A post was recently shared with me that presented "Goodreads Members' Top Books of the Past Five Years". I took a read through the list, and I'll be honest, I was triggered! There were some winners on the Goodreads list, but there was also a bunch of fluff. There are so many better books published since 2020 than what the masses have identified above.
I had to fix it, and there was only one way to do so: I simply had to create my own list.
Enjoy!
#50 - Remarkably Bright Creatures (2022)
by Shelby Van Pelt ★★★★★
An elderly woman befriends an octopus, who in turn helps her solve the mystery of her son's disappearance.
#49 - The Thursday Murder Club (2021)
by Richard Osman ★★★★★
What happens when 4 septuagenarians entertain a hobby of solving cold cases, only to have a body turn up at their retirement home?
#48 - Mad Honey (2023)
by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan ★★★★★
It's a love story and a legal thriller, but its authors' deft handling of many tough subjects is what elevates this novel even more.
#47 - Happy Place (2023)
by Emily Henry ★★★★★
An exploration of relationships and friendships in Henry's most mature offering yet, centered around a week-long vacation in Maine.
#46 - The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020)
by TJ Klune ★★★★★
A lovely and cheeky queer story, this traces the evolution of a man as he comes to grips with his professional and sexual identity.
#45 - First Lie Wins (2024)
by Ashley Elston ★★★★★
A twisty plot-driven novel about a woman who manufactures a relationship, only to find she might be the one being played.
#44 - Nightcrawling (2022)
by Leila Mottley ★★★★★
The story of Kiara, a young woman 3 months shy of her 18th birthday, living in East Oakland and trying to scrape by on her own, who finds herself sucked into the world of sex working.
#43 - Only If You're Lucky (2023*)
by Stacy Willingham ★★★★★
A story of a four tight-knit girls at a small college turns dark when it seems they might have been involved with a frat boy's death.
*Released in 2024, but I read an ARC in late 2023, so it's on that list
#42 - The Push (2021)
by Ashley Audrain ★★★★★
What happens when a mom can't connect with her child, and she starts to wonder if her child isn’t just different, but maybe inherently bad?
#41 - Grit (2023*)
by Angela Duckworth ★★★★★
*Please indulge this outlier -- published in 2016, but I read in 2023.
Both entertaining and helpful, Duckworth systematically lays out a plethora of evidence for why passion + perseverance = success.
#40 - Great Circle (2021)
by Maggie Shipstead ★★★★★
Meet protagonist Marian Graves, a woman in determined to fly planes in the early 1900s at a time when women, quite simply, didn't.
#39 - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (2022)
by Gabrielle Zevin ★★★★★
Spanning 30 years of the main characters' lives, it's the story of 3 friends inspired to create something great in the world of gaming.
#38 - The Storyteller (2024*)
by Dave Grohl ★★★★★
The former drummer for Nirvana and founding member of the Foo Fighters shares stories of his life in rock in this memoir.
*Published in 2021, but I read it in 2024.
#37 - Long Bright River (2020)
by Liz Moore ★★★★★
When sex workers start to turn up murdered, a Philly cop investigates, hoping to stop the trend before her sister becomes a victim.
#36 - Book Lovers (2022)
by Emily Henry ★★★★★
A better version of the "city dweller finds love in a small town" trope, while also ranking as the funniest book I read in 2022.
#35 - 60 Songs That Explain the '90s (2024)
by Rob Harvilla ★★★★★
A nostalgia-inducing romp through the most impactful songs of the '90s, focusing on their meaning to the decade and to music overall.
#34 - The God of the Woods (2024)
by Liz Moore ★★★★★
Set in 1975, the search for a missing child acts as the foundation for Moore's tactful exploration of societal themes of the time.
#33 - The Year of the Locust (2024)
by Terry Hayes ★★★★★
Another great spy thriller from Hayes after 10 long years. Despite some questionable supernatural plot choices, it's still a winner.
#32 - Exiles (2023)
by Jane Harper ★★★★★
A stellar offering from author Harper about a missing woman and a history of complicated relationships among friends in a small town.
#31 - The Mountains Wild (2020)
by Sarah Stewart Taylor ★★★★★
Years after her cousin's disappearance, detective Maggie D'Arcy is asked to consult an a case with eerie similarities.
#30 - Firekeeper's Daughter (2022)
by Angeline Boulley ★★★★★
A high school girl is thrust into an FBI investigation to try to uncover a drug ring that is terrorizing Native American tribes
#29 - Razorblade Tears (2021)
by S.A. Cosby ★★★★★
When two young gay men are murdered, their fathers join forces to take solving the murders into their own hands.
#28 - All My Rage (2022)
by Sabaa Tahir ★★★★★
An exploration of the immigrant experience through the story of two high school students of Pakistani descent, growing up in rural CA.
#27 - American Dirt (2020)
by Jeanine Cummins ★★★★★
The journey of a mother and her son as they flee Acapulco for the United States after becoming targets of the local cartel.
