Picking a favorite book — like picking a favorite child — is impossible. Still, if our contributors absolutely, positively, we’re not kidding, had to choose the ONE title that most spoke to them this year, here’s what it would be…

Escape from Shadow Physics: The Quest to End the Dark Ages of Quantum Theory by Adam Forrest Kay (Basic Books). “This fine book is for readers with patience who don’t mind re-reading various sections when needed. Those with curiosities about the history of science (particularly physics and cosmology) and that hugely important, obscure enigmatic topic, quantum mechanics, will never regret any time spent working through this comprehensive, fascinating book.” ~Stephen Case

Fragments of a Paradise by Jean Giono; translated by Paul Eprile (Archipelago). “A quasi-surrealistic Moby-Dick. In it, Giono takes us to a world in which the world does not exist.” ~Mike Maggio

Black Was the Ink by Michelle Coles (Tu Books). “I read many brilliant books this year, but this one continues to haunt me. It’s a YA novel that I recommend both adults and teens read, perhaps together. Ink offers both an imaginative narrative and an exceptional exploration of the many rarely told stories from Reconstruction — both the highs of Blacks being elected to the U.S. House and Senate, and the horrors of the Colfax massacre and similar barbarities. Predictably, it has been targeted by various school districts for its realistic representation of a slice of American history.” ~Jenny Yacovissi

Time of the Child: A Novel by Niall Williams (Bloomsbury). “Hands in the air for this one!” ~Kitty Kelley

Humphrey and Me: A Novel by Stuart H. Brody (Santa Monica Press). “The author had a 30-year friendship with senator/vice president/presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey. A man of character, he’s hardly remembered today, but his life is worth a reexamination — especially now.” ~David Bruce Smith

The Bullet That Missed: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman (Penguin Books). “The Thursday Murder Club, largely retired English overachievers, gathers weekly to pursue and solve a baffling ‘cold case.’ The plot and characters toggle between the ridiculous and the preposterous, but Osman is a FUNNY writer. As with Mick Herron’s spy books, I happily overlook silly plots and too many unpersuasive characters for a few good laughs. The reluctant male’s submission to a fancy spa massage is a classic.” ~David O. Stewart

Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans (Penguin Press). “Distinguished historian Evans is known for his ‘Hitler trilogy,’ and in this volume, he goes back to detail Hitler’s career while adding profiles for those who, in his words, were the Fuhrer’s paladins, enforcers, and instruments of governing, torture, the Holocaust, and war. I’ve read many volumes on the Third Reich, and this is the best in summarizing all the planning, detail, and, unfortunately, execution leading up to and including the Second World War and its eventual Götterdämmerung.” ~Andrew M. Mayer

The Killer Angels: A Novel by Michael Shaara (McKay). “Scrupulously researched and sensitively written, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel humanizes warfare all the way from its wavering generals to its bloodied infantrymen.” ~Patricia Schultheis

The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss (Viking). “This is a remarkable and beautifully written look at the evolution of bookselling and the contributions of the many creative people responsible, from Franklin to Bezos. It’s packed with wise and warm tales about stores you know (or knew). When I finished, I felt a little guilty that I hadn’t purchased the book but rather had borrowed it from my local library!” ~Randy Cepuch

Prophet Song: A Novel by Paul Lynch (Atlantic Monthly Press). “This Booker Prize-winning 2023 novel, set in Dublin, about a near-future fascist government bearing down on an average family and on protagonist Eilish Stack, the mother of four and a scientist, was hands-down my most intense, least cozy, too-close-for-comfort, propulsive read of the year. Writers should read it for the expansiveness and unconventionality of its sentence structure, and everyone should read it for novelistic insight into the incremental then all-at-once loss of freedom and lives under authoritarian regimes that could be around the corner for any of us.” ~Caroline Bock

The Women: A Novel by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Press). “The first half of the book is a powerful tale of female nurses in Vietnam dealing with the constant flow of mass casualties. The second half tells of their return to the U.S. and their attempt to resume civilian life.” ~Paul D. Pearlstein

The Conditions of Unconditional Love: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon). “It’s the Auden-quoting heroine of Smith’s Sunday Philosophy Club novels who makes the series irresistible. In this 15th installment, Isabel is as compassionate and self-reflective as ever, pursuing her duty to ‘do something to make things better,’ whether for her husband and sons, Edinburgh neighbors, or a backyard fox. I read it in November, exactly when I needed her conviction that reason and love (the Greek agape — ‘disinterested and unselfish love of others’) still hold solutions to our most intractable problems.” ~Julie Dunlap

The God of the Woods: A Novel by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books). “This received rave reviews almost everywhere, and for good reason: It’s incredible. My hallmark of a favorite book is, ‘Do I want my mom and aunts to immediately read this so we can talk about it?’ The answer to that question for The God of the Woods was a resounding ‘Yes.’” ~Nick Havey

