Best Reads of 2024 from Caroline Furlong
It’s been a long year. Why not revisit the highlights?
Whew! I don’t know about you, but after the wild year this has been, I need a drink and a good book to get lost in. At present I have several options to choose from.
But what about you? What have you got to read?
This past year I had the opportunity to pick up and devour — ahem, enjoy — several different tales and novels. Below are a few of those very books listed as suggestions for you to purchase for yourselves or others. With the holidays approaching, getting appropriate gifts is imperative!
All right, first on the list we have Sword’s Edge by L. S. King:
Review: Sword’s Edge by L. S. King
I read this novel in a day. Yes, really! I couldn’t put it down!
When I get the chance I am going to read the rest of the series.
This is the kind of sci-fi/fantasy I would have loved as a teen and which I wish I had read sooner!
Next on the list is Ordeal in Otherwhere by Andre Norton:
Review: Ordeal in Otherwhere by Andre Norton
As an avowed fan of Norton’s work, I do my best to read all the books she wrote, though not always the ones she wrote with other authors’ aid. (A. C. Crispin and P. M. Griffin are two of her co-authors who are well worth reading, though. Just check out these reviews here and here if you disbelieve me.) Ordeal was new to me and I am glad that I snatched it up when I did. It was fun.
Speaking of fun reads, here is Digital Disciple from Voyage Comics and Publishing:
Review – Digital Disciple: Carlo Acutis and the Eucharist
This is a short comic book that is very informative.
Until a few years ago I really did not know much about blessed Carlo Acutis, so the comic was helpful in giving me a broad outline of his life.
I definitely recommend it, especially since he will be canonized soon (if he hasn’t been already — I may have missed that memo in the general upheaval of the last few months).
Cirsova’s Summer Issue was my other big read of this year:
NEW Release and Review: Cirsova Magazine of Thrilling Adventure and Daring Suspense Issue #19 (Summer 2024)
“Songs of Loss and Love” by Jim Breyfogle and “Flyboy” by Blake Carpenter are still the standouts in this issue to me.
I loved them both and should reread them, along with the prequel to Yakov Merkin’s Amaranth Angels.
That issue has a great deal to recommend it, and so I heartily suggest purchasing it.
Two other books I enjoyed this year are Love at First Bite and Demons Are Forever, by Upstream’s own Declan Finn:
Business took over and so I still have not moved on to the next two books in the series, but I am looking forward to cracking them open in the near future. The same goes for their sequels, to be released soon.
Man, I did not know I could enjoy vampires this much!
Then we have The Tale of Patrick Peyton, again from Voyages Comics and Publishing:
Review: The Tale of Patrick Peyton
This was a sweet historical comic and I loved it. Voyage Comics has provided some very good comics that are difficult to put down, and to see faith portrayed so beautifully in this medium that I enjoy is a true gift. If I could hand out only one comic that they had created to readers, this one would be it.
Over on my own website, I review books as well.
A book I reviewed recently there was Rip the Falcon The Anthology by Riley Webber:
Some might remember Rip the Falcon, since I reviewed the related comic to the series here. It’s a very good series and I highly recommend it. The anthology collects all the scripts for the upcoming episodes of the animated web series, so if you want spoilers, consider checking out my review for The Anthology!
Then there was The Timeless by Richard Paolinelli and Gibson Buffa:
With the holidays coming up and it being difficult to find books that will entertain boys, I cannot recommend this novel enough. Middle graders as well as young adults will enjoy this short novel, and it is a quick read. You can learn more at the link, but suffice it to say this is a book more people need on their shelves!
Finally, allow me to suggest this non-fiction book on writing from C. Chancy – Gateway to Fiction:
https://carolinefurlong.wordpress.com/2024/09/27/review-gateway-to-fiction-by-c-chancy/
As I said in the review, I wish that this book had been available when I first began writing to market. The advice Ms. Chancy offers is well-considered, thorough, and easy to track down at need. She added an index and linked or cited her sources in each chapter. Those who know budding authors or want something to help steer them toward good ideas for their own work would do well to read this book.
There you have it, readers! Here is a list of some of the best books I have read this year. Have you read any that you would like to share? I’m open to suggestions – always! Drop your recommendations in the comments and I will see what I can do. Until then, enjoy the books linked above and have a great holiday season!