2024 Master Reading List

I have the most fun writing about books, especially when it means getting to make a list of the books I want to read. Once again, I’m putting together a master list of all of my to-be-read books for 2024, including several reading challenges I participate in each year. I’m starting the year having finished all of my TBRs from 2023 and am ready to jump right into this year’s bookshelf.

Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that I haven’t enjoyed reading as much as I used to, and I believe it’s from forcing myself to read too many books and on subject matters that don’t appeal to me, in the name of completing a challenge. This year, I want to remember why I started reading in the first place, way back in kindergarten when I loved picking up picture books and imagining myself in the stories. I love seeing myself in the protagonist’s shoes and getting to experience a new life, even for a few short pages.

So, one of my goals for the year is to take the necessity out of reading and do it for fun again. I also want to focus on the practice of deeper reading because I have a bad habit of reading a book and the next month, not having any recollection of it, often having to consult my review to remember the details.

It’s because of these goals that I’ve decided to step back from a few of the reading challenges I’ve participated in for years, namely, the RAD list, the Reading Glasses podcast challenge, the Back to University list that I adapted from a YouTuber, as well as participating in the Audacious book club. This last one was because I was having a difficult time getting the books in time and it made the book club stressful. I’ll still read some of the books, but when they become available at my local library.

For the ninth year, I’ll be completing the Popsugar reading challenge again. It’s one of my favorites and I always find some wonderful books while filling those challenge prompts. I’ll also be working through Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge again. This is a tough one that usually tones my research skills and allows me to read books in lots of different genres and from authors who are from different places and walks of life than me. This will be the fourth year that I’m doing the #ReadYourBooks challenge and the third year for the Big Book challenge, which encourages you to read books over 500 pages in length.

Rounding out my list this year are five books by BIPOC authors, five books about disability, five books about queer folks or by LGBTQIA+ writers, and one that I’m looking forward to, reading all the books on my library wish list that had dogs on the cover, a funny thing I mused about in a post last year. I also plan to do some intense research projects this year, including one on different religions and religious texts, and some detailed medical research. So, that will take up a lot more of my reading time.

I’m excited to start reading and hope you have some exciting books on your shelf for 2024. As always, I’ll be updating this list throughout the year and linking to my reviews for each book. If you want to follow along directly, catch up with me on Goodreads and see my master lists from previous years here. Let’s get reading!

Popsugar Reading Challenge (Count: 50/50)

1. A book with “leap” in the title - Leap of Faith by Queen Noor

2. A bildungsroman - Atonement by Ian McEwan

3. A book about a 24-year-old - My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

4. A book about a writer/author - Writers & Lovers by Lily King

5. A book about K-pop - The Birth of Korean Cool by Euny Hong

6. A book about pirates - Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

7. A book about women’s sports and/or a woman athlete - Rise by Lindsey Vonn

8. A book by a blind or visually impaired author - The Beauty of Dusk by Frank Bruni

9. A book by a deaf or hard-of-hearing author - Deaf Utopia by Nyle DiMarco

10. A book by a self-published author - Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

11. A book from a genre you typically avoid - They Were Here Before Us by Eric LaRocca

12. A book from an animal’s POV - A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry

13. A book originally published under a pen name - Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

14. A book recommended by a bookseller - Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

15. A book recommended by a librarian - Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

16. A book set 24 years before you were born - Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

17. A book set in a travel destination on your bucket list - The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick

18. A book set in space - To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

19. A book set in the future - The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

20. A book set in the snow - One by One by Ruth Ware

21. A book that came out in a year that ends in “24” - Funny Story by Emily Henry

22. A book that centers on video games - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

23. A book that features dragons - The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

24. A book that takes place over 24 hours - They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

25. A book that was published 24 years ago - The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

26. A book that was turned into a musical - The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

27. A book where someone dies in the first chapter - The Stranger by Albert Camus

28. A book with a main character who’s 42 years old - Open House by Elizabeth Berg

29. A book with a neurodivergent main character - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

30. A book with a one-word title you had to look up in a dictionary - Apeirogon by Colum McCann

31. A book with a title that is a complete sentence - My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman

32. A book with an enemies-to-lovers plot - Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

33. A book with an unreliable narrator - None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

34. A book with at least three POVs - Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

35. A book with magical realism - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

36. A book written by an incarcerated or formerly incarcerated person - The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton

37. A book written during NaNoWriMo - Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

38. A cozy fantasy book - The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

39. A fiction book by a trans or nonbinary author - Melissa by Alex Gino

40. A horror book by a BIPOC author - Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

41. A memoir that explores queerness - How Y’all Doing? by Leslie Jordan

42. A nonfiction book about Indigenous people - Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer

43. A second-chance romance - The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch

44. An autobiography by a woman in rock 'n’ roll - Rememberings by Sinead O’Connor

45. An LGBTQ+ romance novel - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

46. A book in which a character sleeps for more than 24 hours - Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

47. A book with 24 letters in the title - The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

48. A collection of at least 24 poems - Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

49. The 24th book of an author - The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

50. A book that starts with the letter “X” - X by Sue Grafton

Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge (Count: 24/24)

1. A cozy fantasy book - Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

2. A YA book by a trans author - Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

3. A middle-grade horror novel - Little Girls by Nicholas Aflleje

4. A history book by a BIPOC author - An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States by Kyle T. Mays

5. A sci-fi novella - Finna by Nino Cipri

6. A middle-grade book with an LGBTQIA+ main character - In the Role of Brie Hutchens … by Nicole Melleby

7. An indie-published collection of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author - Coconut by Nisha Patel

8. A book in translation from a country you’ve never visited - Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

9. A book recommended by a librarian - The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

10. A historical fiction book by an Indigenous author - The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

11. A picture book published in the last five years - Just Because by Matthew McConaughey

12. A genre book by a disabled author - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

13. A comic that has been banned - Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass by Lilah Sturges

14. A book by an author with an upcoming event and then attend the event - Hedge by Jane Delury

15. A YA nonfiction book - Before They Were Artists by Elizabeth Haidle

16. A book based solely on the title - Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed by Meghan Daum

17. A book about media literacy - Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America by Barbara McQuade

18. A book about drag or queer artistry - Martin McLean, Middle School Queen by Alyssa Zaczek

19. A romance with neurodivergent characters - Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

20. A book about books - Books by Larry McMurtry

21. A book that went under the radar in 2023 - What Have We Done by Alex Finlay

22. A manga or manhwa - Broken Pride by Erin Hunter

23. A “howdunit” or “whydunit” mystery - The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

24. A challenge from any of the years’ challenges to repeat - The End and Other Beginnings by Veronica Roth

#ReadYourBooks Challenge (Count: 5/5)

1. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

2. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

3. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

4. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

5. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Big Book Reading Challenge (Count: 5/5)

1. Babel by R.F. Kuang

2. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

3. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

4. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

5. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

BIPOC Reads (Count: 5/5)

1. Covered With Night by Nicole Eustace

2. Daring to Drive by Manal al-Sharif

3. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

4. Somewhere Inside by Laura Ling

5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Books About Disability (Count: 5/5)

1. What is Visible by Kimberly Elkins

2. Sipping Dom Perignon Through a Straw by Eddie Ndopu

3. Air by Monica Roe

4. Leg by Greg Marshall

5. Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker

LGBTQIA+ Books (Count: 5/5)

1. History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

2. Being Jazz by Jazz Jennings

3. The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver

4. One Life by Megan Rapinoe

5. Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride

Books with Dogs on the Cover (Count: 15/15)

1. Good Old Dog by Nicholas Dodman

2. A Dog’s Life by Ann M. Martin

3. How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend by Monks of New Skete

4. A Dog Named Boo by Lisa J. Edwards

5. Wallace by Jim Gorant

6. Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson

7. The Possibility Dogs by Susannah Charleson

8. Bad Dog (A Love Story) by Martin Kihn

9. The Second-Chance Dog by Jon Katz

10. Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz

11. The Dog Who Came to Stay by Hal Borland

12. The Labrador Pact by Matt Haig

13. Until Tuesday by Luis Carlos Montalvan

14. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

15. Dog Years by Mark Doty