The Books I Read in 2024

A tradition is a tradition but there are a few reasons why I find myself sharing this a month or so later than I would normally do. Most of these reasons are personal so I’m not gonna dwell on those. But one reason in particular is why I got to February 2025 before sitting down to write even a single word about the books I read in 2024.

The delay is a reflection of how long this internal debate took: Should I explain why I almost read no fiction (which is normally my primary reading) or maybe should I just share the books?

The truth is I’m deciding right now as I type these words on my laptop.

2024 was a horrible year for the world. Among the darkest chapters of our short, dumb, violent history on this planet. Watching a live-streamed genocide has changed many people for ever but I have no intention to centre anyone but Palestinians. As horrible as it was watching it, I can’t even begin to imagine what living it and surviving it means or feels. I can’t imagine the pain Palestinians have gone through in 2024 or any other year before that since the Zionist project came to be.

So to try processing what I was witnessing, I did what I always do when I don’t understand something: I read. While it felt like a useless reaction to what I was witnessing (what does this do, really?), I’m still glad I chose to radically change the direction of my reading. I want to change things and I had to start from somewhere. I don’t know where this leads but I know I’ll figure it out. In the meanwhile, stay strong everyone. Free Palestine! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

Before I share the books I read, a quick note on what drove my selection. The simplest way to explain it is that I’m trying to answer the question “how did we get here?”. It’s not that simple in the end because “here” is many things:

  • Is capitalism inherent to human nature?
  • How did the US empire came to be?
  • What’s the relationship between climate change and colonialism?
  • How do we get ourselves out of the fascist loop we’re in?

Those are all proxy questions that helped me make sense of a live-streamed genocide. Do I have all the answers? Of course I don’t. But I learned a lot and will try to share as I learn (which means also the main writing I’ll do moving forward will radically change direction). It’s not much but it’s better than nothing? Hard to tell.

As always, the books are presented in the order I read them. Generally this doesn’t matter but I think this time around you can feel the directional change in the first 10 books or so. You can also see I sometimes took “pauses” from my non-fictional reading (which, by the way, I feel like it’s going to be the new default for a long time) and put a “pleasure reading” here and there. Now onto to the book reviews.

Places in the Darkness #

Places in the Darkness
First book from this author. It had a good pace and the story was intriguing. “Classic” crime sci-fi which is a genre I enjoy a lot so I may be overestimating the quality of the book a bit :)

Climate Change #

Climate Change
A very well written introduction to everything climate change. I’d consider it required reading for everyone since everyone should be interested in climate change.

The Namesake #

The Namesake

Lahiri keeps on giving. I love her writing style. She wrote this book in English and it’s so interesting to me that she’s (obviously?) a different writer than she is in Italian. There’s a sense of longing throughout the whole book. Reading the namesake has made me very pensive. It’s story of identity, immigration, love, betrayal, family. In a way, it’s “just” life.

Top book.

The Searcher #

The Searcher
My first crime book in a long time. It’s a little slow but has lots of very beautiful pages. I think I’ll read more from Tana French at some point.

Scattered All Over the Earth #

Scattered All Over the Earth
A strange read. I mean it in a good way. It’s well written with a number of characters. Each chapter a different character speaks. It’s all in first person. Intriguing cli-fi story.

Freedom Is A Constant Struggle #

Freedom Is A Constant Struggle

A must read collection of essays, interviews, and talks by Angela Y. Davis. It thought me something new about politics: we have to be willing to complicate things that look simple on the surface to get to their unfair, racist, core meaning.

It also thought me it’s really important to never idolise people. What I mean is that I was very disappointed to read about her endorsement of Kamala Harris.

Interpreter of Maladies #

Interpreter of Maladies
What can I say? Lahiri is one of my favourite writers. She makes me like short shorties. Her ability to offer such a wide window in the life of a few people in such a small amount of pages is remarkable.

Silver Sparrow #

Silver Sparrow
The first part was a little slow. It improved significantly in the second part and then felt a little rushed in its conclusion. All in all, lots of thoughts and a pretty profound story about family, love, trust, identity.

The Middle East Crisis Factory #

The Middle East Crisis Factory
An incredibly informative and well written book which I advise to read to anyone interested in geopolitics (yes, everyone should be. But that’s maybe a good writing topic?)

The Mothers #

The Mothers
I loved the vanishing half so I was very much looking forward to the mothers. I probably read it in the wrong state of mind because I can tell the quality is the same but I could not connect to this one as much.

