But I completely agree about Light from Uncommon stars

I LOVE Trumpeter of Krakow 😂

I literally came here from another Booktuber saying Like Water for Chocolate was one of their top 10 reads of the year. :) I have a love-hate realtionship with magical realism. The greats of the genre use it with such purpose to convey a pognant message and/or integrate it so brilliantly into the plot (Borges, some Garcia Marquez, Bulgakov, Kafka... Sabrina the Teenage Witch), but a lot of the more modern works that use it as a plot device only or for "vibes" are so poor. I just started Murakami's Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - my first of his, and I have Allende's House of the Spirits and Rushdie's Midnight Children on deck this year, will see how it goes.

Best wishes for 2025! There are a lot of books on your list that I haven't read, so I will definitely check them out. I'm reading Cloud Cuckoo Land right now for FOMO bookclub! I want to finish it before the life. I'm a third of the way through and I'm loving it so far. (and I was also sceptical) I skipped your talk about it. I'll hear your thoughts on the 6th. :) I also loved Shogun. It was one of my favourite reads last year. My favourite books of this year were A Suitable Boy (did you make it through?) and The Bridges of Madison Country (which I think you would hate). edit: I need to add an honourable mention: I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka & Martin Ganda Looking forward to seeing your salty videos coming year. ;)

So many on here that I’ve heard you rave about but even so, making these lists must be so hard!

Hi Charlie! Cutie. So many great books this year, I completely agree that it was sooo hard to choose. Brotherless Night was so special and very glad to see you include it.🥰 Thanks for introducing me to Ti Amo and The Echoes - adding to my TBR. I am also sold on Tony Birch - been meaning to get to Blessings as well. Happy New Year Gemma!

Ti Amo sounds perfect for me, thank you. I would have picked that book up even if I thought you had terrible taste in books.

Loved your video. I have read 4 of your books and interested in 3 more--particularly Brotherless Night and Cloud Cockoo Land. Read Shogun in the 1970's when it was first released and all the series of books by Cavill in those years. Not surprised to see them back in print and loved by a whole new generation of readers. If you liked Shogun I would recommend David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. So many great books and I'm currently reading Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe--think I'm the last BT person to read this. Happy New Year and have a great reading 2025.

Great list Gem!! I've read brotherless night and soldier sailor, but even though I loved them, for some reason they didn't stick with me enough to make my list. I have intervals, the fifth season and the blade itself on my shelves ready to read, so glad they or their sequels are on your list 😊

I also didn't like Anthony Doerrs first book but I think you've convinced me to try Cloud Cuckoo Land. Also the Broken Earth trilogy is wonderful! I hope you love The Stone Sky.

Will definitely be picking up Matrescence. Thanks for putting that on my radar! And yes, agree that Soldier Sailor was super relatable and I felt SEEN as a mom. But I struggled with the stream of consciousness to love it like you did.

Great list! Soldier Sailor was my favourite book this year too. I have two young sons and that book resonated with me so, so much. And So I Roar and James were also on my top 10 list, and a few others on your list are books I hope to get to in 2025!

My favourite book of the year was The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier 😊

My top 10 backlist books: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell The Book Thief by Markus Zusak The Details by Ia Genberg The Man Who Saw Everything by Rachel Cusk How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair The Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Ben made me do it 😂) A Ghost in the Throat by Doirean NíGhriofa Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy Milkman by Anna Burns Many Thousand Gone by Ronald L. Fair My Top 10 of 2024 releases: Clear by Carys Davies North woods by Daniel Mason The Son of Man by Jean-Baptist’s Del Amo What I Know About You by Eric Chacour Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood Tell by Jonathan Buckley Hard Drive by Paul Stephenson The Safekeep by Yael VanDerworden My Friends by Hisham Matar I do have several books you have listed on my TBR and I think we read about the same number in 2024. When I StoryGraph listed 145 books, I was shocked 😮 because I don’t set up my goals by number. I actually went through my list to make sure some didn’t get duplicated in StoryGraph 🫣, but yeah. Looking forward to more wonderful reading in 2025

The Echoes has been on my pre order list here in the states for a while. We don’t get it here until February, though I was tempted many times to get it from Blackwell’s after reading The Bass Rock this year.

Love your channel and the recommendations ❤ Just hard to hear you

My favorites were The Night Ends with Fire and Paint the Wind. I haven’t read any of yours but feel I can really relate to Soldier Sailor after the year I’ve had. Happy New Year’s 🎉

Cheri and The Echoes are going on my TBR. I have Ti Amo so need to get to that. Your number one is already on my TBR so I’m hoping to enjoy it too. 😊💙

Charlie testing out all his best facial expressions cracked me up 😂 Love the variety of your picks - N. K. Jemsin is so great, so very pleased to see Obelisk Gate here. And lots of the other ones I haven't read are high up on my 'want to read next if only I didn't have a million books to read' list (Blessings, Ti Amo, The Echoes, Cloud Cuckoo Land). And I have to say: THRILLED at the number one. What a book!

