Our Favorite Books of 2024Like this list

100 items

• 2020

  One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed /

  Klinenberg, Eric,

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  Klinenberg, renowned author of groundbreaking books such as "Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago" (2002) and "Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Accordian Eulogies

  a Memoir of Music, Migration, and Mexico /

  Álvarez, Noé,

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  Noé Álvarez (author of Spirit Run) grew up in the United States not knowing his grandfather, the man who brought the family to the U.S. One of the things he does know about him is that he played the accordion. So Álvarez sets out to learn…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Achilles Trap

  Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq

  Coll, Steve,

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  Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll (Ghost Wars, 2005) turns his eye toward the life of Saddam Hussein and his decades-long involvement in United States foreign policy culminating with his capture and then hanging in 2006. Born near the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Adversary

  a Novel

  Crummey, Michael, 1965-

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  In the remote fishing community of Mockbeggar, Newfoundland in the late 19th century, village life is hard but made worse by. There is Abe Strapp, a loutish, drunken braggart of a man who has inherited his father's business; and the Widow…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• American Rapture

  Leede, CJ,

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  There's no way to know exactly when the world will end. For Sophie, the end of the world came swiftly after finishing her penance and coming home to find that her parents have become infected by a mysterious new disease, colloquially known…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Anita De Monte Laughs Last

  Gonzalez, Xochitl, 1977-

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  In this follow up to her acclaimed debut Olga Dies Dreaming, Gonzalez tells a rich and unique story about two Latina women, living parallel lives a decade apart. Raquel is a working-class Puerto Rican art history student at an exclusive…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Annie Bot

  a Novel

  Greer, Sierra,

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  Recent divorcée Doug needs someone in his life, so getting Annie, a custom-built robot companion, seems like a natural fit. Annie is so lifelike that it would be hard to tell her apart from a real human. She's been designed to serve her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Anthropologists

  Savas, Aysegül,

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  Born in different countries, Asya and Manu are a childless young married couple living in an unnamed Western city. This quietly perceptive novel follows their lives through a time of ordinary life events as they search for a home to buy,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Autocracy, Inc.

  the Dictators Who Want to Run the World /

  Applebaum, Anne, 1964-

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  Democracy was riding high during the 1990s. The Berlin Wall had fallen, and states of the former Soviet Union seemed to be moving toward open, democratic societies. Western democracies, most notably the United States and Great Britain,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Axeman's Carnival

  a Novel

  Chidgey, Catherine, 1970-

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  New Zealand novelist Chidgey's extraordinary latest features an unusual narrator: Tama, a magpie. Settle in, readers, because Tama has quite the tale to tell in this clever, suspenseful domestic drama. Marnie rescued Tama as a chick and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bear

  a Novel

  Phillips, Julia,

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  Elena and Sam have pushed through the same routine for most of their lives on San Juan Island. They work frustrating service jobs for poor pay and take care of their long-ailing mother. The sisters are a unit and feel the only people they…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Becoming Earth

  How Our Planet Came to Life

  Jabr, Ferris, 1987-

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  In science writer Jabr's debut book, he roams throughout billion of years of Earth history to help us appreciate just how active a role life takes in quite literally shaping the environment. Across three sections covering rock, water, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Black Utopians

  Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America

  Robertson, Aaron, 1994-

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  Part scholarly history and part personal narrative, Robertson's "Black Utopians" focuses on Black communities created for the shelter of Black people. While it is not a comprehensive history of Black nationalism, it is a fascinating read.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Bloodied Nightgown and Other Essays

  Acocella, Joan Ross,

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  This book is a collection of twenty-four essays by acclaimed cultural critic Acocella, previously published in The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. Spanning from 2007 to 2021, this wide-ranging and eclectic compilation ranges…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Bright Sword

  a Novel of King Arthur

  Grossman, Lev,

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  Collum has longed for many years to become a knight. Coming from humble beginnings on the Isle of Mull, he has trained his whole life, finally travelling to Camelot to present himself to the Knights of the Round Table. But what he finds…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bury Your Gays

  Tingle, Chuck,

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  Misha Byrne is a famous horror screenwriter living in Los Angeles, recently nominated for an Oscar. While he's not loudly "out," he's not closeted either; he just isn't ready to bring his loving boyfriend Zeke to his conservative hometown…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cahokia Jazz

  a Novel

  Spufford, Francis, 1964-

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  This rich alternative history tale takes place in the 1920s in a big city called Cahokia on the Mississippi River. It's packed with so many resounding and seemingly accurate details that you'll be swept into the daily life and politics of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Cemetery of Untold Stories

  a Novel

  Alvarez, Julia,

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  Alma Cruz, an acclaimed writer-professor, decides to retire and move back from the United States to the Dominican Republic where she was born. Like most career writers, she has many unfinished manuscripts. Alma is haunted, especially, by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Challenger

  a True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

  Higginbotham, Adam,

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  When the space shuttle Challenger exploded upon liftoff in January of 1986, the world was shocked. It instantly became one of those you-remember-where-you-were moments like September 11th and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cinema Love

  a Novel

  Tang, Jiaming,

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  Set in 1980s China, this searing debut focuses on the members of a clandestine gay community who use an old movie theater as a safe place to meet. Moving forward in time and place to current day New York, the main characters have a freer…Read moreRead more of this annotation