up on our 2024 reading — so far!  We talk about the current publishing landscape, what books are topping bestseller lists to date, and our personal reading as it stands halfway through the year. We share our stats and talk about expectations and hopes for the remainder of the year. Plus, we each share our TOP 5 books and our biggest disappointments so far.
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CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.
The Bookish Landscape [1:51]
Books Mentioned
- James by Percival Everett [4:00]
- The Women by Kristin Hannah [4:14]
- Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder by Dav Pilkey [4:22]
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas [5:00]
- House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas [5:01]
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas [5:02]
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros [5:15]
- Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros [5:16]
- Atomic Habits by James Clear [5:17]
- Icebreaker by Hannah Grace [5:26]
Our Personal Reading for 2024 (So Far) [6:59]
Books Mentioned
- Medea by Eilish Quin [8:12]
- Sociopath by Patric Gagne, PhD [8:12]
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley [8:13]
- River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure [8:15]
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin [11:53]
- In Memoriam by Alice Winn [13:33]
- The Measure by Nikki Erlick [16:03]
- Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett [16:04]
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver [16:05]
Our Top Five (So Far) Â [16:49]
Sarah
- Leaving by Roxana Robinson | Amazon | Bookshop.org [19:18]
- Victim by Andrew Boryga | Amazon | Bookshop.org [24:50]
- Real Americans by Rachel Khong | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [32:05]
- Margo's Got Money Trouble by Rufi Thorpe | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:16]
- The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (July 2, 2024) | Amazon
Susie
- How We Named the Stars by Andrés N. Ordorica | Amazon | Bookshop.org[20:44]
- Wolf at the Table by Adam Rapp | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:50]
- Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen | Amazon | Bookshop.org [34:46]
- Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:28]
- Women and Children First by Alina Grabowski | Amazon | Bookshop.org[50:52]
Catherine
- James by Percival Everett | Amazon | Bookshop.org [22:43]
- Mercury by Amy Jo Burns | Amazon | Bookshop.org [29:39]
- The Women by Kristin Hannah | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:12]
- The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:31]
- I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:46]
Other Books Mentioned
- Shiner by Amy Jo Burns  [30:13]
- Cinderland by Amy Jo Burns [31:23]
- Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong [33:14]
- The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo [44:16]
- Long Bright River by Liz Moore [48:59]
- The Hunter's Daughter by Nicola Solvinic [49:28]
- No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister [51:37]
- The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring [51:40]
- Virgil Wander by Leif Enger [54:59]
- The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton [55:15]
- The Iliad by Homer [55:36]
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel [55:37]
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy [55:39]
Our Biggest Disappointments (So Far) Â [56:27]
Sarah
- Everyone On This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson | Amazon | Bookshop.org [56:35]
- Sandwich by Catherine Newman | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:45]
Susie
- After Annie by Anna Quindlen | Amazon | Bookshop.org [58:01]
- The Great Divide by Cristina HenrĂquez | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:01:17]
Catherine
- Family Family by Laurie Frankel | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:01]
- Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:02:00]
Other Books Mentioned
- Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson  [56:46]
- Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson (October 22, 2024) [57:17]
- We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman [59:51]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm your host, Sarah Dickinson. Join me every other week as we get real and sometimes a bit snarky about books and reading. Sometimes I'm joined by one of my co-hosts, Catherine, |
| 0:22.0 | from Gilmer Guide to Books, or Susie from Novel Visits. Other times, I talk with a bookish guest, |
| 0:28.4 | including authors and publishing insiders who give us a behind-the-scenes peek into different |
| 0:33.4 | corners of the book world. But always, we're bringing you great book recommendations in every |
| 0:39.3 | single episode. Let's get rolling. Welcome to our brand new best books of 24 so far episode. |
| 0:47.6 | This concept is obviously not brand new. Lots of people do this, but it is new for us. |
| 0:53.8 | I've been a little bit resistant to doing an |
| 0:55.8 | episode like this because it doesn't feel all that creative, but y'all have been requesting it |
| 1:00.6 | for a while now, and I do think it will be fun to record. And I think it'll be especially interesting |
| 1:06.4 | to look back at the end of the year and see what we said at mid-year and see what still holds true |
| 1:12.1 | and what has really changed by the end of the year. And it is the perfect opportunity to do a big |
| 1:17.9 | show with Catherine and Susie, which I know you all love. So welcome Catherine and Susie today. |
| 1:24.4 | Hi, everyone. Yes, I'm excited to do this show. All right, here's how we're going to do this |
| 1:29.8 | today. We will start with a little bit about the bookish landscape so far in 2024. Then we'll talk |
| 1:37.0 | about how our personal reading is going so far this year, in a general sense. Then we'll each share |
| 1:43.0 | our top five books of the year so far. |
| 1:46.0 | And finally, we will share a couple of our biggest disappointments of the year so far. |
| 1:51.6 | Kicking things off with the bookish landscape. A little bit about sales so far this year. |
| 1:57.3 | Adult fiction sales is up 3.6% in the first quarter of the year. Yay. Yep, right? And this next |
| 2:06.0 | point I feel like is the most interesting. Nonfiction, which has been soft over the past year, |
| 2:13.2 | declined 5.8% in Q1. So what the article said where I found this information was that people are using social media |
| 2:23.9 | to tell their stories and to educate. |
... |
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