Quick wins for a faster PC:
Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Real Simple’s 59-book 2024 selection is best understood as a wide-ranging recommendation list, not a strict ranking. Updated December 18, 2024, the list brings together novels and memoirs spanning literary fiction, family sagas, historical stories, mysteries, romance, speculative fiction, and personal nonfiction. The recommendations come from the editors of Real Simple, whose descriptions emphasize emotional impact, readability, and momentum rather than formal scores or comparative rankings.
The numbered order below follows the source list, but it should not be read as a declaration that No. 1 is better than No. 59. The categories are a reader-focused reorganization designed to make the list easier to navigate.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Theo of Golden: A Novel | $12.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Something in the Water: Reese's Book Club: A Novel | $9.51 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Project Hail Mary: A Novel | $13.88 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
The Widow: A Novel | $12.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: Reese's Book Club: A Novel | $8.24 | Buy on Amazon |
One correction before you start
Real Simple’s No. 12 heading says The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins’s earlier bestseller, but the description underneath clearly refers to The Blue Hour: a suspense novel set on a remote Scottish island involving a dead artist, a bone found in a sculpture, and questions surrounding a missing husband and former benefactor. This guide corrects the entry to The Blue Hour. The corresponding retailer link should be checked before publication so it points to the intended book.
Quick ways to choose from the list
- For historical fiction: Start with The Women, James, The Lion Women of Tehran, or The Stone Home.
- For a mystery with a large cast and deep family secrets: Try The God of the Woods.
- For grief and complicated relationships: Consider Intermezzo, Blue Sisters, or A Reason to See You Again.
- For memoir: Look to A Little Less Broken, Still Life at Eighty, Did I Ever Tell You?, or Grief Is for People.
- For a lighter, more comic choice: Try The Wedding People, The Husbands, or The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers.
- For speculative fiction: Choose among The City and Its Uncertain Walls, The Life Impossible, A Thousand Times Before, and The Morningside.
Memoirs about aging, difference, motherhood, and grief
These four books turn inward, examining memory, identity, family loss, and the ways people reinterpret a life after a major change.
#1 Best Overall
-
Still Life at Eighty — Abigail Thomas
A memoir about aging, memory, home life, dogs, physical decline, and loss. Thomas’s subject is the accumulation of ordinary details and the changing shape of daily life.
-
A Little Less Broken — Marian Schembari
Schembari writes about discovering she is autistic in adulthood and reconsidering a life spent feeling different. The book centers on diagnosis as a new lens for understanding the past.
DriversOutdated Drivers Are Slowing You DownPerformanceWindows Errors? Fix Them Before They SpreadDriversCrashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Did I Ever Tell You? — Genevieve Kingston
A memoir about a mother’s death from breast cancer and the letters and gifts she leaves behind for her children. It explores how a parent can remain present through carefully prepared messages and objects.
-
Grief Is for People — Sloane Crosley
Crosley combines theft, suicide loss, friendship, and the practical disorientation of mourning in this memoir about coping after the death of a close friend.
Historical fiction and reimagined histories
This group moves across decades and countries, including stories of political upheaval, war, state violence, women’s independence, and a famous American narrative retold from a different perspective.
-
Kingdom of No Tomorrow — Fabienne Josaphat
Historical fiction involving the Black Panthers, free health clinics, and women’s rights. The novel places political activism and community care at the center of its story.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Shy Creatures — Clare Chambers
Set in the past, this literary novel follows an art therapist and a mysterious man who has been isolated by his family.
-
The Lion Women of Tehran — Marjan Kamali
A historical story of female friendship, class, and political upheaval in Iran, following women whose personal lives are shaped by the country’s changing political landscape.
-
The Stone Home — Crystal Hana Kim
A historical novel about South Korean reformatory centers, state violence, survival, and the family memories that persist long after institutional abuse.
-
The Divorcées — Rowan Beaird
Set in 1950s Reno’s divorce ranches, the novel focuses on female desire, independence, and the temporary communities created by women seeking a new life.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesSpecial offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
James — Percival Everett
Everett reimagines Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective, shifting attention to the character’s interior life and the realities obscured by the original narrative.
-
The Women — Kristin Hannah
Historical fiction about a young woman who joins the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War. The novel follows the personal consequences of service and the difficulty of returning home.
Family, love, friendship, and life in transition
Many of Real Simple’s selections are concerned with relationships that do not fit neatly into happy or unhappy categories. These books examine siblings, parents and children, marriage, motherhood, friendship, adoption, and the unresolved history people carry into adulthood.
-
Pictures of You — Emma Grey
Emotional fiction about memory loss, grief, survival, and a second chance at connection.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.Rank #2
-
Rental House — Weike Wang
A married couple navigates difficult vacations with their parents, using a shared rental house as the setting for family tension, expectation, and negotiation.
-
The Book of George — Kate Greathead
A coming-of-age and relationship novel following a millennial man from adolescence toward middle age as his understanding of adulthood changes.
