It's that time again. For the moment, anyway, my curated starred review spreadsheet is up to date, y'all.
As a reminder, I curate and collate the starred reviews from six trade journals:
I realize, of course, that other sites/blogs award stars, too... but these are the journals I've chosen to focus on.
THE STARS SO FAR
I'll be honest, y'all. This is my least favorite time of year when it comes to working on this spreadsheet. Between October and (early) February, the journals I curate share reviews for books published in both the current and next/prior year - in this case, 2024 and 2025. At first, this is exciting, (for me, anyway), because it's thrilling to see reviews for books that are coming out in the new year. But that newness quickly wears off as I find myself having to bounce between tabs, trying to be sure I record the review in the right year. This toggling back and forth just increases the likelihood that I'll make a mistake. And do I ever make mistakes!
With that in mind, I'm sure I'll continue to tweak the 2024 sheet as new reviews come in and as people make me aware of my inevitable goofs. However, I'm planning on this being the last update I post with a summary of the 2024 numbers. So... without further ado, here's the final accounting of the starred reviews for 2024 . As of this post, I've recorded 1805 reviews representing 1,176 unique titles. Here's the star distribution so far:
5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
9 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
30 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
106 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
266 ⭐️ ⭐️
760 ⭐️
This year, only five titles received a starred review from all six of the journals I curate. This may seem like a small number, but to put it in context, in 2023, only TWO titles earned that distinction! This year's starriest titles are:
It's been a great year for books. And if there's one thing I've learned from this work it's that soooo many extraordinary titles don't receive stars. Indeed, many excellent books never get reviewed at all, so... while I hope you find this resource useful, I also hope it's only one of many tools you use to select books for the readers you serve.
Happy New Year, y'all. And, as always... happy reading!
WHAT DID I MISS?
As you might imagine, this project takes a lot of time and it's easy to make mistakes. I appreciate your help as I do my best to make sure the final product is as accurate as possible. That said, to be clear, I'm not taking notes on misspellings, etc., but If, after at least a month**, you notice that I have missed a starred review from one of the journals I curate, please use this form to let me know.
**,Why do I ask you to wait a month? Some reviews appear online before that journal's official issue has been released. Waiting the month helps me avoid duplicating reviews.
