{"id":31258,"date":"2024-12-22T03:00:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=31258"},"modified":"2024-12-23T09:36:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T15:36:45","slug":"the-top-5-novels-i-read-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2024\/12\/the-top-5-novels-i-read-in-2024.html","title":{"rendered":"The Top 5 Novels I Read in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I went back to reading fiction last year. Not to the extent I did when I was in my 20s and 30s, and certainly not to the extent of my wife, who reads over a hundred books every year. But after at least a decade of limiting my reading to non-fiction \u2013 especially magical and religious books, many of which ended up reviewed here<\/a> \u2013 I realized I needed the power of good stories in my life again.<\/p>\n

I read 18 novels in 2023. As I write this I\u2019ve read 23 in 2024, and I\u2019ll read at least another one or two over the holidays. So, progress.<\/p>\n

I like magical stories: the classics like Dracula<\/em> and Frankenstein<\/em>, contemporary Urban Fantasy, and my new favorite genre Dark Academia. As with movies, I don\u2019t want horror to scare me, I want it to fascinate me. I want it to show me a world of magic that no one can really do, because that inspires me to do the magic that anyone can do\u2026 if they will.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Top 5 Novels<\/a> post had a nice picture of the five books. I can\u2019t do that this year \u2013 everything I read (except a re-read of Frankenstein<\/em> from a paperback I\u2019ve had for at least 30 years) was on Kindle. I don\u2019t like reading from Kindle, but I do like being able to get books instantly, and usually cheaper. Mainly I don\u2019t have to find shelf space for them\u2026 or wall space to put a new book case.<\/p>\n

And with that, here are the top five novels I read this year, plus a couple others I want to talk about.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

5. A Long Time Dead<\/h2>\n

A Long Time Dead<\/em><\/strong> by Samara Breger. 2023, 412 pages.<\/p>\n

Poppy wakes up to find that she\u2019s now a vampire. This presents complications, but when you\u2019re a sex worker in early Victorian England, you know life\u2019s not going to be easy. You figure out what you have to do and you do it. And so she does.<\/p>\n

A Long Time Dead<\/em> is a bit anachronistic \u2013 some of the language and concepts are more suited to our time than to 1837. But it\u2019s a good story, and it\u2019s lighthearted without being silly, which made for a very enjoyable read.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this is a queer vampire story about family \u2013 not the family you\u2019re born into, but the family you make. And nurture. And love. And defend.<\/p>\n

4. Saturnalia<\/h2>\n

Saturnalia<\/em><\/strong> by Stephanie Feldman. 2022, 256 pages.<\/p>\n

In a near future that\u2019s well down the road to dystopia \u2013 a future that\u2019s entirely possible, and maybe even likely \u2013 Philadelphia is controlled by elite societies that use magic to keep themselves safe and in power. Nina walked away from the influential Saturn Club three years ago and she\u2019s struggling, financially and otherwise. As the annual Saturnalia carnival nears, one of the members asks her for a favor and won\u2019t take no for an answer.<\/p>\n

This is a fast-paced story over a very short time period \u2013 it reminded me of the TV show 24<\/em>. It\u2019s a very good blend of action, magic, relationships, political intrigue\u2026 and a look at our own future, metaphorically if not literally.<\/p>\n

But maybe that too.<\/p>\n

3. The London S\u00e9ance Society<\/h2>\n

The London S\u00e9ance Society<\/em><\/strong> by Sara Penner. 2023, 352 pages.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9ances were very popular in Victorian Britain. Groups like the fictional London S\u00e9ance Society existed, and some still do. But such societies \u2013 whether historical or fictional \u2013 did not exist outside the culture of the mainstream society. Which meant they were subject to prejudice, personality conflicts, corruption, and occasionally, murder.<\/p>\n

The book opens with Lenna Wickes in France to study mediumship with the renowned spiritualist Vaudeline D\u2019Allaire\u2026 and also to investigate her sister\u2019s mysterious death. Vaudeline is suddenly called back to London and Lenna goes with her. What follows is part detective story, part occult mystery, and part LGBTQ romance.<\/p>\n

Sara Penner also wrote The Lost Apothecary<\/em> (2021) which was #4 on my last year\u2019s list.<\/p>\n

2. Plain Bad Heroines<\/h2>\n

Plain Bad Heroines<\/em><\/strong> by Emily M. Danforth. 2020, 623 pages.<\/p>\n

The title of this book comes from I Await The Devil\u2019s Coming<\/em>, a \u201cportrayal\u201d (i.e. \u2013 diary) by Mary MacLane, a 19 year old woman in Montana in 1901. I wrote about Mary MacLane<\/a> back in February. She complained about unrelatable characters in \u201cgirl-books\u201d and then said \u201cI wish some one would write a book about a plain, bad heroine so that I might feel in real sympathy with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

119 years later, Emily M. Danforth took her up on it.<\/p>\n

In 1902, two students at the Brookhants School for Girls are inspired by Mary MacLane and in love with each other. Things turn tragic and the school closes. In the present, a young writer publishes a book about the events, which is turned into a major Hollywood movie. Strange things happen \u2013 is the school haunted? Or cursed? Are the events of 1902 repeating themselves?<\/p>\n

One review describes Plain Bad Heroines<\/em> as \u201ca sapphic-gothic-comedy.\u201d It\u2019s definitely sapphic and definitely gothic. I wouldn\u2019t call it a comedy, but there is enough humor in it to lighten up some very serious subjects.<\/p>\n

This is the longest book on this list, by a lot. But it never felt slow. If anything, the ending felt a bit rushed \u2013 it could have used another 20 or 30 pages. But it\u2019s a great story and it was a very enjoyable read.<\/p>\n