-
Is She Really Going Out with Him? — Sophie Cousens
A romantic comedy about a single mother balancing dating, work, and the question of who she is beyond her family responsibilities.
-
The Mighty Red — Louise Erdrich
Literary fiction set in a North Dakota farming community during the 2008 financial crisis, where economic pressure affects families, relationships, and the future of the community.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Intermezzo — Sally Rooney
A relationship and grief novel about two brothers in Dublin. Their different ways of responding to loss shape the book’s exploration of intimacy, responsibility, and emotional distance.
-
This Motherless Land — Nikki May
Contemporary family and cultural-identity fiction loosely inspired by Mansfield Park, with questions of belonging, privilege, and family power at its core.
-
Tell Me Everything — Elizabeth Strout
Interconnected literary fiction returning to Crosby, Maine, and bringing together Bob Burgess, Lucy Barton, and Olive Kitteridge.
-
A Reason to See You Again — Jami Attenberg
A multidecade family saga about grief, estrangement, addiction, and the bonds that endure even when relatives cannot easily live alongside one another.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Blue Sisters — Coco Mellors
Three sisters confront the death of a fourth sister and the possible sale of their childhood home, forcing them to revisit grief and their shared history.
-
The Wedding People — Alison Espach
Comic contemporary fiction about an unexpected guest at a wedding and the unlikely friendship that develops around her presence.
-
Sandwich — Catherine Newman
A family and midlife novel set during a Cape Cod vacation, where aging parents, adult children, and menopause become part of a larger examination of change.
-
Same as It Ever Was — Claire Lombardo
Relationship fiction about marriage, motherhood, old friendships, and unresolved desire, with the past continuing to press on the present.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
You Are Here — David Nicholls
Two emotionally wounded adults are brought together on a multiday group hike in this romantic novel about companionship, recovery, and the possibility of starting again.
-
The Alternatives — Caoilinn Hughes
A witty literary novel about four unmarried sisters, scientific work, environmental anxiety, and the complicated loyalty that holds a family together.
Rank #3
-
A Great Country — Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Immigrant-family fiction that examines race, class, policing, and the meaning of American success.
-
Family Family — Laurie Frankel
A family and adoption story told through multiple viewpoints and dual timelines, examining how people build families and understand the decisions that shaped them.
Recommended: Crashes or Glitches? A Free Driver Scan Usually Finds the Culprit →Recommended: Fix Windows Errors and Clear Junk Files in Minutes - Free Scan →Recommended: Update Every Outdated Driver on Your PC in One Scan - Free →Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.
Mystery, crime, and psychological suspense
For readers who want a plot built around a disappearance, a body, a secret, or a dangerous social environment, these are the most direct entries on the list. The settings range from rural Ireland and Maine to a university and a remote island.
-
Deadly Animals — Marie Tierney
A teenager who studies roadkill discovers the body of a missing classmate, turning an unusual personal interest into a mystery.
-
The Blue Hour — Paula Hawkins
A suspense novel set on a remote Scottish island. A dead artist, a bone discovered in a sculpture, and questions about a missing husband and former benefactor drive the mystery.
-
Once More from the Top — Emily Layden
A pop star confronts the discovery of her missing childhood friend’s body in this suspense novel about fame, memory, and a buried past.
Windows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallCrashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteSpecial offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Entitlement — Rumaan Alam
Psychological fiction about wealth, philanthropy, status, and the seductive power of money.
-
The Cliffs — J. Courtney Sullivan
A Maine house becomes the center of a multigenerational mystery involving archives, ghosts, and questions of legacy.
-
The God of the Woods — Liz Moore
A historical mystery about two missing siblings, a wealthy Adirondack family, and a summer camp where private secrets become impossible to contain.
-
Bear — Julia Phillips
Literary suspense about two sisters caring for their mother on a Pacific Northwest island after a bear appears.
Recommended Free Tools
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers — Samuel Burr
A feel-good mystery built around found family, puzzles, friendship, and the search for personal origins.
-
The Hunter — Tana French
Crime fiction set in rural Ireland, where a teenage girl, a retired police officer, and a returning father become involved in a scheme.
-
The Fortune Seller — Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Dark academic and psychological suspense set around Yale equestrian culture, tarot, class, and friendship.
Speculative, surreal, and socially imagined worlds
These books introduce alternate realities, magical objects, impossible choices, climate displacement, or imagined social systems. Some are overtly fantastical; others use a speculative premise to examine family, money, grief, or justice.
Rank #4
-
No Place to Bury the Dead — Karina Sainz Borgo, translated by Elizabeth Bryer
Surreal literary fiction about plague, displacement, grief, and violence, translated into English by Elizabeth Bryer.
-
The City and Its Uncertain Walls — Haruki Murakami
Speculative literary fiction involving alternate worlds, memory, a library, and dreams.
