stephen2's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Winner of the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction
A SUNDAY TIMES & NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL, 'one of our greatest living authors' NEW YORK MAGAZINE
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Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.

In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend,… show more.

'Gripping' ED CAESAR * 'Masterly' GEOFF DYER * 'Incredible' TIM HARFORD * 'A universal story that transcends time' NEW YORK TIMES * 'Superb' DAILY TELEGRAPH * 'We know what's going to happen, but feel the suspense nonetheless' THE TIMES

** THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER **
** WINNER OF THE KIRKUS BOOK PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024 **

The definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger space shuttle disaster based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research - this is riveting history that reads like a thriller.

On the morning of 28 January 1986, just seventy-three seconds into flight, the… show more.

An intimate and revelatory account of two generations of students in China’s heartland, by an author who has observed the country’s tumultuous changes over the past quarter century

More than two decades after teaching English during the early part of China’s economic boom, an experience chronicled in his book River Town, Peter Hessler returned to Sichuan Province to instruct students from the next generation. At the same time, Hessler and his wife enrolled their twin daughters in a local state-run elementary school, where they were the only Westerners. Over the years, Hessler had kept in close contact with many of… show more.