2024 is finally here, and I wanted to look back at my year and all the amazing books I read. Specifically, the best books I read this year. These are the best of the best: the five-star picks I would scream-recommend to any stranger on the street. The books that defined my year. The ones I will be thinking about for years to come.

This list is in (mostly) chronological order, so let’s take a trip back in time to all the amazing, show-stopping, and 10/10 books I read in 2023 that you should read in 2024.

Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist by Frans de Waal

This book was so good. Over 300 pages of well-written, well-researched and eye-opening information about gender and sexuality in different primate species. By exploring primate societies, de Waal compares and contrasts primate behaviors with humans. This book is filled with fascinating studies and evidence of the complexity of gender and sexuality in chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans. De Waal presents so much detailed information and fascinating studies and examples in an engaging way.

Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear

I read this during my “new-year-new-goals” rush I always get at the beginning of the year. If you follow any bookish content creators, you have probably heard of this book. While originally published in 2018, it feels like this book gains more and more popularity each year. And after hearing such good things about it, I can vouch for the hype. Atomic Habits is a life-changing system for setting yourself up for success to achieving your goals. What I love about Atomic Habits is that it isn’t condescending or overly inspirational like other self-help books. Instead, the book provides actionable steps to making your life incrementally better each day. You can read my full book review HERE

The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power by Katherine Morgan Schafler

Published this year, I discovered The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control at the perfect time. This is a book that book that made me realize that my perfectionist energy could be channeled for good and used as an asset, rather than viewed as a detriment. If you struggle with perfectionist tendencies, they read my full book review HERE

Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress

Set in a small East Coast arts college in 2011, Sirens & Muses grapples with money, desire, and the sacrifices we make to create art. Gorgeous writing, a robust cast of characters, all set in a niche setting. I couldn’t ask for more. This is Angress’s debut, and I cannot wait to read more in the coming years.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

This was a TikTok darling earlier this year, dominating best-seller lists and everyone’s feed. Yellowface is dramatic, witty, and focuses a razor-sharp lens on cultural appropriation and racial bias in the book publishing industry. I love a good unreliable narrator, and Kuang pulls it off perfectly. Check out a full review of Yellowface that I wrote back in May HERE.

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

I am not a romance book fan. But if it has Ali Hazelwood’s name on it, I’m pulling out my credit card. This was my favorite out of the Steminist novels, and it just felt like she hit her stride with this book. All the aspects of a good Hazelwood book were here: enemies to lovers, an academic setting, the love interest being like seven feet tall. And I ate it up. This is the best of the best of Ali Hazelwood. If you haven’t read this book yet (what are you doing?), check out my completely spoiler-free review of Love, Theoretically HERE.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Warning: Only start this book if you are prepared for a serious reframing of your entire life. Even then, I don’t think you could prepare enough for this book. There are certain books that change the way you view the world. Books that shift the building blocks in your brain ever so slightly. Books that you can’t stop thinking about. Four Thousand Weeks is one of those. Part self-help, part essay, part philosophical treatise, Burkeman’s book will change how you view time forever.

Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer

In this 2023 release, Dederer asks the question: what do we do with the art of monstrous men? That question might have immediately sent the image of famous artistic monsters to your mind: Woody Allen, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso. All men who have done terrible things, yet we still love their work, either loudly or secretly. Dederer takes an incredibly nuanced and detailed approach to this topic. She discusses all aspects with a wide cast of historical and contemporary monsters with wit and intelligence. And if you are like me, the emotional ending will hit you like a ton of bricks.

All the Women in My Brain by Betty Gilpin

All the Women in My Brain is the surprising delight of 2023. I need more people to read this book. It has been so long since a book has made me laugh out loud. Not just the slight snort you do out of your nose when you see a meme, but full-on smiling and giggling alone in my room. Gilpin is such a witty and smart writer. Her writing moves a hundred miles a minute. And I am a sucker for a good metaphor, and this book is FILLED with the smartest jokes and comparisons I have ever read. All the Women in My Brain has some of the funniest, heartbreaking, and relatable writing I have ever read.