The Best Books I Read in 2024

In 2024, as in 2023, I was happy to let the literary enthusiasms of others become my own. So a continued emphasis on contemporary French literature, especially by women, and on Buddhist thought and Japanese poetry.

The year's essential book came to me in its final month, which I picked up while Christmas shopping at The Strand.

Ordered, then, by their authors' last names, here are the best books I read in 2024:

The Book of the Year

The Undiscovered Self, by Carl Jung

Highlights in Fiction, Poetry, and Drama

A Girl's Story, by Annie Ernaux

Vernon Subutex 1, by Virginie Despentes

The Malady of Death, by Marguerite Duras

The Other Name, by Jon Fosse

Termush, by Sven Holm

An Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen

The Poetry of our World, edited by Jeffrey Paine

Pedro Páramo, by Juan Rulfo, translated by Douglas Weatherford

Diary of a Superfluous Man, by Ivan Turgenev

Highlights in Nonfiction

Urban Tantra, by Barbara Carellas

Letter to the Americans, by Jean Cocteau

Love Me Tender, Constance Debré

King Kong Theory, by Virginie Depentes

Practicalities, by Marguerite Duras

The Rigor of Angels, by William Eggington

I Will Write to Avenge My People, by Annie Ernaux

The Use of Photography, by Annie Ernaux

A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire, by Yuri Herrara

Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel

Dopamine Nation, by Anna Lembke

Israel Alone, by Bernard-Henri Lévy

The Empire and the Five Kings, by Bernard-Henri-Lévy

Nonviolent Communication, by Marshall B. Rosenberg

Zen and Japanese Culture, by Daisetz T. Suzuki

Here Is New York, by E. B. White