#26 - The Final Strife (2022)
by Saara El-Arifi ★★★★★
A land where one’s blood color determines their race is the setting while a secret sect try to infiltrate to infiltrate the government.
#25 - Starling House (2023)
by Alix E. Harrow ★★★★★
Harrow returns to top form with a genre-blending story of a young woman trying to scrape by in a town haunted by its past and secrets.
#24 - Rubicon (2023)
by J.S. Dewes ★★★★★
A stand-alone novel unrelated to her "Divide" series, author Dewes elegantly explores immortality, AI, and what it means to be human.
#23 - Cloud Cuckoo Land (2021)
by Anthony Doerr ★★★★★
It's a love story and a legal thriller, but its authors' deft handling of many tough subjects is what elevates this novel even more.
#22 - Open (2024*)
by Andre Agassi ★★★★★
One other outlier...so what if it came out in 2009? Don't care. I read it in 2024, and it's one of the best autobiographies I've come across in a long time.
#21 - Nothing to See Here (2020)
by Kevin Wilson ★★★★★
An old friend desperately needs Lillian's help caring for her kids. There's one catch, though: when the kids get upset, they catch fire
#20 - Fourth Wing (2023)
by Rebecca Yarros ★★★★★
Perhaps the most-hyped book of 2023 lives up to it, as we follow the journey of a young girl as she attempts to become a dragon rider.
#19 - Iron Flame (2024)
by Rebecca Yarros ★★★★★
Yarros gives us a rarity -- a sequel to a force-of-nature debut that's just as good as the original, and in some ways possibly better.
#18 - The Will of the Many (2024)
by James Islington ★★★★★
A truly excellent start to a trilogy about an orphan who infiltrates an Academy for societal elites in order to uncover a conspiracy.
#17 - Group (2020)
by Christie Tate ★★★★★
When author Christie Tate hits rock bottom, she decides to try a radical form of group therapy, where everything is NOT confidential.
#16 - Race the Sands (2020)
by Sarah Beth Durst ★★★★★
Part Seabiscuit, part palace politics, part commentary on societal boundaries and castes -- this novel was great on multiple levels.
#15 - The Mayor of Maxwell Street (2024)
by Avery Cunningham ★★★★★
Skillful dialogue and prose adorn this debut that combines a love story with the search for a mysterious gangster in 1920s Chicago.
#14 - The Divide (2021-2024)
by J.S. Dewes ★★★★★
I'm cheating a bit on this one by selecting a 3-book series for one slot, but they're all equally great and all released within the last five years. An action-packed space opera that's great for fans of The Expanse.
#13 - The Covenant of Water (2023)
by Abraham Verghese ★★★★★
It was not the novel I liked the most -- it was slow at times, and seemed to drag on forever -- but it was the novel for which I have the most respect in 2023.
#12 - Demon Copperhead (2022)
by Barbara Kingsolver ★★★★★
An ode to Charles Dickens in the form of a modern retelling of David Copperfield, set in Appalachian Virginia over the last 30+ years.
#11 - Still Life (2023)
by Sarah Winman ★★★★★
A beautifully written (despite its lack of quotation marks) character study of a cast of memorable souls that spans 30 years from the end of World War II until the mid-70s.
#10 - Small Mercies (2023)
by Dennis Lehane ★★★★★
A masterful book, Lehane's best since Mystic River, set against the racial tensions of Boston school busing during the summer of '74.
#9 - Thistlefoot (2022)
by GennaRose Nethercott ★★★★★
The reunion of 2 siblings around a mysterious house is the backdrop for this lyrical beauty of a novel, my favorite of 2022.
#8 - All the Colors of the Dark (2024)
by Chris Whitaker ★★★★★
Whitaker delivers another masterpiece of character development while tackling several tough topics -- a challenging but uplifting read.
#7 - James (2024)
by Andy Weir ★★★★★
More than a retelling of "Huck Finn" from the point of view of Jim, this is a brilliant treatise on race and slavery in 1860s America.
#6 - Project Hail Mary (2021)
by Andy Weir ★★★★★
A scientist trapped alone in space trying to survive. What worked for Weir with The Martian does again and this time might be even better.
#5 - Chain-Gang All-Stars (2023)
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah ★★★★★
Set in a near-future society that feels all too possible, prisoners fight in gladiatorial death matches for a chance at freedom.
#4 - All the Sinners Bleed (2023)
by S.A. Cosby ★★★★★
Another tightly crafted Southern Noir novel from Cosby packed with social commentary and memorable characters. Possibly his best yet.
#3 - Lost Man's Lane (2024)
by Scott Carson ★★★★★
Set in 1999, a coming-of-age story about a high schooler who finds himself embroiled in a supernatural missing persons investigation.
#2 - Blacktop Wasteland (2020)
by S.A. Cosby ★★★★★
A “one last job” crime caper that ends up with a lot more depth and character development than expected. It's outstanding.
#1 - We Begin at the End (2021)
by Chris Whitaker ★★★★★
A thought-provoking and heartbreaking coming of age story, mixed with a small town mystery. My clear favorite of 2021 by a wide margin.
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