Assata #

Assata

A necessary and timely reading for my own path. Assata Shakur speaks her truth with powerful, short, and crude sentences. It’s as painful and as energising to read.

Top Book.

Talking to My Daughter #

Talking to My Daughter
Varoufakis is an amazing writer. It’s hard to write about technical things in simple terms. The book also confirmed most of my gut feelings about the economy (yes, it’s more or less a religion. No, it’s not a compliment).

The Wretched of the Earth #

The Wretched of the Earth
An intense, necessary read. The most shocking quality of this book is the absolute clarity of the writing. Fierce and crude words that are often unforgettable. Fanon’s analysis of colonialism is wide and deep in scope and, unfortunately, it reads like it was written in 2023.

The Worldly Philosophers #

The Worldly Philosophers
It bored me to death but I learned things so I can’t complain too much about it.

Orientalism #

Orientalism
A difficult, necessary read. It thought me a lot about the “truths” the west invented for itself in order to serve its imperialist and colonialist goals.

Il popolo delle scimmie #

Il popolo delle scimmie

(Read in Italian. A collection of writings about the rise of fascism in Italy by Antonio Gramsci)

This was a difficult but, once again, necessary read. Having lived in Italy for 29 years makes this book more difficult I think because it really makes time feel like a flat circle. Italians didn’t change. Liberals didn’t change.

Gramsci’s writing is slow but very lucid despite the insanity around him.

I Have Some Questions For You #

I Have Some Questions For You
I loved the writing in this book. The first few pages put me off with some jokes that fell flat and felt dad-joke-ish (that’s a word right?). But then it grew on me quickly. The way Makkai tells the story through her main character is very interesting. Past and present mix together very nicely. The pace felt just right, the plot develops well.

Il fascismo eterno #

Il fascismo eterno

(Read in Italian)

I hadn’t read anything this political from Eco before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I liked his thesis. It feels to me that he is “obviously right” about the fact that Fascism is always around. It’s always a danger.

The book is very short too so I expect to re-read it often.

Let This Radicalize You #

Let This Radicalize You
While the book is very American centric, the essays are amazing. Lots of food for thoughts for someone like me (meaning, in this context, “not an activist nor an organizer”)

The Myth of Normal #

The Myth of Normal

This was a difficult read. But not because it’s badly written or not engaging. On the contrary, the writing is fantastic. It’s kind of a page turner (for a good 400 pages, the last part of the book felt a little slow).

It was difficult because it was easy to see myself into some traumas, some addictions. But the book also gave me a new perspective. New hope.

Top book.

The Nutmeg’s Curse #

The Nutmeg's Curse

I have no idea how I came across this book but I’m so so happy I did. The author’s reflections and thoughts on climate change will stay for me for ever. The way he connects the climate crisis with colonialism makes so much sense to me.

If you only want to read one book from this list, read this.

Top book.

Hotel Arcadia #

Hotel Arcadia

I believe I read this at a bad moment. I just can’t take any violence involving guns right now so I read this book in some sort of detached manner. Having said that, I loved how the plot developed and the intense, beautifully written flashbacks in the life of the two protagonists.

Very noticeable aspect of the book: The way Dr. Singh writes flashback is fantastic.

Less Is More #

Less Is More
I loved the ideas presented in this book. The author is an excellent writer which of course helps. Throughout the whole book though, I couldn’t shake the feeling that, while I think de-growth seems a pretty “obvious” improvement over capitalism, I see no concrete way to implement it in a world that’s as lost as ours. Especially at the speed we’d need these improvements.

A View from the Stars #

A View from the Stars
I love Cixin Liu imagination. The scope of his questions is immense. His ability to mix and match the very small and the very big of our universe is just incredible. This is a short collection of essays and stories. I thought I’d like the stories more but in fact I liked the essays much better.

The Great Derangement #

The Great Derangement

What an incredible writer! Some of the insight in the book (like the role of religions) will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommended reading. Almost as good as “the nutmeg’s curse” (which is incredible)

Top book.

Brotherless Night #

Brotherless Night

A very intense journey into the Sri Lankan civil war. The book is magnificently written.

Top book.

Dust Child #

Dust Child
A beautiful, difficult story told through four different people and three different timelines. While this sounds complicated, the book is in fact very readable. It lost a little strength toward the end and left me unconvinced of its resolution. All things considered, a great read.

