2024 Reading List

Another year of reading. I learnt to slow down and not chase an arbitrary goal of a book a week. It’s more important to take time to ingest the book and let it change you and act. Some books provide pure entertainment, while others are impactful and the best are both. Some are a breeze to read, and some are like climbing a mountain, tough but a delight in the end and totally worth it. I’ve become more selective as I grow older. But that makes it hard to follow right after a great book and I go through dry periods where nothing seems good enough.

  1. Shall We Tell the President – Jeffrey Archer (⭐ 1) - Pretty awful, almost no redeeming quality, don't know why I remember loving it the first time 35 years ago.

  2. Sunset Club – Khushwant Singh (⭐ 4) - Like it. Feb and Oct are best months to visit Delhi. A walk in the Lodhi Gardens is one to behold.

  3. SeinLanguage – Jerry Seinfeld (⭐ 4) - short and funny

  4. Company of Women – Khushwant Singh (⭐ 2)

  5. I Contain Multitudes – Ed Wong (⭐ 4) - Bit too dense in parts, but so fascinating.

  6. Housemaid – Freida McFadden (⭐ 3.5) - I skim middle chapters, but then gets interesting, and end is just fantastic.

  7. All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr (⭐ 5) - Wow, so good. A mountain of a book. So worth it to read. Overwhelming. The 1974 chapter has me in tears. Love it.

  8. When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi (⭐ 4) - Moving, touching, short. Intro by Abraham Varghese is so good that the book fails to live up to the promise. A lot of buildup and ends abruptly. Wife writes beautifully too.

  9. Immense World – Ed Wong (⭐ 5) - another one, even better.

  10. Between Two Worlds – Suleika Jaouad (⭐ 5) - Takes me a while to get used to the style of writing, so moving. Love it.

  11. On Tyranny – Timothy Snyder (⭐ 4) - short and a timely guide

  12. How to Know a Person – David Brooks (⭐ 4) - Surprisingly good

  13. Wild – Cheryl Strayed (⭐ 4) - loved the movie, as good and better

  14. No One is Too Small to Make a Difference – Greta Thunberg (⭐ 3) - interesting but too much repetition, not worthy of a book, maybe a blog post.

  15. Vanderbilt – Anderson Cooper (⭐ 3) - Last chapter is good. Interesting but too long. Lots of anecdotes. The Gilded Age HBO show is based on this.

  16. Polly: Sex Culture Revolutionary – Polly Whittaker (⭐ 4)

  17. Going Infinite – Michael Lewis (⭐ 5) - Everything you wanted to know about SBF - Sam Bankman-Fried, fascinating, sure was a genius that went awry.

  18. Tools – Dominic Chinea (⭐ 3) - illustrated coffee table book of beautiful hand-crafted tools

  19. Coming Wave – Mustafa Suleyman (⭐ 5) - Skim first half, second half is eye-opening and worrying. Kudos to the guy for writing this, wow.

  20. Crazy Rich Asians – Kevin Kwan (⭐ 5) - travel reading, so so good, love it, totally into it. Unfortunately, the sequels are a disappointment.

  21. Bits and Pieces – Whoopi Goldberg (⭐ 5) - Wow, so good. Just what I needed after a long drought.

  22. 24 Years of Housework … and the Place is Still a Mess – Pat Schroeder (⭐ 4) - One good honest politician

  23. Leonardo da Vinci – Walter Isaacson (⭐ 5) - Wow, inspired by Italy trip

  24. Genghis Khan – Jack Weatherford (⭐ 3) - random Costco buy, interesting, don't know if the people he conquered would agree with the take

  25. A Man’s Place – Annie Ernaux (⭐ 4) - Short one, barely 75 pages, touching portrait of her dad

  26. Lincoln Miracle – Ed Achorn (⭐ 3) - Way too detailed than I have interest in learning, read first few chapters and last, skimmed rest

  27. Tiny Habits – BJ Fogg (⭐ 5) - Loved it, practical detailed guide, thorough

  28. I Will Teach You to Be Rich – Ramit Sethi (⭐ 3) - Verbose, some good stuff, some action items for me.

  29. Princess Bride: S Morgenstern Tale – William Goldman (⭐ 3) - Inigo is interesting, movie is so much better.

  30. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon (⭐ 4) - Short and sweet, about an autistic boy.

  31. Nexus – Yuval Harrari (⭐ 5) - Scary future, provides good perspective.

  32. Speaking from the Heart: 18 Languages for Modern Love – Anne Hodder-Shipp (⭐ 3) - too many categories for no good reason, description of each is too short, many blend into each other and don't deserve their own categories, honestly a mess of a book

  33. Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt (⭐ 4) - The octopus parts are the best. The story comes together beautifuly with an emotional finish.

  34. Lonely Hearts Book Club – Lucy Gilmore (⭐ 5) - So good. Perfect book club material.

Anupam Singhalbooks