# Best books of 2024 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 15, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671 "2024-12-15T15:51:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/1 "2024-12-15T15:51:17Z")
I know there are a couple of weeks left in the year, but we’re close enough that I have a pretty good idea of what my favorite books of the year are. I’d love to share those titles, and invite others to share their favorites as well. No hard-and-fast rules, but a shorter list of truly delightful books is better than a laundry list including just pretty-good books; and a brief description of books and why you recommend them would be great. Here goes, in no particular order! - _The Daughters War_, by Christopher Buehlman: it’s a prequel to the superfun _Blacktongue Thief_, but it’s military fantasy, not adventure-quest fantasy, and I’m not normally a fan of military fiction at all. This book is an exception! Excellent characterization, terrifying battle sequences, huge emotional beats, gorgeous and supple prose, at least two laugh-out-loud scenes, the first death-cult I’ve ever read that I could get behind, and _giant fucking war corvids_. God, I loved this book. - _Cahokia Jazz_: Noir murder mystery set in the 1920s(?) in Cahokia, the Native American state where our Missouri is located. Great worldbuilding and a tricky mystery and a note-perfect noir mood. - _Running Close to the Wind:_ this is the raunchiest novel I’ve ever read that was completely unsexy. Comic fantasies usually leave me cold, but this one was a shriek-laugh of a book. It’s like a cross between _Our Flag Means Death_, an Aardman movie, and Terry Pratchett. - _The Warm Hands of Ghosts_: Great War historical fiction, with a supernatural element that creeps up on you. Beautifully written, great characters, one of the better uses of fantasy elements to explore real-world issues that I’ve read in a long time. - _The Saint of Bright Doors_: A Sri Lankan author’s blasphemous retelling of Buddha, sorta. A hero’s quest story where the Chosen One says Fuck That early in the story. Notes of Kafka and _Brazil_ and China Mieville. It won’t be for you if you want the story to hit traditional heroic fantasy beats, and it won’t be for you if you hate heroic fantasy, but if you’re okay in the fault line between the two, it’s great. - _The House of Open Wounds_: if _M \* A \* S \* H_ were set in a British Imperial army in the nineteenth century in a high-fantasy made-up world, you might get this book. It’s not exactly military fantasy, since it’s focused on the hospital unit. Weird, cynical, darkly funny, and delightful. - _Chain-Gang All-Stars_: The US Prison system sets up gladiatorial combats. Dystopian fiction chock-full of footnotes about the dystopian nonfiction it’s based on. This was a hard read, but very, very good. - _Exordia_: An alien invasion, Iraqi war crimes, mathematical constructs, armageddon–this was a real trip of a book, what you get when _Independence Day_ is written by someone who loathes US military adventurism. One of the books that made me think the most this year. I’ll round it out to a top ten with two classics that I reread this year: _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ and _The Last Unicorn_. If you haven’t read these yet, you’re in for a treat! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/2 "2024-12-15T19:18:59Z")
I’ve seen Tana French’s new book **[The Hunter](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/books/review/tana-french-the-hunter.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hk4.jLNG.77Afk3msRGto&smid=url-share)** on several “best books of 2024” lists. I really liked it. It’s a sequel to **The Searcher** , which I’d recommend reading first (equally good). Besides plotting compelling psychological mysteries, French is also an excellent writer. She’s lived in Ireland since 1990, and her books are usually set there. The two books are about an early-retired Chicago policeman who moves to a remote village in Ireland where dark tensions lie beneath the surface. The new book is a followup to the first one. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/3 "2024-12-15T20:25:13Z")
Thanks @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness ! God knows I need some apocalyptic fantasies to take my mind off the real apocalypse that seems to be occurring right now. At least with books you (usually) know how it all turns out in the end – ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/4 "2024-12-16T15:30:07Z")
