Elizabeth Cobbe

A bevy of good wishes for this holiday season, peaches. Here are my favorite reads of the year, starting with the 2024 releases.

James by Percival Everett. The story of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of Jim. The best journey story I’ve ever read.

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon. A pair of out-of-work laborers in ancient Syracuse stage a production of Medea, featuring Athenian prisoners of war on the brink of starvation.

Concerning the Future of Souls by Joy Williams. A second volume of short shorts from a master of the form.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett. The second book in a lovely, endearing series with delightful characters. I can’t wait for the third installment!

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler. A novella about the battle against poachers hunting the mammoths brought back from extinction.

Earlier releases

Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous. A memoir from the anonymous author behind the Duchess Goldblatt Twitter personality.
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea. A series of Q&As about each of Judi Dench’s Shakespeare roles.
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta. A nonfiction exploration of the American Evangelical Christian movement in an age of political extremism.
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub. A fantasy of witchcraft, starring the youngest and most disreputable of the Bennet sisters.
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. A nonfiction account of how the author came to understand how her own doppelganger fell into conservative extremism.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher. There’s a skeleton dog and an undead chicken. Enough said.
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter. A beautiful, unusual story in which a mysterious trickster crow visits a family living in the aftermath of grief.