At URL Media, we’re focused on bringing you the best content from BIPOC media, and now, an end-of-year book list featuring the best books we read in 2024.
This list is ours, but we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that our partners at Luz Media have already shared a year-end list of bingeworthy-books by Latinas, and our partners at Scalawag published a list of some of their best work of the year.
In the past, we’ve also shared a list of best reads about affirmative action.
Happy reading, and we’ll see you in 2025! Don’t forget to follow URL Media on all the platforms where you consume content and subscribe to our newsletters.
The best books we read this year, in no particular order:
The Truth According to Ember, by Danica Nava
Romance
A Chickasaw woman tells a white lie that leads to her dream job and, maybe, romance. What could go wrong?
Heir, by Sabaa Tahir
Young adult/fantasy
Three young people take a journey to understand an empire and themselves
Midnights with You, by Claire Osongco
Young adult/romance
A teen girl wants to explore, but her strict Filipina mom forbids her to learn to drive. Enter the cute neighborhood boy who gives her driving lessons.
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, by Hwang Bo-Reum
Cozy/feel-good
A Korean woman reinvents her life, opening a bookstore and connecting with an assortment of characters who are, like her, muddling their way on the path to live full, happy lives.
The Partition Project, by Saadia Faruqi
Children’s/middle grade
A Pakistani-American girl hears her grandmother’s story of the Partition of India and Pakistan, grows closer to the older woman and decides to share the story with others.
How to Say Babylon, by Safiya Sinclair
Biography/memoir
Author and poet Safiya Sinclair shares how her education and books from her mother helped her break free of the walls her strict Rastafarian father built around the family.
Solito, by Javier Zamora
Biography/memoir
Poet Javier Zamora recounts his journey from El Salvador to the United States, reckoning with threats to his safety, leaving some family members behind and reconnecting with others. His story is similar to that of many immigrants who face the end of the year with uncertainty about what America has in store for them.
We Are Palestinian, by Reem Kassis
Children’s/Middle East History
Learn more about Palestinians, their music, culture and food.
James, by Percival Everett
Literary/historical fiction/satire
This retells “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of the enslaved man Jim. The book’s been inescapable. It’s already starting to appear on many best books of the year lists, and it’s our solemn duty to tell you it really is that good.
Vengeance Feminism: The Power of Black Women’s Fury in Lawless Times, by Kali Nicole Gross
History
The stories of brave Black women who refused to tolerate injustice are woven in a narrative about women fighting for their own rights, a topic that resonates deeply at year-end as some women reflect on 2024 and make plans for 2025.
Don’t Wait: Three Girls Who Fought For Change, Sonali Kohli
Young Adult/biography/human rights
We absolutely must include URL Media’s own Sonali Kohli on our end-of-year best books list for 2024. Her “Don’t Wait” follows the stories of three young girls of color who have worked to improve the communities and world around them.