Great idea for a thread! Mine are: _O Caledonia_, by Elspeth Barker: a neo-gothic telling of the fractious life and early death of a girl growing up in a rambling, crumbling mansion in the Scottish Highlands. Darkly humorous, moving, horrifying and crammed with grotesque but all too believable character vignettes, it’s a wonderful evocation of a rich inner life wresting with an unforgiving outer one. _Rizzio_ by Denise Mina: A modern crime writer turns her attention to a 16th Century murder in the court of Mary Queen of Scots, but without abandoning the style and approach of the 21st Century. Using the historical evidence to recreate both the murder and the subsequent investigation, this is a gripping thriller using multiple POV characters to give the reader access to what may have felt like a very different world, with the fictional elements both plausible, psychologically accurate, and genuinely tense. _Poor Things_ by Alasdair Gray: Decided I’d read this before seeing the film, in part spurred on by the debate on here. Still haven’t seen the film - the book is brilliant. Bella’s status as tabula rasa is a device to explore Victorian and modern _mores_, as well as to open a window on civil society. And that’s all very entertaining, but the literary device of teh found manuscript allows Gray to completely upend the main narrative, reframe all the main characters and in particular our understanding of Bella in a way that I found genuinely breathtaking. We are left with a tale of the inexorably belittling effects of misogyny and the joys and sorrows of rejecting social pressure. Magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/5 "2024-12-17T21:13:26Z")
Not in strict order, but my favorites are near the top of the list. **The City & The City** China Mieville (Winner of the Hugo Award for best novel in 2010 - I’m trying to read them all.) A police procedural set in the fictional eastern European city-state of Beszel. The twist is that the city of Beszel occupies the exact same location as the equally fictional city of Ul Qoma. There are parts of the cities where one can cross over, but this is strictly controlled, so that only one building serves as the formal “border”. People are taught to ignore people that they can see in the other city. The brilliance of the book is that this is all explained very slowly as the story unfolds, and that at the end, it’s not really clear whether this a sci-fi phenomenon like parallel universes, or just a very strange social convention. **To Cook a Bear** Mikael Niemi A mystery set in rural Sweden in the 1800s. A young woman is savagely killed and the incompetent authorities blame a bear. But then another woman is attacked and it’s clear that a killer is on the loose. The central characters are a pastor (Lars Lastraedes, a real historical figure) and his troubled adopted son, a runaway. In addition to the mystery, there are musings on philosophy, the beauty of nature, and the power of the written word. I quite enjoyed this book. Some of the prose is quite beautiful. Caveat: this is NOT a cozy mystery. There are intense depictions of cruelty, deprivation, and violence. **Ballpark: Baseball in the American City** Paul Goldberger A history of American baseball stadiums and their relation to their surroundings by an architect critic, from the early days in Brooklyn to the Golden Age of Fenway, Wrigley, and Ebbets field, the concrete donuts of the post war era, and the retro parks of the 90’s and 2000s. **The Golden Ratio** Mario Livio A short, charming book on the number phi ( 1 + sqrt(5) )/2, which crops in all kinds of interesting places in math and nature. Enjoyable read, full of interesting historical and mathematical tidbits. **Silk: A World History** Aarathi Prasad An interesting look at the history of the fabric. One thing I learned is that silk can and has been made with the secreted threads of many animals, not just silkworm moths, including using threads that a large mollusk excretes to stick to the ocean floor. (Alas, the mollusk in question is now a threatened species, so this is not done anymore). There has also been a lot done to make spider silk a viable fabric, none of it completely successful. One issue is that when packed together the spiders tend to eat one another. Recently, researchers tried genetically modifying goats to secrete spider silk in their milk. It worked, but not well enough to be commercial. **A Higher Form of Killing: Six Weeks in World War I That Forever Changed the Nature of Warfare** Diana Preston The emergence of three new technologies - chemical weapons, aerial bombing of cities, and submarine attacks on merchant shipping - during World War I. **The Palace From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court** Gareth Russell A history of Hampton Court Palace, home of the British monarchy starting with Henry VIII (he of the six wives) to the Georges, focusing the personal lives of the monarchs and the various courtiers who also lived there. And when I say personal lives, I mean sex lives, which were quite eventful. James I for example had at least one mistress and several male partners. It was good to be the king. Personal note, I visited the Palace (it’s now a tourist site) a few years ago and it is stunningly beautiful. **The Hidden World of the Fox** Adele Brand A short but informative look at the red fox. I was surprised to learn that foxes are rather controversial in