Favourite Reads of 2024 📚

I fell short of my goal of 52 books last year, but I still managed to read some terrific stuff. Here are my top 10 books from the year.

2024 was a year of heavy reads that complemented a strangely heavy year. Looking back at my list, I’ve noticed patterns emerging — books about human struggle, grief, and injustice, yes, but also about defiance and resilience. Stories of individuals and communities finding hope in the face of hopelessness.

Perhaps I’m drawn to anguish. Or maybe it’s that inexorable search for meaning, that constant voice in my head asking: What does any of this mean?

What I know for certain is that I’m grateful for books that continue to shape my worldview, challenge my perspectives, and occasionally push me to make actual changes in my life (looking at you, newfound coffee obsession).

So here are my top 10 reads from 2024…

10. Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson

One Word Review: Resplendent

The Slightly-Longer Review: Sometimes you encounter a book that feels less like reading and more like listening to music, and Small Worlds is like listening to jazz. A rhythmic, poetic exploration of art, love, and family that starts and stops and flows so effortlessly. Nelson’s writing dances off the page with such grace that I often found myself reading passages aloud, just to savour the words rolling off my tongue. The text is sublime, and reading it right after Open Water (also a great book), makes me long for anything this author puts out in the future.

Small Worlds is a short book that somehow manages to feel both intimate and expansive, like looking through a keyhole and seeing an entire universe.

9. Human Acts by Han Kang

One Word Review: Wrenching

The Slightly-Longer Review: In a year filled with books that can Make Anyone Depressed™, this book takes home the grand prize. Unlike The Vegetarian (which I did not like), Human Acts sat like a stone in my stomach for weeks after reading it. Han Kang’s exploration of the Gwangju Uprising isn’t just historical fiction, rather, a meditation on human dignity in the face of unspeakable violence. What makes this book particularly eerie is how it resonates with current events, from a recent (failed) coup in South Korea to global movements for democracy. We see the same cycle of state sanctioned brutality met with young, political activism, demanding a better future. It’s not an easy read, but a powerful one, reminding us that the fight for human rights is neither abstract nor historical — it’s ongoing and very real.

8. Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

One Word Review: Ageless

The Slightly-Longer Review: I lost my grandfather this year, and somehow found myself turning to words written by a toga-wearing gentleman nearly two thousand years ago for comfort. What struck me most about Seneca’s letters wasn’t just their wisdom, but their startling relevance to modern life. His thoughts on grief, on time, on the nature of happiness — they feel like they could have been written yesterday. Either that, or like many men, I spend more time thinking about the Roman Empire than I’d like to admit.

If you enjoyed Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, read this too. There’s something oddly comforting about realising that humans have been grappling with the same fundamental questions for millennia. This book became a kind of anchor during a confusing, up and down year.

7. A Mountain to the North, A Lake to The South, Paths to the West, A River to the East by László Krasznahorkai

One Word Review: Ethereal

The Slightly-Longer Review: To read this book on a beach vacation isn’t a conventional choice, and I might not even recommend you try it, but there was something quite profound about experiencing Krasznahorkai’s prose while waves crash in the background. A Hungarian novelist writing about the grandson of a Prince in a Kyoto monastery that bends the fabric of space and time? Sign me up!

As a graphic designer who often judges (and picks) books by their covers, I’m glad I chose to go on a journey with this book. The writing makes you question whether you’re still reading or if you’ve somehow slipped into an alternate dimension, where readers are carried by words that have physical weight. If you’re willing to let go of conventional narrative expectations and linear storylines, A Mountain to the North… is pure magic.

6. How to Write About Africa: Collected Works by Binyawanga Wainaina

One Word Review: Robust

The Slightly-Longer Review: Living in Rwanda as a foreigner means constantly having to confront your perspectives and biases. Binyavanga Wainaina’s collection serves as both a mirror and a sledgehammer to those perspectives, reflecting back all the tired tropes about Africa while simultaneously smashing them to bits. His wit is sharp, his criticism pointed, and his insights invaluable.

