Make way, the BookNet Canada staff’s favourite reads of the year are here! And just like last year, we’re sharing some tidbits of data about our team’s reading habits — how many books we’ve read and our preferred formats. One thing is certain, BookNetters continue to love reading! All our recommendations can be found in this CataList catalogue.

BookNet Reads

The BookNet staff read a total of 576 books, a 64% increase from last year.

31% were audiobooks, 42% print books, and 27% ebooks.
72% were Fiction and 28% were Non-Fiction.

The BookNetter who read the most read 105 books in 2024!

Staff Picks

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

I love fairy tales and I enjoyed the storytelling in this book. What stood out the most to me was the beautiful art style and the consideration for the time period and fashion in the illustrations.

— Adaobi Nnaobi

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

This is the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, which I read right at the start of 2024 and so began my year long affair with the romantasy genre. For me the selling point of this book is the immaculate romantic tension (I can’t resist the enemies to lovers trope), but also the feeling you get living in this world in unmatched. Five star vibes. I’ve been waiting my whole life for chapter 55. Reading this book is like listening to Taylor Swift’s song ‘Call It What You Want’. Recommended for people who like faeries, slow burn romance, and villainous heroes.

— Jarin Pintana

Age 16 by Rosena Fung 🍁

Age 16 by Rosena Fung is a heartfelt, multi-generational story that feels like a warm hug for your inner teen. This is the kind of book you won’t want to put down. With its stunning art and captivating storytelling, it beautifully embodies love, compassion, and a deep understanding of both ourselves and those who came before us.

— Nataly Alarcón

Pebble & Dove by Amy Jones 🍁

Amy Jones never fails to delight. In Pebble & Dove she explores the challenges of multi-generational relationships with charm and wit. It takes a lone manatee in an old Florida aquarium, long-forgotten except by a few dedicated fans and caretakers, to bring everyone together.

— Carol Gordon

Hope by Terry Fox by Barbara Adhiya 🍁

In September 2024, I completed the Terry Fox Run in The Beach in Toronto, my mind filled with the memories of people who had passed in the preceding months, all four experiencing cancer in various times of their life. Growing up in the '80s, my elementary and high schools participated in the annual Terry Fox Run and I’ve always understood its namesake to be a Canadian hero. Before reading Hope by Terry Fox, edited by Barbara Adhiya, I didn’t realize how little I knew about the man behind the icon. Considering that he was only 21 when he started the Marathon, Terry’s accomplishments are all the more impressive: running the equivalent of a marathon each day, advancing innovations in prosthetics, raising $1.7 million during the run ($6 million in 2024 dollars), and managing a daily PR schedule during the run that would make a politician swoon. And the book does its job, sprinkling these accomplishments across over fifty interviews with people who knew Terry, but delivering an intimate biography that highlights Terry’s humanity. I wept, thinking about this extraordinarily ordinary young man and the people he left behind, and our nation forever changed.

— Lauren Stewart

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but Legends and Lattes is the coffee shop novel I never knew I needed. There's something so calming about watching a cast of fantasy creatures introduce caffeinated beverages and delectable baked goods to skeptical small-town inhabitants. I closed the cover with a feeling of contentment and a craving for cinnamon rolls. Bonus cozy points if you can get your hands on the hardcover edition — the endpaper art, chapter illustrations, and sprayed edges made this book a must-have for me!

— Stephanie Small

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

Since I don’t have access to potions or spells that cause temporary amnesia, time and the funny thing it does to memory is the next best thing when I want to revisit an old favourite as though it’s the first time.

The series hits differently now that I’m an adult. There are parts of it, entire plot lines and character motivations, that I had forgotten or didn’t register as a child. Where I used to focus solely on Meggie’s shenanigans, this time around I have a new appreciation for the subtler struggles that the other characters face.

I enjoyed losing myself in a series where the characters show so much love for books, where the plot itself revolves around stories and how they change us. This series will likely appeal to anyone who has any love for storytelling, or are just starting on that journey. (And also to anyone who has ever imagined falling into their favourite book!)

— Vivian Luu

The Underworld by Susan Casey 🍁

Canadian-born author Susan Casey loves the ocean. This passion shines through in her newest book all about the deepest parts of our oceans and the people who are dedicated to exploring them. It’s fascinating to learn how little we know about what is at the bottom and sad to realize the impacts that deep-sea mining will have on the world’s ecosystem should it be allowed to proceed.

— Ainsley Sparkes

Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari

This is an awesome history of information networks leading right up to our current crises with AI — no one performs a better balancing act then Harari at getting the good and the bad right.

— Tim Middleton

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

After wrapping up the “three body problem” series last year I’m very late to this book (by another author), but its dystopian sci-fi story and the massive world building that Neal achieves had me churning through this book in no time. Great pace and full of detail.

— Ben Farrall

The Chitlin' Circuit by Preston Lauterbach

Not only incredibly well-researched stories about American black music and race relations but also its social and political dimensions and the roots of Rock and Roll. Great storyteller with copious historical detail to back it up. Another case of what the historians know but they didn't tell us in school, or now, the media. Highly recommended on all those angles and a good read.

— Mickey Fontana

Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin

I have recommended Lauren Elkin books at BookNet before, and I can’t pass up another opportunity to do so. Her new book, Scaffolding, is her first novel and depicts the relationships of two different couples living in the same Parisian apartment 50 years apart. I’ve always loved how she writes about her own as well as her characters’ relationships with the cities they live in. Here, she takes that a step further by exploring their interior home lives and how those exist within the changing landscape of Paris. I loved every bit of this!

— Lily Dwyer

Happy by Celina Baljeet Basra

"Leaping, chattering, dancing atop this conundrum comes the hero of Celina Baljeet Basra’s debut novel, Happy Singh Soni, his head bursting with ideas, his heart set on gargantuan dreams." — Kathryn Ma, The New York Times Book Review.

— Recommended by Kalpna Patel

Check out all the recommendations in this CataList catalogue for easy ordering. Curious to discover the books that captured the hearts of Canadians? Explore the lists of bestselling and most circulated books for 2024. Happy reading!