Editor’s note: We're hard at work finalizing our Best of 2020 book list, so we're playing a lightning round version of #bookradar! We may be a little pithier than usual, but don't take that as a sign as we loved any of these terrific books any less than the others we've featured this year. Also important to note with the holiday season upon us, all the links we feature below lead to Bookshop.org or IndieBound. We encourage you to do whatever you can to support your local bookstore, including purchasing audiobooks from our sponsor Libro.fm. Feel free to share what’s on your bunker reading list by tweeting us @WritersBone or in the comments section below. Stay safe, stay home, and keep reading!—Daniel Ford
I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom
Daniel Ford: I saw Rachel Bloom and her "My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" perform live in Medford, Mass., and it was the weirdest, loudest, funniest crowds I've ever experienced. A singular talent that this band nerd will always appreciate.
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Daniel: Thanks to Twitter follower Robert Peterpaul for putting this book on our radar!
The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim
Daniel: Let’s hope the words inside are as delicious as the cover. Seems like the kind of heart-thumping novel we love here at Writer’s Bone.
So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith
Daniel: I noticed Roxane Gay tweet about this short story collection recently and I'm kicking myself for not picking it up sooner.
No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox
Daniel: One of my personal heroes has a new book out. I thought about breaking out my old "Back to the Future" vest, make people call me Marty again, and have my homemade hoverboard under my arm as I red No Time Like the Future. Sign me up for an optimist who isn't afraid to confront his darker, cynical side.
Nights When Nothing Happened by Simon Han
Daniel: I don't want to step on my NovelClass discussion with Dave Pezza, so I'll just say you'll often feel like you're sleepwalking reading Simon Han's debut Night When Nothing Happened. One of my favorite covers of 2020 as well.
Watch Her by Edwin Hill
Daniel: 2020 can't be all bad, we're getting another Hester Thursby novel! I got an early look and it's one of Hill's best. Can't wait to pick his brain on the show next month (and convince him to start up Noir at the Bar in the new year).
A Ritchie Boy by Linda Kass
Daniel: We had book critic Bethanne Patrick on the show recently and she was a true gem. Her Lit Hub essays and recommendations are not to be missed. Read the premise of this novel and see how fast you can order it on Bookshop.org. Go!
Daniel: I don't think I really appreciated this movie when I saw it as a young lad. Time for a rewatch! (I am also powerless to resist any oral history about any topic.)
His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
Daniel: This novel's opening line is on a shortlist for my favorites this year. I don't want to ruin it here, that's how good it is. What a cover as well. This year is really ending strong (fictionally speaking).
Daniel: While reading Claire McNear's excellent Answers in the Form of Questions, one of my takeaways was that Ken Jennings' fugue state listening to Trebek’s voice to decide when to buzz in is where I’d like to go when I die. This book is a must for the Jeopardy! fanatic in your life.
Reckless by Selena Montgomery
Daniel: Stacey Abrams' Our Time Is Now should be high on your reading list as well, but, come on, we're here for her romance scribe alter ego Selena Montgomery. Saving democracy and crafting fun love stories? Signed. Sealed. Delivered.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Daniel: Speaking of political memoirs, President Obama's A Promised Land really doesn't need an introduction. Maybe he doesn't have a romance novel in him, but maybe a PI novel?
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
Daniel: Seems like a book you'd want handy for all of your holiday conversations with family and friends.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Daniel: Seriously, the covers dropping at the end of the year are really something. Thanks to our pal Wesley Browne for putting this National Book Award finalist on our radar.
The Best of Me by David Sedaris
Daniel: My kingdom to write like David Sedaris. Nice to have all of my old favorites in one volume.
Unseen City by Amy Shearn
Daniel: A Twitter recommendation from Sari Wilson! (We should probably read her book ASAP as well.)
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Daniel: Win the Booker Prize and you automatically get added to #bookradar. That's the rule. I think there's a bottle of Talisker and a snowy night awaiting to accompany my reading when the book lands in Writer's Bone HQ.
The Lady Upstairs by Halley Sutton
Daniel: We’re bound to love any character that’s described as “alluring-yet-hard-drinking.” Halley Sutton's The Lady Upstairs is one of those books that makes you gleefully ignore everything else going in your life. Could not put it down.
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Daniel: Simon Han recommended Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown on the show right after it won the National Book Award, so, yeah, it's on our radar. Also, I love any author who is so flustered by winning he forgets to thank his parents. Sounds like something I would do (and be made fun of for until the day I died).
Author's Corner
Phil Klay, author of Missionaries, stopped by the podcast recently and gave us a ton of great recommendations, so you should add them all to your reading list and buy them from your local bookstore, Bookshop.org, Indiebound, or Libro.fm.
Cleanness by Garth Greenwell
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz
Out of Mesopotamia by Salar Abdoh
Fidelis by Teresa Fazio
Empire City by Matt Gallagher
Red Dress in Black and White by Elliot Ackerman
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
A Burning by Megha Majumdar
Fire in the Blood by Perry O'Brien
NovelClass
In Episode 4.09, host Dave Pezza is joined by his good friends Guido Fargiorgio and Eric Prive. Eric, Guido, and Dave discussed The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones.