Daily Archives: November 29, 2024

How to talk like a football pundit: the best sport books of 2024

It’s been a great year for football fans, and not just because the men’s England team astonishingly reached the Euros finals in July. More than half of this year’s top sport books have something (or everything) to do with the beautiful game. David Peace’s novel Munichs is a poignant recreation of the 1958 Manchester United tragedy and the modest world of the Busby Babes, while in States of Play Miguel Delaney argues that the sport has become a vehicle for the political agendas of global dictators. Have no fear, though — if you prefer smaller balls there’s always the fascinating deep dive into the life and career of the tennis star Novak Djokovic.• See more of the Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024 The Times and Sunday Times sport book of the yearMunichs by David Peace In 1958 an aircraft carrying the Manchester United team careered off a German runway, killing 23, including eight players for England’s reigning champions. Munichs is a novel by David Peace that sticks to the historical record while tugging on emotions in the way only fiction can. In one heart-wrenching scene, repatriated bodies are lying overnight in an Old Trafford gym. A dead player’s mother cannot stop talking, but his father cannot talk at all. Peace’s prose is poetic, even grandiose, but it is fitting for one of the epic tragedies of modern British public life. Peace elevates a black-and-white story into colour, like the flowers of Manchester against the Munich snow.Faber £20Buy a copy of Munichs hereSearching for Novak: The Man Behind the Enigma by Mark Hodgkinson Novak Djokovic was once a prankster, hence his social media handle “DjokerNole”. He became serious after deciding he could be more than tennis’s third man behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He is now the most successful male player in history. His ascent also coincided with becoming a vegan, which encouraged his embrace of counterculture, from the harmless, like drinking magical pyramid water, to the potentially harmful, like refusing the Covid vaccine. In Searching for Novak, Mark Hodgkinson makes a familiar figure far more interesting. Cassell £22Buy a copy of Searching for Novak hereUnique: A Memoir by Kelly Holmes Kelly Holmes’s autobiography, Unique, has a breezy tone, but wrestles with heavy topics such as coming out as a lesbian after serving in the British Army when homosexuality was illegal in the military, as well as self-harm and grief. It has been 20 years since she won golds in the 800m and 1,500m at the Olympic Games in Athens, but her national treasure status is stronger than ever, as confirmed by this book, which was shortlisted for the 2024 William Hill sports book of the year award. Mirror £9.99Buy a copy of Unique hereAdvertisementExtra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom: How to Use (and Abuse) the Language of Football by Adam Hurrey Nobody got into football for the refereeing conspiracies or the corporate skulduggery. The Football Clichés podcast is a happy reminder that the game is supposed to be fun. Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom is a book by Adam Hurrey, the host of the podcast, that analyses the language of football to the point of absurdity, from attempting to define the “bowels of a stadium” to calling Susie Dent from the TV show Countdown a “one-programme woman”, a play on the footballing “one-club man”. Like the podcast, the jokes never run out. A joy.Headline £20Buy a copy of Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom hereHow to Win the Premier League: The Inside Story of Football’s Data Revolution by Ian Graham As the director of research at Liverpool from 2012 to 2023, Ian Graham helped to turn a sleeping giant into English and European champions. He did this with data, finding transfer market inefficiencies to make inspired signings such as the Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah, as well as finding a kindred spirit in the former manager Jürgen Klopp. (His predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, not so much). The modern game makes more sense after reading How to Win the Premier League, which strikes a perfect balance between detail and readability.Century £22Buy a copy of How to Win the Premier League hereStates of Play: How Sportswashing Took Over Football by Miguel Delaney Another book essential for understanding the modern game is Miguel Delaney’s States of Play. In 2010 the world was stunned when the footballing backwater of Qatar was named 2022 World Cup host. Saudi Arabia is the only bidder for the 2034 tournament. Nobody is surprised any more, though. This is what we have come to expect. Delaney makes the compelling case that “sportswashing” is not just about boosting countries’ reputations in the West, it is a tool for dictatorships to survive in a world where the gas and oil is running out.Seven Dials £22Buy a copy of State of Play hereExplore more of The Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024 with our complete guide. Then see who’s topping The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK’s definitive sales chart★ Visit mytimesplus.co.uk for your chance to win a Books of the Year bundleAdvertisementWhat was the best sport book you read this year? Add your recommendations in the comments

Blondie, Bowie and Neneh Cherry: the best music books of the year

Whether it’s Nineties punk, Sixties pop or Forties jazz that floats your boat, there’s plenty of variety in these picks for music lovers. Books providing the inside track on superstardom have had particular success, from Neneh Cherry’s autobiography, rich with celebrity cameos, to the Blondie guitarist Chris Stein’s account of New York’s seedy counterculture. Or go back in time with Paul Alexander’s sensitive portrait of Billie Holiday or the latest instalment in Simon Goddard’s weighty Bowie series. Encore!• See more of the Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024The Times and Sunday Times music book of the yearA Thousand Threads by Neneh CherryNew York jazz, London punk, pop stardom, trip-hop: Neneh Cherry has moved through enough scenes to have material for a dozen memoirs. She weaves it all together in the wonderful A Thousand Threads, a rich autobiography wise to all the joys — and the perils — of a creative life. The bohemian milieu of her mother, the Swedish artist Moki Cherry, and her stepfather, the jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, is key — as a child, she was given a Toblerone by Miles Davis — but she has her own remarkable life to lead, from a stint in the Slits to her pop breakthrough in 1988 with Buffalo Stance. What is she like? Like nobody else.Fern £25Buy a copy of A Thousand Threads hereRebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen HannaGirls to the frontispiece! Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of Bikini Kill and a big noise in the riot grrrl movement, encouraged a generation of young women to take up space, whether at gigs, in zines or on record. A harrowing account of family dysfunction and a pungent recreation of the 1990s scene that also shaped Nirvana, Rebel Girl potently reanimates a lost underground world, with cameos for Kurt Cobain and Kathy Acker. It’s both cultural history and vital protest memoir, and its fight against misogynist creeps is sadly as urgent as ever.William Collins £20Buy a copy of Rebel Girl hereMy Family and Other Rock Stars by Tiffany MurrayNobody has a perspective on rock history quite like Tiffany Murray. Her mother worked as a chef at Monmouthshire’s residential studio Rockfield, so Murray grew up surrounded by starry visitors, hearing Bohemian Rhapsody take shape and serving David Bowie his dinner (he only wanted “a little bit”). Hardcore music nerds might prefer forensic breakdowns of studio sessions, but if you want to know how to get solid food into Lemmy, this child’s-eye view of a grown-up world is a delight.Fleet £22Buy a copy of My Family and Other Rock Stars hereAdvertisement1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left by Robyn HitchcockThis close-up memoir of a year in the life of the singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock beautifully documents the power of music to open up new worlds. While the 13-year-old navigates dismal boarding school and his parents’ postwar trauma, he is also discovering the psychedelic landing lights — Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Incredible String Band — that will guide him towards his musical destiny. It’s a cosmic gender-switched Malory Towers, with the midnight feasts replaced by happenings hosted by a Winchester Art School student called Brian Eno.Constable £22Buy a copy of 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left hereHip-Hop Is History by Questlove and Ben GreenmanOne autumn night in 1979, the eight-year-old Ahmir Thompson was washing up when Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang came on the radio. That epiphany pitched him straight into hip-hop’s story, first as a record-collecting obsessive, then as Questlove, a founder of Philadelphia’s the Roots. His fascinating book covers 50 years of hip-hop, synthesising a fan’s passions with practitioner’s erudition, a compendium of knowledge, lore and analysis that’s a gift to both eager neophytes and Adidas-wearing veterans.White Rabbit £25Buy a copy of Hip-Hop Is History hereUnder a Rock: A Memoir by Chris SteinBorn in 1950, Chris Stein was the right age to benefit fully from rock’n’roll, becoming a Brooklyn Beatles fan, a Haight Ashbury-visiting hippie and, ultimately, the guitarist with New York’s new wave superstars Blondie. The result is an unusually Zelig-like autobiography, one that captures brilliant pop glory as well as addiction, poverty, urban blight. With David Bowie, Jean-Michel Basquiat and William Burroughs wandering through this book, it’s essential for Blondie fans and anyone interested in New York’s cultural crosscurrents.Corsair £25Buy a copy of Under a Rock hereEarth to Moon by Moon Unit ZappaWith this jaw-dropping memoir, the eldest daughter of the sardonic countercultural scourge Frank Zappa and his “manager” Gail underlines how easily women and children are sacrificed on the altar of male “genius”. The Zappas’ laid-back California household (clothes optional, groupies welcome) is a hatchery of unbounded dysfunction, while Valley Girl, the 14-year-old Moon’s 1982 novelty hit with her father, stirs fame into an already complicated psychological mix. It’s beautifully written and intensely evocative of her parents’ absurdist bohemia, but it’s the damage that lingers.White Rabbit £22Buy a copy of Earth to Moon hereBowie Odyssey 74 by Simon GoddardWith Simon Goddard’s monumental David Bowie decalogy hitting its halfway point, it’s a good time to catch up with his exhilarating year-by-year reconstruction of the star’s 1970s. It’s the year of Diamond Dogs, and Bowie is “as edgy as a getaway driver’. Goddard’s David Peace-like fictionalisation is as alert to dark currents in the wider world — especially The Exorcist — as it is to the turbulence in Bowie’s mind. Perfectly balanced between deep research and imaginative force, it’s like wiretapping the past.Omnibus £16.99Buy a copy of Bowie Odyssey 74 hereAdvertisementBitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday’s Last Year by Paul AlexanderNeither casting her as victim nor ignoring her traumas — racism, addiction, violent men — Paul Alexander’s sensitive biography of Billie Holiday views her life through the lens of her fragile final year. She died on July 17, 1959, but Alexander stresses how much she achieved in 44 years, despite the forces working against her — not least J Edgar Hoover. “No matter what the motherf***ers do to you, never let them see you cry,” she once said, but this is an emotional read.Canongate £20Buy a copy of Bitter Crop hereExplore more of The Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024 with our complete guide. Then see who’s topping The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK’s definitive sales chart★ Visit mytimesplus.co.uk for your chance to win a Books of the Year bundleWhat was the best book about music you read this year? Add your recommendations in the comments

Why teens are anxious: 8 great provocative books about ideas

Who are the members of the new ruling class? Are mobile phones turning teenagers loopy? Did the Virgin Mary ever breathe fire? Can you divide the establishment into two tribes — “the River” and “the Village”? Do neurotic, jittery times lead to artistic and intellectual flourishing? So many questions. But this guide to what the booksellers call “smart thinking” books might have a few answers. Enjoy expanding your intellectual horizons.• See more of the Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024The Times and Sunday Times best thought book of the yearThe Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt Between 2010 and 2018 rates of teenage depression doubled and cases of self-harm among girls rose by 188 per cent. In The Anxious Generation, the American psychologist Jonathan Haidt marshals the data to make the almost unanswerable case that the cause of this catastrophe is the advent of near-ubiquitous smartphones. Rather than playing with their friends, modern teenagers are isolated in their rooms scrolling through social media content on their phones, which is deluging them with toxic information. Predictably, this is not making them happy. This is a depressing but essential read.Allen Lane £25Buy a copy of The Anxious Generation hereBorn to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite by Sam Friedman and Aaron Reeves In this gripping work of social commentary the sociologists Sam Friedman and Aaron Reeves dissect Britain’s elite. Who’s in it? What do they believe? How do they spend their free time? Friedman and Reeves make ingenious use of data from sources such as Desert Island Discs and Who’s Who to build their argument that members of today’s establishment are obsessed with trying to pass themselves off as normal and relatable. Almost none of the powerful and influential people they talk to will admit to being in the establishment. Why are they so embarrassed about it? It’s a fascinating thesis.Harvard £20Buy a copy of Born to Rule hereMortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna and the Discovery of the Modern Mind by Frank Tallis This brilliantly rich book about Sigmund Freud’s Vienna shows how psychoanalysis was shaped by the city of its birth. Fittingly, the milieu was pretty neurotic. The capital of an empire tottering towards its doom, Vienna had the highest suicide rate of any European city and was filled with artists and composers tortured by nerves, lust and unrequited love. We meet an impotent Gustav Mahler weeping on the floor of his garden shed and the “compulsive philanderer” Gustav Klimt stalking society beauties in his artist’s smock. It’s wonderfully vivid stuff.Little, Brown £25Buy a copy of Mortal Secrets hereAdvertisementNexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari Yuval Noah Harari is the undisputed maestro of the big idea. In his mega-selling Sapiens he traced the history of all humanity from the distant neolithic to the present. This book about the history of information networks takes in the birth of writing, the rise of the first bureaucracies, the invention of the printing press, trots through the Industrial Revolution and finishes up with some pretty alarming thoughts about how “our new AI overlords” will control society. All this without the author even seeming to break sweat. Some find Harari spurious and loopily overambitious, but nobody can pull off a big theory as suavely as he can.Fern £28Buy a copy of Nexus hereHeresy: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God by Catherine Nixey Are you familiar with the Bible story in which Jesus resurrects the chicken from his bowl of soup? How about the one in which the Virgin Mary breathes fire? Catherine Nixey explains why these splendid tales never made it into the Bible. Heresy is a gripping and beautifully written account of the diverse and exciting beliefs that flourished in the early years of Christian history and how they were hammered out into the one story that has been passed down to us. The past is stranger than it seems.Picador £25Buy a copy of Heresy hereOn the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything by Nate Silver Nate Silver is a polling guru, poker player, political prognosticator and risk expert. This intriguing (although sometimes rambling) book on the art of risk-taking divides the American establishment into two tribes: “the River” and “the Village”. The main focus of Silver’s attention are the mathematically literate River people — Silicon Valley types — who understand risk and use it to make informed decisions. The Village is composed of arty-farty old media buffoons like me who make predictions based on emotions and hunches. You can guess where Silver’s sympathies lie. It’s an intriguing idea and worth reading even if you are allergic to the hubris of tech bros.Allen Lane £30Buy a copy of On the Edge hereThe History of Ideas: Equality, Justice and Revolution by David Runciman David Runciman is a University of Cambridge politics professor turned podcaster whose show Past Present Future is essential listening for the more highbrow kind of politics obsessive. This eclectic survey of a ragbag of great political thinkers takes in characters as diverse as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Rosa Luxemburg, Samuel Butler, Simone de Beauvoir and Jeremy Bentham. Runciman is a superbly lucid and conversational guide — this is a perfect starting place for anyone wanting to get their teeth into the history of political philosophy.Profile £22Buy a copy of The History of Ideas hereHow the World Made the West: A 4,000-Year History by Josephine Quinn The history of western civilisation is more complicated than you thought, argues Josephine Quinn, a professor of ancient history, in this fascinating book. We are accustomed to assuming that we are the inheritors of a political, philosophical and technological tradition that can be traced back to ancient Athens and ancient Rome. In fact, Quinn says, the ancient world was globalised. Thanks to ideas spreading across continents and cultural boundaries, influences from Asia, India and the Islamic world were streaming into the Mediterranean, so European culture is less European than you may think. Quinn can get carried away with this trendy idea, but it’s still a provoking read.Bloomsbury £30Buy a copy of How the World Made the West hereAdvertisementExplore more of The Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024 with our complete guide. Then see who’s topping The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK’s definitive sales chart★ Visit mytimesplus.co.uk for your chance to win a Books of the Year bundleWhat was the best book about smart thinking you read this year? Add your recommendations in the comments

