Halfway through the year is a good time to take stock of our reading. The spare elegies of winter have left their mark; the elegant literary novels of spring have come and gone; the big juicy beach reads of summer are just beginning. Let’s pause here and take a look at what good things the year has already brought to us before we look ahead to the riches of the fall. Here are the 10 best books from the first half of 2024.

The best books of the year (so far)

Real Simple

Some of these books were foundational in inspiring other writers to share their stories.

10 Banned Books Everyone Should Read, According to These Published Authors

TIME

From Anna Marie Tendler's memoir to T.J. Newman's thriller

The Best New Books to Read in August 2024

Barack Obama’s 2024 summer reading list is here. On Aug. 12, the former president dropped the annual reading list on his official Instagram account. The new list includes 14 novels and non-fiction pieces of work that explore global and American history, culture, feminism, the meaning of democracy and more.

All of the books on Barack Obama’s 2024 summer reading list

There are no new titles on the bestseller lists this week, but there are still some things worth noting. Let’s start with the most fun to the least. First off, Gravity Falls was a cartoon that ended in 2016, but a new Gravity Falls book (The Book of Bill by Alex Hirsch) just came out, and it made the Publishers Weekly and USA Today overall top ten bestseller lists. I love this show, so it makes me happy to see it’s still got a strong contingent of fans.

The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists

My favorite day of the year, I am personally celebrating by listening to the audiobook of Brad Thor’s new Scot Harvath thriller, Shadow of Doubt. I’ve already read it and written my review here, but because he is one of my all-time favorite authors ever, I always enjoy re-experiencing Thor’s books on Audible once they come out.

National Book Lovers Day: Discover These 15 Must-Read Mysteries & Thrillers

We talk about a lot of books on Book Riot every month…a lot. Between our dozens of newsletters, our podcasts, and our on-site content, we’re recommending hundreds of books every month in all genres, age categories, and formats. Hopefully, these recommendations connect you with your next favorite book. But how do we know which of these recs were successful? We don’t have comprehensive data on which recommendations made you read a book — that would be creepy. What we do have, though, is data on which books we linked last month that you clicked on. It’s not a perfect metric for popularity, since we don’t know why you clicked on them, but it’s the closest thing we have. So, here are the top ten most clicked on books on Book Riot last month.

The 10 Most Popular Books on Book Riot in July 2024

It happens to countless book clubs: You start out with great intentions of reading brilliant weighty novels, taking on books like Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Demon Copperhead (560 pages) or Abraham Verghese’s epic The Covenant of Water (736 pages). They’re fantastic, but many members of your group just don’t have the time or motivation to plow through them and your discussions fizzle.

8 Short Novels Your Book Club Will Actually Read (and Love)

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which “honors writers whose work demonstrates the power of the written word to foster peace,” has today announced its 2024 book award finalists. The winners in each category will receive a $10,000 cash prize, and the runners-up will be awarded $5,000. The 2024...

Here are the finalists for the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prizes.

Parade

From Don Winslow to Tana French (and Princess Di!), we’ve got them all.

The 29 Best Mystery, Thriller and True Crime Books of 2024…so Far

This week’s list of the most read books on Goodreads has shifted dramatically from last week! Get ready for a whole new batch of titles you’ve never heard of! I’m kidding. It’s identical, except two books have swapped spots. But which two?? You’ll have to read on to find out!

The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week

New Jersey State

Call me old fashioned, but I love nothing more than curling up with a good book and getting lost in the story created by someone else. This experience is only improved when the drama within the pages is actually true, and the literary adventure becomes a history lesson as well.

10 Greatest Books Based on True Stories for Your Reading List

Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. “[A] palm-sweat-inducing psychological thriller.”. “[The Snap] buzzes with all-too-familiar frustration at injustices. In the doubts and thrills of her story, Staple echoes the moment in a game when a bone-crunching collision has a player carted off the field. Are we allowed to enjoy this? Should the game still go on? An endorphin-fueled, heart-hammering sprint.”

10 New Books Coming Out This Week

Woman's World

Greetings, book lovers! This week we have a wide variety of just-released recommendations here at Woman’s World Book Club — from historical fiction to cozy mysteries and nonfiction, there's something for everyone! For the week of August 13 to August 19, we're starting off with Kristin Vuković's buzzing debut, The Cheesemaker's Daughter, a multilayered story ...

WW Book Club Recommends New Book Releases, a Thriller From Kathy Reichs and More for August 13 to 19

Mental_Floss

These gory yet fascinating reads delve into the weirdest chapters of medical history, from the dancing plague of 1518 to the bizarre saga of Typhoid Mary.

10 Riveting Nonfiction Books on History’s Greatest Medical Mysteries

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writer

Martin Vidal

You don’t have to slog through 800 pages to experience a great read. This list is proof. 1. Maxims by La Rochefoucauld Maxims has 137 pages. However, since the work consists primarily of aphorisms, most of those pages have only a few sentences on them. With enviable brevity and wit, La Rochefoucauld gives the reader invaluable insight into the human soul.

10 Timeless Books With Less Than 150 Pages

August is Women in Translation Month, an annual celebration of books by women authors across the globe whose books have been translated for an English-reading audience. We know that books in translation are already rare in YA, so it is likely little surprise that women’s work in translation lags behind that of male counterparts (and any global writers beyond the gender binary, even rarer). But translated literature is special. It’s incredible to think about the relationship that happens between the author’s initial creation in one language and the finished product as translated by someone else. The author and translator create something that is both a reworking of the original as well as something wholly its own.

YA Women in Translation + YA Book News: August 15, 2024

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on February 10, 2022. It has since been updated. Faced with the reality of being slaves in a foreign land, Igbo people chose death as they walked into the ocean and drowned while still chained to each other. It was one of the first documented acts of rebellion from the people of Africa against white slave traders. It was the year 1803 and 75 West Africans, with a majority of them being Igbo, were sold for $100 each to John Couper and Thomas Spalding. Originating from Nigeria, the Igbo people were renowned for their industriousness, independence, and pride in their work. John Couper and Thomas Spalding "bought" the Igbo people with the intention of taking them to work on plantations in St. Simons Island, Georgia, in the U.S. They were packed onto a slave ship but as the ship neared Georgia, Igbo people rebelled and took over the ship, killing the captain and some of the crew. The ship ran aground in Dunbar Creek, off St. Simons Island, according to Mother Jones.

Igbo landing: Remembering enslaved Africans who chose death over slavery by walking into the ocean

He glided into my office in patent leather shoes—shiny, brown, and freshly polished. His socks, a bright mustard, perfectly matched his tie as well as his handkerchief, neatly folded in his left breast pocket. Light blue pinstripes ran vertically up his gray blazer, drawing my gaze upward towards his healthy, tanned face. No surprise, his teeth were ivory and straight, almost as white as his pants. Not a hair was out of place.

The Moment When a Brain Surgeon Sees the Most Terrifying Diagnosis in Medicine

If you have ever searched the Internet for recommendations about detective books, your chances of coming across Agatha Christie’s works are pretty high. Over her lifetime, Christie wrote 66 novels and 14 short story collections. While the latter has some great works available in different compilations, the novels helped the author become a household name worldwide. Her evergreen works are based on the exploits of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

10 Best Agatha Christie books of all time

NewsBreak

5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week

Our feast of fabulous reviews this week includes Becca Rothfeld on Charlotte Shane’s An Honest Woman, Hillary Kelly on Jo Hamya’s The Hypocrite, Megan O’Grady on...

5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week

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