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KCPL's Favorites of 2024

Here at Kansas City Public Library, we love asking each other, "What are you reading, watching, or listening to?". We love talking about more than just books! Check out part one of our list below to discover the media that has distracted, calmed, united, and inspired us throughout the year.

User from The Kansas City Public Library

42 items

  • This book is accessible to YA and above with short chapters and beautiful illustrations. Hirsch, a plant biologist, provides a well researched and entertaining read. Who says nonfiction is boring?! - Ellen W, North-East
    Book, 2024Minneapolis, MN : Zest Books, [2024]
  • A Place at the Nayarit

    How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community

    Molina, Natalia,
    My mom is from honduras and ran her own restaurant so I related to this read in a lot of ways. - Karla M, OneNorth
    Book, 2022Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2022]
  • In my humble opinion, this should have won best picture at the Oscars had it not been an already stacked year. To me this movie is the perfect drama; the writing is excellent, the cast is incredible, and there is a dog. I typically shy away from…
    Streaming Video, 2023Neon, 2023.
  • Stunning picture book tells the story of a Cherokee family moving home from the city. Warm family story; illustrations to pour over. - Crystal F, YFE
    Book, 2024New York : Kokila, 2024.
  • In today’s incredibly polarized world, I find comfort in the great science fiction writers of yesteryear. The late great Octavia Butler is no exception, being one of my favorite writers, as well as an African American woman in a very white…
    Book, 1995New York : Four Walls Eight Windows, 1995.
  • Silly rhymes and adorable, expressive illustrations abound in this hilarious tale of a grouchy buffalo who just needs a little love. Buffalo Fluffalo deserves to be read aloud on repeat! - Josie S, Central YFE
    Book, 2024New York : Random House Studio, [2024]
  • This book was absolutely stunning. In a world where prisoners become gladiators and must fight to the death for their freedom, the lines between good and bad become blurred. The last line of this book will live in my mind rent-free for the rest of…
    Book, 2023New York : Pantheon Books, [2023]
  • This classic whodunit Agatha-Christie-ish mystery series is set in 1900s Japan and has Detective Kosuke Kindaichi investigating strange deaths with sordid backstories. The whole series of books is full of surprises and hard to put down. - Ronda C,…
    Book, 2022London : Pushkin Press, 2022.
  • The author captured the voice of the main character, Demon so poignantly. It was equally heartbreaking and funny. Each character is uniquely flawed and complex. My favorite read in a very long time! - Jessi R, HREE
    Book, 2022New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2022]
  • Dictionary of the Khazars

    a Lexicon Novel in 100,000 Words

    Pavić, Milorad,
    A fascinating Rubik's Cube of a novel that twists language, history, and religion into surprising new forms. - Isaac H, Mobile Services
    Book, 1988New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.
  • Dracula Daily

    Reading Bram Stoker's Dracula in Real Time With Commentary by the Internet

    Kirkland, Matthew,
    Based on the Internet sensation, it's the novel of Dracula reorganized into chronological order. Follow Johnathan Harker and his friends as they plot to kill Count Dracula, with hilarious annotations from online commenters. - Eleanor D, Waldo
    Book, 2023Kansas City, Missouri : Andrews McMeel Publishing, [2023]
  • Expert fusion of fantasy and science fiction with hilarious cultural misunderstandings and a terrifying enemy. A princess visits the sorcerer who once helped her ancestor. The sorcerer is an anthropologist with technology who grapples with…
    eBook, 2021New York : Tordotcom, 2021.
  • A classic challenged book from the 2010s, Anderson’s dystopia where chips are implanted into everyone’s brains to constantly connect them to ads and the internet might feel preachy until you remember that Feed was written *before* Facebook and…
    Book, 2012Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2012.
  • This was a sweet, historically-accurate fiction of Maud Gage Baum, the wife of L. Frank Baum who wrote The Wizard of Oz books. I learned a lot about her life growing up with a feminist/suffragist mother, her early marriage to the imaginative writer,…
    Book, 2019New York : Ballantine Books, [2019]
  • It's a beautifully made film about war, loss, what it means to be human, and the difference between goodness and obedience. I really can't say enough good things about this movie without this turning into incoherent gushing, so I will just say that…
    DVD, 2023[Place of publication not identified] : Criterion Collection, [2023]
  • After watching her amazing performance in The Substance, I checked out Demi Moore's memoir and loved it. It's candid, heartbreaking, sincere, wise, and a very fast read. - Kevin F, Central
    Book, 2019New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2019.
  • This immersive fantasy features magical librarians, chaotic fae, and logical dragons moving through parallel worlds in tandem, and in conflict with one another. Irene, Librarian, attempts to balance the worlds by stealing original manuscripts for…
    Book, 2016New York City : ROC, [2016]
  • A good book - both in audio and as a read. - Julianne J, Substitute
    Book, 2024New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2024]