Wound: A Novel by Oksana Vasyakina; translated by Elina Alter (Catapult). “This is a raw exploration of a young woman’s grief after her less-than-perfect mother passes away from cancer. The story is billed as a novel but has the intimate feel of autofiction. You won’t want to miss this sweeping meditation on love that takes readers on a literal and figurative journey through a Siberia of the soul.” ~Dorothy Reno

Squeeze Me: A Novel by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf). “This is by far the funniest and most poignant book I read this year. The plot is pure Hiaasen: Burmese pythons travel to the Florida mansion of the sitting president and create havoc for wildlife wranglers, the Secret Service, the local police, and just about everyone else. Did I mention that one of the elderly drunken and drugged-out POTUSSIES (shortened from POTUS PUSSIES, for obvious reasons) is eaten by a snake?” ~Lawrence De Maria

Miami Blues: A Hoke Moseley Novel by Charles Willeford (Vintage Crime). “For years, my dad has recommended the Hoke Moseley series by Charles Willeford, of which this is the first installment. I finally read all four this year. Dad, you were right, as usual.” ~Michael Causey

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager). “Set in the early 19th century, Babel presents an alternate history in which people can use language to extract magical power from silver. The story focuses on a small band of non-white students who become aware of and attempt to combat the more nefarious uses of this ‘technology’ and the toll it takes on people like themselves. Kuang’s world and characters are believable and engaging (with excellent scones!), but as always when sorcery is exploited in academia, evil, hypocrisy, mayhem, and, in this case, linguistics ensue.” ~Liz Robelen

Wolves at the Door by Steve Watkins (Scholastic). “In a year when I read Percival Everett’s The Trees and Paul Murray’s Skippy Dies (spoiler alert: The poor kid dies because Murray is an Irish writer and that’s what they do), no book was more affecting than this one. It’s not necessarily a YA title you’d want to put in a teenager’s clutches during the doldrums of winter, but Watkins’ portrayal of the Wolfskinder (German children orphaned by World War II) is unforgettable. Too often, we want a whitewashed version of WWII victimhood, but the tragedies didn’t just impact the ‘good guys,’ as is expertly depicted here.” ~Drew Gallagher

The Queen of Dirt Island: A Novel by Donal Ryan (Penguin). “This is a lovely portrait of an Irish family told in prose that is stunning in its control and precision. I might have kept an analytic distance to just appreciate that prose, but the characters drew me in, and I lived in their world for a bit.” ~John P. Loonam

 [ ... ] by Fady Joudah (Milkweed Editions). “The ellipsis of the title (also entitling many poems in this collection) speaks to the overlooked, the bracketed and set aside, the unspeakable, ongoing horror of the war in Gaza. Writing as a Palestinian, a poet, a doctor, and a lover, Joudah begins with the line, ‘I am unfinished business.’ His ‘Dedication,’ appearing in the final section as a prose poem — and recalling, for me, Margaret Walker’s ‘For My People’ — is far and away the most moving piece I’ve read all year.” ~Amanda Holmes Duffy

My Monticello: Fiction by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (Henry Holt and Co.). “I finally got around to reading this, and I’m glad I did. The short stories at the beginning of the book are whip-smart, and the eponymous novella at the end is a gripping apocalypse story in which a multiracial group of neighbors are chased out of their homes and take up residence in a deserted Monticello. Two of the Black women in the group are descendants of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, which puts a complex and unique spin on this end-of-the-world story, and the elegiac language at the end is breathtaking.” ~Tara Campbell

Say Hello to My Little Friend: A Novel by Jennine Capó Crucet (Simon & Schuster). “Billed as a mashup of ‘Scarface’ and Moby-Dick, this story centers the surreal relationship between Izzy, an ambitious young man of Cuban heritage living in Miami, and Lolita, a captive orca forced to entertain visitors at the city’s Seaquarium. This coming-of-age eco-thriller is so wildly original, brilliantly funny, and stunningly weird that one reader summed it up with, ‘Yo wtf.’ Readers looking for an alternative to same-ol’ copycat fiction should check it out.” ~Marcie Geffner

The Sequel: A Novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Celadon Books). “Being half Sicilian and a proud lifelong feminist, I’m going to posit that I have no choice but to revel in a page-turning tale of a wronged woman who seeks revenge. There is no other such character in literature for whom I have rooted more than the flawed, justifiably amoral protagonist of The Sequel, and I’m including Scarlett O’Hara in the comparison.” ~Heidi Mastrogiovanni

