The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 684 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Obelisk Gate

Bethany Brookshire ❤️ loved this book because...

N.K. Jemison is a masterclass in compelling, complex characters, deeply original worlds, and plot.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By N. K. Jemisin,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Obelisk Gate as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Essun's missing daughter grows more powerful every day, and her choices may destroy the world in this "magnificent" Hugo Award winner and NYT Notable Book. (NPR)

The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night.

Essun -- once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger -- has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power -- and her choices will break the…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Hoof Beats

Bethany Brookshire ❤️ loved this book because...

William Taylor is a true academic expert in the domestication of the horse, and does a wonderful job showing what we know, and what we don't.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Thoughts
  • Writing style

    👍 Liked it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By William T. Taylor,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Hoof Beats as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Hoof Beats helps readers see the drama even in the grass eating. . . . Taylor has written that too-rare work that is as authoritative as it is legible to the lay audience."-New York Times

Journey to the ancient past with cutting-edge science and new data to discover how horses forever altered the course of human history.

From the Rockies to the Himalayas, the bond between horses and humans has spanned across time and civilizations. In this archaeological journey, William T. Taylor explores how momentous events in the story of humans and horses helped create the world we live in…


My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Glacial

Bethany Brookshire 👍 liked this book because...

A step by step history of why the US has only recently begun to address the climate crisis, coming from someone on the inside.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Thoughts
  • Writing style

    👍 Liked it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Chelsea Henderson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Glacial as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It took nearly sixty years for a meaningful climate change bill to run the political gauntlet from Capitol Hill to the Oval Office. Why?

From mavericks to party standard-bearers, U.S. Senators, members of the House of Representatives, and presidential candidates have campaigned for four decades espousing their intentions to address the impacts of climate change.

Glacial: The Inside Story of Climate Politics is the first Inside-the-Beltway account to lay bare the machinations of what went wrong in Washington-how and why our leaders failed to act on climate change as mounting scientific evidence underscored the urgency to do so. Glacial tells…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Book cover of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains

What is my book about?

An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals "pests" and others not-from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons-and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural world

A squirrel in the garden. A rat in the wall. A pigeon on the street. Humans have spent so much of our history drawing a hard line between human spaces and wild places. When animals pop up where we don't expect or want them, we respond with fear, rage, or simple annoyance. It's no longer an animal. It's a pest.

At the intersection of science, history, and narrative journalism, Pests is not a simple call to look closer at our urban ecosystem. It's not a natural history of the animals we hate. Instead, this book is about us. It's about what calling an animal a pest says about people, how we live, and what we want. It's a story about human nature, and how we categorize the animals in our midst, including bears and coyotes, sparrows and snakes. Pet or pest? In many cases, it's entirely a question of perspective.

Bethany Brookshire's deeply researched and entirely entertaining book will show readers what there is to venerate in vermin, and help them appreciate how these animals have clawed their way to success as we did everything we could to ensure their failure. In the process, we will learn how the pests that annoy us tell us far more about humanity than they do about the animals themselves.