MY FAVORITE READS OF 2024!
Another year gone and with it so many books. I did a lot of reading over the course of 2024 (I also got married but that’s another story) and after browsing through all the notes I took (nothing is cooler than writing book reports for fun) I have landed on the five works of fiction that made the biggest impact on me in 2024.
In no particular order here are my top 5 reads of 2024 and why I enjoyed them so much.
RUNNING THE LIGHT by SAM TALLENT
“In cities, no matter the night of the week, the party never had to end, but out in the Rest of It, in the remote blank nowheres, the night had a way of dying just when he was feeling the most alive.”
I’m a fan of Sam Tallent’s stand-up comedy so after seeing this book chilling in the background of several comedy related podcasts I thought I’d give it a go.
The story of a 52-year old drifter comedian Billy Ray Schaefer who lives out of his suitcase is fantastic to read. Schaefer is a veteran stand up with spots on Carson, Letterman and HBO under his belt but now he trudges along in small clubs because his reputation is tarnished following one scandal too many.
Still when Billy Ray goes up on stage he is in his element making crowds laugh. Unfortunately, like many tragic figures Billy Ray is his own worst enemy. You feel Billy Ray’s hangovers. You feel complicit as he freebases at a seedy motel at 4 in the morning or downs bourbon as soon as he wakes to keep his hands from shaking.
Billy Ray’s behavior has alienated anyone who was ever close to him but despite the self-loathing Billy Ray cant help but be who he is. Reading as he travels from gig to gig and the poor decisions he makes along the way is an excellent character study. Doing some research I learned that Garth Ennis is apparently writing the screenplay to the movie adaption. That’s always a plus!
Check out Running the Light or watch some of Tallent’s own stand-up comedy on Youtube when you can!
SILVER SURFER by DAN SLOTT & MICHAEL ALLRED
“Just because I have a giant brain for a head doesn’t mean I always know what to do.”
Norrin Rad/Silver Surfer was always one of the characters who was just kind of there. I knew about him, I knew his story but I never really had much of an opinion of him. That all changed with this series.
Yes, this is basically “What if Silver Surfer was told as a Doctor Who story?” But hey I love Doctor Who and this is definitely a unique take to bring over to Silver Surfer. Fortunately what results is Slott and Allred delivering an epic cosmic journey packed full of fun, heartbreaking and heartwarming moments. I was genuinely tearing up a little as I finished the final issue of this run.
This is will always be the series that got me interested Silver Surfer. Slott definitely shows that he has researched Norrin’s history and I can never get enough of Michael Allred’s pop-art style. I’ve loved his work on froother comic series like X-Statix or his own creator-owned comic Madman.
I read a lot of comics but in 2024 Slott & Allred’s Silver Surfer run was the comic that made the biggest impression on me.
SEA OF TRANQUILITY by EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL
“When have we ever believed that the world wasn’t ending?”
I loved Station Eleven when I read it a few years ago so I thought I’d read the author’s follow up novel.
Pleased to say that while I prefer Station Eleven, I found Sea of Tranquility to be a highly enjoyable sci-fi read. You think that the story is going in one direction as a time travel story but it is so much more than that and raises interesting questions regarding the time travel genre.
Moments when I’m reading a novel only for the rug to be pulled out from under me are some of the reasons why I enjoy reading so much in the first place. The descriptions of each segment from the early 20th century to the mid 22nd century were well described. The central characters from each segment were fun to read and included some surprising developments that increased the quality of the novel for me.
Fingers crossed that this gets adapted into a TV series like Station Eleven did.
ALL TOMORROWS: THE MYRIAD SPECIS & MIXED FORTUNES OF MAN by NEMO RAMJET (PSEUDONYM), C.M. KOSEMEN
“Humanity, once ruler of the stars, was now extinct. However, humans were not.”
Comic book writer Rick Remender once said that he felt that science fiction had “lost its balls.” I’ve long wondered exactly what that meant. After reading All Tomorrows by Nemo ramjet I believe that this is EXACTLY the type of story that gives Sci-fi its balls back.
The novel itself is a fairly brief read but it chronicles millions if not trillions of intergalactic history and evolution.
Humanity accomplishes space exploration and colonizing Mars just in time for a megalomaniacal alien species passes through and mutates human genetics into all sorts of monstrosities. Witness the living floor mats made of flesh and eyeballs, the twisted bug-facers, the relentless human-machines and the celestial star children.
The tomorrows in this novel bring about a future that is both nightmarish and awe-inspiring in its design.
The book includes illustrations of what these new creatures look like which is a huge help and certainly coveys the image of each new species.
One of my favorite moments is at the very end which I’ve included as the book’s image above. This isn’t so much a spoiler as the book is meant to be told from an alien tour guide billions of years in the future. Our narrator the alien guide (who looks like a three fingered hand giving the peace sign) is pictured holding a human skull…except they’re holding the skull upside down showing that even with all their research whatever sentient life exists in the distant future still finds present day aliens as foreign as we would find them.
WE USED TO LIVE HERE by MARCUS KLIEWER
“Even when the event was completely out of her control, even when the other party was blatantly overstepping her bounds, she always found a way to blame herself. Always felt this nagging sense of guilt for everything, as if her very existence was a violation of some stone-etched decree.”
From what I understand, this novel originally started out as a post on r/nosleep so it’s always great to see fellow fledgling writers get recognition for their writing. This novel does a stellar job gas-lighting the reader making them confused about what exactly is real.
The tension and uneasiness builds with the turn of each page. We know something is not right with the family visiting the main character at her home and the writing keeps you anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop. Also the book overcomes the typical pitfall of characters behaving like clichéd horror movie characters.
I wouldn’t call this novel a haunted house story as much as a psychological horror piece. We Used to Live Here is a creepy read and I am looking forward to where the author goes from here.
If you’ve made it this far thanks for reading! Here’s to all the great books waiting for all of us in 2025!
