Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?

I'm looking for inspiration for the Christmas holidays.

Mine were: – Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai (2000) – William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis (1991) – John Ma, Polis (2024) – John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice (1982)

(Apologies if someone has posted something similar recently. I did a quick search and couldn't find anything.)