The Book Report: Ron Charles on the best books of 2024 [Video]

By Washington Post book critic Ron Charles

2024 was full of fascinating (“Creation Lake”), moving (“Someone Like Us”), alarming (“Eruption”), entertaining (“All Fours”), educational (“What the Chicken Knows”) and enjoyable (“Colored Television”) books. 

As we look back over the last 12 months, here are five of the best of the best:

“Playground,” by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Powers, is a brilliant novel about artificial intelligence and the race to save the Earth’s oceans. The story involves a computer genius, a famous oceanographer, and a tiny island in the South Pacific.

Powers draws these stories together in a mind-bending way that will transform the way you see the world.

READ AN EXCERPT: “Playground” by Richard Powers

“Playground” by Richard Powers (W.W. Norton­), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

Richard Powers (Official site)

Move over, Mark Twain: Percival Everett’s novel “James”is a …