This is a raw, gutting, absolutely beautiful book about a young Nigerian person navigating gender dysphoria. It’s incredible.

Horse Crazy is part memoir, part journalistic inquiry into the far corners of the world. Even though I don’t have a special interest in horses, I really sunk into and enjoyed it.

Luster is a searing, unflinching novel about art and sex and racism and womanhood that looks its characters right in the face. It was so good.

An Orchestra of Minorities is a stunningly beautiful, terribly sad novel written from the most unique narration I’ve ever read.

Half of a Yellow Sun is a heartbreaking novel about the Biafran war, which took place in Nigeria in the 1960s. It’s not an easy read, but it is affecting and an incredible feat of writing.

Gilead is an epistolary novel about a minister nearing the end of his life. I found it a tad slow in the middle, but very beautifully written,.

Stamped From the Beginning taught me so much more than any other book I’ve ever read about antiracism. It’s long, but very worth the process of working through it slowly.

On Beauty is a literary family drama that feels simultaneously like comfort food and watching a train wreck in slow motion.

The Stone Sky is an incredible conclusion to The Broken Earth trilogy. I truly couldn’t put it down, and it solidified this trilogy as an all-time favorite.

Wolf Hall is a pretty dense historical fiction about Thomas Cromwell and King Henry VIII. But it’s an incredible accomplishment of a book, and I’m really glad I read it.

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a deeply unsettling but ultimately brilliant book about the mother of a psychopathic kid who commits a school shooting.

Sabrina & Corina is a collection of really, really good short stories about Latinas of indigenous ancestry. There wasn’t a single one I didn’t enjoy, and many I truly loved.

Fairest is an expertly written memoir that has so much to give its readers. I definitely recommend it.

The Obelisk Gate is a fantastic sequel to The Fifth Season that promises SO MUCH to come.

A Thousand Ships is just so good. It’s easy to read and to love, but it also packs a big punch of metaphor and meaning.

Lanny was exactly my kind of literary magical realism — visceral, full-bodied, whimsical, a little weird, and deeply resonant.

The Man Who Saw Everything is so creative. You’ll spend most of the book feeling lost … but you’re actually supposed to, and it pays off in the end.

Property forces white women to take an uncomfortable look at their role in the history of slavery. It’s not exactly “fun” to read, but it is masterfully crafted and effective.