Angry? Stressed? Sexually frustrated? The year’s best self-help books

It’s a tale as old as time. You head into Christmas stressed or depressed, determined to turn things round come January, and nothing changes. But maybe you just haven’t been reading the right books. Whether you’re angry, sexually frustrated, socially isolated or unhappily single, these self-help books will provide no-nonsense advice and assurance. Well, maybe a bit of nonsense — but who can resist the neuroscience of manifestation? If it’s on your wish list, try out some breathing exercises and Santa might just come through. Every day in her private clinic, the psychotherapist Jennifer Cox sees women with an array of symptoms, including anxiety, eating disorders, migraines and eczema. She believes that while the symptoms are different, the reason is the same: anger. This book argues that from the moment we are born, girls are told to be nice, quiet and not make a fuss. But repressing anger is making women ill. Cox explores the effect anger has on the body and suggests safe ways to express it. On her advice I tried bashing a hammer on my mattress and screaming — cannot deny the euphoria that followed. An eye-opener.Lagom £16.99Buy a copy of Women Are Angry hereYour Journey, Your Way: How to Make the Mental Health System Work for You by Horatio ClareAt the height of his delusions Horatio Clare believed he was on a secret mission with the security service to bring about world peace — and that he was engaged to Kylie Minogue. He was sectioned and diagnosed with cyclothymia (a type of bipolar disorder). This warm, funny and generous book is about how Clare navigated NHS mental health services and the treatments he tried. In being so honest about his own breakdown, Clare normalises the mental health issues that so many of us face or fear. He makes the case that madness has always been part of being human. What was called melancholy in Shakespeare’s time is now called depression, bipolar disorder or seasonal affective disorder. If the modern labels help you, he says, take them. If they don’t, don’t. There is not a human who wouldn’t benefit from reading this book.Penguin Life £18.99Buy a copy of Your Journey, Your Way hereCome Together: The Science (and Art) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections by Emily NagoskiThis is the only sex book I’ve read — and I’ve read many — that tells readers that sex really doesn’t matter that much. Emily Nagoski explores sex in long-term relationships, reassuring her readers that such relationships are “hardly ever at risk because of a sex issue … Save urgency for the problems where you have something to lose, like disagreements about money, children or health issues.” She says there are times you are not going to want sex, and that’s OK. She wants to take the pressure off. A sane, kind, down-to-earth book.Vermilion £16.99Buy a copy of Come Together hereAdvertisementWomen Living Deliciously by Florence GivenThis is not a perfect book — it’s repetitive and could be accused of being a hotchpotch of feminism and self-help — but it is a book I wish I had read in my teens and twenties, one that I learnt from even as a woman in her forties. As the blurb goes, Florence Given “wants us to fall in love with our lives”, and I think she succeeds. Given breaks down the ways that young women are told to be ashamed of their bodies and live for other people’s approval. She does this by narrating the inner monologue a young woman might have; for example, about her appearance every time she leaves the house. It broke my heart to read because it reminded me of how much of my life I wasted thinking this way. Brazen £20Buy a copy of Women Living Deliciously hereMind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything by James DotyJames Doty was a poor boy in rural California when he walked into a magic shop and met a woman who taught him how to meditate and to think about all the things he wanted. He knew what he wanted: a Rolex, a Porsche, a mansion by the sea, and to become a doctor. Fast-forward 30 years and Doty had become a neuroscientist at Stanford with a fleet of fast cars and a house on the ocean. He had manifested his dream life — only to realise it made him miserable: he lost $75 million in the 2000 dotcom crash, then his marriage, which had suffered from years of him putting work first. This book is about what happened next. It explains that manifestation is not magical thinking: it has a basis in neuroscience. If we spend time imagining these things, the images become embedded into our subconscious, which means that our conscious mind looks for things in the real world that align with this image. In this thinking person’s version of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, Doty walks us through various breathing and visualisation exercises, which I found helpful and relaxing.Yellow Kite £16.99Buy a copy of Mind Magic hereUnstressable: A Practical Guide to Stress-Free Living by Mo Gawdat and Alice LawA practical, clear and refreshing guide to alleviating stress that examines what causes it and when and how it tips into burnout. The authors — both of whose fathers died of stress-related issues — believe we can take more control of our stressful environment than we do: we can choose not to watch 24/7 news and serial killer series in our spare time; we can do basic things like switch off our phones and take deep breaths. And they also point out that sometimes stress is unavoidable, so roll with it. They make the case that difficult times can lead to something called post-traumatic growth. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger; it might seem like obvious advice, but something about this book made me pay attention. Bluebird £16.99Buy a copy of Unstressable hereSingle at Heart: The Power, Freedom, and Joy of Single Life by Bella DePauloBella DePaulo, a social scientist who has spent her career studying the single experience and a lifetime living it, believes that some people are single at heart. As she puts it: “For us, single life is our best life. It is our most authentic, meaningful, and fulfilling life.” This book is about those people and how to know if you are one of them, even if you are in a couple. I nodded along in recognition, grateful to read about other people like me. This is an important book, showing the stigma attached to the unattached. It’s also useful for coupled-up people who want to understand their single friends more.Profile £14.99Buy a copy of Single at Heart hereThe Laws of Connection: 13 Social Strategies That Will Transform Your Life by David Robson We all know that to be healthy we need to eat well, sleep for eight hours, avoid stress and exercise regularly. But did you know that we also need to spend time with friends? “According to an enormous body of research, social connection is as essential for our long-term health as a balanced diet and regular physical activity, while loneliness can be a slow-acting poison that severely reduces our lifespan,” the science writer David Robson argues. When we form meaningful bonds with others, our wounds heal faster, we shake off infections more quickly and our blood pressure drops. Robson also offers ways to help us interact with each other in a better way, and dismisses the idea that it is possible to not be a “people person”. It is our fear of not being liked that holds us back. So go to that party this weekend — it might save your life. Canongate £18.99Buy a copy of The Laws of Connection hereAdvertisementExplore more of The Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024 with our complete guide. Then see who’s topping The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK’s definitive sales chart★ Visit mytimesplus.co.uk for your chance to win a Books of the Year bundleWhat was the best self-help book you read this year? Add your recommendations in the comments

