Skip to Main Content

Best Books of 2024

The Bentley Library's 16th annual Best Books display.

Introducing the Best Books of 2024

We’re celebrating the best of 2024 – best books, that is! Browse below by category (fiction or nonfiction) and format (print or electronic) to see more than 250 titles that appeared on 17 year-end best books lists.* 

Click on any book cover image to check current availability and/or place holds. Bentley students, staff, and faculty can access the titles on the e-books and digital audiobooks lists with a Bentley email address and password. Happy reading!

Fiction (E-Books)

After Annie
All the Colors of the Dark
Anita de Monte Laughs Last
Birding with Benefits
The Blue Hour
The Briar Club
Bride
The Bright Sword
Catalina
The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Clear
The Cliffs
Close to Death
Creation Lake
Enlightenment
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect
The Familiar
First Lie Wins
The Fox Wife
Funny Story
The God of the Woods
The Grey Wolf
Heir
Here One Moment
Home Is Where the Bodies Are
House of Flame and Shadow
Hum
The Hunter
The Hypocrite
James
Lies and Weddings
The Life Impossible
The Lion Women of Tehran
Long Island
The Mercy of Gods
Middle of the Night
The Midnight Feast
The Mighty Red
The Ministry of Time
Murder Road
My Friends
The Night We Lost Him
Not in Love
Nothing Like the Movies
One Perfect Couple
Orbital
Playground
Real Americans
The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Reckless
Rental House
The Rom-Commers
Sandwich
The Silver Bone
A Sorceress Comes to Call
The Storm We Made
Tell Me Everything
This Is Why We Lied
This Strange Eventful History
The Truth about the Devlins
The Unwedding
Vilest Things
Wandering Stars
What Does It Feel Like?
Where the Library Hides
Wild Houses
Wind and Truth
The Women
You Are Here
You Like It Darker

Nonfiction (E-Books)

The Algorithm
An Unfinished Love Story
The Anxious Generation
The Art of Power: My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Charlie Hustle: The Rise of Pete Rose and the Fall of Baseball
Cher: The Memoir, Part One
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
The Formula
Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie
Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music
The Importance of Being Educable: A New Theory of Human Uniqueness
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
Lovely One
The Message
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything
Reagan: His Life and Legend
Revenge of the Tipping Point
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist
Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World
Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell
Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport
What If We Get It Right?
What Went Wrong with Capitalism
The Wide Wide Sea
Woman of Interest

Fiction (Print): A-L

The Adversary
After Annie
All Fours
All the Colors of the Dark
All We Were Promised
American Spirits
An Academy for Liars
Anita de Monte Laughs Last
The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder
Ariel Crashes a Train
Bear
The Beloved
Bloodguard
The Blue Hour
Blue Ruin
Blue Sisters
The Book of Love
The Briar Club
Bride
The Bright Sword
The Bullet Swallower
Catalina
The Cemetery of Untold Stories
Circle in the Water
The City and Its Uncertain Walls
The Cliffs
Close to Death
The Coast Road
Colored Television
Come and Get It
The Comfort of Ghosts
Compound Fracture
The Coven
Creation Lake
Dead in Long Beach, California
Dear Wendy
Divine Mortals
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
The Drowned
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands
The Empusium
Enlightenment
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect
Everything We Never Had
Familiaris
Fire Exit
Flint Kill Creek: Stories of Mystery and Suspense
The Fox Wife
Funny Story
The Fury
Glass Houses
Glorious Exploits
The God of the Woods
Great Expectations
The Grey Wolf
Heavenbreaker
Heir
Held
Here One Moment
House of Flame and Shadow
Housemates
How to Solve Your Own Murder
The Hunter
I Hope This Finds You Well
I'll Be Waiting
Impossible Creatures
Intermezzo
James
Just Another Epic Love Poem: Nothing Ruins a Friendship Like Falling in Love
The Last Bloodcarver
Lazarus Man
Lies and Weddings
The Life Impossible
The Lion Women of Tehran
Long Island Compromise
Long Island

