Beloved,
I’ve seen booktubers do this before, but the idea to try it on my site came while I was exporting my Goodreads data to StoryGraph. (For the record, StoryGraph is the superior app, but Goodreads still has legacy status. Add me on both anyway.)
As I was cleaning up reviews and ratings, two things hit me. First, I have read a lot of books. Second, my taste has gone through some very dramatic phases. The stats reach back to 2008, but those early years were basically all Famous Five and Peter and Jane (ikyyk). Anything else from that time is lost in the recesses of memory. In fact anything I read before 2015 ( the year I joined Goodreads) came from lapsed memory and fragmented journal entries. (Another reason to start journalling, y’all).
By 2010 I was beginning to branch out more with my reading. I went to boarding school and had to a very comprehensive library. I read more outside just stories about four children and a dog solving mysteries (no Scooby-Doo). Also, 2010 is divisible by 5 so why not.
Anyway here’s a list of all my favourite books from each year from 2010 to 2025. Keep in mind this list is about how I remember feeling about the books at the time I read them vis-a-vis the books I read in that year. Some books would have ranked lower if I read them in other years and some I probably wouldn’t even give 3 stars if I were to reread them today.
2010: The Sea of Adventure by Enid Blyton.
Enid Blyton’s classic adventure series fantastically repackaged for a new generation of readers. When Bill takes Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann and Jack on a mysterious trip to the desolate northern isles, everything looks set for an exciting time. But then Bill is kidnapped and the children, marooned far from the mainland, find themselves playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with an unknown enemy.
Where does one go after after spending their formative years reading about four children solving mysteries with their pet dog you might ask? Reading about four children solving mysteries with their pet parrot – written by the same author. Wow. So much for diversifying my reading.
I read six books in 2010 and as much as I remember liking all of them, this one really stood out. I even learnt about puffins and I think I enjoyed this more than some other titles in Famous Five.
Honorable mentions:
– Sophie’s World series by Nancy. N. Rue.
I only had three books in this series but I remember really loving them. Especially then when my faith was a little less shaky back then. Even til date I think of reading the rest of the series.
2011: Mate, Dates and Cosmic Kisses by Cathy Hopkins.
When Izzie’s fascination with gorgeous Mark takes a turn for the worse and leaves her hanging around the house waiting for him to call, best friends Lucy and Nesta have to find a way to coax their friend back into the land of the living. Original.
In 2011 I read six books as well. However, this book inspired me to write my own series about preteen/ teen girls being friends, liking boys and growing up and getting into all sorts of trouble. I wrote six whole books which I gifted my insane best friend LivTheVoid. That should tell you something. I guess I just enjoyed stories about girlhood at the time. I also read Mates, Dates and Tempting Trouble this same year, but Cosmic Kisses stuck with me more. I think about reading the rest of the series one day for this one as well.
Honorable mentions:
– Shadow Souls by L.J. Smith.
Curses to the Marymount girlies who stole my two Vampire Diaries books. At the time, I was going through a TVD phase. I watched it all the time and recorded episodes of it, so my mom got me two books – bless her heart. I definitely enjoyed Shadow Souls more than Nightfall. My friend Zee bought the whole collection last year just to spite me, I’m sure because he will definitely never read them but he also won’t sell them to me. Anyway, at least he said I’m welcome to borrow them.
2012: The Girls He Adored by Jonathan Nasaw.
For ten years, the charmingly disheveled veteran FBI Special Agent E.L. Pender has been investigating the apparently random disappearances of a dozen women across the country. The only detail the cases have in common is the strawberry blond color of the victims’ hair, and the presence of a mystery man with whom they were last seen.
Then, in Monterey, California, a routine traffic stop erupts into a scene of horrific violence. The local police are stunned by a disemboweled strawberry blond victim and an ingenious killer with multiple alternating personalities. Pender is convinced he has found his man, but before he can prove it, the suspect stages a cunning jailbreak and abducts his court-appointed psychiatrist, Irene Cogan.
In a house on a secluded ridge in Oregon, Irene must navigate through the minefield of her captor’s various egos — male and female, brilliant and naive, murderous and passive — all of whom are dominated by Max, a seductive killer who views her as both his prisoner and his salvation. Irene knows that to survive she must play along with Max’s game of sexual perversion. Only then will she be able to strip back the layers to discover a chilling story of a shattered young boy — and all the girls he adored.