Boris, Liz, Kemi and Keir: the best politics books of the year

‘All political lives end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs,” a failed politician once said. It’s true — but failure does make for good copy. Anthony Seldon’s autopsy of the 49 inglorious days of Liz Truss’s time in Downing Street is a gripping read. How Not to Be a Prime Minister is the book’s witty subtitle; have Kemi Badenoch or Keir Starmer, the subjects of two biographies, read it yet? They really ought to.Just who is the real Keir Starmer? Even after Labour’s decisive general election victory that confounding question remains. None has come as close to a comprehensive answer as Tom Baldwin, the former Times journalist and Labour adviser who spent many dozens of hours with our unknowable prime minister — an uncharacteristic display of openness Starmer is unlikely to repeat. Some of his advisers and spinners were furious when this sympathetic but unslavish book was proposed, and readers will see why: it’s part political history, part psychotherapy transcript, and Baldwin sees almost everything — and writes about it with an old-fashioned elegance. Whenever the prime minister does something weird or unpolitical, consult this book and you’ll find out why.William Collins £25Buy a copy of Keir Starmer: The Biography hereUnleashed by Boris Johnson Apologies to the 48 per cent who voted Remain, but Boris Johnson’s memoir is funny — occasionally properly, laugh-out-loud funny — and he knows how to spin an entertaining yarn. Unlike most other politicians, he can write. These are rare qualities in Westminster and his autobiography, when it hits fifth gear, is a reminder of what might have been; not least the impassioned defence of levelling-up and hymns to the opportunities of Brexit. Of course, genuine self-examination is in short supply, but come on — this is a book by Boris Johnson. In the evasions and dissembling, always well written at least, there’s more than enough to vindicate his critics, so for once he offers something for everyone.William Collins £30Buy a copy of Unleashed hereAdvertisementTruss at 10: How Not to Be Prime Minister by Anthony Seldon with Jonathan MeakinHow do they do it? Anthony Seldon’s post mortems of each premiership are now as much a part of the constitutional formality of resignation as going to see the King or speaking from the steps of No 10. The historian’s books are always good and richly sourced, but this one, on the most ignominious 49 days British politics will ever know, might well be the best. It pays Liz Truss the ultimate compliment of taking her seriously — there’s even room for praise here, believe it or not — and as such the scholarly verdict is all the more damning. It’s not often that self-consciously serious books on politics are compulsively readable and this entertaining. For that Truss and Seldon can share the comic plaudits.Atlantic £22Buy a copy of Truss at 10 hereBlue Ambition: The Unauthorised Biography of Kemi Badenoch by Michael AshcroftIt really has been a historic year in British politics: Labour won an election, the Conservatives elected a black woman as their leader and Michael Ashcroft produced a readable biography. The billionaire Tory peer’s rush-jobs — researched and largely written by ghost writers — are seldom any good. His biography of Kemi Badenoch is an exception. It captures everything that makes the new Tory leader compelling: the Nigerian childhood, the loud-and-proud contrarianism, the iconoclasm on questions of race and identity and the always engaging if frequently divisive personality. The prose doesn’t sparkle, but readers will learn a lot.Biteback £20Buy a copy of Blue Ambition hereKingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers by Graham BradyThe perfect companion piece to Seldon and Johnson, the former 1922 Committee chairman’s memoir dispenses spectacularly with the obligations that once defined him — discretion, restraint and saying nothing about the number of letters of no-confidence in his office safe — and shows us how power really works at the commanding heights of British politics. By turns waspish and bone-dry, Graham Brady is a charming guide to the mortal combat that was the Conservative Party 2015-2024. Myths are debunked, prime ministers exposed and secrets revealed. As long as the Tories exist, his book will be essential.Ithaca £25Buy a copy of Kingmaker hereA Woman Like Me: A Memoir by Diane AbbottAfter a year in which she became a symbol of Labour’s civil war, Diane Abbott’s memoir is a reminder of just how significant a politician she is — and takes us well beyond the two-dimensional portrayals of recent years. She is witty and warm as she retraces her historic journey: the child of Jamaican immigrants who kept defying the odds to reach Cambridge, parliament and the shadow cabinet. No punches are pulled, not least regarding the young Jeremy Corbyn’s unconventional dating style or on the human impact of the racist abuse that has been the price of admission for her career in politics. Everyone needs to read a political book that isn’t about swaggering posh boys once in a while — make it this one.Viking £25Buy a copy of A Woman Like Me hereOn Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century by Tony BlairOver the 17 years that have passed since his resignation as prime minister and abrupt departure from British politics, Tony Blair has been on quite the journey — this breezy little book is the closest we’ll get to a sequel to his autobiography of the same name. He calls it the instruction manual he wished he’d had as prime minister, and while it’s unlikely that readers will agree with all of its prescriptions (anyone for Singapore-style megabucks salaries for MPs?), they are thought-provoking and lucidly done.Hutchinson Heinemann £25Buy a copy of On Leadership hereAdvertisementWar by Bob WoodwardAt 81, the elder half of the team that exposed Watergate is still doing what he does best: ferreting through Washington’s corridors of power. His latest is really an account of three wars: in Ukraine, Gaza and the struggle for the US presidency. Reading it makes you wonder where the Joe Biden of its pages disappeared to on the campaign trail; the outgoing president rails against Benjamin Netanyahu as “that son of a bitch” and Putin as “the epitome of evil”. And while Woodward transparently hates Trump, there’s no better guide to his impact.Simon & Schuster £25Buy a copy of War hereAutocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World by Anne ApplebaumIn the 1990s, when western politicians were going to the opera with Vladimir Putin and getting all misty-eyed about the potential for Chinese democracy, the American journalist Anne Applebaum was warning that all was not as rosy at it seemed. You could forgive her for making her latest book a crowing victory lap, but Autocracy, Inc — a tour d’horizon of the rise of dictatorships in east and west, north and south, from Russia to Zimbabwe via Turkey — is rigorous and ruthless. Its laser focus on the relationship between criminal cash and strongmen rulers may well come in handy from January too.Allen Lane £20Buy a copy of Autocracy, Inc herePlus, the 5 best world affairs books of the yearBy Mark UrbanIf you want to understand the black propaganda being pumped out from Russia, then read How to Win an Information War, an account of the cunning activities of Sefton Delmer, who used his skills as a tabloid hack to sow confusion and sap morale in Nazi Germany. But do we ever learn the lessons of the past? We suspect David Richards, the former chief of the defence staff, doesn’t think so: he gives an unsparing analysis of Britain’s underpowered defence strategy.How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler by Peter PomerantsevThis beautifully crafted book is the third from an author who has made a speciality of exploring post-truth and information wars. It takes us to the secret world of the black propaganda units toiling away at Woburn Abbey, and in particular to the remarkable Sefton Delmer, who ran a successful operation against the Nazis. “How do you deliver truth to people who are resistant to it?” Peter Pomerantsev asks. It’s Hitler’s admirers he’s writing about, but he may just as well be focusing on today’s online warfare. Delmer’s gift was that, having grown up in Germany during the First World War, he could unlock the peculiarities of its psyche, from its self-loathing or “schweinhund” traits, to its weakness for authority figures, even its interest in sadomasochistic sex. Delmer set up propaganda stations that drew in Nazi supporters by pretending to be “super-patriotic”, then undermined their certainty by sharing tales of corruption or defeat at the front that they knew to be true. It’s a terrific tale that couldn’t be more timely.Faber £20Buy a copy of How to Win an Information War hereAdvertisementPrivate Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China by Yuan Yang Four women are chosen to represent China’s transformation. They are, the author writes, “unusually accomplished idealists”, who set forth in that spirit, “open to new ideas and self-transformation”. The scene is set in villages where young girls traditionally had little more to look forward to than backbreaking toil and trying to produce male children. “An inevitable life,” Yuan Yang writes of Leiya, one of her heroines, “a shit life.” So she and the other three opt for something different — they head to the cities, ending up in factories or colleges. It’s a remarkable debut from a gifted author who, having left China in 1990 for Britain, returned as a correspondent for the Financial Times. In July Yang became a Labour MP.Bloomsbury Circus £22Buy a copy of Private Revolutions hereTo Run the World: The Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power by Sergei Radchenko Running through this history of post-1945 Soviet foreign policy is the theme of a resentful power that wants to be taken seriously. And that preoccupation with great power status remains relevant. Mining the archives during years when there was greater openness, Sergei Radchenko produces revelations ranging from the chilling to the bizarre. Soon after the Second World War, for example, Stalin felt the Soviet Union’s status required it to have colonies, taking a brief fancy to Libya, before this was thwarted by the western powers. Another great passage shows Stalin writing off the US as weak because it did not resort to nuclear weapons during the Korean War. Radchenko also charts the relationship between China and Russia, from a point when Soviet leaders expected to boss them about like the popes of a communist orthodoxy to the changed realities of more recent times.CUP £30Buy a copy of To Run the World hereThe Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the Middle East, 1979-2003 by Steve Coll This is a peerless exploration of Iraq’s dictatorship, enriched by material from hundreds of hours of recordings of Saddam Hussein’s government meetings, as well as the reflections of those around him. The book also exposes how American leaders misunderstood what was going on there, resulting in the disastrous invasion of 2003. If Iraq was hard to read, that was in no small part due to the layers of distrust, tight security and paranoia that surrounded Saddam. In the end even his most senior officials didn’t know whether they had weapons of mass destruction, and their speculation on this topic confirmed for the US intelligence agencies eavesdropping on them that there was deception afoot. This, though, is not an exploration of international statecraft. Rather, Steve Coll, whose gifts as a storyteller are prodigious, roots it in the personal stories of Iraqis who served the regime, serving the reader a feast of anecdote and insight.Allen Lane £30Buy a copy of The Achilles Trap hereThe Retreat from Strategy: Britain’s Dangerous Confusion of Interests with Values by David Richards and Julian Lindley-French This is an unsparing dissection of flawed UK defence and security policy over the past 50 years, as it has degenerated into what the authors call “virtue imperialism”, propelled by “misplaced historical guilt”. Too many defence decisions, particularly since the disastrous 2010 defence review, have been driven by short-term political expediency. Too little emphasis has been given to financing a defence programme where the enormous costs of being a nuclear weapons state contribute to the hollowing out of everything else. But this is not the grumbling of two reactionary old soldiers from the sanctuary of their London club. Tony Blair and his defence secretary Des Browne are frequently cited as authorities, and the former chief of the defence staff David Richards knows all too well how badly governments of different hues have failed to pursue a coherent strategy. With a “profound shift of coercive power” in favour of China they argue the country needs to rethink its defence efforts. As for prescriptions, they urge the new Labour government to “think the unthinkable” about the country being attacked and to spend more on the military.Hurst £25Buy a copy of The Retreat from Strategy hereExplore more of The Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024 with our complete guide. Then see who’s topping The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK’s definitive sales chartAdvertisement★ Visit mytimesplus.co.ukfor your chance to win a Books of the Year bundleWhat was the best political or world affairs book you read this year? Add your recommendations in the comments

