The 16 best books our team read in 2024, and why they were so lit
We probably don’t have to tell you how much we love to read. For so many of us, it’s part of why we were drawn to journalism in the first place.
So when we asked CharlotteFive and Charlotte Observer journalists to tell us the best books they read in 2024, their answers were quick and passionate.
You just might find your next favorite read on the list below ⬇️ — or maybe find that stocking stuffer or holiday gift you needed.
But first: Email us your favorite book of 2024 to charlottefive@charlottefive.com — we might include it in a future story!
“Black Fortunes”
Author name: Shomari Wills
Reader: Lisa Vernon Sparks
The number of books I read this year dipped a bit, but I was able to get through this one, which was really informative about the history of the first Black Americans who survived slavery and amassed millions in fortunes. Considering there is a narrative that assumes Black people were downtrodden during the Reconstruction Era, these folks purchased land, started small businesses and quickly took advantage of opportunities during that period – despite the persistent racism. I enjoy reading about lesser-known history. This book combines their stories of fortitude and perseverance. It’s worth a read.
“Charlie Chaplin vs. America”
Author: Scott Eyman
Reader: Zach Dennis
In an age of “cancel culture,” it’s easy to think everyone is under attack. While not really the case today, a stronger case could be made that Charlie Chaplin actually did suffer from it. Scott Eyman’s latest book chronicles Chaplin’s incredible run through “Modern Times,” “Limelight” and other films, and how the FBI spent that time pouring thousands into resources to keep tabs on his alleged communist influences and other proclivities. It’s insightful, well-researched and leaves you thinking: what other silly issues do we waste resources on?
“The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty”
Author: Valerie Bauerlein
Reader: Cathy Clabby
You may feel you already know about Alex Murdaugh, the rich and powerful lawyer convicted in 2023 of killing his wife and son at their South Carolina hunting estate. About how skilled his con was at stealing millions from absolutely anyone to feed his dysfunctional family’s wealth and a lengthy opioid addiction. Read Valerie Bauerlein’s masterfully built “The Devil at His Elbow,” though, and you’ll learn much more. About generations of greedy men who sowed the seed for such evil. About the wide corruption that propped up these self-proclaimed aristocrats. Until it could not.
“Down the Drain”
Author name: Julia Fox
Reader: Samantha Husted
In an Uber on my way to the JFK Airport, in bumper-to-bumper Brooklyn traffic, I began listening to Julia Fox’s autobiography, “Down the Drain,” read by the New York City “It” girl herself. As I watched the city lights fade behind me, I was thrown into an unflinching, raw, and oftentimes shocking world of drug addiction, sex work and death. From the jump, I was hooked.
While many celebrity memoirs aim to paint a refined portrait, sprinkling in just enough adversity to be relatable while still maintaining a somewhat polished image, “Down the Drain,” is like a Jackson Pollock painting: bold, colorful and unapologetically messy. Fox is uncompromising and honest, discussing topics like her stint as a dominatrix, her complex female friendships (of which she has many), and even her whirlwind relationship with rapper Kanye West.
If you’re interested in popular culture or love stories about complex women, “Down the Drain,” is a one-of-a-kind memoir worth the read. Julia Fox is more than meets the eye and deserves a second look.
“The Girl Who Survived”
Author: Lisa Jackson
Reader: Shannon Greene
My sister, niece and I formed an impromptu book club this summer, starting with a “blind date with a book” service that we found on TikTok. I ended up with “The Girl Who Survived,” and at 508 pages, I thought it would be a daunting read. But just a few chapters in, I was hooked. The fast-paced fictional page-turner follows Kara McIntyre, who was orphaned after a horrific killing spree at her family’s lakeside cabin. She teams up with a local reporter to search for answers about what really happened that fateful night, and they encounter several surprises along the way. I’m usually able to sense how these stories will turn out long before the final chapter, but not this time with so many plot twists. I do want to point out there are a few gruesome scenes, so it’s not for the faint of heart. While it isn’t a holiday pick-me-upper, it’s a great stocking stuffer for someone looking for a good psychological thriller.
