Best Books of the Year – 2024
Year 7 of my Best Books of the Year.
As always, I would love to know what moved you too.
Here are my 2024 books that moved me:
Non-Fiction – Autocracy Inc. by Anne Applebaum
First time repeat winning author (Twilight of Democracy. 2021, Non-Fiction). Applebaum Autocracy, Inc in some ways is a more succinct version of Twilight of Democracy, but I am ok with that. While I am generally a centralist (social policy libertarian, pro-business, economic moderate environmentalist with general libertarian instincts.) my belief is that we in the US greatly underestimate how fragile our democratic institutions are and how anti-democratic movements can quickly get out of control of the anti-democratic actors (the latter part of which is described in greater detail in Twilight of Democracy"). Sort of a Frankenstein hypothesis if you will. I liked how "Autocracy, Inc" (1) details the linkage between autocracy and kleptocracy. (2) illustrates how the autocrat is in many ways just the figurehead of a larger group of actors and (3) describes the lengths that autocratic leaders go to simply defeat the hope of spirit of any resistance – creating a carefully manufactured nihilistic futility. While not exactly beach reading, nor comforting of the coming Trump/GOP administration in control of all three branches of government, it’s worthy read regardless of one's political persuasion. If nothing else, it’s worth a read to better understand how social media is being used as a propaganda engine given that big tech stands to (rightly and wrongly) come under fire under the incoming administration.
Fiction – No Winner.
I read a bunch of fiction books this year, but none of them really moved me. (Note: Lots (most?) of people/publications have James by Percival Everett as their Best Fiction book. I didn’t read it. Honestly, I am just exhausted with social justice and kinda over the story-retold-by-another-character genre. That’s on me. Maybe I will pick it up later, but I fully confess, I am judging a book by its cover.)
I did however reread my 2023 Best Book of Year Winner, America Fantastica by Tim O'Brien and I am even more convinced of the novel’s brilliance. In rereading it, I was struck by how much of the book is really about loneliness, which I still think is under discussed in the post-COVID, social media world. I highly recommend the read. I also think I liked this book as a 49-year-old man (my own inescapable bias). There is a Updikian quality to it that I have grown the right age to fully appreciate Updike but I understand that non-middle-aged men might not. Your miles may vary. But it's a novel of our times in my opinion.
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Bonus Winner (Non-fiction) – Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen.
I read a lot of non-fiction this year and I really liked this book, so I feel compelled to mention it. Scary as hell. Jacobsen’s unique writing structure in book only added to the horror of what an actual nuclear detonation or war might be like. It’s a really good read. It didn't expect it to be a page turner, but it was.
I also liked Demon Unrest by Erik Larson a lot too, but I think the book failed to add much to understanding slavery, the Civil War, or its continuing repercussions which, at this point, I think a book about the onset of Civil War really needs to do. A good read, nonetheless.
Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World: Applebaum, Anne: 9780385549936: Amazon.com: Books