Bottoms up! The best food and drink books of 2024

Are you sick yet from all those adverts for turkey, stuffing and mince pies? Not to worry. There are culinary delights for every palate in our collection of great food writing. Swot up on your baking with Nicola Lamb, layer flavour on flavour with Yotam Ottolenghi or go Greek with Georgina Hayden in these picks. Chefs of every calibre will find something worth savouring, whether you’re at the wine-pairing stage or you prefer your dinner air-fried in 20 minutes.If you find baking a mysterious art in which success and failure are bestowed seemingly at random by a capricious kitchen god, Nicola Lamb is on hand to add a little scientific rigour to your pastry, biscuit and cake making. For those who want it, the book opens with a deep dive into the properties of flour, sugar, eggs and fat and how they interact to achieve the kind of bake you want. Fear not, though. Above all, Lamb knows how to turn out a delicious treat: she was trained in some of the best bakeries in London and New York (including Ottolenghi and Dominique Ansell). Earl Grey-scented scones, brown-butter banana cookies, tomato and fennel tartes tatins and apricot and rosemary polenta cake all feature in a baking bible to savour.Ebury £30Buy a copy of Sift hereEasy Wins by Anna Jones My resident vegetarian has recently left home, but I’ll continue to cook from Anna Jones’s latest offering, which is plant-focused, but decidedly not vegan. Divided into chapters based on key flavour-boosting ingredients — lemon, vinegar, chilli, miso, garlic etc — it avoids the pitfall of many vegetarian books in that almost every recipe stands on its own as a main course. Double lemon pilaf with buttery almonds, roast sweet potatoes with sticky chilli salsa, and aubergine, tamarind and peanut curry have all become staples. Nice puddings too, such as miso banana caramel whip.4th Estate £28Buy a copy of Easy Wins hereComfort by Yotam Ottolenghi For some of his detractors, Otam Ottolenghi’s recipes are far too complex and lengthy for the day-to-day, but with cooking you get out what you put in. As the Israeli-British chef might say, to make an omelette you’ve got to break a few eggs (and add aubergines, shallot, garlic, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, minced lamb and harissa in the case of the tortang talong Filipino omelette). Ottolenghi’s genius is not just in the many layers of flavour he achieves, but in his shrewd mentoring of the cooks and home economists in his stable, which gives him a global breadth few recipe writers can achieve. Here we go from Chinese one pots of soy-braised pork belly to Austrian kaiserschmarrn in a celebration of the food we crave round the world, seen through a British lens.Ebury £30Buy a copy of Comfort hereAdvertisementGino’s Air Fryer Cookbook: Italian Classics Made Easy by Gino D’Acampo Don’t laugh. I too once thought Gino D’Acampo was a TV sideshow, but this is the most useful of the crop of air fryer recipe books that have hit the shelves this year — to match, no doubt, the number of mini ovens that will be wrapped under Christmas trees. I’m not sure D’Acampo’s dishes would be recognised in Italy, but his carbonara potatoes, rich with cream, bacon and cheese, and chicken Kyiv with sage and pecorino are comfort dishes of the highest order. That they can be cooked in an air fryer (or regular oven) is a bonus.Bloomsbury £22Buy a copy of Gino’s Air Fryer Cookbook hereAmuse Bouche: How to Eat Your Way Around France by Carolyn Boyd This richly researched and highly readable wander round the regions of France is a tour de force and essential reading for anyone (myself included) who finds they have more misses than hits when it comes to eating in the birthplace of modern European cuisine. It’s not so much a guide book as a celebration, but as you learn to tell your opera cake from your bagatelle or identify the non-negotiables of an “authentic” salade niçoise (anchovies or tuna — no green beans or potatoes), you emerge out at the other end knowing you’ll make much more of France’s rich bounty the next time you visit.Profile £18.99Buy a copy of Amuse Bouche hereA Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin by Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown You don’t have to be a gin drinker to know two “facts” about the spirit: one, it derives from Dutch genever and, two, it was a cause of such social delinquency that the government had to introduce several gin acts to curb its abuse. Unfortunately, as Anistatia Miller, a drinks historian, and Jared Brown, a co-founder of the distillery Sipsmith, tell us in the first sentence: “We ought to begin with an apology: pretty much everything we thought we knew about gin history is wrong.” They go on to explain that juniper-flavoured alcohol was popular in Britain long before soldiers developed a taste for genever during the Thirty Years’ War and that Hogarthian scenes of depravity were “tabloid puffery”. Gin’s origins and the reasons for its growing popularity are much more interesting than that, making this concise history as essential to the drink’s story as ice and a slice.Mixellany £14.95Who’s Afraid of Romanée-Conti? A Shortcut to Drinking Great Wines by Dan Keeling Dan Keeling used to be in the music business and he brings a little rock’n’roll swagger and “outsiderness” to this compendium of contemporary wines; the subtitle says the book is “a shortcut to drinking great wines”, and while Keeling takes the subject seriously, he also treats it with a delicious swig of irreverence. After all, if drinking isn’t fun, why bother? So, while he ticks off all the usual boxes — the best grape varieties, terroirs and producers — he intersperses it with asides such as how to spot the plums on a restaurant wine list (Keeling should know: he is a co-owner of the Noble Rot restaurants in London) and why it’s better to drink a superior wine from a bad vintage than an inferior wine from a good one.Quadrille £30Buy a copy of Who’s Afraid of Romanée-Conti? hereVegetables: Easy and Inventive Vegetarian Suppers by Mark Diacono Mark Diacono has a popular column in The Sunday Times in which he introduces minor tweaks to enliven familiar dishes. Here he does something similar for vegetables, adding caraway to the pastry in a potato pie or substituting aubergines for the smoked fish in a very successful kedgeree. Diacono’s prose is a joy — chatty, informative and always encouraging — and the recipes are within even the most amateurish cook’s capabilities.Hardie Grant £27Buy a copy of Vegetables hereAdvertisementMediterra: Recipes from the Islands and Shores of the Mediterranean by Ben Tish It’s horses for courses with chefs’ books; each brings their trademark style. Ben Tish, the chef-director of the Cubitt House restaurant group, has long championed the food of the Mediterranean, from southern Spain and France to the Maghreb and every country in between, but really he specialises in deliciousness. There’s not a single recipe in this beautifully photographed book that I don’t want to dive straight into. Buy it, cook from it, make friends through it.Bloomsbury Absolute £26Buy a copy of Mediterra hereGreekish: Everyday Recipes with Greek Roots by Georgina Hayden Greece is enjoying its time in the sun at the moment, with a renaissance of interest in its cuisine. Georgina Hayden, who grew up above her grandparents’ Greek-Cypriot tavern in Tufnell Park, north London, has brought her heritage up to date with the kind of practical cooking that allows you to put supper on the table with the minimum of fuss. Spanakopita jacket potatoes, halloumi fried chicken, baklava cheesecake … Greekish is the word.Bloomsbury £26Buy a copy of Greekish hereExplore more of The Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024 with our complete guide. Then see who’s topping The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK’s definitive sales chart★ Visit mytimesplus.co.uk for your chance to win a Books of the Year bundleWhat was the best food or cookbook you read this year? Add your recommendations in the comments

