TNQers Favourite Books Read In 2024

From the Editor’s Desk

At the end of the year, we asked our TNQ community to share their favourite books read in 2024. Here is what they recommended:

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

This powerful dystopian novel lays bare the failures of the prison system and suggests a path forward to meaningful change.

 Becky Blake

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Reading fiction opens up worlds. This book opened up a whole universe! It elbowed out Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, and Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being. I loved both and they perhaps made me think more, but if I must have only one favourite for 2024 it is this wonderful fantasy yarn for the cleverness and sheer fun of it.

Dominique Anfossi

The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey

Narrated by a magpie.

Nadja Lubiw-Hazard

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

I’ve discovered I really enjoy reading plays, a genre I never considered before. The visual they provide is extraordinary, differently than what is read in a novel. (This interest coincides with a return to thoroughly enjoying live theatre, after not having attended any for years.) And Dickens – this “less-popular” novel of his fell into my hands, and I was struck by how exquisitely he describes and captures the characters and settings and circumstances of the times.

Jill Jorgenson

James by Perceval Everett

It gives a beloved classic a new viewpoint.

Isobel Cunningham

I was totally drawn in to James’ world in the first chapter. Percival presented a scenario so far from the original Huck that I was reading with my mouth open. I gave it to a friend in Vernon BC this summer and it has made the rounds through his community.

Jamie McQuay

Hard Bargain Road by Susan Haldane

For the beauty of a poetic voice inspired by the rough Canadian landscape; the rhythms of rural life.

John Morris

Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez

The child and adult characters are complex and the story is moving without being sentimental. The multiple points of view creates a strong sense of the community in which the novel is set. The film is wonderful, too!

Janet Pollock

Toward Eternity by Anton Hur

It’s beautiful, ambitious, and one-of-a-kind. It reminds me that I’m part of a broader, collective human story.

Meghan Desjardins

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

If you want to read a beautifully hopeful story in the face of everything, and laugh while doing it, Kingfisher is the author for you.

Connie M

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Each section was written in a different voice and style so it was never boring and each chapter built on the previous one in sometimes obscure ways.

MJ Malleck

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Where do I start? Wonderful, heartfelt characters, humorous dialogue, rich use of language, full of heart and soul. And the baddies all get their comeuppance in the end!

Louise Fairley

Innards by Magogodi oaMphela Makhene

Lively original rendering of unfamiliar Soweto — everything unexpected yet elegant.

Terese Svoboda

A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje

For Ondaatje’s scrumptious use of language and imagery.

Deirdre Dwyer

Better Living Through Alchemy by Evan J Peterson

I really enjoy Evan’s writing and imagination. Better Living Through Alchemy reads like William S. Burroughs meets American Gods in a Micky Spillane tale. The sense of smell is paramount in this book, kinda like in Patrick Susskind’s Perfume, but taken in an entirely different occult direction. The book is queer AF, incorporates cut-up poetry, and is a romp of a read. And though it stands alone, the ending sets us up for possible sequels.

Shantell Powell

The Mother Act by Heidi Reimer

A brilliant page turner that kept my attention from start to finish. The ending is perfect and endings are hard. There is a scene where I got chills. I won’t name it because it’s a spoiler. The format is original and effective. This book tackles the complex topics of motherhood, career, and ambition with intelligence, humour, and raw honesty. Such a smart book that leaves you wondering about your own choices. A treat.

Lana Starchuck

All the Colour in the World by CS Richardson

I was wowed by the way Richardson integrates nonfiction elements from art history and theory in this beautiful short novel.

Renee Bondy

Lincoln In the Bardo by George Saunders

It’s the most innovative work I read this year. It’s whimsical and bizarre, but the historical aspects are so well researched that it’s easy to suspend disbelief. It left me loving and wanting to believe in ghosts.

Van Waffle

Where the Falcon Flies First by Adam Shoalts

For an incredible journey!

Deirdre Dwyer

The Work by Bren Simmers

The Work is a profoundly moving book of poems about dementia, death, and grief. Fun, right? But there is so much life here, baked into the energetic forms of the poems, and the fury of their content. As someone with a parent with dementia I felt consoled, and even a bit lighter, after reading it.

Rob Taylor

Wînipêk by Nigann Sinclair

I learned a lot about positive and negative things happening in Winnipeg and elsewhere in Canada. I also loved his humour and compassion.

Mairy

Warrior King by Wilbur Smith

Historically and culturally educational, suspenseful, and well written.

Max Vandersteen

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

One of the best novels I’ve ever read.

Earl Murphy

In Winter I Get Up At Night by Jane Urquhart

Don’t be fooled by the seemingly benign title or cover, by the trope of a woman remembering her past, or the family farm on the Prairies. When the twist comes, it is disturbing, shocking, and historically accurate. You’ll search back through the pages. I don’t know of another novel that has focused on this aspect of twentieth century Canadian life. A brilliant and unforgettable work of art.

Kevin Irie

The Covenant of Water by by Abraham Verghese

I had this book for months before I trepidatiously opened the cover. Cutting for Stone was going to be a hard act to follow. But even at almost 800 pages I wanted more. This is a beautiful multi-generational story based on the author’s mother set in India. It’s a novel of love, family, friendship and death spanning generations. It is a beautiful story, beautifully written. I couldn’t read anything else for weeks after finishing it. It is unforgetable.

 Catherine Malvern

The writing, the setting, the details, the characters, the intricacies of the plot spanning generations. Sometimes big books feel like they needed more editing, that they didn’t need to be so long. That was not the case with this rich and moving saga.

Kathy Stinson

Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese

Wagamese shows us a part of society we often don’t see or hear from.

Valerie White

Thank you to all of our TNQers who shared their favourite reads of 2024. May this list inspire and add to your own TBR list!