My Books of 2024

As we round out 2024, it's time again for me to take stock of the cultural artifacts that have kept me sane during these challenging months. For obvious reasons, I've had less time for reading actual hard copy books, so my list is about evenly divided between those that I read while holding them and those that I consumed as audiobooks. So, here's what I've been reading and enjoying: 1. Naomi Klein - Doppelganger: Imagine a situation in which your public persona is confused with that of a lunatic conspiracy theorist, merely due to the similarities between your names. That's that mesmerizing premise of Naomi Klein's latest book. Using everything from political punditry to Freudian psychotherapy and film theory, Klein weaves a compelling portrait of our contemporary society in which reality is elusive and information is up for grabs. 2. R.F. Kuang - Yellowface: Rebecca Kuang's biting satire about the publishing industry hooked me right from the opening sequence. Kuang's protagonist June Hayward is a frustrated young writer who plagiarizes the unpublished work of a friend whose tragic death she witnesses. That her friend is a Korean-American writer who has become famous and June is white and assumes an ethnically ambiguous monoker (Juniper Song) just adds spice to a beautifully crafted thriller. 3. Joe Boyd - And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music: Joe Boyd has been a musical hero of mine for decades now, a Zelig-like figure who produced some of the seminal works of 1960s British folk and rock music, including some of my favorite Fairport Convention, Nick Drake and Pink Floyd records. His book "White Bicycles" chronicles that period. His latest is a massive tome of almost 1,000 pages, detailing the fusion of Western pop and rock music with world musics, beginning with the story of the making of Paul Simon's "Graceland" album. 4. Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead: Barbara Kingsolver's reimagining of "David Copperfield" in 21st century Appalachia was so absorbing that I had to return to the Dickensian source material to compare notes while I was reading. I couldn't believe that there could be parallels between the worlds of Damon, Kingsolver's football hero and recovering opioid addict and Dickens' David, but it was all there. 5. Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Message: In taking on the political orthodoxy regarding Israel's assault on Gaza, Ta-Nehisi Coates' book was the bravest of the year. Coates has, for years, been feted in elite punditry circles but he had to suffer a crushing push-back on his book tour. Beneath all of that drama, however, was a compelling argument for the direct line from slavery to Jim Crow to apartheid to Gaza. It's high time that our political leaders took heed. 6. Miranda July - All Fours: I've been fascinated by Miranda July's films and writing since her 2005 film "Me and You and Everyone We Knew." There is always an element (or two) in her narratives that is unsettling and disturbing, which is probably a good thing. In her latest novel, which won all kinds of accolades this year, July presents us with the dilemma of what to do in the aftermath of a traumatic pregnancy to rediscover the magic that brought a couple together in the first place. The answers that she offers aren't pretty but they demand to be considered. 7. Phil Hay - And It Was Beautiful: Leeds United in the Era of Marcelo Bielsa: Back in the fall of 2020, when my beloved Leeds United were in the midst of their first season back in the Premier League in sixteen years, I said to my brother Steve, "I don't think I'm ever going to see a Leeds team like this again, so I'm just going to enjoy it." That turned out to be true, as eighteen months later, the genius who had created that magic team, Marcelo Bielsa, was out, a decision that began a spiral that has us in the second tier. But I enjoyed every minute of the Bielsa era and of Phil Hay's recounting of it. It was indeed beautiful. 8. Ian McEwan - Lessons: McEwan has long been one of my favorite novelists. His books tend to revolve around one traumatic incident from which the main characters have to recover. In his latest, McEwan pictures a young English schoolboy Roland who is physically assaulted by a music teacher during a lesson. The narrative spools out over 70 years of Roland's life as he tries to reckon with this event. 9. Rob Sheffield - Heartbreak is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music: As with many of my favorite writers, I would read Rob Sheffield's shopping lists. So, if Taylor Swift is his particular muse this year, then I'll read his thoughts about the Swift universe, whether it's my cup of tea or not. And to be fair, Rob's treatment did give me an enhanced appreciation of Taylor's oeuvre. "All Too Well" is a well-crafted pop song and "folklore" is a quite decent indie folk album. But let's have a book about Tom Waits or Radiohead or Public Enemy next year, eh Rob? 10. Juan Villoro - God is Round: Tackling the Giants, Villains and Scandals of the World's Favorite Game: What was the greatest goal of all time? Why do the Hungarians have a more philosophical sense of defeat than the Mexicans? Do the dead play football? In this fascinating collection of essays, Villoro, one of the greatest writers about world soccer, provides answers to these and other small and large questions surrounding The Beautiful Game. I'd love to hear what you've been reading this year.