2024 50 BOOKERS ROUNDUP – buckle up, it’s a long’un
Firstly thanks go to the contributors: AgualusasLover, AlmanbyRoadtrip, BestIsWest, bibliomania, biedrona, BlueFairyBugsBooks, Boiledeggandtoast, cassandre, Cattenberg, Ceruleanmoon, Cherrypi, ChessieFL, ClaraTheImpossibleGirl, CornishLizard, CutFlowers, DesdamonasHandkerchief, DuPainDuVinDuFromage, EineReiseDurchDieZeit, elkiedee, FortunaMajor, FuzzyCaoraDhubh, GrannieMainland, Hellohah, highlandcoo, inaptonym, InTheCludgie, JaninaDuszejko, Kinsters, LadybirdDaphne, MamaNewtNewt, MegBusset, Midnightstar76, mugglewump, noodlezoodle, nowanearlyNicemum, Owlbookend, PermanentTemporary, Piggywaspushed, RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie, RomanMum, Sadik, SheilaFentiman, Southeastdweller, steponacrackbreakyourmothersback, Stowickthevast, StrangewaysHereWeCome, Tarahumara, Tarragon123, TattiePants, Terpsichore, TimeforaGandT, ÚlldemoShúl, Welshwabbit. Sorry if I’ve missed anyone out!
As with last year, this is only based on bolds (and stinkers), but these in themselves came to 970 lines representing 779 titles from the 50 Bookers above.
The Booker/Women’s Prize etc. longlists influenced the results, as well as thread recommendations throughout the year. It was really interesting to see the range of books listed, and I have definitely, definitely not reserved any from my local library on the strength of this exercise…
74% of bolds were fiction, 26% nonfiction, slightly higher than last year so we are reading more fiction, or at any rate more likely to recommend fiction. 61% were by women authors, 36% by male authors, and the remainder by other. Fiction by female authors was again the most popular combo.
Top Fictions in order of popularity:
'1. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
'2. Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
My Friends by Hisham Matar
Soldier Sailer by Claire Kilroy
'3. Foster by Claire Keegan
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan
Rivals by Jilly Cooper
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
'4. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Paper Cup by Karen Campbell
River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure
Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans
You Are Here by David Nicholls
'5. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
A Month in the Country by JL Carr
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Falling Animals by Sheila Armstrong
Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Top Non-Fictions in order of popularity:
'1. When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope
'2. My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss
Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death by Laura Cumming
Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder
'3. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
'4. A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney
A Village in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd and Angelika Patel
Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam
Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad by Daniel Finkelstein
The Great Post Office Scandal by Nick Wallis
Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall by Helena Merriman
So well done to Tarragon123 who predicted the top non-fiction.
In terms of the Duds, Disappointments and Downright Stinkers, congratulations to The Maiden by Kate Foster which topped the list, runners up being Broken Light by Joanne Harris and The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley.
The Bloody Boring Butler prize for the top divisive reads for this year, which some of us counted as bold, and some loathed, went to:
- 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee
- Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
- How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
- I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
- Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
- Orbital by Samantha Harvey
- The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
- The Maiden by Kate Foster
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- Ultraprocessed People by Chris van Tulleken
- Under Her Roof by A A Chaudhuri
The most popular authors who did not appear on the above lists were Mick Herron, Elizabeth Strout and Jonathan Stroud. We loved their work as a whole, just not one single book enough. On the other hand, there were some authors whose written work, according to these results, could either be outstanding or a load of twaddle (just for Remus) depending on which book you picked up, what I like to call ‘the Ben Myers collective’: Agatha Christie, Genevieve Cogman, Kate Atkinson, Liane Moriarty, Lisa Jewell, Nigel Slater, Richard Osman and Stephen King.
That’s all folks! I'm off for a lie down and a restorative… damn, it’s dry January.