The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 1,187 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of King: A Life

George Anders ❤️ loved this book because...

This book does an amazing job of illuminating Martin Luther King Jr..'s life and times. We learn a lot about the Black church in the south. We learn, moment by moment, how the nonviolent protest movement came alive. We appreciate King for both his virtues and his flaws. The book is rich with details and deep with insights. It's inspiring.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Outlook
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Jonathan Eig,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked King as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig's King is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. - and the first to include recently declassified FBI files.

In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself.

He casts fresh light on the King family's origins as well as MLK's complex relationships with…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000

George Anders ❤️ loved this book because...

I had no idea Lee Kuan Yew was such a good writer! This is everything a political memoir should be, not just because it explains Singapore's extraordinary rise, but also because LKW does not miss the chance to share a lot of dishy anecdotes that only he would know. His account of playing golf with Burma (now Myanmar)'s leader is hilarious. His insights about how Singapore riveted together a succesful multi-racial culture are quite astonishing. I read this a few weeks before visiting Singapore for a professional project, and it did a great deal to illuminate all the many factors that make Singapore a one-of-a-kind country.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Thoughts
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Lee Kuan Yew,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked From Third World to First as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The story of Singapore's amazing transformation told by it's charismatic and controversial founding father, Lee Kuan Yew. Lee Kuan Yew is one of the most influential leaders in Asia. In this illuminating account, Lee writes frankly about his disapproving approach to political opponents and his often unorthodox views on human rights, democracy, and inherited intelligence, aiming always "to be correct, not politically correct." Since it's independence in 1965, tiny Singapore -- once a poor and decrepit colony -- has risen to become a rich and thriving Asian metropolis. From Third World to First is a fascinating and insightful account of…


My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Master and Margarita

George Anders ❤️ loved this book because...

A treasure. I first read this book in my 20s, which was -- um -- a while ago. I liked it a lot then, chiefly because of the sly, hilarious opening plot in which the Devil pays a chaotic visit to 1930s Moscow. Bulgakov's ability to write, in total deadpan, about the arrogance of wrong-headed people is just plain brilliant.

Why read it again, many years later? Partly because our son told me to. But also because the secondary and tertiary plots are brilliant and beautiful, too. Bulgakov has a lot to say about creativity, and the fragility of artists, and the delicate line between robust love and doomed obsession. So many passages just demanded to be read a second and even third time.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Mikhail Bulgakov, Richard Pevear (translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (translator)

Why should I read it?

20 authors picked The Master and Margarita as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Bulgakov is one of the greatest Russian writers, perhaps the greatest' Independent

Written in secret during the darkest days of Stalin's reign, The Master and Margarita became an overnight literary phenomenon when it was finally published it, signalling artistic freedom for Russians everywhere. Bulgakov's carnivalesque satire of Soviet life describes how the Devil, trailing fire and chaos in his wake, weaves himself out of the shadows and into Moscow one Spring afternoon. Brimming with magic and incident, it is full of imaginary, historical, terrifying and wonderful characters, from witches, poets and Biblical tyrants to the beautiful, courageous Margarita, who will…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

You Can Do Anything

By George Anders,

Book cover of You Can Do Anything

What is my book about?

Did you take the right classes in college? Will your major help you get the right job offers? For more than a decade, the national spotlight has focused on science and engineering as the only reliable choice for finding a successful post-grad career. Our destinies have been reduced to a caricature: learn to write computer code or end up behind a counter, pouring coffee. Quietly, though, a different path to success has been taking shape.

In You Can Do Anything, George Anders explains the remarkable power of a liberal arts education – and the ways it can open the door to thousands of cutting-edge jobs every week.

Book cover of King: A Life
Book cover of From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000
Book cover of The Master and Margarita

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