2024 Reading List

Looking for book ideas?  Check out our 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014  reading lists!

The Extraordinary Mountain Creatures of North America.  My 12 year old daughter Betty's first (self) published novel.  

Brazil: A Biography (Audible).  Just finished listening to this 28 hour history of the country. I can't imagine living or working in Brazil and not having read this comprehensive history that dates back to Brazil's "discovery" in the 1500s.  I plan to read the book itself over the next few months and take copious notes! Essential Brasil read.

The Collector of Leftover Souls: Field Notes on Brazil's Everyday Insurrections.  This book is a collection of essays by reporter Eliane Brum.  In it she sheds light on different facets of Brasilian society normally buried in darkness: Os povos indígenas, minorias sociais, os povos que vivem à margem da sociedade, longe dos núcleos de poder.  Essential Brasil read.

Why I am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today.  Great read--my full review is here. 

Beartown. Recommended to me as "Friday Night Lights" except with hockey.  That's a pretty fair description for this fast-paced read.  Set in the backwoods of a dying hockey town in Sweden--it's got sports, betrayal, and possibly murder--sports noir at its finest.  And it's a trilogy!

Clandestine in Chile.  Don't recommend.  I really looked forward to reading this novel since I've always loved the magical realism of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  To be clear, Marquez has some beautiful writing but this journalistic retelling of filmmaker Littins secret mission to film inside Chile and expose the brutality and horror of life under Pinochet reads less like a spy novel and more like an ambling fait accompli/much ado about nearly nothing.  

Brazillionaires (Audible).  Incredible Michael Lewis-style tale of the rise of the 21st century rise (and fall for some) of a billionaire class in Brazil told against the backdrop of corruption, favelas, soccer stadiums, kidnappings and Miami real estate. This book offers keen insight into the Brazilian psyche and society writ large.  Essential Brasil read.

Greenlights (Audible).  Don't read this, I repeat, don't read this.  LISTEN TO IT! The audible version is narrated by author Matthew McConaughey and he's phenomenal: vulnerable, funny, self-deprecating, raw, and at times outrageous!  The book is partly autobiographical and partly self-help as he shares his struggles, failures, triumphs and lessons for the reader. 

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Seen (Audible). A phenomenal and important read.  I listened to it on Audible and about 1/3 of the way through I found it so incredible that I ordered a physical copy so I could reread it make extensive notes.  Author David Brooks offers a framework by which one could be not a better leader but a more caring and empathetic friend and person in general.  I particularly enjoyed some of the questions he uses to better understand where people come from.  One example: In your family what was one thing you could never do?

How to Stop Time (Libby).  By the author of Midnight Library (my review here).  Author Matt Haig is a gifted storyteller and I loved his tale of this secret society of quasi-immortals who through a genetic anomaly age only 1 year for every 14 years on earth.  It contains all the best elements of historical fiction as the main character's life span centuries, as well as love and loss, and humor.  But what it as good as Midnight Libary?  Not quite.  Toward the novel's end if fizzles a bit, almost as if the author had grown weary--along with the main character--of living and loving across centuries.  

Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream (Brazil book).  Prodigal daughter/Journalist Julianna Barbassa returns to her home city after a childhood spent largely abroad.  Part memoir, part expose, part investigative journalism that covers the national and city politician's ill considered efforts to prepare the city and populace to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Her thorough reporting brings the reader behind the fabric of Brazilian government and societal machinations, triumphs, and dysfunction. Essential Brasil read.

A Promised Land (Libby).  It's riveting. This 700 page (29 hours!) memoir was recommended by a high school classmate of mine in his bi-monthly book newsletter: Mountain Prairie.  Here's a quote from his writeup: 

What I look for in a memoir: Fun-to-read writing; laugh-out-loud humor; deep dives into the “why” of pivotal decisions; a detailed understanding of the people/places/experiences/cultures that shaped the author’s worldview; enlightening historical context; the author’s most brutal challenges and how they were overcome; opportunities to evolve my thinking on a few topics; humility; passion; purpose; commitment; optimism; self-doubt; extreme hard work; and crazy behind-the-scenes stories. What I don’t look for in a memoir: To have my preexisting opinions confirmed; to agree in lockstep with the author’s ideas/choices/worldview; surface-level boringness; or prose obviously written by a team of insufferable PR suits. Conclusion: This book met and/or exceeded all of my criteria and now sits alongside Acid for the Children and Shoe Dog as an all-time favorite memoir.