Out of the eight books I read this year, I definitely had no business reading this one at 13 years old. What a gruesome story. When I was borrowing it from the absolute sweetheart that is Tina, I genuinely thought it was a romance – nevermind the cover and the blurb which I only thought of reading halfway through the book when I realised, welp definitely not a romance. This book has stuck with me through the years.
Honourable mentions:
– Night School by C.J. Daugherty.
Can’t fully tell you what this is about, but think dark academia and love triangles.
2013: Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.
Twelve-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl has discovered a world below ground of armed and dangerous—and extremely high-tech—fairies. He kidnaps one of them, Holly Short, and holds her for ransom in an effort to restore his family’s fortune. But he may have underestimated the fairies’ powers. Is he about to trigger a cross-species war
2013 was such a good year for books man. Not only did I read 23 books, but almost all of them were bangers. I imagine that most of them were because I read them as series and finished them. The series that stood out for me was Artemis Fowl. I found it so original at the time. I devoured these books so fast. I’m not sure which was my favourite cause everything is just slosh in my brain but I’ll put the one that railed me in in the first place.
Honourable mentions:
– The Eyeball Collector by F. E. Higgins.
I highly recommend this one. In fact it could be tied up there with Artemis Fowl. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Might reread it another day.
– The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz.
– The Demon Trappers series by Jana Oliver.
I read only the first three. I think there was one or two more left, last I checked.
2014: The Lord of The Flies by William Golding.
At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart
This was another good year of reading. I read 22 books and found what would be my favourite books for two years. The Lord of the Flies was suggested to me by my mother. It used to be her favourite book and immediately I understood why. I finished it and literally reread soon after.
Outside Lord of the Flies though, I finished a few series I had started the year before but I also read some other pieces for literature that even til date I still think about.
Honourable mentions:
– The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
Very seminal piece of work that is still relevant til date. Everybody should read this one.
– My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
This is my most reread book at 6 rereads. It breaks my heart each time.
– The Name of the Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch.
Absolutely weird book and highly original.
– The Fire Thief Trilogy by Terry Deary.
Really good and funny retelling of the story of Prometheus.
– Smouldering Charcoal by Tiyambe Zeleza.
Very seminal work of Malawian Fiction. I actually enjoyed reading this even if it was for school.
2015: Remember by Karen Kingsbury
Strong-willed Ashley Baxter is trying to forget.
She has locked up her heart, convinced that no one—including God—could love her. Four unlikely people—Alzheimer’s patients—find the cracks in Ashley’s heart and slowly help her remember.
Then comes the nightmare of September 11, which forever changes the lives of the Baxter family, causing them to remember what is important and leading them to make decisions that are both heartbreaking and hope-filled.
Landon Blake, who has loved Ashley since he was a teenager, tries to dull the pain of her rejection by immersing himself in the rescue efforts at Ground Zero.
In 2015, my reading fell off and I only got through nine books. I didn’t have access to a library (I had finished secondary school) and I had no clue how to find digital books. ( I did know how to get on Wattpad though. Dark times). However, I had access to my aunt’s vast collection of Christian drama novels. I had not expected to enjoy Christian romance that much, but lo and behold I did. I read 4/5 of Karen Kingsbury’s Redemption Series, but my absolute favourite was Ashley’s story. Landon was just a 10/10 man. My actual God.
Honourable mentions:
– The Restoration Series by Terri Blackstock.
This is dystopian Christian Fiction whereby electricity and tech just stop working. The drama that unfolds is just so insane. I think in book 4 some girl witnesses a murder and now she has to hide from the person. It’s crazy.
– Darkness Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane.
Can’t tell me this isn’t a cool title. This was just a good thriller in my opinion.
2016: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.
By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.
But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.
In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
I only read four books in 2016 but it doesn’t matter because I read the Book Thief as well which became my favourite book for eight years. I could never and will never stop recommending this book. Everybody who knows me knows I adore this book. My God.
Honourable mention:
– The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.
I actually have nothing to say about this except that I remember enjoying it.
2017: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
A simple story of a “strong man” whose life is dominated by fear and anger, Things Fall Apart is written with remarkable economy and subtle irony. Uniquely and richly African, at the same time it reveals Achebe’s keen awareness of the human qualities common to men of all times and places.
