Best of 2024--Kelley's Quintessentials

Anytime spent reading is good. But, there are some books that are just quintessential. And these are my top six of 2024.

The time I spent with these characters and in the lives and minds of these humans has been a highlight of my reading this year. Often their words and actions still play in my mind.

Early this year I read A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi (translated by Hildegarde Serle). I laughed, I cried and I immediately called my sister. This book is about two sisters who reconnect when they empty out their grandmother’s house in Spain after her death. They revisit their childhood, both the triumphs and heartbreaks. They deal with the things that drove them apart.

This wonderful story is for anyone who has a beloved sister, a friend who feels just like a sister or for anyone who loves a well written book about two strong and very different young women.

Sally Rooney is a master of the craft and Intermezzo is her best book yet. This book follows brothers Ivan (a socially awkward chess prodigy) and Peter (a successful lawyer who struggles with his personal relationships) after the death of their father as they figure out life and love. Often messy and complicated, there is something about Peter and Ivan's story that immediately draws you in and leaves you rooting for them.

I love southern fiction with unique stories and characters and Jamie Quarto’s Two Step Devil delivers. This is the story of the Prophet, an artist who lives alone in the woods and sees visions of God. He has decided he must save a young woman he sees is handcuffed and being trafficked. Two Step Devil is a reckoning with religion, community, family and is so perfectly written.

Most book lovers know of Salman Rushdie and the vicious attack he faced. In Knife, Rushdie shares the details of the event that forever changed his life with honesty and an encouragement that speaking out matters. While at times hard to read, this book made me so thankful for the writers who put their heart and soul into their work and the readers they touch.

Martyr!, a debut novel by Kaveh Akbar, is so deserving of all the praise. It is the story of Cyrus Shams, an orphaned son of an Iranian immigrant who is struggling with sobriety and finding meaning in both life and death. A poet, Cyrus decides he is going to write about Martyrs and starts his journey by talking to a terminally ill artist whose final installation is Death Speak. This book is so beautifully written and despite its heavy topic, there is such humor and love in its pages.

Ta Nehisi Coates' The Message should be required reading. Moving essays from one of the most respected writers and journalists, The Message makes you think about race, complicity and our shared responsibility to each other while also underscoring the importance of stories and storytellers.