Shantaram #

Shantaram
I went into this book a little skeptical. The length, the topic. I was unsure but it still attracted me. It’s a pretty remarkable story, very intense. There’s life in every page. Highly recommended.

Between the World and Me #

Between the World and Me
Genuinely confused by the success of this book. It honestly read like the book white people want a black author to write (and no, it’s not a compliment at all).

The Autobiography of Malcolm X #

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

A remarkable book by a remarkable human being. What struck me the most is how honest Malcom X is in his writing. It’s raw but doesn’t feel unpolished.

Top Book.

The God of Small Things #

The God of Small Things

Beautiful, sometimes even magnificent, writing but not enough of a plot for me to go on with it. I just couldn’t connect with the story.

In a way, happy I didn’t love this book since the author has gone around saying insanely islamophobic things since Oct. 7. Less disappointed that way.

The Dictator’s Handbook #

The Dictator's Handbook

Hands down the worst political book I have ever read. I struggle to put into words how bad this is.

Hard avoid.

The New Age of Empire #

The New Age of Empire
Amazing book. It’s very well put together and easy to read. Given the complexity of the topic, that’s a remarkable achievement. It is the go-to book I’ll recommend people from now on if they’d like to understand how systemically racist the world order is.

Living the Asian Century #

Living the Asian Century

I have a thing for memoirs that’s for sure but Kishore Mahbubani has also a lot to say about topics I care very much about (the chapter on his time as a president of the UN Security Council is, alone, worth books of wisdom).

Highly recommended.

Jumpnauts #

Jumpnauts
Very imaginative. First contact is always hard in sci-fi because it’s way too easy to fall into a human-centric trap. I loved the implications of what the author created and how she let her characters play with the ideas. A profound yet subtle critique to the “AI fever” as well.

The Great Convergence #

The Great Convergence

I’m already sure I will read everything Kishore Mahbubani wrote. While I don’t agree with everything he says, I enjoy the clarity and the bluntness of his writing very much. How much we need to work on the core idea of the book (the need for a “one world theory”) is painfully obvious in October of 2024.

It’s a “how we got here, where we are, where we’re going” kind of book and Mahbubani is balanced yet firm in the analysis. The last chapter contains several suggestions our geopolitical order could use like water in the desert.

Recognizing the Stranger #

Recognizing the Stranger

A short, intense book. I felt fate was playing me some trick with me as I pre-ordered the book as soon as I found out about it and I got it on Oct. 7 2024.

Hammad is an incredible writer and I’m gonna have to read more from her soon.

A Woman is a School #

A Woman is a School
Once in a while I run into a book by complete chance. This was a present and I’m so grateful this book found its way into my life. By now, it’s clear to me I have a thing for memoirs. This one is beautifully written. Some chapters made me feel at home (Lebanese culture is so much closer to Neapolitan culture than most people may realise).

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas #

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

A short story that deserves its own commentary. Incredible idea. As the author said herself she’s asking a question. She’s not giving any answer. And that’s the beauty of the story.

My answer: Omelas is the west. I read the story through the eyes of colonialism and racism. It’s 2024 so you could argue it’s easy to see the world that way. But the metaphor is so fitting. I’m not explaining it because I don’t want to spoil it.

Must-read.

The Tech Solution #

The Tech Solution
A good book full of advice. I felt there was not enough of “the tech stuff” in it while reading it but upon reflection I’m not sure what I was expecting. There’s concrete advice that I intend to follow so definitely worth a read.

The Island of Missing Trees #

The Island of Missing Trees
Beautifully written. A difficult love story contextualise in a part of world history I knew nothing about (somehow, when some historical context is really fucked up, the story always starts with “the british did this”).

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac #

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
I needed some “light” read so I picked up Zevin because she writes books that would make amazing movies. I love the pace and plot development of this one. Character development felt lighter than I wanted it to be but this was balanced out by the profound (and beautifully unanswered) questions such a plot generates.

Out of Place #

Out of Place
A very intimate memoir. I must confess I got a little tired here and there with “too much detail”. But Said’s writing is incredible and some passages very profound.

The Hidden Globe #

The Hidden Globe

It starts really strong (reads like a page-turning novel) but then loses a bit of strength and rhythm toward the end.

I found the book informative and a good introduction to a subject I knew nothing about.

It’s Not That Radical #

It's Not That Radical
The book has immense strength in the early chapters and I loved reading it. It loses pace a little toward the end but still a fantastic read on a crucial topic.

See also