2024 End of Year Book Survey

I found Jamie’s End of Year Book Survey through Jana @ The Artsy Reader Girl last year and decided to do it again this year! Please feel free to do this too and leave a comment with your link so I can check out your answers!

Here’s my 2023 End of Year Book Survey if you’d like to check it out. I’m late with my 2024 book survey but I got it done! I was still logging in some of the books I read in 2024 because I wasn’t up to date, and there are several reviews for 2024 books I haven’t written yet. The 2024/2025 end of year season was a really hectic one for me and I haven’t been very present in the blogosphere but hopefully I’ll get things squared away soon. I’ve missed visiting with everyone!

2024 Reading Stats

Click here to check out My Year In Books in detail. You can also use it to check yours.

Number of books you read: 172

Number of re-reads: 20! So many this year for some reason!
1. Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
2. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
3. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
4. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
5. The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
6. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
7. Anne of Green Gables Books 1-5 by L.M. Montgomery
8. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
9. Cujo by Stephen King
10. The Shining by Stephen King
11. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
12. The Outsider by Stephen King
13. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
14. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
15. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
16. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Number of books you DNFed: I didn’t keep track of them this year!
Number of pages you read: 62,076
Most read genre: Fantasy at 80 books
Number of new-to-you authors you discovered: 69

Firsts and Lasts

First book you read: Holly by Stephen King
Last book you read: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
First 2023 release you read: The Improbable Meet-Cute series by various authors

Best In Books

1. Best book you read in 2024:
There were so many amazing books this year it’s honestly hard to choose. I did make a list for the top ten best books I read in 2024, but they did not include rereads. If I had to choose one new read, it’d be the Heartstopper series. If I could include rereads, it’d be The Count of Monte Cristo.

2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t:
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt was a disappointment. It sounded so good and there was so much praise for it, I thought I was going to like it a lot more. To be fair, it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read:
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan, and the Super Powereds series by Drew Hayes. I didn’t have very high expectations for both; I thought they were a couple of generic YA stories that would be somewhat entertaining but not memorable. I am happy to be proven wrong for both! They are very entertaining! And also very memorable!

4. Book you “pushed” the most people to read (and they did):
Interestingly, Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster. Someone was looking for a book to fit a prompt and I recommended this book. Before I knew it, it became a buddy read, and I got twelve people to read it! Plus, one more person from my irl bookclub! And another bookblogger who read my review! So altogether 14 people? Not too shabby!

5. Best first book in a series you started in 2024. Best sequel of 2024. Best series ender of 2024.
Started: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Sequel: Doctor Sleep (The Shining #2) by Stephen King
Ender: Super Powereds Year 4 by Drew Hayes

6. Favorite new-to-you author you discovered in 2024:
I read so many new-to-me authors in 2024 and I enjoyed so many of them, but I have to go with Drew Hayes on this one. I read his whole Super Powered series, and also Fred, the Vampire Accountant, and I have to say they’re just so much fun to read, plus his characters are all so wonderful!

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone:
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. I listened to it on audio, but it’s listed as poetry and it sounds very poetic while I was listening, that’s for sure. I don’t typically read a lot of poetry, so this was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it was so beautiful to listen to and very emotional.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year:
The Super Powereds series by Drew Hayes! I couldn’t put them down and it was just one thrilling thing after another! I love the relationship dynamics, the action-packed challenges they had to go through, the storyline. It was four books with a total of approximately 160 hours on audio and I breezed through them because they were so fun!

9. Book you read in 2024 that you are most likely to re-read next year?
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and/or Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. For the “simple” reason that they’re both first books in a series that have quite a complicated world-building and I listened to them on audio. I’m probably going to have to refresh my memory for these books before moving on with the rest of the series. Oh, also Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, for the same reason.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2024:
The Emily Wilde books! I read both the first and second book in 2024 and they are both gorgeous!

11. Most memorable character of 2024:
Boris from The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I don’t necessarily like him as a person, but he’s very memorable as a character! Here’s what I said in my buddy read discussions for the book;

“He is the most exasperating, annoying, toxic, incredible, idiotic, brilliant, CRAZY person, and I think I wouldn’t have any idea what to do with a friend like him. You gotta love him but you also gotta hate him. And I think I’d stay far far away from him and his antics, he’d drive me to an early grave!”

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2024:
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. It was such an experience listening to this book on audio. Such painful topics told so lyrically, so beautifully, in such an expressive voice. It was incredible.

13. Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2024:
Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown. It’s basically an encyclopedia of emotions, which doesn’t seem like it would be life-changing, but the definitions really got me to understand my own feelings and why I was feeling them. It was very validating and still makes me think.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2024 to finally read:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. There was a lot of talk about it when it came out and I was very curious. It’d been in my TBR since but I hadn’t read it until 2024!

