I’m nervous if I don’t have a stack of books waiting by my bedside. It’s been awhile since I recounted what I enjoyed this year and thought I’d better make a list before I forget. Here’s what I remember, in no particular order:

• The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
• My grandmother asked me to tell you she’s sorry by Fredrik Backman
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
• The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
• Euphoria by Lily King
• Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
• The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs
• The Submission by Amy Waldman
• Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
• Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel
• The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
• My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem
• Flash Boys by Michael Lewis
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
• The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
• Falling Upward by Richard Rohr
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• Willful Behavior by Donna Leon
• The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
• The Post American World by Fareed Zakaria
• Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh (final book of a trilogy)
• Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
• The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Caliph’s House by Tahir Shah
• The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
• Leaving Before the Rains Come by Alexandra Fuller