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The Best Books of the Year, According to Bookshop.org

Erica Ezeifedi

Associate Editor

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack. Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.

I thought it was too early for winter holiday-themed book covers, but Bookshop.org decided to get even froggier and drop their best-of-the-year book list. Since last year, it seems like The Book People have started seeing who can release their end-of-the-year book lists first (Barnes & Noble had released theirs October 10th, even).

This year, Bookshop.org has beat them all. Their list is comprised of 25 books, ranging from nonfiction essay collections to an illustrated tale of a human-eating alien’s existential crisis.

Here are 13 of Bookshop.org’s Best Books of the Year to get you started:

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

Book cover of Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah  

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

The Diaspora Sonnets by Oliver de la Paz

Happiness Falls (Good Morning America Book Club) by Angie Kim

Candelaria by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Walking Practice by Dolki Min, Victoria Caudle (Translator)

Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People’s Business by Roxane Gay

Creep: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba

cover of hit parade of tears

Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby

Y/N by Esther Yi

Among Friends: An Illustrated Oral History of American Book Publishing and Bookselling in the 20th Century by Buz Teacher and Janet Bukovinsky Teacher

Rouge by Mona Awad

Hit Parade of Tears: Stories by Izumi Suzuki

For the full list, visit Bookshop.org.

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.