15. Favorite quote from a book you read in 2024:
Omg, I have so many! But I’ll narrow it down to these few, for now!

“I’m one of those people who doesn’t really know what he thinks until he writes it down.” – 11/22/63 by Stephen King

“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.” – Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

“Science is not the truth. Science is finding the truth. When science changes its opinion, it didn’t lie to you. It learned more.” – Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown

16. Shortest and longest books you read in 2024:
Shortest: Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory (40 pages)
Longest: Super Powereds Year 4 by Drew Hayes (1981 pages)

17. Book that shocked you the most:
Don’t Call It A Cult by Sarah Berman. The things they did were horrendous and unbelievable. You never think you’d be susceptible to being influenced into joining a cult, but you never know. It’s that whole slow boiling the frog thing, and I honestly can’t say for sure I wouldn’t fall for it. It’s scary.

18. OTP of the year (you will go down with this ship!):
Nick and Charlie from Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, hands down! I love them and I would die for them!

19. Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year:
Carl and Donut from Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. I love their dynamic, I love their chemistry, I love the way they work together, I love how hilarious they are! I love them!

20. Favorite book you read in 2024 from an author you’ve read previously:
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo. It was such a magical, whimsical fairy-tale that made me feel like I was transported to a whole other existence while reading it. I love the MC and how mysterious she is. I loved how the story unfolded and how we find out more about her and her life. It’s a beautiful story.

21. Best book you read in 2024 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else:
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. So many recommendations by so many of you, but yes, I only read it because it was so highly recommended and I trust your judgments!

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2024:
Carrie Soto from Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. She’s so strong and inspiring, and I’ve got a thing for strong, inspiring women. She also has her moments where she can be a little abrasive, but I think seeing her weaknesses and vulnerabilities only makes me love her more.

23. Best 2024 debut you read:
Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer. I think it was the only 2024 debut I read; I would’ve had others but I didn’t get to them in time, and now I’ll have to read them in 2025!

24. Most vivid setting you read this year:
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I don’t know why but it really stood out to me. Every scene was so vivid and descriptive to me, I could imagine it all so clearly.

25. Book that put a smile on your face/was the most FUN to read:
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan. I was cackling gleefully while reading it because it was just so unexpectedly good! I also want to say Dungeon Crawler Carl, but it’s been praised so much already so I wanted to give Long Live Evil a mention.

26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2024:
There were several books I read this year that made me cry or almost cry; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, and Carrie Soto Is Back made me sob like a baby.

27. Hidden gem of the year:
I’ll admit that I’m not very up-to-date on what’s being hyped up out there in social media, but I haven’t heard a lot of hype around Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan, and I also personally didn’t expect much from it and was pleasantly surprised.

28. Most unique book you read in 2024:
Oooh, maybe I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. It’s an interesting format with an interesting premise, but I really enjoyed it.

39. Book that made you the maddest (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it):
This year it was the non-fiction that made me mad; The Woman in Me by Britney Spears, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the injustice and exploitation of both these women for albeit different reasons just really gets to me.

My Blogging/Bookish Life

1. Favorite review that you wrote in 2024:
I don’t know, I wrote so many I can’t remember them all! Possibly the ones with additional discussion and notes because I had so much more to say about them!

2. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog:
I really enjoy doing my Sunday Posts, but I’ve been missing them for a couple of months now. I’m still trying to catch up with regular life stuff at the moment. I hope I’ll be back soon.

3. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.):
My in-person bookclub’s road trip to The Royal Tyrrell Museum in conjunction with our Book of the Month, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte! It was the most fun book-related event in 2024!

6. Most popular post this year on your blog (whether it be by comments or views):
I don’t really look at my stats (not sure how?) so I had to check manually but my Top Ten Tuesday Most Anticipated Books for 2024 Jan-Jun has 58 comments.

8. Post you wished got a little more love:
I’m pretty happy with the love I got, and very grateful for all of it!

9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.):
It might be a little basic but it’s Audible for me. I know it’s been around for a while, and I had definitely heard of it before, I just didn’t know how it worked and how much fun I would have with it. I got a year’s membership for a discount and it includes a lot of free audiobooks I would otherwise have never listened to or learned about. I’m really happy with it so far!

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year:
I finished all my reading challenges in 2024 except two – I signed up for ten. I’m pretty happy with how I did on the challenges, but I definitely felt overwhelmed a couple of times. I’m cutting down on challenges in 2025 and hoping to take it easier!

Looking Ahead in 2025

1. Book you are most anticipating in 2025 (non-debut):
I have a few books I’m anticipating in 2025 and I made a Top Ten Tuesday post about it. I’m very excited about a lot of them actually; Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, Never Flinch by Stephen King, but I think I’m most excited about TJR’s Atmosphere because I loved the last book I read by her and this one sounds really good!

2. 2025 debut you are most anticipating:
A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson. I have no idea if it’s going to be good, but it sounds good and I’m really excited about it!

3. Sequel you are most anticipating in 2025:
All Hail Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan, the sequel to Long Live Evil, which I absolutely loved! It’s expected to be released September 16, 2025, a long wait, but I’ll be ready for it!

4. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging life in 2025?
I want to be more present on the blog. I am starting out this year very frazzled and behind on everything! I have been contemplating cutting down on book clubs, book challenges, and buddy reads, and even blogging, because of irl stuff getting busy, but I would be very sad if I had to do any of that. I’m hoping that it’s a temporary thing while I adjust and I’ll get better and more organized in time.

What are your answers to these questions? If you do this survey, let me know so I can visit your post and check out your answers. You can also leave your answers in the comments!