What I read this year

In order to fit the theme, I noted which works have a legal intersection

All the books I read this year, part one.

All the books I read this year, part two.

With no further ado, a list of all the books I read this year, as well as a haphazard characterization of whether I remember a legal intersection.

• Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient World, Mary Beard

  • Legal Intersection: My law school had a course on Roman Law, if that counts.

• The Heart’s Invisible Furies, John Boyne

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami

• A Guest at the Feast: Essays, Colm Tóibín

• Happiness Falls, Angie Kim

  • Legal Intersection: In her prior career, Angie Kim was a Harvard Law School-educated trial lawyer; it shows. Huge plus for this novel’s very well-researched look at the complexities of the family-court system, especially as it intersects with special-needs families.

• Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng

• The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese

• The Hunting Party, Lucy Foley

  • Legal Intersection: At least one character here is a solicitor, if I remember correctly, but that’s about as far as it goes.

• Miracle Creek, Angie Kim

  • Legal Intersection: Another Angie Kim novel on here. This one had very good trial-law procedural with a subject-matter far more intimate and personal than your usual Scott Turow.

• Portrait of a Thief, Grace D. Li

• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King

• No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy

• The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen

• Confessions, Kanae Minato

• River East, River West, Aube Rey Lescure

• Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton

• Here After, Amy Lin

• A Place for Us, Fatima Farheen Mirza

• All This Could Be Different, Sarah Thankam Mathews

• Music for Wartime, Rebecca Makkai

  • Legal Intersection: This “intersection” is a bit of a stretch, but Makkai has a story written from the POV of a producer on a scummy reality-TV show. Have you enjoyed following the National Labor Relations Board’s legal action arguing that the Love Is Blind cast members are actually employees and eligible for basic labor protections, including the right to unionize? Do you love great prose? Then you might like this story!

• One Perfect Couple, Ruth Ware

  • Legal Intersection: In the aforementioned spirit of “stretch,” this novel is also about a reality-TV show, so ditto to the whole NLRB thing above.

• Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line, Michael Gibney

• People Collide, Isle McElroy

• The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai

• Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar

• The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley

• Service, Sarah Gilmartin

• The Coin, Yasmin Zaher

• Beautyland, Marie-Helene Bertino

• I Have Some Questions For You, Rebecca Makkai

  • Legal Intersection: This novel is about a long ago crime; the second half revolves around a related trial. And, spoiler alert, the novel includes some particularly good discussions about flaws in forensic evidence, the very-difficult appeals standard that criminal defendants must meet when arguing ineffective assistance of counsel, and the literature around false confessions.

• The Midnight Feast, Lucy Foley

• All the World Beside, Garrard Conley

• The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

• Intermezzo, Sally Rooney

  • Legal Intersection: One of the characters is a human-rights barrister. Solicitor? I can never remember the difference.

• Disappearing Earth, Julia Phillips

  • Legal Intersection: The novel revolves around a child’s disappearance. This novel isn’t a very legal one, in the sense that it specifically discusses legal topics, but the backdrop is a real Russian peninsula where law enforcement is unequally applied depending on the remoteness of the locale, the indigeneity of the residents, or some combination of the two. Fascinating if you are familiar with the United States’ approach to federal Indian law.

• Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lamott

• Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri

• The Deal, Elle Kennedy

• Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell

• The Round House, Louise Erdrich

  • Legal Intersection: One of the very best explanations of jurisdiction, and of the complexities of tribal jurisdiction, and of how that jurisdiction stems from a history of colonization and exploitation. Erdrich beautifully uses this legal tension to weave plot tension. I’ve thought so much about this novel that I want to write another post on it.

• The Best American Short Stories 2024, ed. Lauren Groff

  • Legal Intersection: Special shoutout to Suzanne Wang’s story “Mall of America,” which had me thinking for days on profound questions related to AI and immigrant spaces. I would write a post about this story but it’s only available in hard copy from One Story or in this collection!

• Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters

  • Legal Intersection: Impossible not to read this after the November election and not think about the wave of anti-trans legislation sweeping the country. But really you should read this novel not for the legal intersection but because it’s funny, and so sharply observed, and propulsive.

• To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

  • Legal Intersection: “Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.”