LUXURY DOWNTIME: 52 BOOKS TO READ IN 52 WEEKS.

On By KING GINAIn LIFESTYLE, TRAVEL & LEISURE

It is the first week of a new year and the resolutions are getting out of hand. Some may have already fallen off the bandwagon and some are more determined than ever. One of the most popular resolutions (apart from joining the gym), has always been to read more. Therefore, we have compiled a list of our 52 reads for 2024’s 52 weeks. Granted, some of the books are long and may take more than a week. But some are short, solacious and beg you to finish them in two days. Some are old and familiar, and some were released in the previous year.

Our list includes both fiction and non-fiction. The authors span across the globe and the prose is rich, evocative and all-consuming. The books cover climate change, strategy, wealth creation, business, philosophy, beach/vacation-reads, autobiographies and an anthology that every cultured individual must own.

Select a few, select them all. Some are better in print, and others can be downloaded online or as an audiobook. As long as we all read more this year.

And we leave you with the words of James Baldwin: “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”

Our Top 52 Books to Read in 52 Weeks:

  1. The Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands – Jean-Noël Kapferer, Vincent Bastien
  2. From Zero to One – Peter Thiel
  3. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos – Jordan Peterson
  4. The Famished Road – Ben Okri
  5. Say You’re One of them – Uwem Akpan
  6. Maru – Bessie Head
  7. Vagabond – Lerato Mogoatlhe
  8. When the Filter Fades – Janine Jellars
  9. Women Who Run with Wolves – Clarissa Pinkola Estes
  10. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives – Lola Shoneyin
  11. What Happened to You – Bruce D Perry & Oprah Winfrey
  12. Boundaries – Dr Henry Cloud & Dr John Townsend
  13. The 5am Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life – Robin Sharma
  14. Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
  15. Ikigai – Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
  16. A Return to Love – Marianne Williamson
  17. A Course in Miracles – Drs. Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford
  18. The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life – Steven Bartlett
  19. A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success – Maye Musk
  20. The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Famous Dynasty – Natalie Livingstone
  21. Women, Work and the Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense & Sensibility – Mireille Guiliano
  22. Brand Leadership – David Aaker & Erich Joachimsthaler
  23. Outliers: The Story of Success – Malcom Gladwell
  24. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us – Seth Godin
  25. The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster – Michael Watkins
  26. Billionaires’ Row: Tycoons, High Rollers, and the Epic Race to Build the World’s Most Exclusive Skyscrapers – Katherine Clarke
  27. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men – Caroline Criado Perez
  28. How to Win Friends & Influence People – Dale Carnegie
  29. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones – James Clear
  30. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike – Phil Knight
  31. Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way – Richard Branson
  32. The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir – André Leon Talley
  33. The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations – Toni Morrison
  34. The Second Sex – Simone de Beauvoir
  35. The Norton Anthology of Poetry – Margaret Ferguson et al
  36. Mornings in Jenin – Susan Abulhawa
  37. The Wealth Elite: A Groundbreaking Study of the Psychology of the Super Rich – Rainer Zitelmann
  38. Great Kingdoms of Africa – John Parker
  39. Letter to My Daughter – Maya Angelou
  40. Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon – Iris Apfel
  41. Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem: A Memoir – Daniel R. Day
  42. The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese
  43. A Visible Man: A Memoir by Edward Enninful
  44. Chin Up, Girls!: A Book of Women’s Obituaries from the Daily Telegraph – Georgia Powell & Katharine Ramsay
  45. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – Steven Pressfield
  46. The Monocle Book of Gentle Living – Tyler Brule, Andrew Tuck, Joe Pickard & Josh Fehnert
  47. The Last Drop: Solving the World’s Water Crisis – Tim Smedley
  48. The Red Book – C. G. Jung
  49. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly – Anthony Bourdain
  50. The Prince – Niccolo Machiavelli 
  51. Up Close and All In: Life Lessons from a Wall Street Warrior – John Mackey
  52. Planet VC: How the Globalization of Venture Capital is Driving the Next Wave of Innovation – Terrance Philips & Jame DiBiasio

Leave a comment