2024 was the year in which I gave up all social media with the grudging exception of Whatsapp and I used all the time that got freed up in reading discipline. That led me to finishing 30 books, most of which I really enjoyed. The other unusual thing this year was that nearly every other book I read this year was fiction, which in the past few years constituted only a third of my reading (even that was because I was part of a book club that I was trying hard to fit into).
So here's the list starting with 'fiction'. I ended up reading six of the seven books on the Booker shortlist. Although I loved 'Orbital' my own personal Booker went to Creation Lake.
- Stoneyard Devotional - Charlotte Wood
- The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
- James - Percival Everett
- Creation Lake - Rachel Kushner
- Orbital - Samantha Harvey
- The Safekeep - Yael van der Wouden
The other fiction I managed to complete (every single one of which I recommend to anyone reading this)
- Samarkand - Amin Malouf
- New York - Edward Rutherford
- Every Man Dies Alone - Hans Fallada
- The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles
- A Man's Place - Annie Ernaux
- Resurrection Day - Brendan DuBois
- The Beekeeper of Aleppo - Christy Lefteri
- Foster - Claire Keegan
Among the non-fiction list of this year, I really enjoyed the ones in the history genre
- The Golden Road - William Dalrymple
- Gorbachev : His Life and Times - William Taubman
- Anansi's Gold: The man who swindled the world - Yepoko Yeebo
These four from the Science shelf also were very enjoyable
- Behave - Robert M Sapolsky
- Being You: A New Science of Consciousness - Anil Seth
- Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life - Jason Roberts
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
The rest of this year's list
- The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick
- Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever - Joseph Cox
- The Golden Road - William Dalrymple
- Gorbachev : His Life and Times - William Taubman
- Anansi's Gold: The man who swindled the world - Yepoko Yeebo
- Iphigenia in Forest Hills: Anatomy of a Murder Trial - Janet Williams
- I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy
- Maurice and Maralyn - Sophie Elmhirst
- The Anxious Generation - Jonathan Haidt
- What Is ChatGPT Doing ... and Why Does It Work? - Stephen Wolfram
- A Beginner’s Guide to Japan - Pico Iyer
