A running ranking of the books that I have reviewed this year, updated and reranked after each book that I finish.

★★☆☆☆ While not exactly a sequel, Matt Haig revisits the premise of 2020's The Midnight Library with another examination of the different paths our lives can take.

★★★★★ In her first book since The Help, Kathryn Stockett transports us to 1933 Mississippi where a female-driven cast exposes the misogynistic society of the time.

★★★★☆ A 36-year-old woman navigates divorce and reclaims her identity from a comic character based on her in this latest adult novel from Rainbow Rowell.

★★☆☆☆ A multi-timeline story that had me hopeful for something akin to Cloud Cuckoo Land unfortunately sputters to a disjointed and wholly unsatisfying conclusion.

★★★★☆ A haunting, dual-timeline tale of estranged siblings reckoning with a traumatic childhood serves up a unique blend of family drama and dark fairy tale.

★★★★★ Jaw-dropping dialogue and moral judgement set the tone for this dark exploration of five neurodiverse characters, one of which we're told will die by the end of the book.

★★★☆☆ A young Vietnamese-American man and an elderly Lithuanian woman form a bond in this bleak book which should have be titled "The Emperor of Sadness".

★★★★☆ An immense and dense epic literary journey through the South Pacific of 1000 years ago that explores the struggle for power on Tonga.

★★☆☆ A boy band cruise tries to offer nostalgia but fails to set sail in this disappointing look at fame and aging that lacks the heart and romance expected.

★★★☆☆ Six months after her husband dies, a woman finds out he left her a year of books, one per month, to help her heal and move forward.

★★★☆☆ An exploration of the fallout of a 1977 affair and divorce over several decades. Despite nuanced characters, this family drama mostly missed the mark for me.

★★★★☆ A tragic accident on a remote sheep station eventually leads to a dark family secret in this character-driven exploration of duty and psyche in the Australian Outback.

★★★★☆ Two high school friends use rock climbing to try to escape a seemingly predetermined future in this emotionally heavy character study from Gabriel Tallent.

★★★★★ An epic story about friendship and betrayal, this behemoth of a novel follows six college friends who make a Faustian deal with a dragon.

★★★★☆ A house fire is the jumping off point for this novel less about the partial loss of a home and more about the fractured relationship in it.

★★★★☆ A "Book Witch" must use her ability to teleport into books to solve a mystery in her own life when her grandfather and most prized possession go missing.

★★★☆☆ When an encroaching "rogue black hole" gives Earth less than a month before annihilation, two men travel by RV from Maine to Washington to complete one final task.

★★★★☆ An 89-year-old Swedish man narrates as we sail along this sad journey focused on the challenges and indignities encountered at the end of life.

★★★★☆ A snake-handling drifter crosses paths with a soldier recently back from Vietnam; together they help his family escape an abusive situation.