Year in Review: Finding Your Humanity in a Book Recommendation

“There’s a fine line between bending the truth and telling bold-faced lies, and Javier Perez is willing to cross it. Victim is a fearless satire about a hustler from the Bronx who sees through the veneer of diversity initiatives and decides to cash in on the odd currency of identity.” – Libby app

In a year when the words “DEI hire” were being thrown around, this book pushed my thinking about race, cultural identity, but most importantly about the dangers of any cult of personality. The narrator is likable, his drive and ambition recognizable, and his decisions both heartbreaking and honest. 

“Madeleine Gray takes a scalpel to millennial malaise, office romance, and infidelity, and the result is a brainy, gutsy, nervy—and hilarious—wonder of a novel.” – Libby app

I’m 50 years old, but I think I relate to millennials more than I should. With that being said, the narrator does seem younger, more naive, and more honest than is comfortable for this actual Gen Xer who, as a demographic, values close and lasting relationships (in part because we were the generation that first faced divorce). I honestly loved the obsession with the green dot—evidence of our over-the-top desire for connectedness, albeit virtual. 

“Part of Quindlen’s gift is that you don’t just read about these characters, you inhabit them.” – Libby app

This. Book. Changed. Me. It is tragic and haunting, and it prompted me to think of my role as matriarch in completely different terms. Instead of focusing on my roles, responsibilities, this novel brought me to a place where being the mom means finding the joy in the ordinary, happily sacrificing the last piece of cake, and being trusted enough to sometimes take the brunt of emotion from our families. 

“An elegant, razor-sharp debut about women’s ambitions and appetites—and the truth about having it all.” – Libby app

I’m not gonna lie. The sloppy, giant Big Mac on the cover caught my attention. As a woman, I’d love to say that weight and food don’t haunt me. However, I hail from a time when everyone I knew lived on diet pills that made your head tingle and ate cabbage soup for weeks on end, in order to get our glamour shots done during senior year. The narrator’s complex relationship with food, and her daughter, has stayed with me. 

“Stephen King’s apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil has been restored to its entirety.” – Libby app

Yes, you read that correctly: 48 hours. Clearly, I listened to this in the summer, nearly constantly. You’re all pandemic survivors, campaign followers and, probably, like me, you’re tired of crossing the truly bizarre off our 2025 bingo cards. Instead, I listened to The Stand, and gave myself a break. 

“The cult Japanese best-seller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.” – Libby app

The description of this book included the words “the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan,” and as soon as I read those words, I was sold. As previously established, food is complicated for many of us, and the absolute obsession the gourmet cook has with types of butters felt decadent and subversive. I also love a good niche storyline that has nothing to do with my real life. 

“Timing, it’s often assumed, is an art. In When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Pink shows that timing is really a science.” – Libby app

In the lone nonfiction choice, Daniel Pink delivers all that he is known for: a ton of research distilled into fascinating bits of information that are readily applicable to readers. I’ve reached the point where I’m thinking about what comes next after I retire from teaching. I still have eight years, but I feel more and more that teaching has created a pattern in my life that I’m going to need help leaving. This book helps to see the patterns that are available for us to inhabit and use to our advantage. 

“Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?” – Libby app

As an English major, this had me at “new form.” When I read that there was a 166-person full cast, I knew it was for me. Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, Ben Stiller, Julianne Moore and Susan Sarandon are only a few of the stand-out names who acted in this audiobook. As much as I wanted to love this book, for it to be my new favorite book, it missed that mark. It was hard for me to follow at times. I listen to audiobooks as a constant background to cleaning, driving, etc., and at times I felt like I’d wandered out onto a stage of a live performance, unsure what I was supposed to do. Try this book though—it’s an experience. 

“A magnificently brisk, funny, dirty, brainy book.” – Libby app

I love a good juxtaposition. Dirty and brainy don’t go hand in hand in my mind, so this caught my attention. The movie, with the amazing Emma Stone, was also dirty and brainy, with cinematography, costumes and sets that helped me to envision the book. (Yes, I saw the movie first). This falls into the same category that The Hunger Games did. I don’t have the imagination to create worlds, so seeing the movies first is helpful. For all those into “spicy books,” this one is for you. 

“A masterfully paced thriller about a reclusive ex-movie star and her famous friends whose spontaneous trip to a private Greek island is upended by a murder.” – Libby app

True confession. I sat in my car—down the block from my house—to listen to the last 20 minutes of this book. The characters are clever, the plot outlandish and somehow plausible too, and Alex Jennings is a gem. (He’s a former stage actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre before his role as the Duke of Windsor on the Netflix series, The Crown) I’m not sure how to say this, but listening to this audiobook made me feel fancy and mysterious, which is quite a stretch.