Chaos & Confetti

Happy New Year!

Like so many others, this time of year divides me into someone who looks toward all the things I hope to achieve in the coming year and someone who needs to reflect on what’s come already. Before I step fully into 2025, I want to take a few more moments to look back on what 2024 bought me… from an entertainment perspective.  Sorry, I won’t be going into my graduate school completion, new job, or continued upkeep of a small child.

Over the next week, I’d like to share a series of posts that focus on five different categories: books, television, movies, board games, and video games.  For each topic, I will present some of my top experiences from the year with a quick note on what made them so special.  If I’m feeling charitable, I may even throw in some honorable mentions.

I will warn you, that I’m not always the best at consuming media as it debuts, so don’t be surprised if you see things that didn’t come out in 2024, though plenty will. I am simply judging and evaluating what I personally experienced this past year.  Check out my lists.  Maybe you’ll discover something new to you and maybe be reminded of an old favorite.  

First up are my favorite books from 2024. Let’s get started!

BOOKS

With work, grad school for most of the year, a young child, and other hobbies, reading at times took a backseat. I’m still proud to say I read 53 new-to-me books this year (not counting the comics and graphic novels I also read).  This is a bit down from the last few years, but it still allowed me to find some pretty cool gems.  In no particular order, here are my top five books I read in 2024 and a few honorable mentions.

1. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

Covering multiple decades, from the 70s to the 2000s, this is a literary saga that follows the lives of children hit by tragedy and the aftermath of their lives afterward.  Patch, a boy enamored with pirates, becomes an unlikely hero after saving the daughter of a wealthy man from potential abduction.  Saint, a loyal friend and ally, searches for her own answers in the world around her and tries to find a path toward justice.  Misty, the almost taken girl, deals with her own secrets and desires that coincide with a worldview that has changed after what could have been.  The novel covers their interconnected and evolving lives as they both deal with their troubles, joys, and obsessions. 

All the Colors of the Dark is my absolute top book of 2024.  This novel is filled with characters that feel like so much more than the paper they are written on.  Whitaker follows his set of characters during a large span of their lives and every step is enthralling. As the novel crosses decades, it also crosses genres.  From the mystery of a missing person to a love story to a thriller and more this novel keeps giving readers reasons to push forward.

Amazingly, Whitaker’s writing style works with all the different story pieces added and presents them in a descriptive and captivating way.  This book is a literary masterpiece that is worth the read.    

2. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

A modern retelling of David Copperfield in a new setting, Demon Copperhead is a literary saga that follows a young man through his experiences in southern Appalachia.  He is born into hardship and it follows him during each new chapter of his life.  Despite his best efforts, every step forward comes with its own troubles and potential paths back to rock bottom.

This novel allows readers to follow one boy’s growth and evolution into a young man that strives to do right, even if he doesn’t always know what that is.  While some aspects of the story can feel a bit over-the-top or drawn out, the novel as a whole gives an interesting look into a part of America that is often only presented in stereotypes and ridicule, while also providing a story that feels worth reading.

I recommend Demon Copperhead for those who love literary sagas, want to see a great example of a Victorian novel transported into a modern setting, or who are drawn towards the lives of those in Appalachia (the good and the bad).

3. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Here is my review from last year:

Louise’s parents have died in an accident and now she must travel across the country to deal with their final affairs, including what to do with their creepy house.  This is the house that is filled with so many of Louise’s childhood memories and an endless number of dolls and puppets.  There is definitely something wrong with the house, but it’s hard to focus on that when Louise also has to deal with her estranged brother and his wishes for their parents’ estate.

Grady Hendrix creates a story that wonderfully melds together the story of a family dealing with grief and its history of trauma with a tale of supernatural terror.  The characters must deal with the mortal and personal perils of their journeys.  Can they stay alive, can they sell a haunted house to fix their own lives, and can their sibling relationship survive all their issues?  Hendrix gives readers characters to actually care about throughout the book, but especially when they are put in danger.  They may not be great people themselves, but at least they’re trying.

The beginning of the novel is a bit slower paced as Hendrix introduces the characters and sets up the stakes and premise.  Once everything is defined and set though (which sadly takes about a third of the novel), it’s full speed ahead.  The action and haunts get pretty wild.  

An interesting part of Hendrix’s writing is that he tends to mix humor into his horror.  While it mostly lands and is never too distracting from the actual scares, some readers may find the dual tone a bit off putting.  Personally, I enjoy it.

I would recommend How to Sell a Haunted House to those who enjoy humorous horror and like their characters to have stakes beyond just whether they live or die.  I warn again against the slower start, but for those who can push though, the rest of the book is pretty great.

4. Remember Me Tomorrow by Farah Heron 

Remember Me Tomorrow is The Lake House meets a modern college setting.  Her freshman year of college is nothing like Aleeza imagined it would be.  Not only does she not fit in, but now her friendship with her lifelong best friend is done.  Moving into a new room, away from her toxic former-friend, Aleeza unexpectedly finds herself with a new roommate.  But there must be a mistake because this room is a single, and this new roomie is very hot and male.  Also, he happens to have gone mysteriously missing months ago.  Oh wait, Aleeza is talking to a boy from the past. Things are about to get weird, romantic, and dangerous.    

Heron writes some likable characters who feel fleshed out well, and just as importantly, she throws them into a fun mystery that will actually keep most readers guessing up until the end.  The characters end up in a strange situation that limits their abilities to communicate while also putting a timer on their investigations.  I liked that their attempts at solving the mystery and understanding their reality made sense and that they approached everything as college kids and people with brains.  

This is a fun story that should appeal to readers of several genres: romance, mystery, sci-fi, and thriller.   

5. The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey

The Taken Ones is the first full novel (skip the prequel novella) in the Steinbeck and Reed series by Jess Lourey.  During the Summer of 1980, three girls went into the woods, but only one came out.  What happened to the others was never solved.  Now in 2022, a new murder case focusing on a woman buried alive brings up old questions.  Van Steinbeck and Harry Reed are assigned the cold case.

Though the majority of the novel is told from Van vantage, it does shift to a few other character along the way.  

Lourey does a fantastic job building her mystery, keeping both the suspense and tension high.  Readers will enjoy the twists and turns along the way.  However, what I found the most impressive was Lourey’s ability to balance and juggle so many plot threads and characters so well.  With so much happening in and around Van’s life (the novel’s main focus character), the story feels alive and fully fleshed out.  There is a level of controlled chaos and messiness to the novel that feels tight and well done.  By the end of the novel, different threads and themes pull together seamlessly and sensibly.  

The book finds a nice balance between its grounded mystery and its supernatural elements.  

I look forward to reading more adventures of Steinbeck and Reed, and seeing what other mysteries Lourey has in store for readers.

Honorable Mentions:

• Obsessed: My Life with OCD by Allison Britz
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
• What is Love by Jen Comfort
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Favorite Comic Book of 2024:

• Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathon Hickman

Tune in tomorrow for a look at my top television shows and movies from 2024.