Happy Tuesday everyone! Today is the last day of 2024. Tomorrow we will be welcoming a new year. I hope that 2024 has been kind to everyone. I hope that the coming year will be brimming with success and dreams fulfilled.

Before we could wave goodbye to 2024, let me cap it with my last Top 5 Tuesday update for the year. Top 5 Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ the Bionic Bookworm but is now currently being hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads.

This week’s topic: Top Five Books of 2024

For the third year in a row, I have completed over 100 books. Imagine, I used to dream of a reading year like this, i.e., reading at least 100 books. I thought it would end in 2022 but I managed to replicate the feat in 2023 and 2024 as well. With the sheer volume of books I read this year, there are a lot of standouts. It is quite a challenge picking which ones truly stood out. Nevertheless, here are some of the books that stood out for me.

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Snippet from my review: Tous pour un, un pour tous (All for one, and one for all) is a motto that perfectly encapsulates what the friendship between Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d’Artagnan. It is also a motto for which The Three Musketeers has become renowned. Their adventures and misadventures, chronicled in this timeless literary classic, have tickled the imaginations of many across generations. However, The Three Musketeers does not reduce itself to a mere story about friendship, adventures, and honor. As one navigates through the seas of adventures, one can see how Dumas skillfully wove into the novel’s rich tapestry germane subjects prevalent during the time. Beyond the overtones of romance, adventures, and loyalties the novel is a subtly scathing critique of the insatiable appetite for power and how the caprice of monarchies adversely impacts the lives of ordinary denizens. The Three Musketeers, without a doubt, is a literary classic that transcends and will transcend time and physical boundaries.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Snippet from my review: Without a doubt, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is an ambitious literary masterpiece. lush ecosystem where the past continuously collides with the present. In looking back to the past and capturing the interior lives of African Americans, Jeffers was able to vividly capture their resilience in light of the changing cultural landscape and historical moments. It is, first and foremost, a novel about the Black African experience but it also captures the intersection of the indigenous American and African American lives and the thorny legacy of colonialism and slavery. While it is steeped in history, it was also an evocative coming-of-age story that tackled trauma, abuse, racism, discrimination, and academia. Beyond its historical and bildungsroman overtones, the novel is a vivid portrait of modern America. It is a story about love, healing, activism, and inconvenient truths buried by history and memory. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois is as ambitious as it is grand, a triumph of literature from a gifted writer.

Native Son by Richard Wright

Snippet from my review: Native Son is, without a doubt, a literary classic. Through the story and fate of Bigger Thomas, the novel vividly captures the African American experience. They had to deal with oppression from people who treated them as less than their equals mainly because of the color of their skin. They were seen as incapable of helping themselves. The novel captured the impact of racism on both the oppressor and the oppressed. Both sides cried foul but it was palpable how power, social, political, and economic dynamics careen heavily toward one side of the spectrum. Justice also serves one side of the spectrum. These are conditions, unfortunately, that persist in the contemporary. Racism and discrimination are corrosive elements of modern American society. While there are major developments in the right direction, it is still evident how power dynamics and privilege favor one skin color. These conditions underline the continuing relevance of Wright’s magnum opus. A story of character development and moral and social justice, an extensive socio-political and socioeconomic commentary, Native Son is a modern literary classic that transcends both time and physical boundaries.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Snippet from my review: Multifaceted and multilayered, Martyr! is certainly one of the best debut novels this year. Akbar seamlessly transitioned from poetry to full-length prose, underscoring his immense writing talent. His debut novel is predicated on death, actual and the yearning for it. It is anchored on finding meaning to define it and, by extension, our injuries, struggles, and sacrifices. However, Martyr! is also about what it means to live. Beyond death and grief, the novel delves into a plethora of themes such as biculturalism, racism, sexuality, addiction, identity, and the secrets that permeate families. It is also about love, art, and our propensity to create something that matters. The avalanche of subjects obscures an equally germane subject subtly integrated by Akbar: mental health. Cyrus’ depression and his self-destructive tendencies, his father’s resignation from life, all underscore this. The novel’s wonderful elements, chaotic on the surface, were all woven together by Akbar into a lush tapestry. Incorporating humor, wit, and bouts of melodrama, Martyr! is an engaging, thought-provoking, and even entertaining read.

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

Snippet from my review: Buddenbrooks paints an intimate portrait of the bourgeoisie in 19th-century Germany and is a testament to Mann’s enduring talent. It casts a net over a vast territory of subjects that range from personal sacrifices to death, and ultimately decline. It is an intimate family saga, a subtle work of historical fiction, and ultimately a literary classic that transcended time and physical boundaries, catapulting Mann to global recognition and literary immortalization. It is a hallmark of Mann’s literary heritage deserving of all the accolades it has received and a fascinating feat rarely witnessed in the ambit of literature.

James by Percival Everett

Snippet from my review: Earning Everett’s second longlisting for the prestigious Booker Prize, James is more than just a retelling of a beloved literary classic. A multilayered and multifaceted novel, it sheds radically new light on a character rarely heard from in the original. In James, the readers are introduced to a psychologically complex character who is imbued with worldly wisdom, compassion, remarkable intelligence, and an indomitable spirit that sees through the indignities of slavery. Slaves were treated next to animals. They were beaten, raped, whipped, and even sold as commodities. James bore witness to all of these cruelties. Despite being shackled to the ground by slavery, he was always certain of his worth. His story resonates with strength and resilience amidst the pandemonium of racism and slavery. With his latest novel, Everett orchestrates a skillful performance that integrates the emotional, the horrifying, and, at times, even the humorous.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Snippet from my review: The novel soared with Verghese’s writing. It was accessible and lyrical. The descriptive nature of his writing also created a sense of place that transported the readers to southern India. The topography was vividly captured by Verghese’s writing: Where the sea meets white beach, it thrusts fingers inland to intertwine with the rivers snaking down the green canopied slopes of the Ghats. It is a child’s fantasy world of rivulets and canals, a latticework of lakes and lagoons, a maze of backwaters and bottle-green lotus ponds; a vast circulatory system because, as her father used to say, all water is connected. These vivid descriptions were encapsulated in Verghese’s intricate descriptions of surgical procedures, anatomy, and even medical interventions.

Here are other books that captured my interest during the year.