What we’re studying: writers and readers on the books they loved in December

Nicola Dinan, creator

I loved Pretentiousness: Why It Issues by Dan Fox. I’m a responsible person of the phrase pretentious, which the ebook methodically rebukes over its hundred-and-something pages. Artwork strikes ahead as a result of folks aspire to issues they aren’t (I definitely really feel this as a author). It’s additionally a phrase with deeply classist roots, made even worse by the truth that its that means is usually unclear. As a substitute of claiming pretentious, I now consider different phrases that extra precisely describe why I dislike one thing, akin to vapid, poorly written or ugly.

I hadn’t actually considered “local weather fiction” as a style till this yr, however like many others for the time being I liked Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Non-public Rites by Julia Armfield was additionally certainly one of my favorite reads of 2024 – moist, unhappy and spooky. What extra may you need!

Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan is revealed by Doubleday (£16.99). To assist the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Supply expenses might apply.

Anne, Guardian reader

I learn A Place of Better Security by Hilary Mantel just lately and it is without doubt one of the greatest books I’ve ever learn. Having beforehand been postpone attributable to its size (800 pages) and material (French historical past), I lastly determined to start after which discovered I couldn’t put it down. A must-read for all Mantel admirers and everybody else who likes to be taught and be enraptured.

Eromo Egbejule, Guardian author

On a current journey throughout the southern Nigerian cities of Port Harcourt and Warri, I had the pleasure of studying the brilliantly researched Fireflies on the Lagoon by UK-based Nigerian creator Tunde Leye whose area of interest is historic fiction.

It’s a lush retelling of how a medley of sturdy characters assist form the course of Nineteenth-century Lagos, Badagry, Abeokuta and Dahomey, neighbouring cities which might be in right now’s Nigeria and Benin.

I’ve additionally learn Solely Stars Know the That means of House: A Literary Mixtape, a short-story assortment by Rwandan-born Namibian creator Rémy Ngamije.

The riveting learn sparks nostalgia with its acquainted musical however unconventional literary A-side and B-side preparations a few world of cassettes that has since been subsumed by streaming. On the primary facet, we comply with the stumbling desires of Rambo, a younger aspirational artist within the Namibian capital of Windhoek who has to circumnavigate tragedy to fulfil his desires. The second facet is an anthology of tales about every part from heartbreak to Namibian independence and teenage mischief.

And I picked up Jollof Rice and Different Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi after it was really useful to me – a debut novel about three girls and the revolving ghost of a fourth, starting from a riot over jollof in a Nigerian boarding college.

Matt, Guardian reader

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner exemplifies the creator’s potential to weave a wealthy and textured narrative. The novel examines the uneasy coexistence of nature and human intervention, reflecting Kushner’s curiosity within the methods energy and ambition reshape landscapes, each exterior and inside. The prose is lyrical, exact and witty; her characters are deeply flawed but profoundly human. I discovered the refined critique of modernity’s discontents significantly putting. The lake, a product of human engineering, turns into a metaphor for the fragility of management and the unintended penalties of progress. But Kushner resists simple moralising, as a substitute providing a nuanced exploration of the tensions between creation and destruction, permanence and impermanence.