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon, illustrated by Kim Sanho; translated by Anton Hur (HarperVia). “This is required reading for Magical Girls and fantasy readers everywhere and strikes the perfect balance between the exuberant optimism of Sailor Moon and the gritty pragmatism of ‘Puella Magi Madoka Magica.’ Although our narrator remains unnamed, she is a singular voice bringing an outsider perspective to the world of Magical Girls. Hints of romance, action, and a multifaceted commentary on climate change move this novel beyond a mere pastiche of this beloved fantasy subgenre.” ~Emma Carbone

Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic by Lindsay M. Chervinsky (Oxford University Press). “This was the most compelling read of 2024 for me, more so because I read it in the run-up to the November election. It is an important reminder that despite the brilliance of the Constitution, the survival of the early republic was not a given. The unwritten rules that would make the government work had to be invented and sustained by men like Adams, who wrote to wife Abigail from the White House: ‘May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.’” ~C.B. Santore

The Theatrical Adventures of Edward Gorey: Rare Drawings, Scripts, and Stories by Carol Verburg (Chronicle Books). “Fresh off the success of designing Dracula for Broadway and then designing a bestselling volume of T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Edward Gorey moved to Cape Cod and jumped into a lively community-theater scene. From P-Town to Orleans, he produced amazing nights of theater, some acted by humans, others by puppets, some narrative and some in revue format. Full of images and script pages, The Theatrical Adventures is a memorable tribute to Gorey’s lesser-known work and to a bygone community-theater scene, told by one of his friends and collaborators.” ~Michael Maiello

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager). “In this, book four of Chambers’ Wayfarers series, diverse species are stranded together at a planetary waystation during an emergency and — through learning about one another — come away with fresh perspectives on both themselves and others.” ~Mariko Hewer

Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher (Simon & Schuster). “Swisher uses her decades of front-seat tech-industry reporting to give us a take-no-prisoners look at tech-industry bros. For an enhanced experience, listen to the author narrate the audiobook.” ~Therese Droste

Resentment: A Comedy by Gary Indiana (Semiotex(e)). “I don’t know how I missed this 1997 pastiche of L.A. decadence — a cast of high-functioning, addiction-addled characters trying to make a name for themselves in the City of Angels — set against the backdrop of the high-profile, fictionalized Menendez brothers’ (Martinez here) murder trial. The freaks populating the trial (defendants, victims, lawyers, journalists, and wacko shrink) are a microcosm of the pathetic ‘real life’ individuals in the novel. Indiana, who died in October, sees with laser-like vision and writes with a witty but poisonous pen.” ~Diane Kiesel

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson (Crown). “The heroic story of Fort Sumpter’s fall. Even though we know how it will end, Larson builds such suspense that the reader begins to believe in the possibility of a different conclusion.” ~Todd Kushner

Charlie’s Good Tonight: The Life, the Times, and the Rolling Stones by Paul Sexton (Harper). “Sexton’s authorized biography of the late Charlie Watts, a founding member of the Rolling Stones and the band’s bedrock drummer for over six decades, not only crafts a tactful portrait of a rock celebrity who was also an obsessively private man, but also offers insightful commentary on the influence of Watts on the Stones’ music. A subtle but persistent motif wends through that commentary: fundamentally a jazz drummer, Watts favored ‘swing,’ and, in the words of Pete Townshend, ‘that’s why the Stones swung like the Basie band.’” ~Charles Caramello

All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books). “This book stunned me. I’ve rarely read a braver, more daring novel, one filled with such an exuberant, heartbreaking voice. I’ve also rarely read a novel more divisive — the women I know who read it either adored the novel or found it abhorrent, and there was absolutely no middle-ground between those two places. But, no matter what, everyone who read this book formed a unique relationship with it, and so did I. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.” ~E.A. Aymar

North Woods: A Novel by Daniel Mason (Random House). “Like Adam and Eve, two lovers flee their Puritan settlement to escape into the woods. The home they build, destroyed by tragedy then rebuilt by successive occupants, forms the backbone of this inventive, genius novel. Mason spins a monumental tale spanning centuries that rewards rereading while still feeling intimate and heartful.” ~Carrie Callaghan

Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain by Andrew McCarthy (Grand Central Publishing). “Brat-Packer-turned-travel-writer McCarthy offers a heartfelt look into fatherhood, especially the challenge of negotiating a relationship with a newly formed adult. He shares the love, awe, and occasional frustration we all face in this ‘new normal.’” ~Chris Rutledge

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann (New Directions). “Erpenbeck packs a lot into this novel, with a story about an affair between a young woman and a much older novelist that spans the period of the later years of East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification. The personalization of the Cold War is compelling enough, but what really got me is the unique style Erpenbeck uses here, shifting constantly between the thoughts of her two main characters. It moves slowly but still manages to stun, and it won the International Booker Prize this year.” ~Clifford Garstang