Much like Africa is Not a Country from my last year’s roundup, this book should be required reading for every expat, development worker, or anyone who’s ever started a sentence with “Africa is…” A masterclass in challenging the single story through satire and storytelling.

5. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

One Word Review: Grounding

The Slightly-Longer Review: After years of trying to optimise every hour of my existence through productivity hacks from even hackier YouTube productivity gurus, this book came to me as a breath of fresh air. Unlike all the typical “pomodoro your way to efficiency” guides that only leave you feeling worse about your never-ending to-do list, Four Thousand Weeks offers something radically different: permission to be finite. The title itself is a gentle reminder that we get about four thousand weeks of life, and maybe — just maybe — we should stop trying to squeeze three lifetimes worth of achievement into one. This book helped me take some pause with the obsessive need to feel “productive” and make peace with my unfinished projects and endless lists of things to listen to and read.

Surprisingly, that’s made me more productive than any time-blocking technique ever did.

4. The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers

One Word Review: Motivating

The Slightly-Longer Review: Let me be clear: I like Dave Eggers, but this isn’t his finest writing. Yet sometimes a book’s impact has less to do with its literary merits and more to do with timing. This true story of a Yemeni-American’s journey into the coffee world found me just as I was feeling that familiar itch to explore something new. Now, months later, I’m deep down the coffee rabbit hole — learning about processing methods, flavour profiles, and plotting ways to export high-quality Rwandan coffee.

I get why some of my friends have abandoned this book. But if you’re at a crossroads, perhaps recently untethered from a job and contemplating what’s next, this might be the push you need. It’s a good reminder that the right story at the right time can be a catalyst for real change in your life.

3. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

One Word Review: Heartbreaking

The Slightly-Longer Review: I first read this book (skimmed, really) in high school—a time when I neither had the patience to read books, nor the relevant brain development necessary to understand its deeper themes.

Returning to this book as an adult was like visiting an ancestral home and suddenly understanding all the conversations you used to overhear but never quite grasped. As a Malayali, Roy’s bestselling novel hit differently this time — each page resonating with an inherited nostalgia for a Kerala I’ve never actually lived in. The political weight of the narrative, the forbidden loves, the caste dynamics, the family secrets — it all landed with a clarity that a younger George couldn’t possibly have appreciated.

The God of Small Things is as gorgeous as it is painful. It’s a must read.

2. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

One Word Review: Stunning

The Slightly-Longer Review: There are some books that you read and forget. And then there are others, like this one, that burrow into your consciousness and take up permanent residence there. Harpman’s novel defies easy categorisation — it’s part dystopian fiction, part philosophical inquiry, part feminist fever dream. The story has left me with conflicting emotions that I’m still trying to unravel months later. It’s rare to find a book that manages to be both deeply unsettling and profoundly beautiful, but this one achieves exactly that. Without a doubt, it’s not just one of my top reads of 2024, but one that will haunt me for years to come.

I still can’t explain what this book is about to anyone I recommend it to, but that’s not going to stop me from recommending it to you. Check it out.

1. Palestine by Joe Sacco

One Word Review: Visceral

The Slightly-Longer Review: Joe Sacco’s groundbreaking work feels more relevant today, than when he first published this graphic novel in 1993. This isn’t your typical reporting — it’s journalism through sequential art that puts you right there, in the refugee camps, in the homes, in the lives of people whose stories often get lost in the noise of noisy geopolitics.

What sets Palestine apart is Sacco’s unflinching honesty — he doesn’t try to sanitise or simplify the complexity of what he witnesses. He shows you the humanity, the horror, the humour (yes, even that), and lets you sit with the discomfort of it all. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand the human dimension of the Palestinian struggle. I’m definitely looking forward to reading Footnotes in Gaza next.

There it is. 45/52 books in 2024. I made this cute little infographic about some of the big stats. For one, I managed to read many more books from non-American authors this year!

2025 is going to be about slower reading, and less pressure to hit arbitrary goals for the sake of Goodreads points.

As always, I’d love to hear what you’re reading or what you thought about any of these books in the comments below. ✌🏾