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Host Peter O'Dowd speaks with Petra Mayer (@petramatic) of NPR Books about her picks for best reads of the year.
Want more good reads? NPR's Book Concierge includes more than 2,000 titles, hand-picked by NPR staff and trusted critics.
Petra Mayer's Recommendations
Fiction
- "Gideon the Ninth" by Tamsyn Muir
- "Women Talking" by Miriam Toews
- "Gods of Jade and Shadow" by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
Nonfiction
- "Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster" by Adam Higginbotham
- "One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America" by Gene Weingarten
- "Every Man Dies Alone" by Hans Fallada
Additional Recommendations
Fiction
- "Steel Crow Saga" by Paul Krueger
- "Any Old Diamonds" by KJ Charles
- "Queen of the Sea" by Dylan Meconis
Nonfiction
- "Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion" by Jia Tolentino
- "In the Dream House: A Memoir" by Carmen Maria Machado
- "Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest" by Hanif Abdurraqib
- "Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast Food Kingdom" by Adam Chandler
- "When We Were Arabs: A Jewish Family's Forgotten History" by Massoud Hayoun
This segment aired on December 20, 2019.