Hello and happy Sunday. This post genuinely excites me because for years I’d put my self this sort of book buying ban, and now it’s been a year or two since I decided that was BS and I could allow myself to get more books even if I had hundreds of unread ones in my TBR list. I have two lists of books I’m including in my Wishlist this year: the best books of 2024, and anticipated 2025 releases. I went through several articles featuring lists of titles and chose based on whether the title, the cover, or the author were interesting to me. As I’ve told you before, I’m in the process of exploring what I like as an adult in my thirties, and what I’m veering towards the most is literary fiction. I’ve realized I like quiet, slice-of-life stories, and we’ll see a lot of that in this post.

Best Books of 2024 (Some books on this list have been a part of my Wishlist since the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024, when I did this same exercise.)

The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez

Devil is Fine by John Vercher

Consent by Jill Ciment

A Complicated Passion by Carrie Rickey

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace

All Things Are Too Small by Becca Rothfeld

All Fours by Miranda July

Good Material by Dolly Alderton

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

The Book Censor’s Library by Bothayna Al-Essa

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

I Cannot Control Anything Forever by Emily C. Bloom

I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

You Are Here by David Nicholls

The Safekeeper by Yael van der Wouden

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

The Husbands by Chloe Gramazio

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

Real Americans by Rachel Khong

After Annie by Anna Quindlen

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Lessons for Survival by Emily Raboteau

More, Please by Emma Specter

Perfume and Pain by Anna Dorn

Survival is a Promise by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

You Glow in the Dark by Liliana Colanzi

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here by Jonathan Blitzer

2025 Releases

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

You’ll Never Believe Me by Kari Ferrell

Black in Blues by Imani Perry

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

The Dry Season by Melissa Febos

Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff

My Mother’s Boyfriends by Samantha Schoech

How to Lose Your Mother by Molly Jong-Fast

Needy Little Things by Channelle Desamours

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

Liquid by Mariam Rahmani