At the end of each year, Library staff weigh in on their favorite reads published that year and boy, did they deliver for adult fiction! With nearly 120 titles, we had to create two lists to fit all of the books that most moved SPL workers this year. Check out the lists in full or hear from library workers in their own words below about the books they loved.
Sarah B. praised Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg, describing it as “A beautiful ode to queer love and friendship, the great American road trip in a (perpetually) troubled America, and a fresh new take on what it takes to become an artist.”
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzales James was beloved by Paige C., who called it “a philosophical Western with magical realism about a Mexican bandido in 1895 and his film star grandson in 1964, based on the author’s family history.”
We ask for staff suggestions in November, so sometimes end-of-year publications don’t make the cut. Abby B. took this chance to rave about one such book from last year, John Bowen’s The Girls. “This was published in late November last year AFTER the Staff Faves list closed for suggestions, so I am going to put it on here because I was ROBBED of my chance to rave about this amazing reprint — lesbian cottage core murder mystery with a cover by Edward Gorey! SO GOOD!”
Genre fiction was well-represented on this list, with a local crime fiction anthology recommended by Ken G. Of The Killing Rain, he said, “Crime stories set in Seattle by the writer’s group of the same name. Find your neighbor and there will be crime lurking…”
And if that’s not scary enough for you, try one of Jennie D.’s horror picks, The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim. “Delicious and disgusting. A sickening and delightful tale of body horror, savagery, revenge and the awesome power of an angry young woman.”
For lovers of feel-good science fiction and fantasy, Orion P.’s pick, Cascade Failure by L.M. Sagas is for you! “A fun sci-fi adventure with themes of found family :)”
If you love reading books about books, check out Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller. Christiane W. called it a “timely, very funny story of what happens when a book banning local woman creates a little library of “wholesome” books which are sneakily replaced with banned titles that change the lives of the townspeople who pick them up.”
I’m not sure I’m ready for it, but after reading Bean Y.’s description of Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengetsu, it’s definitely going on my to-be-read list. “SOMEONE LIKE US by Dinaw Mengetsu blew me away. I haven’t read anything like this in a long time. It’s an unreliable narrator story, where you understand that much of the unreliability is not only a trauma response, but also a sense of loyalty to diasporic family that means you have to (are compelled to, are compulsively obligated to) respect the distance of the secrets they kept from you. It’s an immigrant story, it’s a cusp of the pandemic story, it’s a story that weaves seamlessly in and out of time but never tries to lose you. I was frustrated, heartbroken, sometimes confused, and very often experiencing the feeling of something dawning on me while I read this. I’d really recommend it and also am kinda glad I’m done reading it. Content warning: suicide, sexual assault, chaotic drug use, anti-Black police brutality, systemic neglect re: mental health, war”
Finally, with eight votes, the most mentioned staff pick of 2024 is Percival Everett’s James, which also just won the National Book Award for Fiction! In recommending it for the Dublin Literary Award, I said, “Percival Everett has done something truly remarkable with James, turning the nearly 150-year-old story of Huckleberry Finn into an even greater retelling from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. With his trademark wit, Everett displays the courage, ingenuity, and intelligence of enslaved folks while turning the classic adventure story into an odyssey of liberation. Though Jim and Huck experience many of the same events as in the original, the shift in narration allows both Huck and the reader to see the falsities of enslavement and white supremacy.”
~posted by Jane S.
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