“Book Takes,” I said in the editorial meeting. “They’re like hot takes, but about books!” Then I waited to see if I would be allowed to bring my hot, dumb name to fruition. To paraphrase Drake: If you’re reading this, you’re already too late.
This year, our favorite books contained some unmistakable similarities. I see some patterns of escapism (especially into space) and murder (especially of women). I see the hunger to uncover deception and, by that same coin, understand our own unconscious prejudices. There were a shit-ton of political books this year—we’re hitting the halfway mark on a very bad presidency—but the books that stayed with us, though polemical in subject, were nakedly human in practice. It’s easy to see us all becoming tougher and wiser and doing what needs to be done to survive. But enough about what I see! Here are the Book Takes—our spicy blabs on the books that touched us this year. SUZETTE SMITH