From the Vikings to the CIA, here are the best history books of 2024

Fancy some rum, sodomy and the lash? We’ve got that sorted. You’ll find a dash of that in the pages of NAM Rodger’s monumental history of the Royal Navy. Our guide to the best history books of the year also includes a rollicking ride through Edwardian Britain with its swindlers and charlatans, a portrait of the doomed and decadent gender-fluid Weimar Republic, an account of the overlooked Eastern Front and biographies of the fox-tossing Augustus the Strong, the warrior-king Henry V and the long-legged charmer the Duke of Buckingham. Published in two volumes, Peter Parker’s collage of homosexual life in London from 1945 to 1967 is a monumental achievement, bringing together diaries, memoirs, police records and newspaper editorials to present an irresistibly immersive history of gay men’s lives in the shadows. No brief description can capture the richness and variety of this fabulous project — not least its glorious cast, which ranges from John Gielgud and Noël Coward to Jeremy Thorpe and Kenneth Williams. Brilliantly compiled and wryly edited, it’s often a darkly funny book, infused with all the joy, tragedy, strangeness and frailty of human life. I loved it. Penguin Classics £30 eachBuy a copy of Some Men in London: Queer Life, 1945-1959 and Some Men in London: Queer Life, 1960-1967 hereThe Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham by Lucy Hughes-HallettGeorge Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was notable for his charm, good looks and impossibly long legs, all of which endeared him to James I. To their Jacobean contemporaries their relationship was a scandal, but Lucy Hughes-Hallett sketches it with rare insight and genuine sympathy. Dazzlingly unconventional, her biography immerses you in the rituals of the Stuart court, but she never loses sight of the personal tragedy at its heart. This is a stunningly good book, and should be a contender for every prize going. 4th Estate £30Buy a copy of The Scapegoat hereThe Barn: The Murder of Emmett Till and the Cradle of American Racism by Wright ThompsonOne day in August 1955 a cheeky black teenager called Emmett Till whistled at a white woman in a Mississippi grocery store. A few days later a group of white men kidnapped him, took him to a barn, tortured and killed him. He was just 14 years old. When an all-white jury found his killers not guilty of murder, the story became an international scandal, and in this riveting investigation Wright Thompson uses it to frame a devastating history of racism in the American South.Hutchinson Heinemann £25Buy a copy of The Barn: The Murder of Emmett Till and the Cradle of American Racism hereAdvertisementLittle Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era by Alwyn TurnerFor sheer entertainment, this rollicking account of Britain before the Great War is hard to beat, brimming as it is with swindlers, murderers and charlatans, imperialist fantasies and saucy innuendos. The scope is vast, covering everything from the suffragettes to The Wind in the Willows, and Alwyn Turner proves a wonderfully enthusiastic narrator. I can’t think of another historian who, on introducing the cavalier figure of Edward VII, would remember to tell us that he owned a golf bag made from an elephant’s penis.Profile £25Buy a copy of Little Englanders hereAugustus the Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco by Tim BlanningAs both king of Poland and elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong should have been one of the powerbrokers of his age. Instead he spent his time collecting porcelain, amassing mistresses and tossing hundreds of foxes to their deaths. That was bad news for the people of Poland, but excellent news for Tim Blanning, who uses Augustus’s chaotic life to explore the richly entertaining landscape of central European politics and culture in the early 18th century.Allen Lane £30Buy a copy of Augustus the Strong hereOliver Cromwell: Commander in Chief by Ronald HuttonThe first volume of Ronald Hutton’s biography of Cromwell was a masterpiece. The second, focusing on the crucial years of the late 1640s and early 1650s, is too. Hutton is a wise and thoughtful guide through the thickets of the civil war, equally comfortable in the corridors of power and the tumult of a cavalry charge. But the real star is Cromwell: an irresistibly compelling protagonist, at once impulsive and calculating, earnest and cunning.Yale £25Buy a copy of Oliver Cromwell: Commander in Chief hereEndgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War by Jonathan DimblebyMany books about the world wars are depressingly inelegant, but Jonathan Dimbleby’s works are in a different league. This titanic account of the Eastern Front in 1944 covers an enormous canvas from the Baltic to the Black Sea, but it’s the human details that linger in the mind, from the panic of German soldiers driven backwards through the snow to the doomed heroism of Warsaw’s resistance fighters. Despite the harrowing subject matter, Dimbleby handles his material with such skill and wisdom that his book is a pleasure to read. Viking £25Buy a copy of Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War hereSpice: The 16th-Century Contest That Shaped the Modern World by Roger CrowleyIf you enjoy tales of pirates, exploration and blood-curdling mayhem, then Roger Crowley’s swashbuckling account of the 16th-century race between Spain and Portugal for the Spice Islands of east Asia is the book for you. On the upside, his protagonists brought back impressive quantities of cloves, silver and porcelain. On the downside, an alarming number seem to have ended their lives without their private parts. This is that sort of book.Yale £20Buy a copy of Spice hereAdvertisementEmbers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor BarracloughA history of the Vikings unlike any other, this is a scholarly delight, every page of which glitters with insight. Eleanor Barraclough surveys the great sweep of life in the northern world between the 8th and 11th centuries, poring over everyday artefacts from religious pendants and carved rune sticks to graffiti, board games and children’s toys. And although she’s terrific on the details of riddles and hair-combs, she’s even better on the sheer strangeness and unknowability of the distant past.Profile £25Buy a copy of Embers of the Hands hereThe Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen CastorOne of our finest historians, Helen Castor has produced a wonderful narrative history of England in the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV, rich in medieval colour and human detail. It’s also a riveting study of raw power: how to win it, wield it and lose it. And although she does her best to be even-handed, you can’t help sympathising with tough, ruthless Henry, who knew how politics worked, rather than preening, narcissistic Richard, who didn’t — and paid the price.Allen Lane £35Buy a copy of The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV hereThe Eastern Front: A History of the First World War by Nick LloydThis is the First World War from an unfamiliar angle — Austrian, German and Russian armies blundering across a vast landscape of marshes and grasslands, the front lines ebbing and flowing with dizzying speed. Nick Lloyd gives us an extraordinary saga of chaos and horror, moving from the peaks of Slovenia to the forests of east Prussia. “We are no longer men,” one Italian soldier writes, “we are one with the earth.” A brilliant book.Viking £30Buy a copy of The Eastern Front hereRepublic: Britain’s Revolutionary Decade 1649-1660 by Alice HuntPublishers have finally woken up to the potential of the civil wars, and this is an enthralling narrative of the rise and fall of Britain’s republican experiment. Alice Hunt is an admirably deft guide to the turbulence of the 1650s, capturing the fizzing cultural dynamism of a period that’s often dismissed as dour and complicated. Above all, she gives her story a tangible sense of uncertainty: nothing is inevitable, and you can’t wait to find out what happens next.Faber £25Buy a copy of Republic hereHitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich by Richard J EvansWhy did the Nazis do it? In this thoughtful and elegantly written book, Richard Evans looks for answers in the lives of two dozen individuals, from the inevitable Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels to ordinary SS men and concentration camp guards. He is superb at capturing biographical nuances, such as the sporting and artistic tastes of the men at Hitler’s court. Above all, he invites us to reflect on what really made them tick, from their conservative political prejudices to the traumatic experience of war, revolution and depression.Allen Lane £35Buy a copy of Hitler’s People hereAdvertisementThe CIA: An Imperial History by Hugh WilfordWere the CIA the true heirs to the British Empire? It’s a nicely provocative argument, and one that Hugh Wilford develops with impressive enthusiasm. Drawing on declassified papers, he shows how CIA agents in the 1950s and 1960s were steeped in the culture of British imperialism, exemplified by their obsession with Rudyard Kipling. It was Kipling, Wilford argues, who gave the CIA its original ethos: a “love of romantic overseas adventure, combined with a whiff of imperial paranoia”.Basic £25Buy a copy of The CIA: An Imperial History hereVertigo: The Rise and Fall of Weimar Germany by Harald Jähner, translated by Shaun Whiteside We commonly remember the Weimar Republic for its terrible fate, but Harald Jähner recreates the doomed world of 1920s Germany in dazzling detail, from art deco furnishings to weird new dance cults and from gun-toting reactionaries to gender-fluid sexual athletes. He offers a clear narrative of the Nazis’ path to power, but what’s really impressive is his eye for everyday life before the fall — the cafés and dance halls, the beach holidays and Bauhaus buildings.WH Allen £25Buy a copy of Vertigo: The Rise and Fall of Weimar Germany hereParis ’44: The Shame and the Glory by Patrick BishopThe story of Paris in the Second World War has been told many times, but rarely with such narrative drive and anecdotal flourish. Patrick Bishop moves adroitly through the story of the occupation, sketching fascist collaborators, plucky resistance fighters and the ordinary men and women who were neither. His book reaches its climax with de Gaulle marching down the Champs Elysées, but he also spares a thought for the losers of liberation — the women beaten and humiliated for collaborating with the enemy.Viking £25Buy a copy of Paris ’44: The Shame and the Glory hereThe Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain, 1815-1945, by NAM RodgerNobody who loves stories of the high seas will want to miss this final volume in NAM Rodger’s titanic trilogy, which takes his naval history of Britain from the Napoleonic Wars to victory over the Axis in 1945. As in previous volumes, he writes about battles and commanders with great insight, but his book really comes alive below decks: the engineers, the equipment, the vast quantities of alcohol. It’s a formidably impressive scholarly achievement.Allen Lane £40Buy a copy of Price of Victory hereHenry V: The Astonishing Rise of England’s Greatest Warrior King by Dan JonesDoes Henry V really deserve his glittering reputation? Yes, says Dan Jones in this gloriously vivid account. He casts the hero of Agincourt as not just a superb soldier, but the ideal medieval king: pious, earnest and hard-working, but brutally ruthless when it really mattered. This is a book that immerses you in the mud of battle, with page after page splattered with the blood of butchered Frenchmen — but Jones doesn’t mind a bit. “Our values are not his,” he says bluntly. “His are not ours.”Head of Zeus £25Buy a copy of Henry V hereAdvertisementThe Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World by William DalrympleFor many readers, Indian history before the arrival of the British is a complete mystery. But here William Dalrymple argues that south Asia’s trade network, which extended as far the Roman Empire in the west and Japan in the east, was much more important than the Silk Roads to China. Taking in Buddhism, Hindu scripture, algebra and chess, he reconfigures our sense of the ancient and medieval world, with India at its very centre. A terrific story, told with tremendous brio.Bloomsbury £30Buy a copy of The Golden Road hereThe Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama by Ben MacintyreEasily the most gripping non-fiction thriller of the year, Ben Macintyre’s account of the SAS raid on the occupied Iranian embassy in London in 1980 is made for Hollywood. He is excellent at exploring the feelings of the hostages inside the embassy, and his explosive denouement packs a tremendous punch. The real hero is PC Trevor Lock, who kept his revolver hidden throughout the six-day siege before springing into action, unforgettably, at the crucial moment.Viking £25Buy a copy of The Siege hereOperation Biting: The 1942 Parachute Assault to Capture Hitler’s Radar by Max HastingsThis is the story of one of the most audacious commando raids of the Second World War, in which the men of 2 Para landed on the French coast to knock out the German radar installation at Bruneval. But it’s also a memorable picture of fighting men pushing themselves to the limit — and for once, there’s a relatively happy ending. Max Hastings tells the story with his characteristic acumen and flair, and his many fans will love it.William Collins £25Buy a copy of Operation Biting hereExplore more of The Times and Sunday Times best books of 2024 with our complete guide. Then see who’s topping The Sunday Times Bestsellers List — the UK’s definitive sales chart★ Visit mytimesplus.co.uk for your chance to win a Books of the Year bundleAdvertisementWhat was the best history book you read this year? Add your recommendations in the comments

9 of the Best Picture Books About Bodies

Ashlie (she/her) is an educator, librarian, and writer. She is committed to diversifying the reading lives of her students and supporting fat acceptance as it intersects with other women’s issues. She’s also perpetually striving to learn more about how she can use her many privileges to support marginalized groups. Interests include learning how to roller skate with her local roller derby team, buying more books than she’ll ever read, hiking with her husband and sons, and making lists to avoid real work. You can find her on Instagram (@ashlieelizabeth), Twitter (@mygirlsimple) or at her website, www.ashlieswicker.com.
View All posts by Ashlie Swicker

Nothing that we stay quiet about will ever get better. It’s all I can think of as I watch the children I teach adjust to the results of the 2024 presidential election. Older ones share theories they heard on TikTok. Younger ones cheer or mourn the same way their parents do. Things feel shaky and uncertain, and it’s hard to know exactly what to say, but I believe we can’t be silent. Each person, no matter their role in the community, has to decide what is most important and needs to start speaking up. This is where we activate, where the keepers of the books start gathering titles and paying close, close attention to which voices are lifted in their recommendations. Of course, this must always be the mandate, but it’s much more important now.Body diversity and inclusion are my personal highest aspirations. It seems small but it affects every interaction from childhood on. Sure, we have a president-elect who has openly and frequently mocked people for the things their bodies can do and the way their bodies look, but regardless of who runs the country, children have ridiculed others about their appearance for centuries. This is often not addressed or dismissed as kids being kids. Sound familiar? This can’t change without a concerted effort. When children make innocent comments or ask honest questions about bodies, they are typically shushed by a mortified adult. Unwittingly, the message is passed that body diversity is shameful and bad.This work of celebrating body diversity has to start young. Like, really young. The message that all bodies are good bodies needs to be as obvious to kids as basic tenets like “be nice,” and “wash your hands.” This is where the librarians come in. In my role as a school librarian, I can normalize different bodies in the characters I share and avoid stories with unchecked negative messages. We are positioned to change the narrative in our tiny corners of the world, and sometimes, that’s all we can do. Luckily, publishing is stepping up and giving us stories that either explicitly or indirectly reinforce body neutrality at the very least. Read on below to see some of my favorite picture books about bodies.