Britain, the author’s home country. in the U.S., if people think about foxes at all, it’s “cute animal with bushy tail”. but in the U.K. it seems people are worried about foxes spreading disease and kidnapping their children. Anyway, enjoyable book. I wish it had been longer, which not something I say often. **Titanium Noir** Nick Harkaway A mix of dystopian sci-fi and detective noir. The setup is that in the near future, humanity is divided into two groups - ordinary schmoes like you and me and Titans, a few ultrarich people who have received gene therapy that resets their body clock allowing them to live for centuries, and makes them unusually tall and large. A Titan is murdered and an ordinary human has to find the killer. A strange book, but I liked it. **The Devil’s Element** Dan Egan The devil’s element in this nicely-written, informative book is Phosphorus (atomic number 15, symbol P). It’s safe to say that humanity and phosphorus have a complicated relationship. On the one hand, it’s absolutely essential to life. In order to grow enough food for all 8 billion of us, we need to mine it and add it to fertilizer. On the other hand, we use it wastefully, and the excess pollutes our water and spurs toxic blooms of algae. **Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life** Jason Roberts The history of the rivalry between the Swede Carl Linnaeus and the Frenchman Buffon to describe and categorize all life on Earth. **Paradise Bronx** Ian Frazier A long history of the New York City borough, which went from rural idyll, Revolutionary War battlefield, 20th century decline and rebirth. Lots of interesting detail and very well written ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/6 "2024-12-17T21:34:21Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > **The City & The City** China Mieville I love this book. It’s such a clever idea - FWIW my take is the superimposition of the two cities is purely a social convention, and I read it as a commentary on the way we do, all the time, allow our lives to pass in parallel through others’. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/7 "2025-01-01T16:23:55Z")
As usual, it doesn’t matter when the book was published, just that you read it during 2024. Since I read a lot of books, I made lists for nonfiction and fiction. Nonfiction: 1. Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses (Robin Wall Kimmerer) Best book I read this year. For its fascinating scientific/historical information, plus its language and setting. 2. The Age of Wood: Our Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization (Roland Ennos) For its fascinating scientific and historical information. 3. First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human (Jeremy DeSilva) For its fascinating description of evolution. 4. Venice is a Fish: A Sensual Guide (Tiziano Scarpa, translated by Shaun Whiteside) For its use of language, setting, humor, and fascinating historical information. 5. Everywhere an Oink Oink: An Embittered, Dyspeptic, and Accurate Report of Forty Years in Hollywood (David Mamet) For its great Hollywood anecdotes and humor. 6. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) (Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling) For its reporting on the events, setting and characterization. 7. American Flygirl (Susan Tate Ankeny) For its description of how female pilots, focusing on Hazel Ying Lee, participated in America’s defense during World War II. 8. Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! (David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams): Fun (mostly) background of the funniest movie I’ve ever seen. 9. Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World in a Big Way (Roma Agrawal) For its fascinating historical and scientific information. 10. Frankenstein’s Brain: Puzzles and Conundrums in Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Masterpiece (John Sutherland) For its fascinating information and humor. Fiction: 1. Angel of the Overpass (Seanan McGuire) Fantasy. For its language more than anything else, and also for the characterization and worldbuilding. This is the third book in a trilogy that began with Sparrow Hill Road. 2. Thistlefoot (Genna Rose Nethercott) Fantasy. For its language, worldbuilding, and characterization. 3. Station Eternity and Chaos Terminal (Mur Lafferty) Science fiction/Mystery First two books in a science fiction mystery series. For their worldbuilding, characterization, plot, and humor. I started to read the second book which contained a massive spoiler for the first. I stopped to read the first book, which was so good I didn’t care about the spoiler. 4. Halting State (Charles Stross) Science fiction. For its plot, language, humor, and worldbuilding. 5. The Fifth Season (N. K. Jemisin) Fantasy. For its language, plot, and worldbuilding. 6. Mammoths at the Gates (Nghi Vo) Fantasy. For its plot and characterization. 7. A River Runs Through It (Norman Maclean) Historical. For its language, setting, and characterization. 