Do I have to actually explain myself with this book? Come on. This book changed the trajectory of my life but also become the butt of every joke I’ve ever said since then. I think this is the classic African novel. It is also the novel that made me want to (intentionally) read more stories by Africans and people of colour. Shout out to my alma mata for making it mandatory reading (and making sure I read two addition books to the other five I read that year.)
Honourable mentions:
– Animal Farm by George Orwell.
The other mandatory book I had to read of my course, and yes another banger.
– The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.
Can’t tell you much about this one, but I also quite loved this book, I’m sure.
– This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
Another book I can’t tell you much about, except it was quite interesting short story collection.
2018: Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern.
Rosie and Alex are destined for each other and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood, they separate as teenagers when Alex and his family relocate from Dublin to Boston. Like two ships always passing in the night, Rosie and Alex stay friends, and though years pass and weddings, funerals, and baptisms take place, the two remain firmly attached via e-mails and letters. Heartbroken, they learn to live without each other. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel of several missed opportunities, Rosie and Alex learn that fate isn’t done with them quite yet
All 14 books I read in this year are not my usual choice of books. Most of the books in 2018 are books I hardly think about. Even the romances I read had come of my least favourite tropes. But shockingly enough, Ahern’s Where Rainbows End was an exception. It could be one of the two friends to lovers I have ever enjoyed.
Honourable mentions:
– Precious Thing by Colette McBeth.
Hardly recall the plot for this one, but I know it’s one of the thrillers I remember enjoying.
– We were liars by E. Lockhart.
2019: Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann.
Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting–working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she’s asexual). Alice is done with dating–no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.
But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).
When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn, and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood.
I am pretty sure from both skill and story this isn’t the best out of the 15 books I read. However, I was becoming more and more convinced I’m asexual (ace) in 2019 and was looking for ace romances to read. I came across this book and man, the feelings it coaxed from me? I will never forget the how it felt to feel seen.
Honourable mentions:
– The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Partrick Ness.
This was such a great subversion of the chosen on trope. I really digged this. Also Ness is just a phenomenal writer in my opinion.
– Touched by Carolyn Haines
I don’t know what to tell you except this is a book about a girl who gets struck by lighting and can then predict bad omens.
2020: Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi.
An extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born “with one foot on the other side.” Unsettling, heartwrenching, dark, and powerful, Freshwater is a sharp evocation of a rare way of experiencing the world, one that illuminates how we all construct our identities.
Ada begins her life in the south of Nigeria as a troubled baby and a source of deep concern to her family. Her parents, Saul and Saachi, successfully prayed her into existence, but as she grows into a volatile and splintered child, it becomes clear that something went terribly awry. When Ada comes of age and moves to America for college, the group of selves within her grows in power and agency. A traumatic assault leads to a crystallization of her alternate selves: Asụghara and Saint Vincent. As Ada fades into the background of her own mind and these selves–now protective, now hedonistic–move into control, Ada’s life spirals in a dark and dangerous direction.
Probably because we were smack dub in a pandemic, but in a feat I truly cannot explain, I read 43 books in 2020. And I enjoyed most of them. However, Freshwater most likely rearranged my brain chemistry. What a book and still one of my favourites.
Honourable mentions:
– The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi.
Before they weren’t, Emezi was on a fast track to becoming my favourite author. I had to tough time choosing between Freshwater and this one for the coveted price of my favourite books this year.
– Questions for Ada by Ijeoma Umebinyuo.
Very solid poetry collection. Perhaps my all time favourite.
– A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.
One of the best YAs on grief I have ever encountered. And again, Ness is just a phenomenal Writer.
– All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
I was crying for months breh.
– Waterbird on the Lakeshore edited by Zukiswa Wanner
Honestly speaking outside this being a real solid short story collection, my own was featured so how could I not.
2021: A Broken People’s Playlist by Chimeka Garricks.
A Broken People’s Playlist is a collection of short stories with underlying themes so beautifully woven that each story flows into the other seamlessly. From its poignant beginning in “Lost Stars” a story about love and it’s fleeting, transient nature to the gritty, raw musical prose encapsulated in “In The City”, a tale of survival set in the alleyways of the waterside. A Broken People’s Playlist is a mosaic of stories about living, loving and hurting through very familiar sounds, in very familiar ways and finding healing in the most unlikely places.
