Books: 2024 Reading Highlights

Favorite books from 2024:

Black Wind, White Snow by Charles Clover

• Nonfiction. A fascinating read on the history of Eurasionism. Sheds light on the current mentality in Russia.
• Intelligentsia in Russia: it's importance and influence.
• Made me look up poets that I haven't thought about in ages: Akhmatova, Mandelshtam.
• I can't remember the exact quote, but one of the things that caught my eye was a description of how seriously poetry was taken in Russia - you could go to jail for it, you could be executed for it.

Beyond by Stephen Walker

• Nonfiction. A well-written account of the space race - end of 1950's and beginning 1960's. I felt transported in time and space.
• While this is solidly nonfiction, the book managed to be an escape - like reading a thriller.
• It was well balanced, sympathetic to the astronauts/cosmonauts of the space race on both the US and USSR side. I learned a lot about the space programs in both countries.

What is Real by Adam Becker

• Nonfiction. Well-written, amusing, non-mathematical history of quantum theory.
• A thought-provoking and mind-bending read about quantum physics.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

• Solid science fiction. Interesting mentions of superposition, many-worlds, and other aspects of quantum mechanics that had a nice overlap with "What is Real" - I was reading the two books at the same time.
• Themes of career vs family, what is most important, what makes us happy.... and how we often wish for "what ifs" and what we don't have.

Recursion by Blake Crouch

• A strong science fiction book, well-plotted and hard to put down.
• Mind-stretching: the mechanics of the world require some suspension of disberlief, but stick to internal logic.
• Time-travel - but not really (I liked that! I am usually not a fan of time-travel subgenre).

How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

• I really liked this book: tender, sensitive depiction of mother-daughter relationship
• Complicated family dynamics in Japan and US - the book felt honest and real

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz

• A fun meta-mystery, where Horowitz is a character in his novel and works with detective Hawthorne.

The Hunter by Tana French

• This was excellent! Well-written, compelling characters that were easy to like
• Good story, good "sense of place" - made me want to go visit...

The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

• So, so good! The writing was excellent, the main character - sympathetic while being objectively terrible. 
• A bit "meta" - on writing, publishing, etc - but didn't take itself too seriously.
• Asks an interesting question: "what kind of person would be a successful writer?" 

Other books that I enjoyed (a lot) but weren't quite as impactful and fun:

Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series (The Windsor Knot, All the Queens Men, Murder Most Royal) by SJ Bennett

• Very entertaining, pleasant, and relaxing.
• Interesting descriptions of royal life
• Doesn't take itself too seriously
• While fun to read - I have to admit, I don't remember the plot a few months after reading the books.

Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey

• Solid science fiction - it was good to see familiar characters and themes from previous books in the Expanse series.
• Relevant themes that made me think of political situation of today - as should be with good sci-fi.