8. The Longmire Defense (Craig Johnson) Mystery. For its characterization, setting, and humor. 9. Grailblazers (Tom Holt) Fantasy. For its humor. 10. Peace Breaks Out (Angela Thirkell) Historical. For its characterization, humor, and language. Both Fiction/Nonfiction: Life on the Mississippi (Mark Twain) While mostly nonfiction, there are substantial sections of fiction. For its characterization, humor, use of language, setting, and interesting anecdotes. Best opening sentence, from A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears), by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling: “During the summer of 2016, the firefighter became convinced the bear was watching him.” ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/8 "2025-01-01T16:32:46Z")
A bit of a hijack, but Kevin Drum posted his 21 favorite books of all time. He presented them in chronological order, without comment. No comments. By publication date. I own ~5 and have only read 2, but I suspect they are solid recommendations. 1. The Count of Monte Cristo, 1844, by Alexandre Dumas 2. Crime and Punishment, 1866, by Fyodor Dostoevsky 3. Southern California: An Island on the Land, 1946, by Carey McWilliams 4. Youngblood Hawke, 1962, by Herman Wouk 5. The Chronicles of Amber (first series), 1970, by Roger Zelazny 6. Time Enough for Love, 1973, by Robert Heinlein 7. The Power Broker, 1974, by Robert Caro 8. Plagues and Peoples, 1976, by William McNeill 9. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (first trilogy), 1977, by Stephen Donaldson 10. A Distant Mirror, 1978, by Barbara Tuchman 11. Godel, Escher, Bach, 1979, by Douglas Hofstadter 12. The Belgariad, 1982, by David Eddings 13. The Quincunx, 1989, by Charles Palliser 14. Infinite Jest, 1996, by David Foster Wallace 15. The Corner, 1997, by David Simon and Edward Burns 16. American Aurora, 1997, by Richard Rosenfeld 17. Cryptonomicon, 1999, by Neal Stephenson 18. Before the Storm, 2001, by Rick Perlstein 19. How Wars End, 2010, by Gideon Rose 20. The Broken Earth trilogy, 2015, by N.K. Jemisin 21. Chip War, 2022, by Chris Miller > **[My 20 favorite books of all time - Kevin Drum](https://jabberwocking.com/my-20-favorite-books-of-all-time/)** > > No comments. By publication date. The Count of Monte Cristo, 1844, by Alexandre Dumas Crime and Punishment, 1866, by Fyodor Dostoevsky Southern California: An Island on the Land, 1946, by Carey McWilliams Youngblood Hawke, 1962, by Herman Wouk The... ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/9 "2025-01-01T16:37:43Z")
Just chiming in to say how fascinated I am by those of you that read that many books. My Top Ten would include all 3 books I read. 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/10 "2025-01-01T20:02:28Z")
My highest-rated on Goodreads this year (again, not 2024-published): _A Visit from the Goon Squad_, Jennifer Egan _Sacred Hunger_, Barry Unsworth (a first reread since it came out) _The Nearest Exit_, Oleg Steinhauer _The Quiet American_, Graham Greene (also a reread) _My Favorite Thing is Monsters_, Emil Ferris (a graphic novel) I read 44 books this year, about half my normal, as I tried to slow things down. The _Ramayana_ took a big chunk of the early part of the year. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/11 "2025-01-01T20:12:06Z")
Non-fiction- _The Demon of Unres_t by Erik Larson- about ft Sumter and the start of the Civil war. Proves- beyond all doubt- the South shot first. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/12 "2025-01-01T23:40:04Z")
I read 80+ books this year, several of them rereads, it was nice to hang out with old friends. My top ten, in no particularl order: 1. _A Sorceress comes to Call_ by T. KIngfisher. That was a rollercoaster of a book, which is absolutely what one expects when starting a book by T. Kingfisher. For a book that was mostly about people in a country house, in a time and place vaguely like Regency England, who are having what amounts to a house party, I could not put the book down! 2. _Death in The Spires_ by K.J. Charles The book has a lot of layers and as you read they get peeled back until, like our hero, Jem, you really aren’t sure what you know. As usual, Ms. Charles characters are likeable, until they aren’t, interesting and realistic, the set up plausible: a group of friend, once attached at the hip but now torn apart by suspicion and secrets. 3. The _Rip Through Time_ series by Kelley Armstrong. A modern detective finds herself in the body of a Victorian house maid in Edinburgh Scotland. Wildly implausible, above and beyond the time travel, I am nevertheless enjoying the hell out of Mallory’s adventures. 4. _Station Eleven_ by Emily St John Mandel A post apocalyptic troupe of entertainers deal with no more technology, religious fanatics and the empty American Midwest. Just enough tension, and a lot less gross than _The Stand_. 