Summer reading lists get most of the heat, but long nights and cool temperatures mean that winter and early spring are an excellent time to cosy up in bed (or on the couch) and tear through the pages of a good pukapuka too.

We're desperate for a bout of escapism that's not delivered through a screen, so we put the call out to our bookish friends: "What's the best book you've read this year?"

We kept the brief broad: respondents could recommend any book they liked, the only proviso was it had to be something they'd actually read, finished and enjoyed in 2024. The responses were pleasingly miscellaneous, from the buzzy releases that keep getting mentioned in group chats, to in-the-know gems. 

Below, 10 good reads to devour during dark evenings and wet weekends. Once you've made your way through these, see our beach reads from 2021, 2022 and 2023.

All Fours by Miranda July

As read by Rebecca Wadey, Ensemble co-founder and partnerships director

I’ve been raving about this work to anyone who will listen, and have already waxed lyrical about it in Nice Things and my thoughts on Girl, So Confusing. Basically it’s both life-affirming and life-changing for most who read it, and especially those in the age range of the protagonist (she turns 46; I turned 48 while reading it). The New York Times has called it The First Great Perimenopause Novel.

I would go one step further and call it one of the best books I’ve read on the subject, fiction or nonfiction. I felt so much more seen in these fictional pages (tbh hard to know how much of it was autobiographical given so much of the unnamed female character mirrors July’s own life) than in most of the menopause books adorning my shelves at home. July’s character upends her life in extreme ways, obsessed with the finite limitations of her impending postmenopausal libido. I achingly saw so much of myself in this; just swap libido for career. In an industry and time where many ‘middle-aged women’ are losing their jobs, I feel just as sharply aware of the potential for ‘lasts’ as this character. Just swap orgasms for rungs on the career ladder.

Acting Class by Nick Drnaso

As recommended by Jennifer Cheuk, researcher, curator and founder of Rat World Magazine

I've read Acting Class three times this winter and that number will probably hit four by the time this article goes live. 

With 268 pages of full colour illustration and a story that will give you goosebumps, Nick Drnaso does not disappoint with his uncanny and electrifying new graphic novel. Twelve characters find themselves thrown together in a strange acting class run by the enigmatic and secretive John Smith. In Drnaso's signature minimalist style and hyperreal dialogues, Acting Class layers realism upon absurdity until you don't know where to look. Who is acting and who is real? Are we ever truly honest with each other, or more importantly, with ourselves?

And the ending... I get chills just thinking about it. Acting Class is the perfect start on your graphic novel journey - visually striking with complex characters and an unsettling storyline. Also, it's rumoured that this book is currently in development to be an A24 film directed by Ari Aster. If that doesn't convince you, then I don't know what will. 

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

As read by André Chumko, arts editor for The Post and Sunday Star-Times

Call me Ishmael, starts one of the most famous books of the 19th century. I have been on a mission to read the classics that I always swore I'd get round to but never actually read growing up, and Moby Dick, one of the latest books I devoured which fall into this category, did not disappoint. It's a gripping, deep, meandering novel about the vengeful captain Ahab's maniacal pursuit of the giant white whale, with beautiful writing in long sentences that can sometimes be difficult to interpret. Exploring ideas of madness, bloodlust and humanity's powerlessness in the face of nature, I found this book profound and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in opening a window into a world gone by.

Living, Thinking, Looking by Siri Hustvedt 

As read by Rachel Soo Thow, beauty industry executive, freelance writer and literary influencer @thelitlist

When winter rolls around, I find myself either reaching for a door stopper of a novel or a collection of essays from a few of my favourites; Rebecca Solnit, Rachel Kushner, Olivia Laing and Siri Hustvedt to name a few.

Living, Thinking, Looking by Hustvedt is a collection of essays separated into three sections, each section exploring facets of morality vs critical reflection, musings vs reflections and what it means to truly look at art and literature with a whole new perspective. You’ll find yourself sitting next to the fire or that store bought heater with a hot cocoa in hand wondering about the concept of ‘the narrative’ and how one lives alongside it. 

Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang

‍As read by Damien Levi, bad apple editor and Āporo Press publisher

I think we all tend to reach for books that let us escape dreary weather and a general sense of malaise in winter. While Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang might not be your first thought for escapism, this debut novel transported me to times and places totally detached from my own.

Touching on historical, this title explores the lives of queer Chinese men and the women tangled up in their lives — their wives. Through rural 70s China into NYC’s Chinatown of the 80s through to the city in a contemporary era you’ll truly be whisked away far from Aotearoa.

Amma by Saraid de Silva

As read by Ineka Vogels, librarian at Auckland Council Libraries

Amma and its multi-talented Sri Lankan Pākehā author Saraid de Silva feature in Ka Pānui Tātou i Tāmaki Makaurau | We Read Auckland, Auckland Council Libraries’ month-long celebration of Auckland writers and readers returning this August. Amma is a bold, assured and beautifully written debut novel of three South Asian women connected by blood and by events, actions and decisions that reverberate across generations and continents. Secrets and rage can only be suppressed for so long, and its vivid explorations of violence and love, immigrants’ experiences, and the complex intersection of queer lives, family and culture have stayed with me.

The Work by Bri Lee

As read by Mandy Myles, owner of Bookety Book Books

Here at Bookety Book Books we have dubbed this 'a horny intelligent read' due to the pages inside hosting the best discussions on the moral conundrum of art vs the artist we have read, all while maintaining a light hearted love story threaded through out between Pat and Lally, two art enthusiasts with very different tastes. Perfect escapism reading with just enough depth to keep you thinking... and lots of sex scenes if you hadn't gathered that already.

Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

As read by Zoe Walker Ahwa, Ensemble co-founder and editor

I don't read a lot but when I do I tend to binge, devouring a book in a day or two. But it was impossible to do that with this, and I'm glad; I savoured every page, mentally screenshot (and literally took photos of) so many passages, went back to re-read parts and did not want it to end. It really made my TikTok-addled brain stop and think.

The basic premise is writer Naomi Klein (author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine) exploring the impact of regularly being mistaken for writer Naomi Wolf (author of The Beauty Myth and now a high-profile conspiracy theorist), but it meanders, in the best way, through Covid conspiracy theories, our personal digital avatars, misinformation, echo chambers, distrust of the media, the wellness influencer to anti-vaxxer pipeline, Palestine, Israel and Zionism, big tech and social media, the gullibility of liberals, the dangerous rise of the far right. I’m not really conveying what it’s about because it contains so much — but it is truly a book that defines the time we live in. You need to really sit with it – the perfect winter read.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy 

As read by Lara Daly, writer and makeup artist

I made a deal with myself that I'm allowed to read a juicy celebrity memoir after every 'serious literary' book I finish. Recently that was Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, a total masterpiece that took me six months to get through. As a reward I devoured Julia Fox's Down the Drain (highly recommend) followed by this one, on display at the Wellington Te Awe library. I read it cover to cover in two evenings. McCurdy's stories of growing up as a child star with an abusive, narcissist, terminally ill mother are unbelievably dark (we've all read the headlines, I know I'm two years late) but told with the humour and levity of someone who has miraculously Dealt With Their Shit and come out the other side. Everyone is writing a memoir these days – regardless of whether they have the material or talent to write a good one – but Jennette McCurdy's 1000% needs to exist, and you should read it.

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The Husbands by Holly Gramazio 

As read by Rebecca Wadey, Ensemble

One of the hosts of a podcast that I love had an advance copy of this and talked about it on the pod so I was given a heads up that it’s a great book; on paper, it sounds like something that could go horribly wrong. A single woman who lives alone has a husband she’s never seen climb out of her attic. Yeah, so far so wacky. And it gets wackier, every time a husband climbs back into the attic, either to retrieve something or tricked into crawling back into it, a new husband emerges. Yet despite the complicated and nonsensical concept, this book really works.

Lauren, she of all the husbands, is forced to examine her relationship with herself, with her family and friends and really question what she wants out of a partnership. Some husbands last a matter of seconds before she banishes them, others stick around for a while. It’s sharp, intelligent and yet absurdly bonkers and an easy read.