Electric Literature’s Most Popular Articles of 2024
Never far from the pulse, a quick glance over Electric Lit’s most popular articles from this year will tell you a lot about what preoccupies our collective consciousness. Our most popular reading list features crime novels, suggesting a heightened level of intrigue when it comes to all things dubious.
The most popular essay reconsiders “Barbie”, and “Poor Things”, and whether or not these films are the beacons of progressive ideals they purport to be. And the most popular author interview features Percival Everett on James, his National Book Award winning novel that reimagines Mark Twain’s Huck Finn, told from Jim’s perspective. I think this says a lot about what’s keeping our readers up at night, what has their curiosity piqued.
We’re thinking deeper, looking beneath the surface, reading between the lines, and actively facing who we are, who we’ve been, and who we will soon become. We’re on the precipice of another exciting year in books, and surely an eventful year in culture. For now, enjoy this quick jaunt down memory lane at the most popular articles published by EL this year.—Denne Michele Norris, Editor-in-Chief
Here are the most popular posts of the year by category, starting with the most read:
These off-kilter books by writers with a killer sense of humor take murder plots to hilarious, absurd ends.
“And what is funny, anyway? Wanting to kill someone can be funny, at least in hindsight, and writing is all about hindsight made real. The ritual humiliation of the hero is funny, whether you’re watching Peter Wimsey suffer for love of Harriet Vane or watching the truth dawn on a Lawrence Block protagonist.”
Often, the shortest works of fiction have the most emotional punch packed into their sparse pages. Michael Jeffrey Lee recommends his favorite slim collections of short-short stories.
“I gave these books my full attention, savored every word.
I came to view them as heroic—especially in a world filled with baggy prose.
They got in, they got out, they were precise and concise.
They were diamonds, or daggers, or single burning rays of sunlight—whatever metaphor you like.”
These novels embrace the cold, offering readers the perfect blend of atmospheric storytelling and suspenseful escapism. Whether it’s the frosty landscapes or snow-covered campuses, these stories wrap you in their wintry embrace:
“I have a certain type of book that epitomizes a winter read to me. A dense but approachable text that promises not only to challenge me, but to last for a while. A quiet but urgent literary mystery that makes me want to read carefully and pick the book up again and again. A slow, steady pace with a historical timeline that begs to be read closely over long afternoon stretches, with time and attention, when the only thing to do is stay inside.”
EL Contributing Editor Willem Marx gives us a rundown of the rapidly expanding world of book podcasts, with shows that range from behind-the-scenes publishing gossip to interviews with contemporary luminaries of the poetry world.
“Sometimes it’s not about catching up on the newest news or the hottest debut, sometimes it’s about taking a bath with a cup of tea on a Sunday morning and listening to famous writers laugh about their MFA students while going nuts about their favorite short story writers.”
Too often, older women are overlooked and left out of literature, but Andrea Carlisle isn’t willing to let them slip out of frame. She recommends a diverse and inspiring litany of novels that include women protagonists over the age of 60 without flattening or stereotyping them.
“A character’s past may be interesting or helpful in our understanding, but I think it’s important to show how an older woman deals with what’s right in front of her. In this way, we can deepen our understanding of what it means to live a long time.”
Poor Things and Barbie got plenty of Oscar buzz (or should we say Oscar snubs?). The films were lauded for their feminist themes, but Jun Chou points out that analysis only skims the surface — and frankly the portrayals are kind of corporate. Both films feature cartoonish depictions of villainous men and neither grapple with the insidious, but often subtle, ways in which the patriarchy oppresses women.
“I want a Poor Things where Bella discovers the horrors and joys of menstruation for the first time! I want a Barbie where two Barbies kiss! Namely, I want films that paint the whole messy mural of feminine spectra. To settle for anything less would be a disservice to whichever plastic dream—or real—world we exist in.”
After her father died, Corina Zappia stayed with her mother and sister. It was easy for her to conjure negative stereotypes of aging, single women during that time, but one show brought her relief: The Golden Girls. Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sophia’s antics become a comfort and a vision for how fulfilling her life, as a childless woman in her 40s, is and will continue to be.
“The Golden Girls has been telling aging single women what the rest of the world never has: that our lives are just as interesting and worthwhile without a man in the picture, that as women we’re capable of providing as much if not more comfort and assistance to each other in our golden years than a partner ever could.”
While on tour for the release of his short story collection, Bugsy and Other Stories, Rafael Frumkin felt he often had to qualify his autism, in order for readers to accept that he could write autistic characters. In this essay, he considers a world where authors can write about a character’s nuanced experience of autism — without getting called out for not perfectly reflecting every person’s unique reality.
“It might be liberatory for both writer and reader if the reader could treat books as singular reports on singular experiences, could actually adopt a sense of curiosity about how a narrative diverges from a certain subjecthood’s commonly held criteria instead of demanding an impossible “authenticity” that may not exist in the first place. Wouldn’t it be a relief if we could all take off our lab coats and read stories without worrying whether the author meets a specific set of diagnostic criteria?”
