
Someone writing and blogging about books should have published a list of the best books 2024 by now. For some reason, I feel disinclined. Instead, I have been considering all the great books I’ve read in my life and how they have inspired my writing. As a teenager, I was a great fan of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, and 1984 by George Orwell. Indeed, those books inspired me to write about a near-future dystopian society in The Awakening of Artemis, which contemplates how we’ve signed up for Orwell’s dystopia rather than having it imposed on us.
I was also a great fan of Kurt Vonnegut in college, and I recently re-read one of his bestsellers, Cats Cradle. His writing is a unique blend of satire, black humor, and science fiction, incorporating anti-war themes, social commentary, and absurdity. He was unique.
Now that I have morphed from reader to writer, I am attracted to excellent writing. And that brings to mind some wonderful books I’ve read over the last few years. This no means a comprehensive list. It's more of a list of what's at the top of my mind at this moment. So, without further ado, here they are.
Contemporary fiction: I’ll read anything by Ann Patchett. Her latest best-seller, Tom Lake, is lyrical, evocative, and poetic. Her writing explores the complexities of human emotions, creating nuanced and relatable characters. Patchett often weaves together multiple storylines, highlighting the connections between characters and their experiences.
Nevertheless, my favorite recent book in this category is Barbara Kingsolver’s masterwork, Demon Copperhead. A twenty-first-century update to a nineteenth-century Dickens classic, she plunges readers into Appalachia during the opioid crisis. There is such emotional depth to the main character—a flawed human mired in a seemingly impossible situation—that you can’t resist rooting for him despite his consistently lousy judgment.
Historical fiction: I read many non-fiction books about history, which I find fascinating. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that historical fiction books are among my guilty pleasures. I loved Melanie Benjamin’s novel, Mistress of the Ritz, about the French Resistance during WWII, centering on the real-life married couple who managed the Ritz Hotel in Paris. But, if you were to ask me for my all-time favorite in this category, I would have to pick A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

Narrated in the almost tongue-in-cheek tone of Downton Abbey, it is the story of an old-world gentleman who finds himself under house arrest in the wake of the Russian Revolution. He is challenged to maintain his standards of decorum and sustain a positive outlook on life. The story of how he does so is told with Russian culture and Soviet history as the backdrop. At its core, A Gentleman in Moscow is a story about the triumph of the human spirit. I can’t recommend it more highly.
Nonfiction: If you want to deepen your understanding of American history, I recommend anything by Joseph J. Ellis. He has written several books about our nation’s founding. My favorite is Founding Brothers, a Pulitzer Prize winner that explores the relationships between Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton and how the politics of the 1790s gave birth to the American Republic. The debate between those who favored a strong central government and those who favored states’ rights echoes even today.
Niall Ferguson's Civilization: Six Killer Apps of Western Power is more analytical but no less important in providing perspective on the history of the world. He outlines how Western ideas and principles have led to the world order in clear, concise language. The six 'killer apps' are competition, science, private property, medicine, consumption, and work (i.e., the work ethic). He examines each of these and also provides pertinent examples. It’s a brilliant work.
Mystery: Who doesn’t love a great mystery? Some wonderful contemporary authors have provided some new twists to this popular genre. Tess Gerritson writes murder mysteries that take place in medical settings. And Freida McFadden’s three-book series centers on the misadventures of a Housemaid.

As much as I enjoyed those books, I have been captivated by the OG writing style of Donald E. Westlake. He has a way of using language—the dialects of his characters—to create a sense of being there. So, I guess it’s another series that adds to my list of guilty pleasures. One of my favorites is Fugitive Pigeon, about a hapless bartender who has the misfortune of being the nephew of a mob boss.
Science Fiction: The best books in this category explore themes that resonate with today’s zeitgeist. Among my favorites is the murder-bot series by Martha Wells. Written as novellas, the protagonist is a hybrid human (the inspiration for a character in Parallel Lies) who often screws up his assignments because rather than reading the orders he receives by downloading them into his brain, he downloads and watches streaming TV shows.
Best of all time: By now, the more literary of you dear readers may have figured out that my tastes are not very high-brow. And, indeed, much of what I read would not make the all-time best books as rated by The New York Times or Kirkus reviews. I rate books based on the impact they make on me. So, when I think about the best of all time, that’s what I have in mind. And I must return to a book I read when I was twelve years old to claim the best-of-all-time title.

As a child growing up in the New York metro area, I found Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, an exploration of the Jim Crow South, to be both disgraceful and shocking. The eponymous movie, filmed in black and white and starring Gregory Peck in his best career role, enhanced its impact. After all, thought-provoking books can ultimately prompt readers to reflect on their own values, beliefs, and experiences. This introspection can lead to newfound insights, a deeper understanding of oneself, and a greater appreciation for the human experience.
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