Fiction (Print): M-Z

Martyr!
The Mercy of Gods
Midnight and Blue
The Mighty Red
Mina's Matchbox
Mind Games
The Ministry of Time
My Friends
The Night We Lost Him
Not in Love
Now, Conjurers
One Perfect Couple
Orbital
Our Evenings
Ours
Parade
Playground
Poor Deer
Praiseworthy
The Princess of Las Vegas
Real Americans
The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Reckless
Rental House
The Safekeep
Same As It Ever Was
Sandwich
The Sequel
The Silver Bone
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Southern Man
The Stars Are Dying
A Sunny Place for Shady People
Swift River
Tell Me Everything
This Strange Eventful History
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now ...
The Unwedding
The Voyage Home
Wandering Stars
We Solve Murders
Wild Houses
William
Wind and Truth
The Women
Wrong Norma
You Like It Darker

Nonfiction (Print): A-L

The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience
Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win
The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq
AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference
American Zion: A New History of Mormonism
Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora
An Unfinished Love Story
The Anxious Generation
The Art of Power: My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House
At the Edge of Empire: A Family's Reckoning with China
Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi
Be Ready When the Luck Happens
Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me
The Black Box: Writing the Race
Black Girl You Are Atlas
The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement
Burdened: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land
Catherine de' Medici: The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We'll Win the Climate War
Cher: The Memoir, Part One
Chinese Enough: Homestyle Recipes for Noodles, Dumplings, Stir-Fries, and More
Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI
Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV
Cull of the Wild: Killing in the Name of Conservation
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!)
The Eastern Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918
Easy Weeknight Dinners
The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis
Everything to Play For: How Videogames are Changing the World
The Everything War: Amazon's Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power
Feeding Ghosts
Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America
Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap
From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir
From Under the Truck: A Memoir
Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
Good Reasonable People: The Psychology Behind America's Dangerous Divide
A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America
Grief Is for People
Growth: A History and a Reckoning
The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War
Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music
Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King
Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World
Hip-Hop Is History
Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich
Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net
Homeland: The War on Terror in American Life
How to Live Free in a Dangerous World
How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler
I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine
In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face-to-Face with the Idea of an Afterlife
John Lewis: A Life
Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial that Riveted a Nation
Kent State: An American Tragedy
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York
LatinoLand: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority
Life after Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House
Life and Death of the American Worker
The Light Eaters

Nonfiction (Print): M-Z

Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum
The Message
Metaracism: How Systemic Racism Devastates Black Lives - And How We Break Free
Missing Persons: Or, My Grandmother's Secrets
The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World
Monet: The Restless Vision
The Museum of Other People: From Colonial Acquisitions to Cosmopolitan Exhibitions
Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness
My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present and Future
New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service
On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything
One Nation Under Guns: How Gun Culture Distorts Our History and Threatens Our Democracy
The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports
Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity
Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals
Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942-2022
Patriot
Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World
Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment
Reading Genesis
Reagan: His Life and Legend
The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon
Revenge of the Tipping Point
Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman's Bank
The Secret Life of the Universe: An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
Secrets of the Octopus
'A Seditious and Sinister Tribe': The Crimean Tatars and Their Khanate
See Me Rolling: On Disability, Equality, and Ten-Point Turns
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
She-Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street
The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling
Something about Living
Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right
The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A Case for Reparations
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World
Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde
The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade
The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History
The Taft Court: Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921-1930
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
War
The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives
We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
We Will Be Jaguars
We're Alone
What If We Get It Right?
When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day
Whiskey Tender
Who's Afraid of Gender?
The Wide Wide Sea
Woman, Life, Freedom
The Work of Art

Audiobooks

Anita de Monte Laughs Last
The Anxious Generation
Birding with Benefits
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me
Coming Home
Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV
First Lie Wins
From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir
Funny Story
The Grey Wolf
Here One Moment
The Hunter
Impossible Creatures
James
Lovely One
The Mercy of Gods
The Message
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
One of Our Kind
Patriot
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk
Revenge of the Tipping Point
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
Tell Me Everything
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
We Solve Murders
The Wedding People
What I Ate In One Year
Wind and Truth
The Women

Sources

*Sources consulted: Audible, AudioFile, Barnes & Noble, Bloomberg, Booklist, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, The New York Times, NPR, Publishers Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

Best Books Display Archives

Take  a look back at our previous Best Books displays!