The Verge’s favorite books from 2024

When it comes to entertainment and education, we can choose from podcasts, films, games, live shows or books, one of the oldest and still most popular ways to learn something new or escape (at least temporarily) from today’s chaotic world. We asked the staff edge What will be their favorite reads in 2024.

Read on to see if there’s anything here you’d like to check out during the holidays.

When recommending novels, I usually try to choose novels from independent publishers or novels that aren’t on anyone’s bestseller lists, because there are so many books and authors out there that don’t get the attention they deserve. This year, however, I went against my usual habit and chose two remakes of popular, well-known books, because I couldn’t put them down both of them.

james is an incredibly clever and insightful retelling of Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn From the perspective of the boy’s companions, the enslaved man is named Jim. and sword of light This is a fantastic (in both senses of the word) retelling of the Arthurian myth, taking place after Arthur’s death and from the perspective of a neglected young man who defies the class system and becomes a knight. Not only are these two books extremely well written, but they bring new and unexpected insights into a story that has been so microscopically scrutinized over the years that you’d think there was nothing new to add. But in the case of these two books, you’d be wrong.

Like most Millennials, I grew up on a steady diet of daytime Food Network shows when I wasn’t in school. barefoot countess Always my number one. Watch this kind hostess spend hours, seemingly effortlessly preparing a meal for a party of 20, only to sigh wistfully, smile, and never enjoy her labor As a result, this gave me a certain sense of programmatic satisfaction. so when i hear this Barefoot Countess Ina Garden Writing a memoirI knew I had been bribed.

Let me put it bluntly: this book is baffling. From her previous job as an analyst on the U.S. nuclear budget to learning how to fly a plane to five full chapters about how she wanted to decorate her Paris apartment, this memoir will have you asking yourself, “Is this woman real?” ? (There’s a lot of “quiet money” as an explanation for her various achievements.) It’s been a journey!

I listened to the audiobook (which she narrates) and heard her lilting, calm voice talk about her troubled childhood, her relationship with her fan-favorite investment banker husband Jeffrey, and her (then) childlessness Radical decision, it reminds me that we are all human and go through trials in life. Ina has a unique ability to make it all look like luck.

Bill Hammack is an engineering professor better known as “The Engineer” on YouTubeThere he has shared engaging videos over the years detailing the intricate engineering of seemingly simple projects that we often take for granted. Think diapers, soda cans and duct tape. his book, things we makedoes the same thing but takes a deeper look at the engineering behind ancient wonders like medieval cathedrals. This book is worth reading just to understand how microwave ovens were made and eventually found their way into the average home.

this An intricate collection of interconnected stories It was so good that I read lines from it aloud to friends at dinner parties, on the subway, and once in a public sauna. In this gorgeous, viscerally uncomfortable, laugh-out-loud, straightforward book, Turatimut charts the corners of the internet and (pardon me) the contours of the human heart so poignantly that it’s easy to read. It’s like a long-term emotional endurance exercise. I can’t stop thinking about it or talking about it. Disclosure: The author is a friend of mine, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a genius. Get a copy for yourself and your weirdest, smartest friend.

This won’t surprise anyone: Midnight in Chernobyl It’s not an inspiring read. But it is a meticulously reported and incredibly comprehensive look at the Chernobyl disaster, from its creation to the aftermath for generations affected by its explosion. It’s all very matter-of-fact but recounts the events before, during and after the disaster with remarkable humanity, and places it all within the wider context of Soviet corruption without feeling like a history textbook. it is a thick Books, I can’t put them down.

To put it more lightly, I also picked up St. Lucie Wolf Foster Daughter’s Home, A collection of old short stories by Karen Russell. She can punch you in the gut with one sentence and that’s not fair. These stories focus on those awkward middle school/teenage years, and they’re a little (or a lot) surreal. There’s a sleepover camp for kids with sleep disorders, a seaside structure made of giant conch shells that might be haunted, and the titular home of a girl raised by wolves, As stated above. It reminds you how hard it is to grow up, and it broke my heart on more than one occasion.

