The best books I read this year

Sent on the last day of the year

Best of lists are completely biased and arbitrary. There’s no standardized metric by which we can judge art, and everyone’s taste is subjective. Having worked in media for over seven years, I know how the sausage gets made. For the most part, these lists get it right. But you must keep in mind the politics. The publicists and publishers. The curation! There are a lot of overrated books that get featured too often and a dearth of underrated gems that slip through the cracks. I love Maris Kreizman’s 2018 essay about this.

I love books that I get lost in. That make me feel less alone. The best books I read this year did this, and more

The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis is about 100 pages too long and stuffed to the brim with references and name drops and Los Angeles geography, meaning, it’s not for everyone. It is, however, for me. And for people who love fever dream books about kids with too much money and too little supervision.

Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte is unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s perverse, offensive, graphic, and genius. The interconnected short stories feature some of the most deranged degenerates in literature. I read excerpts outloud to John against his will. This is a book that I’ll forever keep on my shelves.

Ina Garten’s Be Ready When the Luck Happens is Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Scrap by Calla Henkel is like a gay Gone Girl.

And though I’ve already written about them ad nauseum, no list would be complete without Martyr! or The Coin or Grief Is for People.

I whipped through The God of the Woods and Free Food for Millionaires is one of those great, big, inter-generational novels.

Piglet by Lottie Hazell filled me with dread (complimentary) and sent me straight to Reddit searching for answers.

Rental House by Weike Wang was a strange and wonderful little book that is begging for an adaptation for the stage.

I read Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go for the first time this year. I was underwhelmed. I was also unimpressed with the late Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir (co-written with her daughter, Riley Keough).

And I just started what I think will be my first read of 2025: The Mother Load by Sarah Hoover. I’m only two chapters in, but I can already confidently recommend this to Cat Marnell fans.

And at the risk of sounding schmaltzy, I want to sincerely thank everyone who subscribes to this. I started this with the goal of sending one newsletter per month and babes, we did it. Thank you so much for reading. And to even more reading in 2025!