The Books I Read In 2024

It's been a better year for me in terms of my reading habits, having gotten through 17 books in 2024 (as opposed to 8 in 2023). The dominant theme of the year has been the Balkans and Kosovo. This is chiefly due to work leading to me spending 9 months of the year preparing and ultimately going out to the country.

As the year progressed, I then moved onto a variety of other literature and topics ranging from leadership to English history and the autobiography of the new Vice-President of the United States.

My favourite book of the year and top recommendation would be the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, by John Mark Comer. The books emphasis on slowing down, pausing and taking stock - the opposite of which I and I'm sure many others can be guilty of - was particularly helpful for me as I think to this New Year of 2025 and the opportunities and challenges that will come with it. I have highlighted in bold my other recommendations. Do let me know if you have read any of them and if there are any books that you would recommend I read.

Books I read in 2024:

1) Shadowplay - Behind The Lines & Under Fire (The Inside Story Of Europe's Last War), by Tim Marshall

2) Under a Feathered Sky, The Untold Story of NATO's Role in the Newly Independent Kosovo, by Ade Clewlow

3) Kosovo: What everyone needs to know, by Tim Judah

4) Travels in Blood & Honey: becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo, by Elizabeth Gowing

5) Kosovo: A Short History, by Noel Malcom

6) The Death of Yugoslavia, by Laura Silver & Allan Little

7) Generations: Does when you're born shape who you are?, by Bobby Duffy

8) A Short History of England, by Simon Jenkins

9) Russia in Revolution: An empire in crisis, by S. A. Smith

10) Turn the Ship Around: A true story of turning followers into leaders, by David Marquet

11) No Easy Day: The only first hand account of the Navy SEAL mission that killed OBL, by Mark Owen

12) Hillbilly Elegy, by JD Vance

13) How to be (un)successful: An unlikely guide to human flourishing, by Pete Portal

14) The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, by John Mark Comer

15) Beasts of no Nation, by Uzodinma Iweala

16) The End is Always Near: Humanity Vs the apocalypse, from the bronze age to today, by Dan Carlin

17) Losing Afghanistan: The Fall of Kabul & the end of Western Intervention, by Brian Brivati