I’m thinking about writing reviews for each of the 52 books I’m planning on reading next year:

They may be short or long reviews, but I want to leave some log of reading beyond checking off a box on my to-do list. It would be really motivating to know that there is at least one person who has expressed an interest in reading a review for a specific book, hence this bounty:

Rules:

The overall theme here for selections is “everyone really ought to have read this by EOY 2024 (because [reasons]).” Please provide your reasoning in the comments.

I make no stipulations as to genre (fiction or nonfiction is fine, specialist academic lit like textbooks is also good, academic journals are not) but ask you to keep your recs limited to physical, paper media. (No ebooks/audiobooks/visual novels/video games/etc.)

Note: you do not actually have to have read your recommendation yourself, or have firm plans to do so in the future, but you must still be interested in reading a review on it to submit for the purposes of this bounty.

English or Japanese texts only, please.

10 mana per recommendation that I actually add to my reading list for next year. If I really enjoy reading your rec, I may send you a managram bonus at some point randomly next year.

The most likely books to be picked are those that seem especially salient re: current events OR those universal works that anyone “well-read” would be embarrassed to admit they have not, well, read.

(Books in both categories must be ones I have not read/read in a long time. I’ve read pretty much everything your average geeky Joe Millennial with a college degree and three bookshelves has, so don’t be afraid to be a little imaginative/specific/obscure here. I don’t have any content restrictions except please do not recommend irredeemably sinful smut. I don’t want to discuss any titles that would get me banned here.)

Looking forward to seeing what you all come up with! (The cut-off date for receiving a bounty is EOY 2023.)