The Curator: my 2024 book wish list
On this episode of Hoarders
It angers me to say the following thing I’m going to say. Because literally I just got my hands on a few of the 2023 titles that I’ve been salivating over and it’s just like where does the madness end? When every available surface is covered in books like a very flammable episode of Hoarders??
But the show must go on. Today I’m giving you my 2024 book wish list.
It’s my very first time predicting what books I think will be important [to me] in a calendar year. The lovely part about deciding on some 2024 books now is that I can determine what I think is interesting before all the awards and posts start rolling out. If any of them suck, I only have myself to blame!
This list has 20 titles on it, although I could have included many more potential firestarters. I’m keeping it narrow for the reasons that a). not everything can be important and b). I still have to go to work and therefore cannot read everything that looks mildly intriguing. I limited the list to novels (with one exception) because I usually only go for celebrity memoirs and true crime, and I don’t feel interested in lying to you about nonfiction books I will never read. Also, my shelves will not hold. They are from Ikea.
I had such a fun time creating this list. I hope, like Sir Elton, you can feel the love. I’m sure it will expand and morph into something unrecognizable in a few months, but for now, this is what I’m excited about.
Without further introduction, here are the new books that I am looking forward to in 2024 the year of our Lord Taylor Swift.
Natalie’s Important Books for 2024 📔
In order of pub date. I had a very hard time finding anything past August so expect a follow-up five or so when the end of the year gets announced (or gets cover artwork).
Nonfiction by Julie Myerson | January 2nd
A story of addiction and generational trauma, Nonfiction is about a novelist and mother who revisits her troubled past as her daughter struggles with her own addiction demons. This one was tough to put on the list - I know it will destroy me. All the blurbs and early reviews heavily favor the adjectives heartbreaking, painful, and devastating. But sometimes that’s what it takes.
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar | January 23rd
All you need is the first sentence of this debut novel to understand why Martyr! is on the list: Maybe it was that Cyrus had done the wrong drugs in the right order, or the right drugs in the wrong order, but when God finally spoke back to him after twenty-seven years of silence, what Cyrus wanted more than anything else was a do-over.
Come and Get It by Kiley Reid | January 30th
I work at a major university. I love campus novels. I love messy entanglements. I love Kiley Reid.
Good Material by Dolly Alderton | January 30th
Dolly’s Everything I Know About Love: a Memoir spoke to me in some kind of elder millennial code, and I am hoping this one will too. The description for Good Material sounds a bit like an updated High Fidelity. It starts with a list: “Reasons why it’s good I’m not with Jen… Somehow managed to relate the plot of every film we watched back to her own life.” We all know that girl. Let’s read about that girl.
Your Utopia by Bora Chung | January 30th
A collection of dystopian sci-fi stories about technology and capitalism wrapped in a humanity tortilla. Chung’s Cursed Bunny won the National Book Award so this is a no-brainer for me.
Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona | January 30th
Just look at the cover. It promises 90s nostalgia the babysitter’s dead horror vibes in a cheeky fun throwback kind of way. Described as a “love letter to vintage horror movies,” this horror movie girly will be picking this one up.
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly | February 6th
Schitt’s Creek as a book. That’s all you need to know.
The Book of Love by Kelly Link | February 13th
Well now if this one sucks, it won’t be my fault. Everyone is excited about The Book of Love. Link’s short stories are beloved (I’m almost halfway through Get In Trouble), but this is her debut novel and it sounds like a dream: three dead teens must solve the mystery of their own deaths through a series of magical tasks before disaster strikes the town.
King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis | February 17th
I would be lying if I didn’t say the cover is what got me. Good thing the inside sounds good too: A contemporary feminist tale with a dreamlike, gothic setting, King Nyx reintroduces readers, twenty-five years after her acclaimed debut, to one of our most astonishingly imaginative storytellers.
The Hunter by Tana French | March 5th
Tana French is a crime genius so I would be remiss to not include her new novel. The Hunter picks up where The Searcher left off with retired policeman Cal Hooper in a small village just somehow rife with crime. However, I have not yet read The Searcher, so I’m excited but in that kind of way where you also see exactly how long the road trip is before you get to the Starbucks pit stop.
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft | March 5th
In a super meta move, a Booker Prize-winning translator writes a novel about eight translators in a primeval Polish forest searching for their author friend. I love it when people write about exactly what they know - it’s always the best most authentic version of the story that could exist.
Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi | March 5th
I wasn’t sure I wanted to include this one - I’ve been 30% done with another Oyeyemi title for the last two years and can’t claim I’ve fallen for her work yet. This one is about a bachelorette weekend gone a bit paranormal, which has so much promise. I’m willing to risk it.
James by Percival Everett | March 19th
A reimagining of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s point of view written by a Pulitzer Prize finalist. This one without a doubt will be on all major best of 2024 lists.
Worry by Alexandra Tanner | March 26th
Again, I am a sucker for comps - described as Frances Ha meets No One is Talking About This tells me this will be a pop-culture internet-obsessed dark existentialist comedy of errors. I plan on coming away with a lot of new sayings to quote.
Rabbit Heart by Kristine S. Ervin | March 26th
If I was judging this book solely on the cover I would never pick it up - it’s freaky deaky and I don’t like looking at it. But. It’s about a woman searching for the two men who abducted and killed her mother, and how this has defined her life. I’m into it.
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo | April 9th
Magic, witches, immortal familiars. Social climbing, Spanish nobility, disgraced kings, wars, the Inquisition. If Bardugo can pull this off, it may just prove to be a top-ten read of the year.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley | May 7th
A SPECULATIVE SPY THRILLER WITH A CHAOTIC CAST OF CHARACTERS. I have to sit down. I’ve been waiting for a book like this since Station Eleven & Cloud Atlas. It’s a debut novel so I can’t tell you the probability of Bradley pulling this off but cheers to taking chances!
Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay | June 11th
Again, me with the horror nostalgia. A group of guerilla filmmakers shoots a disturbing art-house film Horror Movie. Three decades later, the only surviving cast member can’t remember what happened on set or why the film was never fully released. Promising a “mind-bending conclusion” this is one of my most anticipated of the year.
Bear by Julia Phillips | June 25th
Phillips wrote Disappearing Earth and people loved that one. Bear is her new novel about family, obsession, and mysterious creatures in the woods. I like all of those things. I think lots of other people will too.
Time of the Flies by Claudia Pinero | August 6th
This is purely on the list because of a recommendation by my book friend
. I need more translated lit in my life, and this one seems like a great place to continue: Fifteen years after killing her husband's lover, Inés is fresh out of prison and trying to put together a new life. Her old friend Manca is out too, and they've started a business - FFF, for Females, Fumigation and Flies - dedicated to pest control and private investigation, by women, for women. But Señora Bonar, one of her clients, wants Inés to do more than kill bugs--she wants her expertise, and her criminal past, to help get her revenge on someone.READING →
I DID IT I CLIMBED THE MOUNTAIN I FINISHED THE MARATHON I AM QUEEN.
1,153 pages later I have finished The Stand. As I mentioned in notes, it’s very King being King-ish but I loved it all the same. Full review once my hands recover from the strain of holding this book upright.
I also finished up The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter (I have thoughts) and am finally on to my new celebrity memoir Down the Drain written and performed by Julia Fox. I really hope she mentions Uncuh Jahmz.
WATCHING →
The new season of True Detective. I am a Jodie Foster stan. And now a Kali Reis stan. It’s an end-of-the-world supernatural winter murdery vibes show, which is everything I need in a winter watch. My only complaint is that I have to wait a whole week to be served one more measly episode.
BUYING →
This super cute handmade wooden bookmark just in time for spooky hearts season.
BOOK NEWS →
LitHub compiled all the book-based movies and TV shows releasing this year so I don’t have to. I’m most excited for Monsieur Spade, Lisa Frankenstein, and seeing Dune: Part Two in the theaters.
RESTACK OF THE WEEK →
I don’t run into things I wish I had written often but this. Mary is a gift. Read the whole thing and tell me which sentence started the tears for you.
AND CATS →
Helping mom with her book picture duties.
LET’S CHAT →
What books are you excited about in 2024? New or backlist.
What are you reading and is it any good?
What would you like to see my cats do next?
In Case You Missed It
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
Schitt’s Creek as a book. I AM SOLD.
Hell yeah I LOVE to see 'Time of the Flies' on here!!!! The premise of this book sounds so wild I'm all over it. Can't wait to acquaint myself with the FFF business. Also the dead fly on the cover is frankly iconic x disgusting and alluring all at the same time!
I admire you making a list because every time I have tried I've become incredibly overwhelmed as there are too many lol. For my sake I should keep track though. That is to say I am also very VERY much looking forward to 'James" by Percival Everett - he is so whip smart in his writing everything of his I have read I admire a lot. I'm also equally stoked for 'The Ministry of Time'!!!!! Not heard of 'Your Utopia' tho which sounds very interesting so thank you!