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Each review starts with the take we would give a friend in the bookstore aisle, then a version short enough to post, then the long answer. We say who the book is for and who will throw it across the room. No spoilers past the setup.
The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead Colson Whitehead · 2019 The Nickel Boys Whitehead tells the story of a Jim Crow reform school so calmly that the anger creeps up on you, then moves in and stays.
Small Things Like These Claire Keegan Claire Keegan · 2021 Small Things Like These A coal merchant, a convent and one cold Irish Christmas: Keegan packs more moral nerve into a hundred-odd pages than most writers manage in six hundred.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin Gabrielle Zevin · 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow A love story with almost no romance, a gaming novel for people who have never held a controller, and the best book about creative partnerships in years.
Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver · 2022 Demon Copperhead Dickens moves to a trailer in southwest Virginia, swaps the workhouse for foster care and OxyContin, and somehow keeps the jokes.
Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro Kazuo Ishiguro · 2021 Klara and the Sun The most tender book ever narrated by an appliance, and the reason you'll say thank you to your smart speaker for at least a week.
The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett Brit Bennett · 2020 The Vanishing Half Two twins, one secret, four decades and a fictional Louisiana town obsessed with skin tone: a family saga that reads like a page-turner and argues like an essay.
Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders George Saunders · 2017 Lincoln in the Bardo A ghost story told by a graveyard full of chatterboxes that turns, somewhere around page fifty, into the most moving book about grief we know.
Normal People Sally Rooney Sally Rooney · 2018 Normal People Two clever Irish kids who could fix everything with one honest conversation, and a novel that makes you watch them not have it for four years.