The Economist: A special edition on this year’s blockbuster books

By Rachel Lloyd Deputy culture editor The Economist. By now, some of you may have already read your first book of the year. Maybe it was a Christmas gift, or a much-loved classic. Perhaps it was a title related to a new-year’s resolution (“The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober” or “The Power of Habit”). Whatever your literary tastes, if you are a bookworm you have lots to look forward to in 2024. Celebrated novelists will publish new work. They include Rachel Cusk, Percival Everett, Andrew O’Hagan, Joyce Carol Oates, Elif Shafak, Paul Theroux and Colm Tóibín. And that’s just from the land of the living: “Until August”, a hitherto unpublished novella by Gabriel García Márquez, who died in 2014, will be released in March. In terms of non-fiction, books about artificial intelligence and geopolitics will fill bookstores’ shelves. Other titles that will probably make a splash include “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” by Judith Butler, an American academic; and “The Road to Freedom” by Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel-prizewinning economist. “Knife”, Salman Rushdie’s account of the attempt on his life in August 2022, promises to be a poignant read. Whether you want to escape these troubled times for a few hours, or to reflect on them, there will be something for your nightstand.