“Great Circle”
Author: Maggie Shipstead
Reader: Sara Murphy
A great circle is one that cuts the Earth in half, and Maggie Shipstead’s beautifully-written novel Great Circle is, fittingly, a tale filled with twins. Some literal, like orphaned Marian and Jamie Graves, an aviator and an artist, growing up in the early 20th century. Others more figurative, as Hadley Baxter, a modern-day Hollywood actress playing Marian in a biopic, discovers many overlaps between her life and the heroine she’s portraying.
At a time when women find their freedoms curtailed, Marian’s determination to overcome danger and discrimination to become a pilot is a reminder that we can control our destiny.
“The Happy Couple”
Author: Naoise Dolan
Reader: Tamia Boyd
The novel follows a young couple in Dublin who has doubts about their marriage up to the altar. The couple is very different – Celine is usually thinking about music and being a pianist while Luke has cheated on her with most of her friends. It is a “will they, won’t they” situation leading up to their wedding, but in the perspective of the couple individually along with others close to them.
“Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice”
Authors: Raj Patel and Rupa Marya
Reader: Melissa Oyler
When a friend told me about “Inflamed”, describing how the writers draw ties between inflammation (highlighted by the ongoing covid pandemic), social injustice, systemic racism and our earth’s climate crisis, I downloaded it immediately. It’s not exactly soothing bedtime reading, but the topics have all been of interest to me. Through reading, I began to see the specific ways these seemingly unrelated global disasters are actually quite connected. The book offers examples using storytelling we can all follow and relate to. I think I read the intro and first chapter three times, just soaking it all in. It was a lightbulb moment: By simplifying things into one connected problem versus many separate problems, my mind was actually slightly soothed: Maybe working to fix one mess can be the beginning of fixing them all.
“Intermezzo”
Author: Sally Rooney
Reader: Sunny Hubler
I picked up “Intermezzo” from a locally owned little bookstore in Notting Hill this October — though it came out the month prior, I (sort of) patiently waited to get the UK edition cover on my trip to England. So, yes, I am “that” Sally Rooney reader. Perhaps most popularly known as the author of Normal People (later the Hulu series of the same name), Sally Rooney’s combined force of prose and perspective is particularly powerful. Intermezzo is quite different than what I expected it to be, but once I settled in, it did everything I wanted it to: made me reread paragraphs just to further immerse myself in the story, stay up late to finish another chapter, and left me wishing I didn’t have to leave the world once it ended. Intermezzo weaves together the story of two brothers after the death of their father. It’s about career, age, grief, and, like with other Rooney novels, there is a very fine viewpoint trained upon romantic love and intimacies. But, unlike her other novels, this one explores familial love in a new way. Because of the space Rooney occupies in the literary world, this much anticipated book was met with some mixed reviews, but for me, it was one of the best I read all year.
“The Library Book”
Author: Susan Orlean
Reader: Mary Ramsey
I’ve always loved libraries, so the title is what drew me to this book by journalist and author Susan Orlean. On the surface, it’s an investigation of an arson that destroyed much of the Los Angeles Public Library and its collections in 1986. I’m not usually a true crime fan, but Orlean elevates the genre with her thoughtful attention to detail and dedication to pursuing facts over pushing a narrative. Still, the book really shines when it zooms out to focus more on the critical role libraries and those who run them play in our communities, and how a love of reading can bind generations.
“Mrs. Dalloway”
Author: Virginia Woolf
Reader: Diamond Vences
This is a novel by the intriguing and problematic Virginia Woolf — shoot me, I love the classics. I appreciated the parallel storyline of a World War I veteran, which awakened a dark fascination within me for psychologically thrilling war stories. (My dad was a Marine, OK?) As a trad wife in recovery, I felt a connection to the main character of Clarissa Dalloway. Having recently turned almost 30, I find myself approaching what my friends would call middle age, much like Clarissa. With this milestone comes a wave of nostalgia as I reflect on the choices and experiences that have shaped my life so far. Woolf’s eloquent prose captures the essence of this bittersweet journey. She writes about that pressure you put on yourself to savor the beauty of a lovely morning in the city you call home and the meticulous planning involved in organizing a party with old friends. I was continually reminded of the joys and depth that come with ripe old age as I read this novel, despite the melancholy and grief it can also bring.