-
Here One Moment — Liane Moriarty
A woman on a plane predicts the deaths of fellow passengers, and the consequences of one prediction coming true drive this commercial novel.
-
The Life Impossible — Matt Haig
A hopeful novel about a widowed retiree who travels to Ibiza after inheriting a property, opening the door to an unexpected new chapter.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
A Thousand Times Before — Asha Thanki
A speculative family saga about women, ancestry, memory, marriage, and a magical tapestry.
-
One of Our Kind — Nicola Yoon
A speculative thriller about a Black family that moves into a seemingly ideal community and discovers a disturbing secret beneath its perfection.
-
The Husbands — Holly Gramazio
A comic speculative novel in which a woman’s attic produces a succession of possible husbands, turning romantic choice into an endlessly changing premise.
-
The Morningside — Téa Obreht
Speculative fiction about climate displacement, myth, memory, and a mother-daughter relationship.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Acts of Forgiveness — Maura Cheeks
Speculative social fiction about reparations, ancestry, family conflict, and financial precarity.
Identity, migration, race, place, and belonging
The final group focuses on people negotiating cultural inheritance, race, class, migration, artistic ambition, and the stories that communities tell about themselves.
-
Lazarus Man — Richard Price
A Harlem-set novel about intersecting lives after a 2008 apartment-building collapse, using a community crisis to connect people with very different histories.
-
What It’s Like in Words — Eliza Moss
A debut novel about a struggling writer, a dangerous relationship, and the difficult work of rebuilding self-worth.
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchSpecial offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Love Can’t Feed You — Cherry Lou Sy
Immigrant and coming-of-age fiction about a Filipino family negotiating dreams, work, and belonging.
-
Colored Television — Danzy Senna
Satirical literary fiction about race, Hollywood, artistic ambition, and the compromises created by commercial success.
Best Value
Sale
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: Reese's Book Club: A Novel- #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
-
They Dream in Gold — Mai Sennaar
A debut novel involving migration, family, music, Senegalese heritage, and an international search.
-
Long Island Compromise — Taffy Brodesser-Akner
A family saga about kidnapping, wealth, dysfunction, and inherited trauma.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsSpecial offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Swift River — Essie Chambers
Coming-of-age fiction about race, family history, disappearance, and belonging in a New England town.
-
The Cemetery of Untold Stories — Julia Alvarez
Literary fiction about a writer, unfinished manuscripts, inheritance, and the persistence of buried voices.
-
Women and Children First — Alina Grabowski
A polyphonic debut novel about a teenage girl’s death and the women of a Massachusetts beach town.
-
Real Americans — Rachel Khong
Multigenerational fiction about Chinese American identity, class, family, and biological origins.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
The Limits — Nell Freudenberger
Contemporary literary fiction linking a French biologist, a Polynesian island, Manhattan, and interwoven family crises.
-
Anita de Monte Laughs Last — Xochitl Gonzalez
Dual-timeline fiction about art, race, class, Puerto Rican identity, and a forgotten Cuban American artist.
How this list differs from a formal “best of” ranking
Real Simple presents these books as its editors’ favorite books of 2024 and describes them in strongly positive editorial terms, including “page-turning,” “moving,” “absorbing,” and “thought-provoking.” Those are recommendations and characterizations, not independently measured reading results or a scored comparison of all 59 titles.
The list’s value is its range. A reader can move from a memoir about late-life change to a historical novel about Vietnam, from a family drama in Dublin to a speculative story about possible husbands, or from a mystery at a summer camp to a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn. The best starting point depends less on the number beside a title than on the kind of reading experience you want.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Real Simple’s list ranked from 1 to 59?
No. The article uses a numbered list, but it does not present the entries as a strict quality ranking. The numbers identify the recommendations in the order they appear.
Are all 59 recommendations novels?
No. The list includes fiction across several genres as well as four memoirs: Still Life at Eighty, A Little Less Broken, Did I Ever Tell You?, and Grief Is for People.
What is the corrected Paula Hawkins title?
The relevant entry is The Blue Hour, not The Girl on the Train. The source page’s heading contains the inconsistency, while its description refers to the remote-island mystery involving a dead artist, a sculpture, and a missing husband.
Which books are good starting points for someone who wants a broad sample of the list?
For historical fiction, try The Women or James. For mystery, try The God of the Woods. For family and grief, try Intermezzo. For memoir, try A Little Less Broken. For comic contemporary fiction, try The Wedding People.
Where can readers buy these books?
Purchase options may be provided beside the individual titles. Check the edition, format, price, retailer, and regional availability before ordering, especially for the corrected The Blue Hour entry.
The Bottom Line
Real Simple’s 59 favorite books of 2024 offer breadth rather than a definitive ranking: memoir, historical fiction, family drama, mystery, romance, literary fiction, and speculative stories all appear. Use the categories to choose by mood or subject, and treat the No. 12 entry as The Blue Hour rather than The Girl on the Train.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
