Olive’s Top 5 Reads of 2024

I read a number of really good books in 2024. In total, I completed 53 books, I’m still in the middle of one, and I dropped a couple novels partway through because I just wasn’t enjoying fiction. Choosing my top 5 for this year was a challenge, but I have picked 5 and I will list my runners-up at the end because some are definitely worth mentioning.

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Olive’s Top 5 Reads of 2023

2023 was a decent year for reading for me. I made more space in my life for doing puzzles but still managed to read a total of 52 books. Quite a few were books I read at bedtime with my kids, including the Chronicles of Narnia series, the Hobbit, and the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy (which I consider an accomplishment in itself!). It was actually not too hard for me to choose my favourites for this year. In case you missed last year’s list, you can find my list from 2022 here.

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Olive’s Top 5 Reads of 2022

Here we are at the end of 2022. It’s been a good reading year for me – finished 52 books and found many gems along the way. It’s a difficult task to boil it down to 5 top reads, but I will try! (In case you missed it, here’s my list from 2021). I’ll also include a list of honourable mentions at the bottom of this post. I’ve linked the books to Amazon here, purely for convenience of reference. If you’re able to support your local bookstore or get these from your local library, please do so.

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Tim’s Top 5 Reads from 2020

Just as I did 2017, 2018, and 2019, I made it one of my goals in 2020 to read one book a month. I exceeded my goal to reach 20 (the extra time during this COVID year and my digital detox both helped). Here’s a list of my top 5 books from 2020:

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Olive’s Top 5 Reads in 2020

For 2019, my reading goal was two books a month. This year, my goal was 3 books a month. I exceeded my goal this year by completing 38 books (with a few more partially read). This doesn’t include all the books I read aloud to my kids at bedtime. (Hello, Next Best Junior Chef Books 1, 2, and 3, and Unusual Chickens books 1 and 2 – all of which I read out loud twice…!)

Looking back, what surprised me is that 16 of them were audiobooks. I never thought I would enjoy audiobooks but thanks to our library’s audiobook system, I’ve been able to “read” while I paint. A win-win.

Now at year’s end, I’ve compiled my top 5 picks for 2020. Since it’s hard to rank them, I’m listing them by category:

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