Top Ten Books of 2024
The best books I read this year. As every year, please keep in mind that not all of these were published in 2024—they were just the best books I read in 2024 (not including re-reads).
In ascending order, and all copy is publishers’ . . .
10. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Written by Ernest Hemingway, a Nobel laureate and master storyteller, The Sun Also Rises is an exploration of love, life, and loss through the lens of the "Lost Generation" - showcasing Hemingway's minimalistic prose and understated writing style.
Throughout these pages, you will experience the subtleties of human emotions - grasp the essence of post-war disillusionment - understand the dynamics of complicated relationships - experience vicariously the charm and allure of 1920s Paris and Spain - and study an era that shaped modern literature.
9. You Like it Darker by Stephen King (Scribner)
“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,” and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.
8. Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World by Thomas R. Schreiner (Crossway)
Throughout the Bible, God has related to his people through covenants. It is through these covenant relationships, which collectively serve as the foundation for God’s promise to bring redemption to his people, that we can understand the advancement of his kingdom. This book walks through six covenants from Genesis to Revelation, helping us grasp the overarching narrative of Scripture and see the salvation God has planned for us since the beginning of time―bolstering our faith in God and giving us hope for the future.
7. All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison (writer) and Frank Quitely (illustrator) (DC Comics)
Topsy-turvy madness on the backwards Bizarro planet. A bottled city that proves you can never go home again. A living sun hell-bent on destroying humanity. A world without the Man of Steel. Twelve impossible labors and mere moments to save the Earth.
The multiple-award winning All-Start Superman is a story true to the greatest character from the golden age of comics. Witness the timeless icon—the Man of Steel—in action in this deluxe collection of excitement and acclaim.
Featuring all the classic characters Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and Bizarro, this deluxe edition collects All-Star Superman issues #1-12.
6. Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami (Vintgage)
Aspiring writers and readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this engaging book from the internationally best-selling author. Haruki Murakami now shares with readers his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.
Here are the personal details of a life devoted to craft: the initial moment at a Yakult Swallows baseball game, when he suddenly knew he could write a novel; the importance of memory, what he calls a writer’s “mental chest of drawers”; the necessity of loneliness, patience, and his daily running routine; the seminal role a carrier pigeon played in his career and more.
5. Junk Drawer Jesus: Discarding Your Spiritual Clutter and Rediscovering the Supremacy of Grace by Matt Popovits (1517)
Each of us is the owner of a seemingly random collection of theologies, doctrines, and superstitions—a junk drawer of religious ideas and influences.
It’s the witticisms your grandmother tossed around with ease that sounded like they came from a religious text.
It’s an insight about God from a half-heard sermon at a friend’s church.
It’s the mental screenshot of a meme shared on social media.
It’s the empowering idea you underlined in a book and wrote on a Post-it Note now forever affixed to your laptop.
These are the things stuffed in our spiritual junk drawers. And as with that stash of old clothes in the closet or that stew of phone chargers, pens, and half-used batteries sitting in your kitchen drawer, something in us says, “This might be useful.” And so we hold on.
But should we? For many, this junk drawer spirituality has become burdensome. We are worn down by the religious experience it creates and frustrated by a collection of traditions, “truths,” and unfulfilled promises that continue to grow. In Junk Drawer Jesus, the spiritually exhausted are invited to examine our religious clutter and compare it to the person and the promises of Jesus Christ.
We’ll discover what—if anything—of our spiritual collection should be kept. In the process, we rediscover the soul-satisfying simplicity of a God who refuses to fill our lives with junk but instead offers grace upon grace.
4. The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase by Mark Forsyth (Berkley)
From classic poetry to pop lyrics, from Charles Dickens to Dolly Parton, even from Jesus to James Bond, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase—such as “O Captain! My Captain!” or “To be or not to be”—memorable.
In his inimitably entertaining and wonderfully witty style, he takes apart famous phrases and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or quip like Oscar Wilde. Whether you’re aiming to achieve literary immortality or just hoping to deliver the perfect one-liner, The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don’t need to have anything important to say—you simply need to say it well.
In an age unhealthily obsessed with the power of substance, this is a book that highlights the importance of style.
3. I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (Grove)
A storyteller “of great humanity and huge heart” (Minneapolis Star Tribune), Leif Enger debuted in the literary world with Peace Like a River which sold over a million copies and captured readers’ hearts around the globe.
Now comes a new milestone in this boldly imaginative author’s accomplished, resonant body of work. Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of a bereaved and pursued musician embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. Rainy, an endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs and remote islands of the inland sea. Encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, Rainy finds on land an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, crumbled infrastructure and a lawless society. Amidst the Gulliver-like challenges of life at sea and no safe landings, Rainy is lifted by physical beauty, surprising humor, generous strangers, and an unexpected companion in a young girl who comes aboard. And as his innate guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his strengthening wake.
I Cheerfully Refuse epitomizes the “musical, sometimes magical and deeply satisfying kind of storytelling” (Los Angeles Times) for which Leif Enger is cherished. A rollicking narrative in the most evocative of settings, this latest novel is a symphony against despair and a rallying cry for the future.
(Read my friend Ronni Kurtz’s review.)
2. A Bit of Earth: A Year in the Garden with God by Andrea Burke (Lexham)
In A Bit of Earth, Andrea G. Burke looks at the seasonal practice and common grace of gardening through a devotional lens. Part memoir, part prayer book, A Bit of Earth weaves care and intent through moments of ordinary living. This book is a lifelong resource of Scripture, poetry, and prose on the life of faith for contemplatives, gardeners, and believers.
God walks in the garden at the cool of the day. The Lord is with us when we dream about what plants to grow and when we drag our feet to pull weeds. He is with us when we preserve the fruit of our hard labors. He is with us even when we weep at the desolate, snowbound landscape of winter.
Whether you're new to gardening or already have a green thumb, anyone can learn how to garden and cultivate the soil of their hearts through A Bit of Earth.
1. Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age: The 1978 Lectures by J.I. Packer (Crossway)
Christians today confront complex opposition to the gospel from intellectuals, skeptics, and pluralists who deny the divinity of Christ. But these are not new issues; the first-century church encountered similar challenges to their faith. How did the apostle Paul address these questions and doubts to effectively spread God’s word?
In these never-before-published lectures, originally given at Reformed Bible College and Moore College in 1978, renowned theologian J. I. Packer tackles common objections to Christianity―including secular humanism, pluralism, and universalism. By studying the evangelistic efforts of Paul and the early church, Packer skillfully preaches the glory of Christ crucified and helps students, pastors, and believers share their faith in an age of skepticism.