Regardless year published, personal rating, number of NY Times bestselling-author quotes on the cover—here are the dozen or so books that stuck out this year. (For books published only in 2024, see here.)
Fiction
Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop – Early 20th century minor league baseball in the American south is probably not a setting many readers would jump at the chance to experience. Don't miss this novel. At least try a sample chapter or two. Bishop's authorial voice drips with flavor. Each character pops off the page. And the one, certain, specific, massively intriguing shout out to OG science fiction make this book something more fundamentally human, and one of the most singular reads you're likely to encounter.
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban – Though fewer and fewer since 1980 when it was published, Riddley Walker still gets accolades to this day. And for good reason. It tells of one young man's experience wandering a post-apocalyptic English landscape, and the encounters he has with tribalism andamid leftover civilization. The nove isl an experiment in language, so don't go in unless you're ready to read a lot of fonetik English. Possessing elements both dark and light, the third-choice ending—how Hoban closes this imaginative tale—is pitch perfect.
Black Helicopters by Caitlin R. Kiernan – Like the growth of a tree, plot is hard to see developing in Kiernan's Black Helicopters. That is not the reason to read. The unpacking of scenes, the exquisite, indirect prose, the nuance of character and dialogue, and yes, the gentle touch of something cosmically horrific are the reasons. This book will be to a minority's enjoyment; be warned. But for readers who look to more than simple plot, cozy characters, and a red bow wrapping things up for nourishment, have a look.
The Ragged Astronauts by Bob Shaw – The Ragged Astronauts is not a deep, sophisticated novel, but it is a unique one for its setting. Two planets exist in such close orbit that it's possible to travel by hot air balloon from one to another. Shaw makes this journey core to the book's plot concerns, does just enough with character to invest the reader, uses a semi-obtuse form of prose, and to keep things from being too pat, and kills a character every now and then. This is a good beach read.
Engine Summer by John Crowley – Though it was written before Riddley Walker, John Crowley's Engine Summer has similar DNA. A young man in a far future wanders a strange land, looking for himself as much as a direction in life. Crowley forces the reader through a steep learning curve of setting, but rewards them with imagination and perennial wisdom. The young man's journey could have done with better transitions, but the places he stops are well worth.
Juice by Tim Winton – Juice uses one man's personal story growing up in the searing Australian outback during peak global warming to examine and cross-examine capitalism. CEOs portrayed as gangsters, the story gets a keen edge when Winton takes Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil to their next logical conclusion in their fight against such powerful people. The ending, however, is open ended, letting the reader think back over the events of the story and form their own conclusion—the aspect of the book most controversial but perhaps most recommendable.
Memories of the Space Age by J.G. Ballard – This collection selects stories from throughout Ballard's ouevre around the theme of space. It contains most of Ballard's tricks (and treats), and thus likewise acts as something of a nutshell of his writing. The themes and set pieces are psychologically edgy, from dead astronauts orbiting earth in capsules to aviators wearing only goggles, space-shuttle theme parks to dying dreams of the stars, Ballard wastes no effort laying bear the less flashy side of NASA.
King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald – This is, at least for me, the ultimate faery novel. Three novellas, it starts in 19th century Ireland and one young woman's visions in the forest and ends in the 1990s with another young woman's visions of beasts and monsters on the streets of London, monsters she slays with a cyber katana, yes, cyber katana. While those eye-kicks may detract from the novel's credence for some would-be readers, each woman's plight is treated with the humanity it deserves. Top this off with McDonald's dynamic, immaculate prose, and you've got a winner.
Polostan by Neal Stephenson – I enjoyed Stephenson's Baroque Cycle—eight novels that brought to life the Renaissance, early Dutch stock markets, and global trade in a swashbuckling, alchemical adventure. Polostan is a return to that type of fiction—exploring history through drama and adventure, except this time it is the early 20th century. A woman, part Russian, part American, comes in ever closer contact to the discovery of neutrons and electrons, and just as much, the closer she gets to the early clashes of socialism and capitalism.
Land of the Headless by Adam Roberts – If you're concerned, ignore the title. This tale, while one indeed in a land where headlessness is possible, is much more a commentary on draconian adherence to religious dogma than cheap genre. Playing off strict legal interpretations of Christian and Muslim teachings, the novel featues a poet whose head is chopped off for a seemingly unworthy sin. Kept alive to do penance, he wanders the land poor and penniless (and headless), until falling in with a group of people who change his trajectory only further. Planetary laser battles, revenge stories, and a quest to find a woman take the story forward. This novel has all but disappeared from the internets, but it's worth seeking out—regardless what you think of the ending.
The Great When by Alan Moore – Take Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and garnish it with a Lovecraftian London, then sautee gently for forty-five minutes in a delicately chopped mix of the most Baroque prose you've read in a long time. Serve warm from the pan. This may be the novel that kept me up the longest in 2024. The story is good not great, so why? It's Moore' way with words—his style, his word play, and the way those give texture and flavor to the characters and their story. Young Dennis Knuckleyard, assistant bookshop keeper to Coughin' Ada, is caught up in an Other London beyond his comprehension. Don't be fooled by the mundaity of the title.
Stolen Faces by Michael Bishop – Yes, a second Bishop novel on this list. (If I do ever compile a 'best of' sf writers, Bishop will be somewhere near the peak.) Wildly different than Brittle Innings, Stolen Faces tells of a ship captain who is demoted for a bad deed and given the responsibility of managing a leper colony on a backwater planet. In exploring the social dynamics of the colony, the man comes upon some dark but undeniable truths of human existence. Generously peppered with Aztec imagery and culture, this is a short but punchy read with something meaningful to say.
Non-fiction
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt – Everyone above the age of 20, whether they know it or not, observes one thing every day: zombie nation—people absorbed in a screen and out of the world. Below the age of 20, that's not zombie nation: that's normal life. In this engaging book, Haidt llooks at the reasons why people below the age of twenty are experiencing statistically record amounts of depression and anxiety. If you have children, you owe it to yourself and to them to read. Favorite quote (paraphrased): We are no longer device consumers; we are the product.
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