The Best (and Most Overrated) Books of 2024

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

Society & Culture

4.2 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2024

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Which subpar books actually warrant writing a bad review? Do best sellers usually live up to the hype? And how does our relationship with technology affect the publishing industry? Kara sits down with two of her favorite book critics, Dwight Garner of The New York Times and Becca Rothfeld of The Washington Post, to discuss the best and worst books of 2024. The trio debates standout books and notable disappointments, the craft of book reviewing, and the best way to experience a great book. They also explore the importance of best-seller lists, how concerned we should be over the rising tide of book censorship, and which books from 2024 could end up becoming forever classics. Books mentioned includes (listed alphabetically): What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice, Anastasia Berg & Rachel Wiseman Boswell’s London Journal 1762-1763 Believe Nothing Until it is Officially Denied: Claud Cockburn and the Invention of Guerrilla Journalism, Patrick Cockburn D'Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths Carson McCullers: A Life, Mary V. Dearborn You Dreamed of Empires, Álvaro Enrigue James, Percival Everett When the Clock Broke, John Ganz The Upstairs Delicatessen, Dwight Garner Small Rain, Garth Greenwell Lesser Ruins, Mark Haber Alphabetical Diaries, Sheila Heti A Few Words in Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman, Robert Hilburn Splinters, Leslie Jamison Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones Creation Lake, Rachel Kushner Liars, Sarah Manguso We Who Wrestle With God, Jordan B. Peterson Intermezzo, Sally Rooney The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World, Christine Rosen Things Are Too Small, Essays in Praise of Excess, Becca Rothfeld Knife, Salman Rushdie I Heard Her Call My Name, Lucy Sante The Rebel’s Clinic, Adam Schatz The Politics of Cultural Despair, Fritz Stern Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My staff was like, books. No, no, they love books. No, they love books. I'm teasing. But I get to do whatever I want, so it's great.
0:07.2	It's on.
0:20.0	Hi, everyone. From New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:21.3	This is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.
0:23.8	This is the last episode of the year, and we know that everyone is running out of time in their holiday shopping list.
0:29.2	You might expect me to come out with a tech wish list, but I'm going analog this year, books.
0:35.2	I used to read a ton when I was younger, and then I stopped because I
0:39.4	got onto the internet, and I've been, you know, it's the black hole of information, and so
0:43.9	you're always going to the next thing. But I have started reading books in book form,
0:48.5	although I do read on my screen a lot, too. I'm not one of those people who likes, is against
0:53.7	either way. I also listen to a lot of books. It depends on the author. I'm not one of those people who likes, is against either way. I also listen to a lot of
0:56.0	books. It depends on the author. I'm right now listening to Rachel Maddow's prequel, for example.
1:01.1	I'm reading Daniel Mason's books. I love Northwoods, and now I'm going down the Daniel Mason
1:06.1	rabbit hole. And so I think it's really important to think and talk about books. And of course,
1:12.9	they've been in the news a lot because of book bannings and about how the book industry is
1:18.1	doing actually surprisingly better than people thought it would. So we'll see about that.
1:23.3	But I thought it was important to bring in two of my favorite critics besides my wife, Amanda,
1:28.0	Becca Rothfeld from the Washington Post, a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant,
1:33.1	and Dwight Garner, equally brilliant from the New York Times. They're great writers in their own right.
1:39.1	Dwight is the author of The Upstairs Delicatessen on Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating
1:43.9	While Reading, What's Not to eating, and eating while reading,
1:45.2	what's not to like, which came out in 2023. Beka's debut book, All Things Are Two Small
	...

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