My 2024 Book List
What I read in 2024, and what I liked the most.
As I’ve mentioned the past couple years, I went years without reading a book. I’d still read — Twitter, Reddit, blogs, newspapers, etc — but didn’t finish a book. That was a mistake. There’s something special about sitting down with genuinely long-form content, especially content that is much less reactionary than what we consume online.
In 2024, I read 41 books. I mostly chose these based off of recommendations (primarily from in-person conversations), and keep a running list of books that I may want to read next. The recommendations I get are (normally) good, and it’s fun to be able tie a book to how you first heard of it. Given I rely so much on other people’s picks, I thought it’d be helpful for me to share my own.
I mostly read non-fiction. These are books that were new to me in 2024, so plenty of them are years (or even decades) old. I’ve highlighted three books were lesser known to me (e.g no cultural phenomenons or TV/Movie adaptations) that I particularly liked. Beyond that, I’m going to avoid including authors, blurbs, or my own personal thoughts. That’s partially laziness, but partially because it’s fun to pick books just off titles.
My Three Picks
In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife
Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America
All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life's Work
The Rest
Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West
Borstal Boy
All the Worst Humans: How I Made News for Dictators, Tycoons, and Politicians
The Odds: One Season, Three Gamblers And The Death Of Their Las Vegas
The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi
My Week at the Blue Angel: And Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas
Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas (Travel Holiday Guides)
There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History
The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports
Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy
Rejection: Fiction
Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System-and Pocketed $40 Million
Mississippi Swindle: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America
McMillions: The Absolutely True Story of How an Unlikely Pair of FBI Agents Brought Down the Most Supersized Fraud in Fast Food History
Red Plenty
Willie, Waylon, and the Boys: How Nashville Outsiders Changed Country Music Forever
Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games
The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss
Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida
Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx
Fuccboi: A Novel
Life Sentence: The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore's Deadliest Gang Leader
Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever
Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008
Down the Drain
Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks
Stung: The Incredible Obsession of Brian Molony
Default: The Landmark Court Battle over Argentina's $100 Billion Debt Restructuring
Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era
We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption
The Counting House
Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story
The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
A Drinking Life: A Memoir
The Matter of the Heart: A History of the Heart in Eleven Operations
Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz
A Furious Devotion: The Life of Shane MacGowan
The Wrong Stuff
Read any of these? Have any more recommendations? Please send thoughts and new book recs my way!