The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 1,201 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

Dean Snow ❤️ loved this book because...

This book is about recent American history. Like most people, I tend to depend upon my own memory of recent events and press coverage of those events. Heather Cox Richardson puts them all in larger context and tracks trends through history from much earlier origins. When I took a university course on the History of World War II over 60 years ago, I discovered that many (perhaps most) historians then thought that historical subjects that had occurred within living memory were not appropriate for historians to write. My professor proved them wrong on this point. I still have the textbook, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and I still consult it. Richardson's book supplements what I think I remember in the same way. Whether or not you think American democracy is in peril today, this book will supplement your memory in unexpected ways.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Heather Cox Richardson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

** #4 New York Times bestseller **

In Democracy Awakening, American historian Heather Cox Richardson examines how, over the decades, an elite minority have made war on American ideals. By weaponising language and promoting false history, they are leading Americans into authoritarianism and creating a disaffected population.

Many books tell us what has happened over the last five years. In Democracy Awakening, Richardson wrangles America's meandering and confusing news feed into a coherent story to explain how America got to this perilous point, what we should pay attention to, and what the future of democracy holds.


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Camino Ghosts

Dean Snow ❤️ loved this book because...

Grisham writes fiction that is consistent with reality. I have zero interest in fantasy, so his Camino series appeals to me. If I saw a news story that told a story like this one, I would not find it implausible. The main characters are believable. The test of that for me has always been whether or not my mind conjures up an image of a in important character. Grisham's main characters always do.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By John Grisham,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Escape to Camino Island, where bookseller Bruce Cable and novelist Mercer Mann always manage to find trouble in paradise.

Don’t miss John Grisham’s upcoming Framed, his first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man!

Mercer Mann, a popular writer from Camino Island, is back on the beach, marrying her boyfriend, Thomas, in a seaside ceremony. Bruce Cable, infamous owner of Bay Books, performs the wedding. Afterward, Bruce tells Mercer that he has stumbled upon an incredible story. Mercer desperately needs an idea for her next novel, and Bruce now has one.
 
The true story…


My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Decoding the Codex Borgia: Visual Symbols of Time and Space in Ancient Mexico

Dean Snow ❤️ loved this book because...

I am an archaeologist who lived in Mexico for a couple of years long ago. This book reveals the wonderful content of a masterpiece created in native Mexican style and format before the Spanish Conquest of 1519-1521. It is a scholarly book, but not a dry or technical tome. It will transport you into the world of the pre-Hispanic culture of Tlaxcala, a place I know well, where old friends, the descendants of the people who created the Codex Borgia, still live. It's not for everybody, but it might be for you.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Thoughts
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Susan Milbrath,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Decoding the Codex Borgia as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book explores the rich symbolism of the Codex Borgia, a masterpiece of Pre-Columbian art dating to the fifteenth century, showing how the manuscript's intricate and colorful imagery conveys complex ideas related to Mesoamerican myths and religion.


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

1777: Tipping Point at Saratoga

By Dean Snow,

Book cover of 1777: Tipping Point at Saratoga

What is my book about?

The tipping point of the American Revolution occurred at Saratoga. The tipping point of the Saratoga campaign occurred during the Battle of Bemis Heights, on October 7, 1777. The tipping point of the battle occurred at 3:20 PM, when a militiaman fatally wounded British Brigadier General Simon Fraser, and the British line collapsed. The story of 1777 Saratoga has typically been told from the lofty viewpoints of senior officers, but this book focuses on the experiences of the men and women who carried out the fighting on the ground. Many of their stories are new to most readers. I carried out archaeological research on the battlefield in the runup to the 1977 bicentennial of the battlefield, so the book also describes what new information was found in that series of projects.

Book cover of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
Book cover of Camino Ghosts
Book cover of Decoding the Codex Borgia: Visual Symbols of Time and Space in Ancient Mexico

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