The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 627 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Ronald Bruce St John ❤️ loved this book because...

It is a poignant story grounded in reality about people seeking a better life.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    👍 Liked it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Christy Lefteri,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Beekeeper of Aleppo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Shortlisted for Audiobook of the Year - The British Book Awards 2020

A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB CHOICE 2019

Narrated by Art Malik, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a moving, powerful, compassionate and beautifully written testament to the triumph of the human spirit. Told with deceptive simplicity, it is the kind of book that reminds us of the power of storytelling.

In the midst of war, he found love
In the midst of darkness, he found courage
In the midst of tragedy, he found hope

Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life,…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Tribes and the State in Libya and Iraq: From the Nationalist Era to the New Order

Ronald Bruce St John ❤️ loved this book because...

I am a long-time (60 years) student of Libya in general and Libyan tribes in particular. This is the best book on Libyan tribes to be published since the Italian occupation of Libya in 1911. It is an instant classic on the subject.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    👍 Liked it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Alison Pargeter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tribes and the State in Libya and Iraq as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Regime change in Libya (2011) and Iraq (2003) catapulted a host of sub-state actors to the fore, including tribes, which have emerged as influential political, security and social actors. But despite this increased role and visibility, tribes remain poorly understood. Often mistakenly associated with the 'periphery' or with 'pre-national' or 'pre-modern' forms of political organisation, they are routinely portrayed as the antithesis of the state. Yet tribes--the Middle East's oldest, most enduring and most controversial social entities--have proved able to adapt and evolve, entering into mutually beneficial relationships with various regimes.

Based on interviews with tribal sheikhs, tribal representatives and…


My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of Until August

Ronald Bruce St John ❤️ loved this book because...

It is a joyous and profound exploration of freedom, regret, self-development and the mysteries of love.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Character(s)
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Gabriel García Márquez, Anne McLean (translator),

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The extraordinary rediscovered novel from the Nobel Prize–winning author of Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude—a moving tale of female desire and abandon
 
Sitting alone beside the languorous blue waters of the lagoon, Ana Magdalena Bach contemplates the men at the hotel bar. She has been happily married for twenty-seven years and has no reason to escape the life she has made with her husband and children. And yet, every August, she travels by ferry here to the island where her mother is buried, and for one night…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Peruvian Foreign Policy in the Modern Era

By Ronald Bruce St John,

Book cover of Peruvian Foreign Policy in the Modern Era

What is my book about?

Based on research in Peru which began in 1968, Peruvian Foreign Policy in the Modern Era (2023) is a chronological treatment of the subject from 1990 to the present. As such, it is an extension of an earlier work, The Foreign Policy of Peru (1991), which covers the period 1821 to 1990. The Peruvian Society of International Law published a Spanish language translation of the book, La política exterior del Perú en la era moderna, in 2024.