Worship of an institution, a strict set of rules, praise for working oneself to the point of harm—am I describing Catholicism or academia? M. L. Rio writes about how—because of the constraints of late-stage capitalism—academia resembles something awfully similar to the Catholic Church. It’s dark, or darkly humorous.
“Like the church, academia demands—and rewards—uncompromising devotion and unquestioning acceptance. In church and on campus, you don’t contest your higher power. God brooks no challenges to his wisdom, and academic administrations project the same infallibility, even when their practices are both illogical and morally bankrupt.”
Percival Everett’s National Book Award-winning Jamesretells Mark Twain’s Huck Finn from Jim, or James’, perspective. In Everett’s telling, James wields language as a weapon, whether he’s arguing with white philosophers or code-switching to protect himself from racist white people. Bareerah Ghani and Everett talking about freedom, anger and the power of language.
“I think almost all writers of color, all the people who create art while oppressed experience and survive the world because of irony. It’s not unique to me certainly, it’s just how we have to move forward. If we were completely earnest about everything, we would never see tomorrow. Why would we bother?”
In a political climate where conservatives have become obsessed with forcing women to become mothers, it’s easy to read birthing and rearing children as another tool of the patriarchy. Sarah Manguso’s Liarsinterrogates the idea that motherhood is bound to cis, hetrosexual marriage.
“Traditional marriage is a patriarchal tool used to control and dehumanize women. Motherhood, on the other hand, doesn’t need patriarchy, which is why conservatives so doggedly work to convince us that it’s trivial and that mothers shouldn’t need any resources, beyond our own bodies, to survive it.”
Like the best fairytales, Julia Phillips’s Bearuses the surreal to grapple with real world challenges that are difficult to parse. Yes, one sister starts a relationship with a bear in this novel. But the family is also navigating the disconnection and financial strain that came with the Covid-19 pandemic. The bear becomes a symbol in this book for the limitations one sister feels due to these external, very real circumstances.
“It lets them say, I get to be wild, I get to be free and the externalized animal is just a way for me to access the internalized animal and a way for me to leave the world that I’ve found so constraining and so stifling and see what else is out there.”
Alvina Chamberland’s ephemeral, stream-of-consciousness novel Love the World or Get Killed Trying examines what it’s like for a transwoman to move through the world. It’s a shockingly tender and vulnerable book. Interviewer Shze-Hui Tjoa talks with Chamberland about desire, fetishization, and why the world needs books like this.
“I need it to be out there in the world, a novel written by a trans woman that dares to be literary and poetic and abstract and realist and non-linear and dreamy. A novel which politically confronts straight men’s behavior towards us and demands change, and personally exposes both the universal and specific experiences that have shaped my life—my hope is that this vulnerability can connect and build bridges between people with very different structural positions.”
In the midst of Israel’s ongoing occupation and genocide in Gaza, poet Mosab Abu Toha sat down with Bareerah Ghani to talk about the family members he’s lost, the violence Palestians face, and the importance of holding on to memories. Abu Toha’s second collection Forest of Noise, frequently lingers on photos and features epistolary poems where the speaker longs to preserve the everyday amidst the chaos and violence of genocide.
“I, as an individual, could be anyone who has been killed, has been wounded. I’m a father. I could be in the place of parents who lost their children and their whole family. I could be the father who was killed with his own children, his parents and his extended family. I could be any one of these people.”
The Misfits
(Articles That Didn’t Fit Into Any Other Categories)
Bradley Sides shares his picks for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize. Like Oscar or Grammy predictions, this list is good fun and it shines a light on some of the amazing books published this past year. Sides may not have correctly guessed the winner (Night Watch, by Jayne Anne Phillips) or the finalists (Same Bed Different Dreams, by Ed Park and Wednesday’s Child, by Yiyun Li), but he did pick books that could have been contenders and are worth adding to your to-be-read pile.
“Even if predicting the Pulitzer is difficult, it is good fun to try. No matter what book wins, the announcement of the Pulitzer will bring attention to books, and I’m all about celebrating books. I think pretty much all of us here are.”
Executive Editor Halimah Marcus was inspired to launch this vote by Harlan Lev’s DJ set of the same name. EL’s readers chose from contenders as varied as The Notebook, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Normal Peopleto pick the saddest book in a March Madness (or March Sadness, as we called it) style bracket. I won’t spoil the winner, but all the books on this list are reliable for sparking a good cry.
“These are the books that have broken our hearts in the best and worst ways, the ones that will compel any reader to go on a long, long walk while playing the same depressing songs on loop and contemplating the tragedy of life.”
Willem Marx rounds up international indie presses that are taking bold risks on new authors, crowdfunding publications and otherwise innovating in contemporary literature. Marx recommends a few books from each of these presses so that readers can pick up new titles and expound their collections.
“In the vast, wild territory of the written word, publishing houses step in, identify individual authors, bundle them into categories and groups that often cut across easy identifiers, and make a public statement about what’s worth reading. Each press presents an opinion on what contemporary literature is, or should be. Every publication (ideally) moves the dial—sometimes a smidgen, sometimes a whole degree or two—making space for new voices and perspectives, drawing attention to ideas, and re-forming the literary maps of readers.”