This memoir delivers--engrossing and full of insights into what a president goes through on a daily basis--from thought process, to congressional politics to family dynamics.  No matter your politics you'll enjoy this humble and thoughtful retrospective.  It ends right after they kill Osama so I cant wait for the next book!

The Invisibles (Brazil book).  Came across this book on a colleague's bookshelf and he kindly let me borrow it.  I liked it so much that I ordered a copy of my own!  A British woman and a Brazilian man fall in love in the 70's and have a child.  Unfortunately, he falls on hard times and ends up jailed under the military dictatorship.  His wife and child flee to England and never return believing him dead...until some 30 years later when a news clip give his son hope his father might still be alive in Rio.  Thus begins a journey for one man's father but also his long lost country--all against the backdrop of a class/tranche of society that often feels invisible--hence the name.   Brasil read.

Demon Copperhead (Libby).  My friend who pastors at Doxology Church in Arlington (amazing place by the way) mentioned this book during a sermon in which he was talking about timeless stories.  He discussed this novel in the context of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield as a story that tells a story and a struggle that transcends time periods and locales.  This Pullitzer prize winning tale is a HARD read that lays bare the realities of the foster system, rural America, the opiod crisit and growing up as a teen today.  The narrated version is INCREDIBLE to listen to--HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

A City in Ruins (Libby).  This is the third in the Danny Ryan trilogy by crime writer Don Winslow.  Racing narrative--great beach read/listen.

Because of Winter. Amazing debut novel by author Nikki Brochetti.  

2023 Reading List

Looking for book ideas?  Check out our 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014  reading lists!

The Overstory (Audible).  My full review is here.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois. My full review is here.

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native American from 1890 to Present. My "poetic review" is here. My notes and quotes are here.

The Murder Rule (Audible).  Great beach read! In early 2022, I took a screenshot of a tweet from crime writer extraordinaire Don Winslow where he recommended this book. I forgot about about it until a year later and promptly downloaded the book to my Libby app.  4 days later I'd finished it--wow-Aussie author Dervla McTiernan can write.  Full of twists and turns and courtroom drama, the reader goes behind the scenes of the Innocence project to find out if the prisoner in question is truly innocent, or if anyone really is. 

Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War (Libby, Listened.).  Such a great collection of essays.  My review is here.

Afterlives.  Superb writing that traces the lives of three characters against the background of Tanzanian independence.  My full review is here.  

The Passenger.  Don't read Cormac McCarthy's entirely skippable book...180 pages of my life that I will never get back.  My review is here.

City on Fire (Libby, Listened). Master crime writer Don Winslow pens a fast-paced mafia thriller set in Providence, Rhode Island.  The narrative focuses on Danny Ryan and his struggle to find a place between long-warring Italian and Irish families.  I first read Winslow in his SoCal cartel thriller Savages back in 2010 and have followed his work ever since. City of Fire delivers as a classic crime tale--the best part is that its the first of a trilogy!

Khalil (Libby, Listened)  This 2021 novel takes the reader into the mind of a Moroccan/Belgian suicide bomber with his sight set on Paris. Notably, it's author is a former Algerian Army officer living in exile in France who publishes under the pen name Yasmina Khadra (his wife's first two names).  Even more notable, the French Academy awarded him its Henri Gal Grand Prize for Literature in 2011. All that to say, the story is as nuanced as one would expect from such a gifted author.  Khadra delves into the central chracter Khalil's mind as he unveils the history, influences, and methods that turned a young man into a suicide bomber.  Equal parts terrifying and stupefying, the author declines to offer any easy answers but instead paints a complex picture of the immigrant experience and the roots of modern day terrorism.  *Khadra also wrote one of my favorite novels: What the Day Owes the Night which I reviewed at Beyond Achebe.  

