Best Books of 2024

This post is so delayed. I was considering not making one at all (and I haven't posted on instagram either like I normally would have done) but since I have time now, I figured why not. I'm not ranking them since I have not given this as much thought as I used to in the past years. In general, I read far less this year.

• The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir

I remember reading this and being completely in awe of how much I understood the characters, even when I have never been in the same position they were in. I came out of this feeling like there is a universal experience of womanhood, to a certain extent. I am sure that's not true and can be taken as reductive of other women's experiences but it's a testament to de Beauvoir's writing prowess that she can make one empathize so deeply with her characters that one can almost follow the vicissitudes of their inner self.

• North Woods by Daniel Mason

This book features a big set of characters who are all connected by their relationship with a house in the woods of New England. The book spans centuries so it's interesting how one generation affects how the succeeding generations live, whether they know it or not. It's fascinating to see how the landscape changes and how it affects (and is affected by) the people who inhabit it. The image of the apple orchard is forever engraved in my head.

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

I love this book so much. It's a strong contender for top 1 if I were forced to rank these books. There is so much heart and tenderness in this novel. I am not a religious person at all but nevertheless felt that there was something beautiful about the way John Ames, the narrator, sees the world through the lens of his faith. I loved it so much that I immediately went and read the second book in the tetralogy. I was less impressed by that one, as it felt too winding without reaching a point. That does not dampen by enthusiasm for the series though and I am determined to finish it by this year.

• Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

I felt genuine excitement and thrill while reading this book. Much like Gilead, I also read the next installment as soon as I got hold of it. The second book did not disappoint but Harlem Shuffle is a more solid book, in my opinion. It's social commentary packaged in a fun heist. I was dismayed at how many people found this disappointing. From what i understand, they were looking for Ocean's 11 but got something else instead. Anyway, I'm glad I went into this blind because the experience was much more enjoyable that way.

• The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

Worlds of Exile and Illusion cemented my commitment to read anything of Le Guin that I can find so when I came across this book i just had to get it. It did not disappoint. I found the premise to be very interesting and it was executed very well. Le Guin does not offer solutions and it's fun to think about it long after you've finished the novel. I wrote a review of sorts here, if you're interested. 

The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk

First book of the year! It didn't quite fit the season but I had a good time reading it.

Our protagonist is Mieczysław Wojnicz, a young man sent by his father to a sanatorium in the mountains to recuperate from tuberculosis. Here he consorts with other guests in the Guesthouse for Gentlemen as they wait for a vacancy in the sanatorium. The bulk of the novel involves these men's "intellectual" conversations. Their chief topic is primarily their perceived inferiority of women compared to men. No matter their initial topic, they always seem to circle back to the question of women: are they deserving of respect or not? There are some crazy takes here that would have pissed me off if there wasn't a pervading sense that Tokarczuk is looking down on these characters. This is further reinforced by Tokarczuk's author's note at the end of the novel. The author's note honestly made me laugh out loud, especially since it came completely out of the blue. All these conversations take place in an eerie backdrop, a persistent feeling that something is wrong or about to go wrong.

The novel culminates in a fantastical scene where men are forcibly lead to the the forest, pied piper of Hamelin-style, and one of them is chosen as a sacrifice to appease the spirits. I read somewhere that Tokarczuk wrote this book out of spite and the ending does feel like a revenge. After the inane drivel from these men that we are forced to read, there is some satisfaction to be got from the ending. However, much of the action comes from the latter half of the novel, which may bother some readers.

Personally, I find that there is much to enjoy even in the quieter moments of the book. Early on I found Wojnicz to be a relatable character. He has an obsession with being observed by other people, imagining that someone is looking through holes in the wall or taking note of how he moves and presents himself. It is later revealed that this obsession stems from the fear of his secret being revealed. Wojnicz is in fact intersex but presents himself as a man. His father insists on manliness and tried hard throughout his childhood to suppress Wojnicz's feminine inclinations. While outwardly he appears as a man, isn't it an almost universal feminine experience to have a man in your head observing how you look, policing how you act? Wojnicz's desire to have a more 'appetizing' life I also found to be a painfully relatable. There is a lovely scene where he comes to terms with his condition and proceeds to buy macaroons in different colors and flavors. (Of course, I am not saying that these two things are a strictly feminine experience, nor that the feminine experience can be boiled down to these, but it was relevant to my own experience. Also, I refer to Wojnicz as 'him' because that is how he is referred to in the novel, even after it was revealed that he is intersex.)

Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain has been in my to-read list for a long time. Knowing that The Empusium is a novel borne out of Tocarczuk's anger and spite towards Mann's exclusion of women makes me want to read it even more, although now I am quite positive that it won't be a good experience.