When Small Press Distribution (SPD) closed in March of this year, it was a massive blow to the independent publishing community. More than 385 indie publishers relied on SPD to get their books into the hands of readers. These 23 presses could use your support year round—not just when there’s a crisis.
“Most small presses make little profit. They’re primarily motivated by their love for books and the literary community: filling gaps in the market, bucking trends, broadening the sphere of voices that get read, handling authors’ work with great care, and propelling innovation and diversity in literature.”
The Chinese Zodiacauthor Aaron Hwang predicts new beginnings for writers under the Year of the Wood Dragon. This essay offers hope for new projects and underscores the importance of imagination and beginnings in the New Year.
“Dreams loom large under the Dragon, and our visions for ‘what might be’ take hold of us. Our imagined worlds become more vital, more urgent perhaps even than reality. Art takes on a life of its own that can energize or overwhelm.”
Here at Electric Lit, we stan booksellers. Every season, Deputy Editor Jo Lou asks indie booksellers across the country about their favorite new and upcoming titles. Their suggestions often include a mix of the hottest books and coolest hidden gems of the year.
“To sort through this glorious deluge [of new releases], we asked our trusted friends with the most impeccable literary taste for their recommendations for the buzziest new books, the ones they’re most excited for and can’t stop talking about.”
R. O. Kwon has been compiling these anticipatory reading lists each year in a tradition that now runs eight years strong. Her efforts to make authors of color more visible have moved the needle in an industry that can, at times, feel overwhelmingly white.
“I maintain the hope that, one day, American letters will be so inclusive that a piece like this will no longer be useful. But for now, here are some 2024 books I’m excited to read.”
Michelle Hart’s column centers and uplifts queer stories at a time when LGBT authors face mounting censorship. This year, for the first time, she split the article into two parts, released in January and June, to capture the full spectrum of queer voices publishing daring new work.
“While we’re thrown a couple bones every now and then, given some gestures at progressive appeasement, our stories are still routinely passed over. Queer culture—our fashion, our humor, our art—has always moved everyone forward, toward a better, freer, more-fun world; we are and have been the tide that lifts, so our stories deserve not only to be included but centered.”
I frequently find that the books being released by small presses are more likely to make daring choices and commit to them completely. 2024 has been filled with economic challenges for these tiny workhorses of the publishing industry, so what better way is there to financially support your favorite indie press than by buying one of these recommended titles?
“Small presses expand the bounds of literature to create a diverse and more inclusive landscape that reminds us that even when it feels like things are falling apart, there is always room for hope.”
Writer and translator J.R. Ramakrishnan invites you to step beyond the confines of the Anglophone literary world. These newly translated books offer a rich tapestry of diverse stories from across the globe:
“Translated literature is no longer the forgotten, othered cousin of the Anglo-American literary scene. At Electric Literature, we have long been enamored by international frontiers, the global writers who write in their native (or acquired) tongues, and the translators who coax each word into English.”
If you’ve ever browsed through a bookstore and thought, “I wish these blurbs actually prepared me for this reading experience,” then this satirical guide from EL’s Deputy Editor Jo Lou is for you.
Sometimes that to-be-read pile feels a bit more like a stockpile of matches on a dating app than something that is surmountable. We get it. You buy a book and then it sits on a bookshelf or a nightstand for months before you crack open the spin. In this humor piece by Sue D. Gelber a neglected book pines for its reader.
“I know you like to see what else is out there. I’ve watched you scroll through BookTok. I saw you updating your profile on Goodreads. We both know you aren’t “currently reading” 103 titles but hey, everyone’s playing the same game, right?”
Pull out this Bingo card and count the ways you’ve put off writing. This handy sheet will help you track all the ways you’ve been procrastinating this week or even this month. Featuring handy excuses like “I’ll just watch one episode, then I’ll write” and “I’ll outline today and write tomorrow,” this Bingo sheet will make you laugh and hopefully motivate you to actually pick up a pen. We promise, you’re actually “the greatest writer in the world.”
Author photos are basically their own genre, replete with their own tropes. R.L. Maizes and Ali Solomon break down the most common poses from the James Dean (exactly like it sounds: leather jacket and a cigarette) to the Talk Show Host (hand under your chin, listening intently… to what? This is a photo).
“Push your hair behind your ear with one finger while considering what it would be like to have a job that’s actually useful, like firefighter, or accountant, or… hair clip.”
Sharing news as a writer can be tricky. You want to celebrate your achievements while balancing humility and vague-posting because let’s face it the story/poem/essay you’ve had accepted won’t be out for months.
“You might say it’s a pretty big deal to have journeyed this far. Not all writers vault the moon, you know. I had one unfortunate author-friend (let’s call her Sandra) who would post her news merely once or twice, and with a simple thank-you to whoever was involved. At one point she was even “humbled.” But, sadly, she never made it over the moon. You can imagine where Sandra is today. (Dead, probably. I don’t know. She isn’t posting, which is the same as being dead.)”
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