A huge, meaningful, important story hidden in a small package. Annabelle impulsively decides to run across the country while she's trying to recover from a traumatic experience. It's about the things that scar us without leaving marks, and how we learn to live with them.

Carlile is among my favorite singer/songwriters, so I might be biased, but listening to her read her own story and play songs in between chapters on the audio just moved me. It's about fighting for your space in the world, being honest about who you are, and telling your truth in the way that fits you the best.

About a historical event that I either forgot about or never knew about, this novel alternates between the early 90s (around the time of the Rodney King beating) and contemporary America and paints a very stark portrait of much things haven't changed and how many current events, families, and lives can trace a direct line back to very specific events.

This is a treatise on mental health and the difficulty of life disguised behind a mesmerizing, delightful read. Nora is given the chance to go back to moments she regrets and make different choices and then live for as long as she wants to in that new life. I was not prepared for the feelings I had. Also, Carey Mulligan narrated the audio and it was great.

I can't adequately put into words my feelings about this book. It was an exploration of the things that give women power, the ways in which we have to take the power, and the choices women have to make in the kind of power we want. It was the quiet power of the women at home or the forceful power of the suffragists or the enraged power of the witches.

Another masterpiece on the serious impact that slavery, racism, and the caste system in America continues to have on its people, no matter their color. This one tackles the subject from an economic perspective.

An unflinchingly realistic look at a teenager's descent into addiction to heroin by one of my favorite current authors. It tells the whole story and shows how quickly things can go from a few bad choices, a bad habit, to a serious problem. All the trigger warnings though, if you suffer from addiction in any way.

Simultaneously a love letter to NYC and all of the growth and journeys it has been on and to the people who are welcoming and friendly to the young people of the world who need to find their own family. The love story was fine, but what I really enjoyed the most was the NYC feeling. The subway, the friend unit, the diner, the drag, the street juice, the apartment...

A modern tale of a teenager who doesn't feel like he belongs anywhere. Pony changes schools after he transitions so that he can just be one of the guys, but that's just not how it goes. It's an exploration of why we should all be able to learn new things and change our mindsets and reactions.

A fascinating, eye opening read that highlights the connections between a lot of what was/is happening in America, the GDR, and Trumpism. It was really easy to draw a direct line between what's in this book and America in the late 2010s. "When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty." It's also a bit of history that I do not know enough about, even though it was within my lifetime.

What Oluo does here is incredible and necessary. White men have been in power for the entirety of this country's existence (and before) but anytime something goes horribly wrong, they find a way to blame someone else. Oluo puts it into an easy to access, highly readable format and covers a ton of ground. And then she explains why this is a problem for everyone, including other white men.

Shout out to my favorite cover of the year. A shockingly still applicable to contemporary America look at the aftermath of the Rodney King beating in LA in 1991. This one really explores the idea of us vs them vs we, and says it's okay to be any of those things; you can recognize that there is an us and a them, but that there is also a we that overlaps at times.

Does to Arthurian legend what Circe did to Greek mythology. Elaine, Guinevere, and Morgana are forces; they are the backbone of their group, the unheralded leaders, and the people who make Arthur into King. The women are POWERFUL and the men are not really, but the good men know what's going on with that.

Possibly the most incredible nonfiction book I have ever read. Wilkerson helped me to organize and codify the thoughts that I've had for many years about the relationship between race and class and helped me to understand why I have them in a way that I couldn't quite do before. This is must-read for every American.

One of the best graphics I've ever read by one of the best graphic authors ever. It's must-read for every human being. This is the Superman story that I wish we'd all had in our heads for the last 80 years, starting in the 1940s when this story was first written. It packs a huge punch.