SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
If you heard a heavy thunk this morning, that was NPR dropping its massive year-end list of book recommendations. We do this every November. It's called Books We Love. And here to tell us more is NPR's Andrew Limbong. Hey, Andrew.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: So this is one of my favorite days of the year at NPR. Remind us how Books We Love is a little bit different than the 6 trillion other year-ender lists that are out there right now.
LIMBONG: (Laughter) Yeah. Like you said, it's massive. We're just bigger and better than the other guys. You know what I mean?
DETROW: (Laughter).
LIMBONG: This year, it's about 380 books, and it's sourced not just from NPR Books staff and critics, but literally everybody at NPR is open to contribute - right? - so it's every department. We're talking producers, editors. We've got people on the business side of NPR. And so we have an eclectic and diverse mix of books, and it's a lot more democratic way of doing a best-of, year-end list. We're not saying, like, here's the 10 best books of the year. We're saying, here's a couple of options. You're going to find something you love. And I know that 380 number sounds a little intimidating. There are these little filter tags on the side to help you narrow down the selection and pick what's just right for you.
DETROW: Can I say the best thing about how big this list is?
LIMBONG: Yeah?
DETROW: It is so big that people in my life have not caught on that I get them a gift based on this website just about every single year.
LIMBONG: (Laughter) I know. It's a great, oh, man, I'm visiting my father-in-law. I forgot.
(LAUGHTER)
LIMBONG: Let me find something real quick.
DETROW: All right, so you were on Morning Edition talking nonfiction this morning, which means we get to talk fiction.
LIMBONG: Yeah, let's do it. I think let's start with some genre-y books.
DETROW: OK.
LIMBONG: Sally Blakely's "Friends To Lovers" is a romance book about two old friends who are, you know, each other's plus-ones to a wedding, and, you know, some stuff happens. There's some drama, you know?
DETROW: Yeah.
LIMBONG: But like all good romance novels, you know, I think this book is super aware of the tropes of romance and the genre conventions it is playing with. On a similar note, "Death Of The Author" by Nnedi Okorafor is a sci-fi book, but sort of. It's about an author. He gets super famous for writing a sci-fi book about sentient AI and aliens. And half of the book is the author grappling with becoming super-duper famous, and the other half of the book is the sci-fi book that she actually wrote.
DETROW: Oh, interesting.
LIMBONG: And these two narratives play off of each other in interesting ways.
DETROW: Are there any books that you yourself, Andrew Limbong, put on the list?
LIMBONG: Yeah. One entry I had was Lee Lai's "Cannon." This is a graphic novel following a woman who's, you know, sort of at her wits' end. She's a cook at a mediocre restaurant. She's taking care of a sick grandfather. She's got a mother she can't get ahold of. And her best friend isn't very good at being a best friend. You know what I mean? And so she's the support system for all of these people, but she has no support system for herself, and everything starts crumbling down on her life. The artwork is really beautiful. It's really subdued, and it's sparse. There's a lot of blank space until, you know, there isn't, and it's a super-dramatic way of portraying her life crumbling.
DETROW: So one other question. It's Thanksgiving week. We are entering a period of time where there might be some family drama in some listeners' lives. Who can say?
LIMBONG: (Laughter) Yeah.
DETROW: Are there any books that kind of fit that mood?
LIMBONG: Ooh. OK, yeah. There's a decent amount of family, family drama books on this list. Let's go with "Among Friends" by Hal Ebbott. This is a debut novel about two old friends. They and their families rent a house together for a holiday. You know, the vibe where the kids play together, the adults sort of, like, hang out and drink cocktails, whatever. Something kind of bad happens about a quarter way through the book, and the friendship and the relationships unravel. Everybody gets super insecure. And, you know, the family drama at play is half of the fun. The other is, like, just some really stunning writing.
DETROW: We just talked about four books, which means we just talked about about 1% of this list.
LIMBONG: (Laughter) Yeah.
DETROW: There's a lot more out there.
LIMBONG: Yeah. Yeah, like I said, we're bigger and better than the other team, you know?
DETROW: That is Andrew Limbong trash-talking other book lists and...
LIMBONG: Yeah.
DETROW: ...Hosting NPR's Book Of The Day podcast. Thank you so much.
LIMBONG: Thanks, Scott.
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