“The Paris Novel”
Author: Ruth Reichl
Reader: Kayleigh Ruller
I was obsessed with this fiction novel thanks to food writer Ruth Reichl’s evocative sensory and atmospheric details. The lyrical writing took me right to Paris, right to a table donned in Chablis and oysters, right to the first sip and slurp of each. It’s a magical tale of self-discovery by way of pleasure; and this whole ethos came into my life with impeccable timing. As a food writer myself, I was so inspired by the vivid descriptors and by the simple tale of a woman pursuing pleasure and art and food with unapologetic curiosity!
“Small Worlds”
Author: Caleb Azumah Nelson
Reader: Desiree Mathurin
I read both of Nelson’s books this year, “Open Water” and “Small Worlds”, and both are in my top five books of the year. It was hard to choose which was my favorite of the year. Honestly speaking, “Open Water” is one of those books I wish I could read for the first time again and again. It’s on my greatest reads of all time list. “Small Worlds” doesn’t make either of those cuts but I’m still making it my favorite book of the year. Why? Because I felt more connected with the characters and the idea of needing to be seen and how we create small worlds in order to accomplish that.
“Small Worlds” is about finding space to be yourself freely and to express yourself freely and that journey through the book is great. It touches on loving music, dancing, father-son relationships, being Black in white spaces, having immigrant parents and finding love. But Nelson’s prose is really phenomenal. He does this thing where he’ll repeat phrases throughout the book and every time he repeats the phrase, it’s like reconnecting you back to the story. Beautifully written.
“Sylvia Doe and the 100-year Flood”
Author: Robert Beatty
Reader: Joe Marusak
This bestselling North Carolina author nailed it again with this nature-based mystery adventure about a forlorn 13-year-old who saves people and animals during a “flood of the century” in our mountains. I love novels by master North Carolina storytellers, and each chapter of “Sylvia Doe” ends with a cliffhanger. Beatty and his family live near Asheville. He envisioned the plot years before Hurricane Helene, and the Oct. 8 publication date was set months before the storm. More reason to buy this book: Beatty is donating all royalties to flood victims through the grassroots Helene Rebuild Collaborative that supports people rebuilding in multiple Western NC counties.
“Tom Lake”
Author: Ann Patchett
Reader: Scott Fowler
“Tom Lake,” by Ann Patchett, is a glorious novel about a family running a cherry orchard in Michigan. There’s a mother (who’s the narrator), three young-adult daughters, a fruit-farmer husband, a famous actor and a whole lot of cherries involved. If you love the play “Our Town” -- and who doesn’t? — it also figures in heavily.
I loved this novel mostly because it gets the act of parenting right in the sort of way so few books do — the beauty and triumph and exhaustion and sadness of it. I first discovered Patchett about 20 years ago when a friend recommended her novel “Bel Canto,” which was her breakout hit. Compared to “Tom Lake, “Bel Canto” is a completely different and equally wonderful book, set amid a hostage situation in an unnamed country in South America. If I were you, I’d read them both.
“You Shouldn’t Have Come Here”
Author: Jeneva Rose
Reader: Heidi Finley
I’m an old school gal, and I love airport bookstores — the selections are tightly curated, making it more likely to find an easy read at a glance. When I went in looking for a page-turning mystery during a flight delay, a Colleen Hoover quote caught my eye on the book jacket: “Jeneva Rose is the queen of twists.” The storyline about a New Yorker escaping to a ranch rental where a woman has gone missing and the host has a mysterious past certainly delivered on the twist. As someone whose career is focused on storytelling, it’s hard for me to find a book with an ending that I didn’t see coming. That alone hit the mark for me with “You Shouldn’t Have Come Here.”
Uniquely Charlotte: Uniquely Charlotte is an Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride)of why we live in the Charlotte region.
This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "The 16 best books our team read in 2024, and why they were so lit."