1. An Education In Malice<\/h2>\n

An Education In Malice<\/em><\/strong> by S.T. Gibson. 2024, 368 pages.<\/p>\n

An Education In Malice<\/em> combines my all-time favorite genre (vampires) with my current favorite (Dark Academia). It\u2019s a very loose adaptation of J. Sheridan Le Fanu\u2019s 1872 novella Carmilla<\/em>, which is one of the foundational works of modern vampire fiction. It takes three of the central characters (Carmilla, Laura, and Mademoiselle De Lafontaine) and puts them in a women\u2019s college in New England in 1968. De Lafontaine is an enigmatic professor of literature and poetry, while Carmilla and Laura are her most talented \u2013 and most competitive \u2013 students.<\/p>\n

The story is amazing. You can call it a romance \u2013 I prefer to see it as a story of characters who figure out what they want and then go get \/ do \/ become it, no matter what anyone else thinks. The relationship between Laura and Carmilla is what previous tellings of this story could have been, if General Spielsdorf had minded his own business. Its look into vampire society is very good, and it has a connection to Gibson\u2019s 2022 novel A Dowry of Blood<\/em>, which was #3 on my last year\u2019s list.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not perfect. De Lafontaine is alternatively a ruthless predator and a caring mentor. Laura is incredibly self-assured for a freshman who\u2019s never experienced much beyond her home in Mississippi. And this is definitely not Ingrid Pitt\u2019s Carmilla (to be fair, Pitt was 32 when she played Carmilla in The Vampire Lovers<\/em> (1970) \u2013 the character is 21 in An Education In Malice<\/em>\u00a0and younger than that (in appearance, anyway) in Le Fanu\u2019s novella).<\/p>\n

But those are nitpicky complaints. If you want to know what I really think, know that An Education In Malice<\/em> is the first novel I\u2019ve re-read (other than classics like Dracula<\/em> and Frankenstein<\/em>) in more years than I can remember. I read it shortly after it came out in February, and then I re-read it a couple weeks ago. I was looking for something that combined Dark Academia with the supernatural, couldn\u2019t find anything new that grabbed me, and decided to give this another read. I enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first.<\/p>\n

And then I ordered a physical copy so I\u2019ll always have it. That ended any debate about which of these five very good books should be #1 for the year.<\/p>\n

This one didn\u2019t make the cut<\/h2>\n

The Secret History<\/em><\/strong> by Donna Tartt. 1992, 576 pages.<\/p>\n

This is the \u201cur-novel\u201d of Dark Academia, featuring a protagonist who\u2019s a brilliant student from a poor family who struggles to fit in with the rich kids and their old money at an exclusive private school. The book was a best seller when it came out, received largely (though not entirely) glowing reviews, and inspired a new genre of literature.<\/p>\n

After I read several Dark Academia novels \u2013 including at least two that mentioned The Secret History<\/em> by name in the story \u2013 I knew I had to read it.<\/p>\n

I was underwhelmed.<\/p>\n

One recent reviewer called it \u201ca tale of class, privilege, and cluelessness.\u201d It\u2019s long, but more because the author spends a lot of time on details of questionable relevance than because the story requires so many pages.<\/p>\n

Is the magic and Paganism in The Secret History<\/em> real, or is it a psychological delusion? I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s delusions. The plot of jealousy, murder, and guilt is deep, but it strains credulity in the ordinary world.<\/p>\n

And at the end of all 576 pages, it wasn\u2019t an enjoyable read. I get why The Secret History<\/em> is important, and I\u2019m not sorry I spent the time to read it. But I definitely won\u2019t be reading it again.<\/p>\n

These didn\u2019t make the cut, but you may want to read them anyway<\/h2>\n

Daughters of Shadow and Blood<\/em><\/strong> series by J. Matthew Saunders. Yasamin<\/em>: 2015, 398 pages. Elena<\/em>: 2016, 378 pages. Elizabeth<\/em>: 2017, 382 pages.<\/p>\n

Bram Stoker said next to nothing about the three \u201cweird sisters\u201d who shared Dracula\u2019s castle with him. Dracula<\/em> is long out of copyright and the Brides of Dracula are waiting for someone to tell their stories. This three-book series is such an attempt.<\/p>\n

However\u2026<\/p>\n

The books are set in eastern and central Europe in 1999, in the aftermath of the wars in Bosnia and other Balkan countries in the 1990s. They do a very good job of providing context for those wars, going back to the Ottoman Empire and Vlad the Impaler (1431 \u2013 1476) \u2013\u00a0 the historical Dracula. I read the books in October in the lead-up to the U.S. elections and saw a lot of correspondences to our current situation here.<\/p>\n

The Daughters of Shadow and Blood<\/em> books are mediocre vampire fiction but good historical fiction.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vampires, Tarot readers, and mediums. Exclusive girls\u2019 schools where strange and mysterious things happen. Two looks at Victorian England and one look at Philadelphia in a near-dystopian future that may end up being reality. Here are the top five novels I read in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":31264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[34,4472,4,5,329],"class_list":["post-31258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books-2","tag-books","tag-novels","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-vampires"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Top 5 Novels I Read in 2024<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vampires, Tarot readers, and mediums. Exclusive girls\u2019 schools where strange and mysterious things happen. 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Unfortunately, Daughters of Shadow and Blood<\/em> is more Dan Brown than Anne Rice. The main character is an American history professor who finds himself caught up in a violent search for Dracula\u2019s medallion, which turns out to be a MacGuffin<\/a>. The three brides are secondary characters who tell their stories in flashback, but the books aren\u2019t really about them.<\/p>\n