Dispatches From a Cowgirl: Through the Looking Glass With a Navy Diplomat's Wife.   Author Julie Tully pulls back the curtain on what it's like to be the wife of diplomat living in Africa.  With so much written about diplomats, attaches, and ambassadors, Tully fills an important void in telling the story of the vital women/spouses that form the foundation of life overseas.  As she takes the reader on the journey of their lives in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Djibouti, it becomes clear just how pivotal her role was to her husband's success. Indeed, the author regales the readers with story after story of her and her husband's lockstep coordination as they developed plans to host dinners and events--it's readily apparent that the attache life is a team sport.  The only area that I wished she'd fleshed out more were her efforts to enshrine the memory of Pilot Officer Maguire, the only American born military buried in Djibouti--I'd hoped for another chapter on that.  Overall, I can't imagine a more important book for any couple to read before heading to an overseas embassy assignment, particularly one with representational duties.  It will ensure they arrive clear-eyed as  to the rmyriad responsibilities and exciting opportunities of life overseas.

The Last Policeman. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Edgars Award (Libby) for best paperback original in 2013, the novel tells the story of a world facing pending destruction at the hand of a monster meteor.  No one yet knows where on earth it will hit but already it's upended every societal norm.  Among the changes is a huge spike in suicides--they've become so commonplace they are only nominally investigated and processed.  One day, however, Detectice Henry Palace encounters a man hung in the McDonald's bathroom that doesn't sit right with him. Author Ben Winters creates an interesting story that makes for a good beach read (or in my case, a way to break up the Napoli afternoon commute).  

The Midnight Library (Libby, Listened).   A quantum physics take on It's a Wonderful Life.  Engrossing read that will have you second guessing every significant choice you've made in your own life.  In this novel's case, its protagonist has a chance to re-explore different branches and choices that she didn't make.  Ultimately, the authors forces the readers to question their assumptions about determinism and urges each of us to embrace Socrates' directive to seek to "know thyself."

Falling: A Novel (Libby, Listened). Came across this novel via author Don Winslow's twitter feed.  This is a decent beach read thriller that takes the reader onto a plane that comes under an unconventional terrorist attack.  Frankly, I wasn't sure that the author could write an entire book over such a small slice of time but she does an admirable job of stretch out that space through the thoughts of the various characters.

Romantic Comedy: A Novel (Libby).  Superb beach read.  I first read Sittenfield back in 2006 and she struck me with her ability to create the an encompassing and utterly believable boarding school atmosphere.  A product of Woodberry Forest myself (albeit an all-boys school) I could attest to her mastery.  In Romantic Comedy her research is evident as she tackles the world of late night television (a la SNL) and comedy writing.  Through sketch writer Sally's viewpoint, the reader quickly gets the feeling of a clubby insider--privy to the inner machinations of a unique sub-strata of the Hollywood world.  Romantic Comedy is just what its title describes, and each page is a pleasure as Sittenfield pens perhaps the first great post-COVID COVID novel--one that is unflinching in addressing gender-power dynamics but at the same time tender in its description of all the wonderful and awful ways falling in love feels.

The Violin Conspiracy: A Novel (Libby, Listened). I came across this novel through Anne Bagel's Podcast "What Should I Read Next?" In it she spoke with musician Brendan Slocumb as he described writing his first novel, a tale equal parts mystery and commentary on racism in America.  While this debut novel may have some minor pacing and diction issues, don't let that dissuade you from this deep thrilling deep dive into the classical music world.  As an outsider, it was eye-opening to see and experience the the life of a classical musicians, particularly a black one who is not hesitant to share the myriad racist setbacks and attacks he endures (during the podcast he noted that he based all of the racism from the novel on personal experiences).

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (Libby, Listened)  Loved this book! So many layers to this book: video game design, love triangles, disability, friendship, companionship--the author's ability to weave so many major life themes into one arc gives it strong Gen Z great american novel vibes.

Paradise.  

Into Thin Air. Tough, jaw-dropping read.  My son got me this as a birthday present and I tore through it in a few short days.

City of Dreams (Libby, listened). The second book in noire crime writer extraordinaire's "Danny Ryan" series, this one builds on the first books.