Reading in 2024

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