The stories are also part-homage and part-love letter to Port Harcourt (the city which most of them are set in). The prose is distinctive as it is concise and unapologetically Nigerian. And because the collection is infused with the magic of evocative storytelling, everyone is promised a story, a character, to move or haunt them.
After reading 43 great books the previous, I did a complete 180 and read only 11 books in 2021. Still, I managed to find a few gems. I really enjoyed Garricks’ short story collection. Til date, that first story does things to my heart – more so recently. I revisit that story often.
Honourable mention:
–The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
This book was amazing, but it only truly hit me long after I put it down.
2022: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
Out of the 24 books I read, this was the most compulsively readable book. The most compulsively readable I’ve read in many many years. I enjoyed the writing. Enjoyed the characters. And definitely enjoyed the story. I love this books a lot.
Honourable mention:
– Stay with me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀.
This was a close second man. It was a rollercoster of a book, and I would probably recommend me this sooner than I was Evelyn and her husbands.
– Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson.
– The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood.
What an amazingly goofy time with this man. I had so much fun.
– Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.
– Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert.
This is my favourite in the trilogy but read the other two in the series as well.
2023: Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.
By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.
But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.
At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the ‘Battle-Axe’ anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.
In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.
Reid struck again this year and convinced me she laces her books with crack cocaine. Out of the 13 books I read this year, Carrie Soto’s story is what stole my heart. In fact, I’m not fully sure who I enjoy more between Soto and Hugo, but I have gone back to reread former more times than the latter.
Honourable mentions:
– Kissing is the Easy Part by Christine Duann.
Both times I have read this book has been wattpad – ten years apart. What can I say, I enjoyed it.
– Papier Mâché by Tamanda Kanjaye.
Need I say a lot?
– Soft by Tamanda Kanjaye.
Again, need I say a lot?
2024: Beloved by Toni Morrison.
Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby.
Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.
This book definitely changed my brain chemistry and displaced the Book Thief as my favourite book of all time.
2024 is also the year I started reading more romances than anything else, because 13 out of the 22 books I read were rom-coms and two more were technically love stories. What a Herculean feat for Beloved to have a) been read at all and b) come out on top.
Honourable mentions:
– Shark Heart by Emily Habeck.
This book devastated me. I cried until I could not anymore.
– Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka.
– Bride by Ali Hazelwood.
Another goofy fun time. Could be my favourite Hazelwood book ever.
– It was Tender Underneath by Dytodo Vox.
One of my favourite YAs written by one of my favourite people.
2025: Gloves Off by Stephanie Archer.
The only way to get my inheritance? Marry Alexei Volkov—the grumpiest enforcer in the NHL, a brutally handsome jerk, and the last man I’d ever fall for.
In public, we act as besotted newlyweds, but in private, we’re at each other’s throats. He’s competitive, arrogant, and surly. The guy’s never cracked a smile in his life. He’s jealous of my ex, he glares at my high heels, and insists he’s not attracted to me. He’s only marrying me for citizenship.
Fighting with Alexei is more fun than expected, though, and beneath his grouchy exterior, Alexei is surprisingly caring, protective, and generous.
He cooks for me and worries about my safety.
He sends me flowers with secret meanings and spends way too much money on me.
He makes me sleep in his bed and calls me his wife.
For a guy who said he’d never fall in love with me, Alexei’s doing a good impression of it… and now I’m wondering if this marriage is fake after all.
Gloves Off is an enemies to lovers marriage of convenience hockey romance. It’s the fourth book in the Vancouver Storm series but can be read as a standalone.
I might have escaped this fate in 2024, but a romance book was bound to my favourite book in 2025 no matter what. Of the 30 books I have currently read, 21 were romances. Even though I know I’ll perhaps read one or two more books before the year ends, Gloves Off is definitely going to be be my favourite book without a doubt. I read twice. within the same year – two months apart. Everything about this romcom is top tier no notes.
Honourable mentions:
– Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola.
This is a sequel to Honey and Spice so you might need to read that first, but my goodness, I loved this one even more.
There you have it, my favourite book (and a few honourable mentions) from each year in the past 15 years. God willing I’ll see you in 2040 with 15 more books