Eyes That Speak to the Stars by Joanna Ho and Dung Ho

This follow-up to the Ho duo’s Eyes That Kiss In the Corners is just as lyrical and lovely as the first. A hurtful drawing wounds a young boy, and when he confides in his father, he is reassured that his eyes are amazing gifts that connect him to his family and his heritage, present and past. Poetic words and fantastic illustrations make this book shine.

Big by Vashti Harrison

I was sitting in the school library when I read that Big won the Caldecott in January 2024, and I burst into tears. A fat child on the cover of an award-winning book was something I couldn’t have dreamed of even five years ago. This beautiful title is about a young ballerina who has to decide what words she will keep and which she will give back as she writes her own story about who she is. The images and narrative tackle fatphobia blatantly. It’s a revelation.

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Beautifully Me by Nabela Noor and Nabi H. Ali

Here we have another explicit calling out of fatphobia and the confusing messages that adult body talk can send to children. Zubi is full of joy in the morning, but as the day goes on, witnesses conversations where people are critical of their own and others’ bodies. By dinner, she is confused and hurt, but instead of internalizing her pain, she brings it to light, helping both her family and herself.

When Charley Met Emma by Amy Webb and Merrilee Liddiard

Charley and Emma move around differently and this doesn’t change their friendship. The narrative addresses directly how encountering differences can feel strange at first, and honors the emotions of the hurt party while teaching children empathy and giving them words to describe what they’re experiencing without insults. Notes for adults in the back help facilitate more important conversations.

Don’t Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller

A consent lesson for kids and an important reminder for adults. In this story, our heroine goes from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of space, trying to find a place where she doesn’t have fingers in her hair against her will. The most important part of this book? The reminder that standing up for your bodily autonomy does not make you the enemy! Friends can say no to each other and remain friends. This needs to be explicitly taught, even to most adults I know.

We Move Together by Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Eduardo Trejos

This bright and colorful book reinforces the many different ways that people move through the world and highlights a community of many different abilities working together to remove barriers for all. Alt text images and zoom-in features in the ebook truly include all readers. This is one that you’ll want to sit with and explore for a while. Check out the kid-friendly glossary, as well!

Every Body: A First Conversation About Bodies by Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, Tequitia Andrews

This one is a board book because it is never too early to reinforce that bodies are different. This series (which also includes the highly recommended Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race) allows human diversity to be normalized from the youngest age. Seriously, start reading these titles while little ones are still in the womb.

Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder

I’ve loved Tyler Feder’s art for a long time, so I was ecstatic when I heard that she was publishing a book about bodies. This has been around since before there was a trend of addressing these topics in publishing. Feder’s illustrations are so varied and show joy shining through in every person, no matter what they look like or how they move or how they eat. The dedication to inclusion here is amazing.

Everybody Has a Body by Molli Jackson Ehlert and Lorian Tu

This is a new title for me, but I am overjoyed that I found this author and illustrator. Like Bodies Are Cool, Everybody Has A Body has illustrations that beg to be pored over, with delightful details and enough diversity that many kids will be able to find something familiar in the pages. Bodies of every size and shape doing all different things—this is the world I want my kids to grow up in. Make bodies neutral again.

Hopefully, you’ve found a book or two to pique your interest. Whether you’re looking to read with a young person or you just want to heal you inner child, these titles are a great place to start. Happy reading!Related Reading:11 Body Positive Children’s BooksYoung Adult, Middle Grade, and Picture Books To Support The Monumental Task of Loving Yourself

The Most Read Books on Goodreads in November

While some new titles have popped up on the weekly lists of the most read books on Goodreads, over all November has been dominated by just a couple of authors: Rebecca Yarros and Freida McFadden. They have two titles each in the top five, with the last spot taken by a seasonal romance. It’s hard to overestimate how popular these two authors are: between these titles, McFadden has roughly 2 million ratings and Yarros has more than 3.5 million ratings.

While these two authors are an anomaly, this top five is a pretty good representation of the most read genres of the moment: most of the full 50-book list of the most read books in November is made up of thriller, romance, and romantasy books.
Whether it’s the long list or just the top five, this most read books on Goodreads are anything but diverse, so I’ve also included a couple of new books by authors of color that came out this month and deserve more attention.
Now, onto the top five most read books on Goodreads in November!

#5:

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Both of the books by Rebecca Yarros on the list this month are from her Empyrean romantasy series, which is about a dangerous school for dragon riders. Book three, Onyx Storm, comes out in January. This one was read by more than 51,000 users in December and has a 4.4 average rating.

#4:

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Book one in the Empyrean series came out last year, but it still got plenty of new readers this month, likely helped by its September paperback release. It was read by more than 60,000 users in November and it has a 4.6 average rating with two million total ratings.

#3:

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Freida McFadden seemingly came out of nowhere recently to become the biggest name in the thriller genre. The first book in the Housemaid series, which came out in 2022, was read by almost 62,000 Goodreads users this month with a 4.3 average rating. Book two, The Housemaid’s Secret, came out last year. Book three, The Housemaid Is Watching, came out in June this year.

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#2:

The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore

This seasonal romance got a boost in autumn, despite coming out last year. This indie release is getting a hardcover (with sprayed edges, of course) in 2025. Close to 64,000 Goodreads users read it in November, and it has a 3.4 average rating. You can also check out the other books in the series: The Cinnamon Bun Book Store and The Christmas Tree Farm. Two more in the Dream Harbor series are coming out in 2025.

#1:

The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden

McFadden’s newest thriller, which came out in October, takes the #1 spot. Fun fact: Freida McFadden’s day job is being a doctor specializing in brain injury! The Boyfriend had 129,000 readers on Goodreads in November—double the readers of the title in spot #2—and it has a 4.0 average rating.

Two New Books Out in November You Should Know About
Unfortunately, the most read books on Goodreads tend not to be diverse by any definition of the word. So, here are a couple of new books by BIPOC authors out this month that deserve wider readership.

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Potawatomi author Robin Wall Kimmerer made her name with Braiding Sweetgrass, the bestselling book full of stunning nature writing that ruminates on the wisdom human beings can learn from the natural world. Now, Kimmerer is back with The Serviceberry, a book that examines what the land gives to humankind and how we should be more than willing to give back in return. — Kendra Winchester

Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao

Y’all. This cover. I honestly don’t even care what this book is about because I want it just as a trophy. But it doesn’t matter, because the plot! The PLOT! Mira, a trans woman who is pretty sure she’s only into men, winds up staying with a gorgeous butch named Isabel after an incident with her ex in a club. The pair make great roommates, but Mira doesn’t understand what these feelings are that she’s developing for Isabel. And she really doesn’t want to get hurt again. I love a good roommates slow-burn! —Jessica Pryde

If you’re looking for more buzzy books, check out The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists.
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