re: Your favorite book of 2024 ?

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East of Eden, John Steinbeck.

Obviously a classic but I had never read it.

Riveting.

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Same

I have had a book released in 2006 in my stack ever since then, my daughter bought it for me after she enjoyed it so much (I get most of my book recs from her, she’s a voracious reader).

anyway I had a series of flights this month so I stuck it in my bag. To say I enjoyed it is a massive understatement. It’s also very unusual in that it’s not a book per se but a collection of lecture transcripts given by Carl Sagan at Glasgow University in 1985 as the Gifford Lectures (annual lectures on natural theology since the late 1800s).

it sounds dry, and that’s the reason I never started it. It is very, very far from dry…in fact parts of the lectures are hilarious. Sagan was a brilliant thinker and his ability to craft an argument and make it a pleasure to follow along is pretty unique.

The book



if you have an affinity for the wonders of the natural world and the wonders of human history, you will enjoy this. It will remain on my desk from now on so that I can pick it up and randomly revisit a section and remind myself that the universe is far far more than the human mind could ever describe

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East of Eden, John Steinbeck.

Obviously a classic but I had never read it.

Riveting.

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Read it for the first time in 2023 and it instantly became a top 3 fiction book of all time for me. I was legit blown away.

Grapes of Wrath seems to be considered his greatest work by most but I 100% liked East of Eden better. That book was so heavy, it legit weighed on me for days after I finished reading it.

We few - Nick Brachausen

Vietnam special forces book, but it's as much about drinking and stealing jeeps from officers as it is about fighting a war. There's a chapter in there about a German half track that might be my favorite single chapter of a book ever. I tried men in green faces after and couldn't do it. We Few is how a war story should be written.

I read Atlas Shrugged as well. I enjoyed it, but it's just too damned long.

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Dungeon Crawler Carl.

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Really is phenomenal. Next audiobook comes out a week from today (2/11)

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Babylon Berlin. I really got into historical fiction this year. It's an interesting way to learn about the histories of other places. I just hope the last five books in the series will get translated sometime.

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The whole series is translated and available on Audible.

I love how candid it is. Not the men in green faces ninja movie vibe. The combat scenes are all "shitting my pants, shoot everything a whole bunch, use all the ammo, more pants shitting, level entire area"

The larceny chapters are what I really like, which is more than half the book. I wish I could forget it and read it again.