The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 772 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

James Sale ❤️ loved this book because...

Brilliantly insightful and cross-disciplinary

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Outlook 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Iain McGilchrist,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A pioneering exploration of the differences between the brain's right and left hemispheres and their effects on society, history, and culture-"one of the few contemporary works deserving classic status" (Nicholas Shakespeare, The Times, London)

"Persuasively argues that our society is suffering from the consequences of an over-dominant left hemisphere losing touch with its natural regulative 'master' the right. Brilliant and disturbing."-Salley Vickers, a Guardian Best Book of the Year

"I know of no better exposition of the current state of functional brain neuroscience."-W. F. Bynum, TLS

Why is the brain divided? The difference between right and left hemispheres has been…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Legends of Liberty

James Sale ❤️ loved this book because...

A work of poetical genius and reimagining of the American War of Independence. His use of language is worthy of Byron.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Andrew Benson Brown,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A mock-epic poem about the American Revolution featuring supernatural twists, historical icons with extraordinary powers, and action-filled battle scenes.


Thomas Jefferson is sent to Hell, where, guided by Dante, he meets old friends and tries to figure out which among his many mortal sins will determine his final punishment. An ailing, world-weary Mercury passes his herald’s wand to Paul Revere, who saddles up for his midnight ride with the fastest horse on earth. Apollo, handicapped and traumatized by modern warfare, comes out of retirement to fire a shot that sends shock waves around the planet. The minutemen at Lexington and…


My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Virtue's End

James Sale ❤️ loved this book because...

Very few writers would attempt to emulate and complete Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queen, but this is precisely what this does. Some electrifying writing in this - some incredible conceptions. All fantasy readers will love it.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Emotions
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Joseph Sale, Brian Barr (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Virtue's End as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Virtue’s End is a spell, a magickal incantation designed to invoke and vivify that which has been lost by the modern world. This lyrical, occult fantasy-epic follows the account of Horus, a magickal sorcerer blessed with both hellish and heavenly powers, who, upon meeting the demon Melmoth, embarks on a strange quest to save the mystical realm of Ethismos, the seat of human imagination. There, Horus will meet great warriors and friends who will aid him in his battle against the coming darkness, as well as ghosts of his past, spectres of the traumas he has endured, and old enemies…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

HellWard

By James Sale,

Book cover of HellWard

What is my book about?

A psychological and metaphysical thriller in epic poetic form about nearly dying of cancer and descending into a Dantean-type of Hell where both the dead and the soul-dead are each in their separate wards. Meet awful family members, dire friends, a dreadful boss, a perverted pupil and a murdering neighbour; plus, some infamous (and some contemporary) politicians, poets and philosophers all contributing to human misery in their self-righteous and mad words, actions and productions.

Let Dante take you through an odyssey in Hell just as he leads James, and meet not just real people but a cornucopia of mythological and Biblical characters whose presence will amaze and astound you – and yet will resonate with some of your own experiences, and throw a fascinating light on them.