5. _The House in the Cerulean Sea_ by T.J. Klune. This was everything I wanted Miss Peregrine to be but wasn’t: funny, charming, heartrending. 6. _The Secret Adversary_, _Partners in Crime_ &\* N or M?\* The first three Tommy & Tuppence novels by Agatha Christie. Definitely more light sprited than the Hercule Poirot novels, they’re a lot of fun on a long ride. 7. The _Not a…_ series by Madeline Kirby. Yearly rereads, Jake and his friends are just fun to hang out with, even with murder involed… but there are cats and Cats. 8. _The Duke at Hazard_ by K. J. Charles. A chase across Regency England to find a stolen signet ring and restore a man’s reputation. 9. _The Flash Gold Chronicles_ by Lindsay Buroker Another reread, steampunk, gold fever and pirates in dirigibles. What’s there NOT to like here? 10. _The Exception to the Rule_ by Christina Lauren, Really a short story it’s a sweet meet cute about an email sent to the wrong account, just what I needed when things got stressful. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/13 "2025-01-02T00:55:30Z")
I only read 21 books this year but I like them long and only really “read” when driving or doing chores (Audiobooks). I did rate 8 of the 21 as 5 star plus had two 4 star books I probably should upgrade since I think they deserve to be on the list. In order of awesomeness: 1. The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel 2. True Grit by Charles Portis, read perfectly by Donna Tartt. 3. Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson 4. The Hunter by Tana French 5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy 6. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann 7. Dead Man’s Walk by Larry McMurtry (this years re-read #1) 8. Comanche Moon by the same - re-read #2) 9. The Dutch House by Ann Pratchett. I think I gave it 4 stars because it is not really my type of book but I think about it enough that I should probably give it 5. I liked it enough to try Tom Lake by the same author, which I did not love because it was too comfy but I would try the author again. 10. Holly by Stephen King - the villains were sooo deliciously evil, even if some of the plot was tired and Holly had a few Covid-related moments that I thought were out of character and took me out of the story. I still had a lot of fun listening to it. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/14 "2025-01-02T10:39:37Z")
1. _An Introduction to Linguistic Typology_ - **Viveka Velupillai** 2. _Solaris_ - **Stanislaw Lem** 3. _Enchiridion_ - **Epictetus** 4. _The Nation’s Favourite Poems_ - **Griff Rhys Jones** 5. _A History of New York in 101 Objects_ - **Sam Roberts** 6. _Syntax: A Generative Introduction_ - **Andrew Carnie** 7. _L’Étonnement Philosophique_ - **Jeanne Hersch** 8. _Metaphors We Live By_ - **George Lakoff** , **Mark Johnson** 9. _Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms_ - **Claire Breay** , **Joanna Story** 10. _An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding_ - **David Hume** ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/15 "2025-01-02T15:54:32Z")
2024 wasn’t a very good reading year for me. I only read 37 books, an all-time low since I started tracking my books in 2008. In looking over my list, I found five books with perfect five-star ratings, and twelve with four stars. The embarrassing part is that I barely remember some of these! These were the five-star: What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher Grave Expectations, Alice Bell The Haunting of Velkwood, Gwendolyn Kiste Annie Bot, Sierra Greer Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia, Jason Pargin I’ll list these to round out the top ten: You Like It Darker, Stephen King Displeasure Island, Alice Bell (sequel to Grave Expectations) Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher The Dissonance, Shaun Hamill And call these the “honorable mention” awards. The Endless Vessel, Charles Soule Good Girls Don’t Die, Christina Henry Murder Road, Simone St. James The Court of the Stone Children, Eleanor Cameron Little Darlings, Melanie Golding Playing With Myself, Randy Rainbow Convergence Problems, Talabi Wole ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/16 "2025-01-02T15:58:25Z")
Similar thread on the same topic [Best books of 2024 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/6) Maybe these can be merged? ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/17 "2025-01-02T16:31:20Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World in a Big Way (Roma Agrawal) For its fascinating historical and scientific information. I enjoyed this book too. Lots of interesting historical and technical tidbits. > [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > The Fifth Season (N. K. Jemisin) Fantasy. For its language, plot, and worldbuilding. The sequels are good too, although the first one was best. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/18 "2025-01-02T17:18:54Z")
