Here are 5 Great Books From My 2024 Reading List (& What Makes Them Excellent Mentor Texts For Writers)
In addition to being a book coach and author, I am an avid reader. So, it is hard to pick out only 5 great books from the 96 books I read in 2024. I mean, I read a number of great books in 2024, so what criteria do I use to make a short list?
Taste is personal, art is subjective, and I am an eclectic and voracious reader. I read across genres and categories. But I am also a writer, teacher, editor, and book coach. So, it is important to me that any type of book round-up or list I post offers something relevant.
So, of course, my list is focused on books that are well crafted. Each of the books on this list has a solid craft-related reason for being here that I can clearly articulate.
So, here, in no specific order is a list of 5 great books I read in 2024 and the elements that make them stand out for me as a reader, author and book coach.
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle (Fantasy)
Consummate Peter Beagle. Creative storytelling with heart. Wonderfully drawn, relatable characters. Beagle loves to write and tell stories. This is clear in the way his joy is conveyed though the story and prose.
Beagle’s stories are also personal and relatable. This particular story is about a group of characters determined to be who they are, rather than who the world wants them to be. Beagle speaks to every reader who has ever felt pushed to conform to an identity that just doesn’t fit. TBH-that’s pretty much all of us. It’s an every person story.
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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (Epistolary, LGBTQ Coming-of-Age Lit)
Bold, honest, and wonderfully written. This book is a novel, but it clearly contains personal truths drawn directly from the experience of the author. The emotional truth of the story is evident on each and every page. The language is soulful and, yes, gorgeous.
This book does exactly what I encourage all writers to do, “Don’t just write what you know, write what you feel.” A perfect example of poetic language used to create engaging prose while being brutally and heart-achingly honest about the topic at hand.
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The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers, Shawn Harris-Illustrator (MG Fiction)
What can I say that hasn’t already been said about this award wining book? It’s well-written and creative and ultimately entertaining. So what craft element is the most exciting to me? The use of the unreliable narrator, whose personal truth sweeps the reader into the character’s world until we ourselves no longer feel entirely reliable and begin to see the world through the protagonist’s eyes.
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The Book of Love by Kelly Link (Fantasy)
I love the richness and creativity of Link’s world, her unusual characters, and the through line of love of every kind that pulls us through this journey. The overlap of supernatural with the regular world is handled in a fresh and interesting way.
The characters are truly flawed, fully human, accessible and believable. In some ways, the story unfolds like a fever dream, but ultimately hits on a deep emotional level.
A great text to parse for how Link manages to pull together the frayed structure of what at first feels like the pieces of a tattered tapestry into a solid story that culminates in an ending that hits home.
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Fly by Alison Hughes (MG Novel in Verse)
This is an exemplar of inclusive storytelling and also a damn fine novel in verse. Hughes creates a solid, relatable character who is brave and witty and heroic. He also just happens to be in a wheel chair.
We need more stories like this. Stories that show our humanity across the diverse spectrum of lived experience. Stories that provide access and engagement, that stir empathy, and show us how we are all more alike than not.
This is also an excellent example of how to use spare language to tell a compelling story and using verse to develop a strong character voice.
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That’s it. That is my list of 5 great books that are excellent examples of aspects of writing craft.
Thanks for reading this list. I hope you find inspiration from at least one of these books.
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