James: A Novel by Percival Everett (Doubleday). “Generally, I’m not one to join the bandwagon on a New York Times bestseller, but I have to admit this was profound. I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn right before, and the contrast was such a salve to the dismissive treatment that Black characters received in Twain’s book. Everett brought great humanity to James, aka Jim, and discarded the absurd ‘adventure’ of freeing a slave, instead exploring the painful reality that human beings were treated like animals.” ~Melanie S. Hatter

Doctor Zhivago: A Novel by Boris Pasternak (Vintage). “This immersive classic has it all: sweeping history, romance, complex characters, a tortured protagonist, trains, and some of literature’s most unforgettable wintry landscapes. It’s the perfect novel for this winter, for a moment when one might feel small and powerless under the unyielding thumb of those in control.” ~Samantha Neugebauer

The Waters: A Novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell (W.W. Norton & Company). “With prose as lush and unexpected as the landscape the story is set in, this is a book for and about our times. The Zooks, a family of fierce and independent women, navigate the wonder and potential danger of what it means to honor tradition while the world around them tilts toward change. Campbell is among my favorite writers, and The Waters is my favorite book of 2024.” ~Patricia Ann McNair

Whiskey Tender: A Memoir by Deborah Jackson Taffa (Harper). “The author writes of growing up and coming of age in a mixed-tribe family in the 1970s and 80s in hostile New Mexico. Her parents are fiercely determined to secure education and opportunity for their daughters despite barriers of prejudice, resources, and legislation. Struggles, defeats, and victories are told with anger, humor, candor, and love in this brilliant book.” ~Ellen Prentiss Campbell

Time of the Child: A Novel by Niall Williams (Bloomsbury). “I’ve been waiting all year to find my favorite book, and though I had to wait until December, I knew I’d found it with this one. There I was again in Faha, ‘that sinking parish on the furthermost edge of nowhere,’ where ‘the line between comedy and tragedy was drawn in pencil, and oftentimes rubbed out’ — just two of the many phrases I highlighted. Another was, ‘for the ails of the human condition medicine came not only in tablet form’ — to which I add, sometimes it comes in the form of a novel.” ~Anne Cassidy

Stalin’s War: A New History of World War II by Sean McMeekin (Basic Books). “The best account of America’s massive and critical support of the Soviets against Nazi Germany. Readable and shocking, with new nuggets from Russian archives. FDR caved to Stalin’s every demand, sending billions in aircraft, tanks, trucks, small arms, food, and even enriched uranium, helping the USSR build the bomb.” ~Jay Hancock

The Swimming-Pool Library: A Novel by Alan Hollinghurst (Vintage). “I read it in January, and even throughout an excellent year of reading, it stuck with me. Hollinghurst’s prose will make you shudder with envy, and the story is as enveloping and intriguing as the misty saunas and dark rooms where the action of the novel is set in motion.” ~Carr Harkrader

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck (Penguin). “Exquisite prose and clever dialogue beckon readers into the seemingly ordinary life of store clerk Ethan Allen Hawley. But they end up staying for a tale that captures the delusion, corruption, betrayal, and hints of hope at the heart of the American, er, human condition. Steinbeck is one of the few authors who can dare to lift a provocative title from Shakespeare and keep its message aloft and captivating even after the last page is turned.” ~Elizabeth McGowan

I, Fatty: A Novel by Jerry Stahl (Bloomsbury). No writer ever made a dirty story feel cleaner or a cheap gag sound more indispensable than Jerry Stahl, and I, Fatty, his ersatz memoir of silent-film comedian Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle (a man mostly remembered today for a crime he did not commit), is the perfect vehicle for a virtuoso performance blending comedy, tragedy, and deep empathy into a touching dissection of what we now think of as the world of Chaplin and Keaton. In fact, it was Arbuckle’s world first. The conceit of imagining Arbuckle’s voice allows Stahl to skip an acre of comic and tragic zingers across the surface of a pond stocked with research, his legwork comparable to the sweat that went into the 9/11 Commission Report. Stahl has certainly earned his reputation for keeping tawdry misbehavior at the center of his work, but to say that is to bury the lede; as brutally funny as he is humanistic, the man is a master of American prose and a worthy descendant of Mark Twain and William S. Burroughs.” ~Karl Straub

Still Life: A Novel by Sarah Winman (G.P. Putnam’s Sons). “It’s a rare novel that manages to remind you of just how good — fundamentally good — people can be without feeling treacly, but this one pulls it off. Set mostly in Italy during and after World War II, Still Life is absolutely not a WWII story. Rather, it’s an ode to decency, to art, to love, to wine, and to hanging in there when you’re pretty sure you can’t any longer.” ~Holly Smith