I read a lot of books this year, but these three stood out because they made me think a lot about perspective. Implementation considerations The story of a death row serial killer, told by himself and the three women whose lives he turned upside down: his mother, his wife’s sister, and the detective who hunted him. Stray Cat Chronicles The story is told from the perspective of Nana, a lively stray cat who accompanies his adopted human Satoru as he travels across Japan, trying to figure out why Satoru needs to relocate him. (Warning: If you’re a cat owner, you might want a tissue box.) In the meantime, memory police It tells a dystopian story about an island where the government can make certain people’s memories of objects and things disappear at will, and one person chooses to hide a friend who can still remember things they shouldn’t. (Its vibe is like giver Written by Lois Lowry, but in Japanese.

They’re both different books, but I’ve been thinking about them all year because they deftly delve into why we make the choices we do and how those choices are seen and felt by those around us. Each book made me look in the mirror and think about who I am and who I want to be. I think this is truly the best novel.

My only regret in studying helmswoman (and its three sequels) The biggest highlight of this year is that I didn’t read this book 30 years ago – it will definitely become an important part of my personal YA canon.

The best way I can describe the Helmswomen is that they are a wandering group of mostly female natural philosophers. They observe, reason, test, and share knowledge in a slow-motion pre-industrial world, and Kirstein scatters prose and characters in a way that encourages the reader to do the same. Many times in this series I came to conclusions that were not substantiated by the evidence and had to abandon them – and didn’t mind doing so because it was just… part of the process.

I read an article a lot of Genre novels, I like slow burns, so helmswoman Suitable for short content. But I also admire Kirstein’s respect for her character’s intelligence and wit and Her readers; she takes you on the journey with her and trusts you to understand the people you are traveling with. Even though the series began 35 years ago, she’s still slowly adding content, and to say I’m looking forward to the fifth installment in the coming years would be an understatement. I will pre-purchase and merge devour When another book comes along.

See, I love clothes. I research them, buy them, and even make them. Fashion is an important part of how we express ourselves and our ideas (if you don’t believe me, Ask Steve Jobs). But how our fashions fit into our journeys is intentionally opaque, because the truth is far more depressing than many of us are prepared for— especially in this era Super fast, super cheap clothes.

Sophie Tannhäuser’s 2022 book It’s the pickaxe of this wall of secrets. In this deeply reported book, she traces the hidden histories and costs of five textiles—linen, cotton, silk, synthetics, and wool. Tannhäuser travels to places like China to learn from the last ancient silk producers; to a small North Carolina town where textile mill workers Hold a massive strike 1920s; and northern England, where conservation groups are protecting local sheep biodiversity. This book isn’t just for fashionistas (although they should be the first to read it); it’s for anyone curious about the labor that goes into the luxuries they take for granted. You’ll never look at a t-shirt the same way again.

As someone who is usually the fattest person in the room, it’s no surprise that I struggle a lot with my body image and self-worth. Besides feeling bad for feeling bad, it ends up compounding like interest on my student loans (because “body positivity” feels like a pipe dream to a girl with a head full of body amoeba brainworms) .

Jesse Neyland entersa former personal trainer turned body image coach, whose central thesis revolves around the idea that our body image issues are always symptoms of a larger, more complex internal conflict. In doing so, they share insights on how to identify the true root causes of one’s body image issues, along with clearly outlined steps to address them. “Life-changing” is an understatement.

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ latest book is an exploration of the concept of storytelling, told through a series of articles centered around three different locations. Dakar, Senegal, the historic site of the transatlantic slave trade; Columbia, South Carolina, where a school teacher fights an attempt to ban Coates’s own book; and finally Palestine, where he remains in May 2023 For a few days, observe the stark contrast between life in Gaza and Israel. It leaves me with a sense of optimism (or maybe blind faith?) that, despite how hopeless the moment feels, our collective imagination is shaping up to be better than before.