(Belated) Halfway Favorites and Q2 Missed Connections

The best books I read from January to June, plus the new releases that slipped through the cracks of my TBR

Hi, book friends.

It would have made more sense to send this newsletter a few weeks ago, but we’re still solidly in postpartum “better late than never” mode over here (and probably will be for a while). So I hope you can find a little bit of leftover enthusiasm for a belated list of favorite books from the first half of the year, because I read some great ones!

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My favorite books from the first half of 2024

The stack of books in the photo above may contain a nice, even 10, but I’ve never been able to limit myself to a “halfway top 10,” and this year is no different. I read 52 books between January 1 and June 30, and my list of favorites includes 13.

I chose this list based on vibes, and I refuse to rank them, which would be just as hard as narrowing it down. So here they are in the order I read them — click on each title to read the full review!

• Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon *🎧📖: This one stayed with me because of how genuinely fascinating and well-written it was. I learned SO much and also wanted to become the author’s friend.

• Orbital by Samantha Harvey 🎧: This one stayed with me because it offered such a beautiful meditation on our place — in relation to others, in relation to the Earth, and more. It also just got longlisted for the Booker Prize!

• The Book of Love by Kelly Link* 🎧📖: This one stayed with me because of its great characters and unique story. It was long, but I didn’t mind at all.

• The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo 📖: This one stayed with me because of the care and dedication Bardugo used as she integrated her own family’s lore into such a sweeping historical fantasy.

• James by Percival Everett* 📖: This one stayed with me because it’s probably the best book of the year, hands-down. It’s also longlisted for the Booker and is our August Booker of the Month! (And no, you don’t have to read Huck Finn first.)

• The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James* 🎧📖: This one stayed with me because of the way it combined a western with a family drama and tied it all together with magical realism.

• The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft* 🎧📖: This one stayed with me because of how smart its meta construction was. I still think about it all the time.

• Funny Story by Emily Henry* 🎧: This one stayed with me because it delivered joy and tenderness and spark, as all of Henry’s books do.

• Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland 📖: This one stayed with me because it made me laugh really, really hard.

• The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang 🎧📖: This one stayed with me because it caught me completely by surprise. It’s not a romantasy but instead a surprisingly literary examination of the idea of true love.

• Starter Villain by John Scalzi 📖: This one stayed with me because it includes evil genius cats and foul-mouthed, unionized dolphins!

• The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma* 🎧📖: This one stayed with me because it fused war novel with folklore and magical realism in a new and engaging way.

• The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry* 🎧📖: This one stayed with me because the prose is absolutely stunning and the story doesn’t let you go.

*gifted to me by the publisher

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Q2 2024 missed connections

I’m still eyeing these books that came out in the past three months, even though I didn’t quite get to them yet.

• The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez: I just love Julia Alvarez, full stop. Plus this book sounds beautiful.

• Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie: I’m a big Rushdie fan, and the place where he was attacked isn’t that far from me, so I’m super curious!

• Exhibit by R. O. Kwon: Kwon is a master and this sounds sharp and searing. Plus, I’m a sucker for a book with a ballet dancer in it.

• Mirrored Heavens (Between Earth and Sky, #3) Rebecca Roanhorse: I need to reread Black Sun and Fevered Star first, but they’re on the TBR for the next couple of months!

• Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi: All bow down before the royal Emezi!!

• Children of Anguish and Anarchy (Legacy of Orïsha, #3) by Tomi Adeyemi: Has it been a million years since Children of Blood and Bone? Yes, yes it has.

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As always, thanks for sharing your corner of the internet with me! It would mean a lot if you were to take a second to like this post. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, too.

Finally, if you like this newsletter, please send a few friends my way.

See you on Instagram!

— Deedi (she/her)