2024 on Goodreads

Well that wraps up the 2024 reading year.
As usual, some made up categories, and my favourite book for each, then some statistics, and my list of 5 star books from 2024.
Thanks all those who read and comment on my reviews, keeps me motivated to keep writing them. Happy 2025 everyone.

So first to the “Best of the Year” books I have read:

Best Travel - Michel the Giant: An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie
Second in this esteemed category: A Carpet Ride to Khiva by Christopher Aslan Alexander

Best History - In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

Best Military - (although it is fiction) All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Best Biography - The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw

Best Nautical - Swirly World : The Solo Voyages by Andrew Fagan

Best Mountaineering - The Ascent of Nanda Devi by H.W. Tilman

Best Desert - The Quest For Timbuctoo by Brian Gardner

Best Polar - The Epic of Captain Scott by Martin Lindsay

Best Published by The Travel Book Club - Coast of Coral and Pearl by Peter Lancaster Brown

Best New Zealand Authored - Ocean Notorious: Journeys to Lost and Lonely Places of the Deep South by Matt Vance

Best Non-fiction Short Story Collection - How To Send A Message - Deluxe Edition by Caimh McDonnell

Best Fiction - Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser
Second in this esteemed category: True Grit by Charles Portis

Best Science Fiction - The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham

Best digital read - The Gulmohar of Mehranpur by Amal Singh

Best science The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
And downer of the year:

Biggest Disappointment - The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers - obviously expectations were far too high for this!

Some Statistics - Read 111 books this year, at a touch over 26,950 pages. This is one less book than last year, but around 4000 pages less, so some smaller books in there.

My average rating for books is a healthy 3.7 stars. (I remain pretty consistent in this over the years)

Longest book: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett at 1070 pages

My most popular review this year: The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.

Of the 110 Books I rated:
19 books 5 stars
49 books 4 stars
36 books 3 stars
6 books 2 stars
no 1 star books this year!

Given the 3.7 average rating, and the high proportion of 4 stared books, 4 stars for the year it seems is most appropriate, once again.



Links to my reviews of my five star reads of 2023.

Diary of a Slave by Rustam Khan-Urf
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Epic of Captain Scott by Martin Lindsay
The Opium Smugglers by Ion L. Idriess
Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser
A Carpet Ride to Khiva by Christopher Aslan Alexander
Dust on My Shoes by Peter Pinney
The Anzacs by Patsy Adam-Smith
Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux
Coast of Coral and Pearl by Peter Lancaster Brown
The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw
Cannibal Caravan by Charles Miller
The Land of Maybe: A Faroe Islands Year by Tim Ecott
Michel the Giant: An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie
True Grit by Charles Portis
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Tiger For Breakfast by Michel Peissel
Another Day of Life by Ryszard Kapuściński



Not really reading material, but this was my regularly edited reading list for the yearThe Room on the Roof - Ruskin BondAll Quiet on the Western FrontHeart of the Sea - PhilbrickMoby Dick - MelvilleCormac McCarthy - The CrossingHW Tilman x1Orwell - books v. cigarettesFreya Stark - Baghdad SketchesRosita ForbesEric Newby x1Buchan's Richard Hannay #3Dashiell Hammett - Continental OpFlashman #5Flashman #6Master and MargaritaRoddy Doyle x1 - SmileNicholas Jubber - Prester QuestOrhan Pamuk - My Name is RedGabriel Krause - Who they WasOcean Notorious - Matt VanceThe Kraken Awakes - WyndhamAnother HG Wells1x Joan DruettANZACsBurma SahibRe-reads: Do Androids Dream of Electric SheepCity of Djinns - DalrymplePillars of the Earth - Follettscience x2 - Longitude, The Sixth Extinction2x Penguin Orange, Cerise or brown - Africa Dances, Anzacs1x P60 - Florence Nightingale3x Idriess < 3 >2x Clune < 2 >2 on Circumnavigator books < 2 >12 TBC < 14 > 12 From Travel shelf < 14 >Read if desperate for a good book!Peter Pinney -Dirt on my ShoesSea People - Christina ThompsonErika Fatland - SovietstanCarried over from 20231x Hopkirk - The Great Game