Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m going to be posting my, now annual, post of ranking the Canada Reads longlist for 2024.

In 2021 I started this challenge for myself to read more Canadian authors and books and I decided to continue it into this year. Now after 4 years of reading the longlisted Canada Reads books, it’s definitely a tradition.

If you want you can read my ranking of the books for 2021, 2022 and 2023

Now, I’m going to be ranking them in order from least to best*, in my opinion.

*if a book has the same rating I went with what I read first.

The Innocents by: Michael Crummey. 1⭐️ I wanted to like this, I really did, but when you have a story that revolves around incest… I’m out. I did finish this… hence the 1 star, but this wasn’t for me. I also had a hard time connecting and getting into the story, too. Read my review.

Happy Hour by: Marlowe Granados. 2⭐️ Another book that I wanted to like, but unfortunately, didn’t. This felt like it had no direction and it just went aimlessly on. I like that it was told in a diary format, but it just felt like it went nowhere. There were tiny moments in between that were really good that I wish the author had explored more, but alas, just not for me. Read my review.

The Winter Knight by: Jes Battis. 3⭐️ This had a really interesting concept and that’s why I continued to read this… but it just wasn’t, again, for me. It took a while to get into, and to understand how these characters were related to King Arthur. The representation was good, but I just didn’t connect with the characters. Read my review.

What Comes Echoing Back by: Leo McKay Jr. 3⭐️ This was a beautifully put together novel about trauma and finding the light in hardships. It was very well handled, but the back and forth time lines confused me for a bit, and the characters weren’t deeply developed enough; I never felt like we got to know them beyond their trauma, hence the 3 star rating. Read my review.

The Future by: Catherine Leroux. 3⭐️ This one started off really good… then it got all muddled by multiple points of view, it got confusing to read, and even the prose was all over the place so all of that combined just left for an unpleasant reading experience. I rated it 3 stars because of it’s potential and the fact that it started off well. Read my review.

Woke Up Like This by: Amy Lea. 4⭐️ This was a lot of fun to read; it was a bit cheesy and a little unbelievable at times, but for the most part I had such a fun time reading this 13 Going on 30, inspired novel. Read my review.

Bad Cree by: Jessica Johns. 4⭐️ Dealing with death, grief and Cree folklore, this was a spooky read, but also a powerful read of coming together and facing things together. I really liked this, but I wish I had connected with the characters a little more. Read my review.

Mamaskatch by: Darrel J. McLeod. 4⭐️ This was Darrel’s memoir, talking about growing up Indigenous and also a love letter to his mother. I found this really beautiful and engaging to read. Some of the Canadian references really hit home to me as well. Read my review.

Bad Medicine by: Christopher Twin. 4⭐️ This was a graphic novel that blended horror with Cree folklore and man was this ever spooky. The art really popped to help tell these stories in a way that if it was jus written out, wouldn’t have had the same impact. This gave me Are You Afraid of the Dark vibes and I really liked that, as I loved that show as a kid. Read my review.

Shut Up Your Pretty by: Téa Mutonij. 4⭐️ This was a collection of short stories, or what I like to call vignettes, of our main character Loli as she grew up. Each short story was a different time in her life ranging from young girl to young adult, and it felt like the perfect way to tell a coming of age story. Read my review.

Sunshine Nails by: Mai Nguyen. 4⭐️ This novel was so well done, at first I hated all the multiple points of view and all the different stories, but the way they weaved together to come together to tell one cohesive story was really quite brilliant. Also it was an impactful read. Read my review.

Dension Avenue by: Christina Wong. 4⭐️ Speaking of impactful, wow, this one was definitely that. This novel was so sad, but it really hit home to the aging Chinese population in Toronto. The way this also included art of Toronto comparing what was to what is today really struck home the meaning and significance this novel was trying (and succeeding) to convey. Read my review.

Junie by: Chelene Knight. 5⭐️ Another coming of age story… but what really struck me and basically knocked me over, was the mother/daughter relationship. When a book can write a really good, complex, relationship that hits in the feels (see below as well), it’s always very highly rated, and this novel was no different. I found myself flying through this and I loved Junie as a character. Read my review.

Reuniting With Strangers by: Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio. 5⭐️ I loved the way this was written. Taking place over the course of 1 winter, this follows different Filipino families as they immigrate to Canada, all while having this little boy, Monolith, be the centre of it all. It pulled at my heartstrings and the writing on culture and identity was really strong and well developed. Read my review.

Meet Me at the Lake by: Carley Fortune. 5⭐️ This book ruined me… but not all in a bad way. I get why people didn’t like this, and why it felt like insta-love… but that really worked for me… and it had me really emotional. On top of that, talking about mother/daughter relationships… this one was also so well done; it hit me like a tonne of bricks and I didn’t see it coming, which makes it sound like I didn’t like this, but I very much did. Read my review.

That’s a wrap on the 2024 longlisted Canada Reads books! This year was really a mixed bag, some I really loved, some not so much. I still look forward to what 2025 has in store! Have you read any of these books? Let me know in the comment below!