I dnfd The Fraud and This One Sky Day. I do have Fallow Hall on my tbr... Which hopefully bodes well!

Love to see a Christie on here!! I don't think I've read any of the others...although I have DNF'd a couple. Now to head over to your worst books to get some recommendations 😂

Happy New Year! I had twenty 5⭐books this year and I agree I can't pick JUST 10! One of my favorites was Still Life by Sarah Winman, last year Tin Man by her was a 5 ⭐as well.

I’m reading the echoes now and am obsessed. I’ve had ti amo on my wish list since you read it. Taking a few more recommendations from here too. Happy new year!

We have 6 books in common in our best of lists📚❤ This clearly makes the rest of your list dangerous for me 😉 Such a great list.

Happy new year. I only just read James but I think it will be an honourable mention as I really enjoyed it. I loved brotherless night. I knew that soldier sailor was your favourite book and cloud cuckoo land would be in your top ten 😊

Some great books there Gemma. I haven’t read Soldier Sailor yet, I must rectify that!

Happy new year Gemma 🎉I gave 30 books 5 stars this year so I’m having a hard time cutting the list down to 10/12. I’d have to divide it into best debuts, best Irish, most surprising?

Born a Crime is amazing.

I’m going to read the first book in Abercrombie’s First Law (?) series this year. Huzzah for James and Claire Kilroy!

I loved Born a Crime. So funny. Aww Agatha Christie 🎉 I really should pick up some Joe Abercrombie. Cloud cuckoo land ❤ Great list.

Happy New Year.

I have been so excited for this video! I loved Born a Crime, Cloud Cuckoo Land and James! Matrescence has been on my TBR. I am excited to get to it!

Dangerous for my wish list! Much as I love salty Gem, it is wonderful hearing you talk about books you loved - your passion really shines through! I just got volume 2 of Saga on libby as I scoffed vol 1 on Christmas day. Red Country, Cloud Cuckoo Land and Shogun were some of my favourites this year as well. I am still figuring what the whole list looks like though! Happy new year mate!

WOW! 18 5*s! You had a great year! I read the Broken Earth trilogy in '23 and am finishing up Cloud Cuckoo Land this week for Alice. Chakraborty is on my TBR as well as more Weeks (I enjoyed Red Sister!). My most enjoyable reads out of 139 books (not a single perfect 5* 😕) were 2 urban fantasy series by Ilona Andrews - Kate Daniels and Hidden Legacy. The best 3 individual books were Innocent In Death by Robb, Pillars of the Earth by Follett and A Darkness More Than Night by Connelly. If you want to try a post apocalyptic urban fantasy with a strong, kick-butt female protagonist, give Kate Daniels a try! Such a fun ride!! Happy New Year 🥳

Nope! Not for me! Here’s hoping for a successful 40 before 40 book! 🤞You will really like Flowers for Algernon - it’s a great book!

Hope your next one’s a winner! Happy New Year to you Gemma❤

thumbs down for me on this one too (although we’ve already spoken about this, I do like to declare things publicly) 🤡

Ulysses, well at least Joyce was mostly using letters to write his sentences, in Finnegan's Wake he has entire sentences made up of punctuation... Joyce is pretentious crap and anybody who claims to like him must have a very long nose.

Hello Charlie!!! Happy to hear your review about this because I have considered it a few times. I just did four days of pajama days. Enjoy them when you can. Looking forward to your next review. I loved Flowers for Algernon. It's so heartbreaking. 😊💙

Loved Flowers For Algernon!! Look forward to that review.

Pj time is essential at this time of year go Charlie 🎉🎉 My charity shop can have Charlie’s one sky day 😂😂

If I hadn’t had to go out for a meeting today I’d have still been in pjs too! I’m so glad this was recommended to you, just in order to see your review 😂

Wooohooo, pass me the salt! Love it when you get a li'l salty. So sad to see one of my favorite books, Like Water for Chocolate, on your list but I get it. Magical realism is kind of a cilantro story trope -- love it or hate it -- not many opinions in between. I knew Ulysses would have to be your number one -- Alice would love that. 💚 Love this video!

Here for the salty! ‘Magical realism’ and ‘stream of consciousness’ are the top two phrases that will put me off picking up a book.

So many people love Siddhartha but I just could not understand why anyone liked that book. It didn't feel profound or meaningful in a real sort of way. I am listening to a Zadie Smith book right now (White Teeth) and I'm not sure if I get why so many people like it. Love hearing your thoughts!

I think you need to DNF more 😂

Ewwww... they all sound yucky - Lol! Hope you make better selections in 2025!!

Lol 😂 - the salt is great particularly enjoy your take on insta love in 'Like water chocolate' or whatever it was called and Zadie Smith, the Fraud - if you enjoy really boring Victorian books you might like it 😂😂😂💜📚

4:08 - show us the big vehicle (that's not a bus), which fell down stairs. Was it a car transporter, or a combine harvester? 😂💜📚

Note to self avoid these books 😂🧂🧂🧂