Normally I wait for **Elendil’s Heir** to start this list, but since two threads have already been started and merged, I’ll place it here. I managed to read 104 books this year, up from last year when I had cataract surgery. In chronological order: 1. _Matthew_ by R. Alan Culpepper. A very insightful, non-evangelical, academic commentary on the gospel. 2. _Lessons in Chemistry_ by Bonnie Garman. Not my usual fare, but an enjoyable romp nonetheless. 3. _TR’s Last War_ by David Petrusza. Masterful, as usual, description of Theodore Roosevelt’s last years and the election in which he died before he could be nominated as a candidate. 4. _Miles Coverdale and the English Bible_ by Henry Guppy. Fills the niche usually missed in the history of the English translation of the Bible by providing biography and history from Tyndale’s execution up to the KJV. 5. _Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rend_ by Dame Judi Dench. Interviews with the Royal Shakesperean Company actress about the roles she played, and her thoughts on the plays and acting as a profession. She loves Lear, detests Merchant of Venice, and has her own ghost story about the Scottish play. 6. _I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons_ by Peter S. Beagle. I’ll read anything by Beagle, so another bright and hilarious fantasy from him is just my speed. 7. _What Are They Saying About The Parables?_ by David B. Gowler. Part of an immensely useful Roman Catholic series on various books and aspects of the New Testament, the author covers and comments critically on all the major discussions of Jesus’s parables in the last 20+ years. My only regret is they aren’t updating the series. 8. _Feet on the Street_ by Roy Blount, Jr. Loving travelogue/reminiscences of New Orleans. 9. _How To Fracture A Fairy Tale_ by Jane Yolen. Collection of short pieces in which famous fairy tales are addressed from distinctly different angles: the Three Billy Goats Gruff, for instance, is told from the POV of the bridge. 10. _My Brother’s Keeper_ by Tim Powers. Mr. Powers is my favorite author of all time, and here he puts his supernatural spin on the Bronte family. Now to look at what others put up. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/19 "2025-01-02T19:44:05Z")
Since I think it’s cheating to have 10 each for fiction and non-fiction, here are my top **five** favorite fiction and non-fiction books: Fiction: 1. _The Lions of Fifth Avenue_ by Fiona Davis – A juicy plot with theft, secrets, and love affairs, while also exploring some historical issues like feminism and homosexuality at the turn of the 20th century. 2. _Promise Not to Tell_ by Jennifer McMahon – I’ve never before encountered a ghost story where the ghost herself was such a complex character with a fascinating backstory. 3. _The Swallows_ by Lisa Lutz – A high school where girls are being objectified by boys, but instead of speaking up and complaining, the girls decide to get even. And they get vicious. 4. _Never Lie_ by Freida McFadden – This thriller is the king of “I didn’t see that ending coming”! 5. _We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves_ by Karen Joy Fowler – Compelling characters. Nonfiction: 1. _Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease_ by Sharon Moalem – A fascinating examination of how certain genetic conditions are generally considered harmful, but can provide an evolutionary advantage when the circumstances are just so. 2. _The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All – But There is a Solution_ by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott – An excellent overview of cancel culture in the U.S., full of case studies, statistics, and an examination of why cancel culture is so harmful. 3. _The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story_ by Hyeonseo Lee –Exciting, heart-wrenching, and educational. 4. _Africa is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent_ by Dipo Faloyin – Part history, part cultural critique. This book gave me a better understanding of Africa and why we’re so tempted to think of the entire continent as one big country (the country borders do not align with different ethnic groups and cultures because they were artificially drawn by Europeans). 5. _Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know_ by Adam M. Grant – Essentially, turning open-mindedness into a science. It provides supported by research and statistics. Depending on what you count, this is out of either 75 books or 68, because I started 75 books last year, but a few of them were too bad for me to finish. (Maybe we should have a Worst Books of 2024 thread too!) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671/20 "2025-01-02T19:52:23Z")
Surprised no one yet has listed Percival Everett’s James. I thought it crap, and couldn’t believe the near universal praise, other than possibly as a lifetime acknowledgement of Everett’s work. Read a couple more of Everett’s and decided I’m done with him. My fave of his was Trees. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-of-2024/1011671.md?page=2)