If Raymond Chandler wrote science fiction, it would be something like this. This isn‘t my usual thing, but it was a lot of fun, and Harry Dresden and I will meet again.

This is “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah‘s love letter to his mother. He grew up at the end of, and in the aftermath of, South Africa‘s Apartheid regime. Every story he tells here of her is full of love, joy, appreciation, and admiration. This was fun, happy, joyful, and evocative of every mother‘s story. Call your mom after you read this.

I mostly loved this. The story was wonderful, the characterization was great, and Neil Gaiman‘s signature magical realism was in full display. The ending just felt hollow and rushed to me. I normally love everything I read by Gaiman but this time, I wish he‘d spend another five or 10 pages talking about magic.

This is as much a mystery about what happened to the female best friend of three college friends in the 1970s as it is about the lives that we never lived. Richard Russo is always funny, poignant, and deep. This was no different.

This was equally horrifying, inspiring, and brilliant. Bryan Stevenson is the cofounder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal nonprofit that fights for people on death row, incarcerated children, the wrongfully convicted, and the excessively convicted. He tells this story of justice for Walter McMillan and others with grace, passion, resolve, and mercy. It was hard to read in parts but it also left me feeling deeply hopeful.

“Everyone joins a band in their lives. Not all of them are musical.” This story, told by the spirit of Music itself, as well as real musicians and industry legends (who actually participated in the story‘s development), is the story of the greatest musician who never was. It‘s funny, beautiful, sad, inspiring, and joyful in a way that only Albom can do. This is my book of the year.

So much more than a biography, this details the history of the legendary Fred Harvey‘s rise to father of the hospitality industry and civilizer of the American West, as well as his company‘s power and influence. This was a great read.

This isn‘t my favorite of Jim‘s work, but it was his swan song and he went out doing what he did best. These stories are vintage Harrison, who was never anything less than himself.

I usually love short story collections, but I am not in the right frame of mind for a 550-page collection of them from an author I know about but have never read. I think I need to read some of McGuane‘s longer work first. I‘ll revisit this some day, when I‘m more able to enjoy it.

Rinker Buck and his brother buy a covered wagon and three mules and decide to take the Oregon Trail. And along the way, he teaches us about the trail‘s history and why it‘s so important to American culture. This was a great memoir, travelogue, and history book, with some great mythology and emotion mixed in. I had fun with this.

Reminiscent of Colson Whitehead‘s “Underground Railroad” while also being its own thing entirely, this was nothing short of an adventure. It‘s a meditation on the very nature of freedom, the effects of cruelty, and the capacity for brilliance in everyone. It‘s my favorite book so far this year.

Tommy Orange took his vast experience as an urban Native American and wrote a brilliant novel about what it means to be a Native American living in a major city. This was wonderful.

“We are earth-divers, and the earth is made of stories.” I loved this. A perfect combination of adventure memoir, nature treatise, plea for respect toward our environment, and love letter to the Great Lakes, this was an adventure unlike anything I‘ve read since “The Songlines.” If you love the Great Lakes, this is the perfect addition to your library.

I wish I was better at putting down my phone when I‘m reading a book like this. Richard Russo‘s talent for writing memorable people in small struggling towns is again on display here with Donald “Sully” Sullivan, the unluckiest man in North Bath, New York. He‘s good at taking no BS but just can‘t seem to stop himself from making all the wrong choices. He‘s the most memorable character I‘ve met this year.

Vonnegut‘s science-fiction satire about the effects of loneliness and the importance of being connected to others, is vintage Vonnegut. I loved this.

As true crime goes, this is about as good as it gets. Former Bufalino crime family hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheehan is the man who killed Jimmy Hoffa. But there is a lot more to his extraordinary and infamous life than that. This was a long read but a fun one.

This has to be the most bizarre and unique book I‘ve ever read. Written after the trial of a snake-handling preacher who tried to kill his wife, this is the perfect example of faith that borders on obsession. I won‘t soon forget this one.

Walt Longmire‘s dealing with the poisoning death of a Basque woman in the depths of a Wyoming winter. Add some humor, a little meth, and some typical mountain west weirdness, and you have an awesome story. I love this series.

Edward Lee has long been one of my favorite food personalities. Now he‘s one of my favorite food writers too. In this well-thought travel memoir, he makes the case that American food is both cultural touchstone and national treasure, and also that what we consider American food isn‘t what we think it is. It‘s what‘s being cooked and eaten in America, by Americans, right now.

We have such a long way to go before we cast off the chains of hatred and division. This took place 75 years ago, but it‘s just as relevant now. This was the hardest book I‘ve read so far this year, but what a journey it was. Hillary Jordan is absolutely a writer to watch.

It‘s been a long time since I last read this, and reading it as an adult lends a new dimension of my understanding of the power of evil and the power of love to counteract it. One of my favorite children‘s novels.

The late great Carl Sagan was an expert at understanding the stars, and also at helping us to find meaning among the complexities of the cosmos. This is a story I will revisit again.

This was a tough one. As much an allegory for the roughness and self-reliance of rural America as it is the story of a gutsy Ozark teenager‘s quest to save her family‘s home, this felt like an extension of Cormac McCarthy‘s Southern trilogy. Ree Dolly is the most memorable character I‘ve met so far this year.

James Baldwin, for me, has always been one of those writers who shows me what other sides of life might look like for people I don‘t know. This powerful story of love, race, injustice, and perseverance is my new favorite of his.

So dry. So hard to follow. So tonally inconsistent. It‘s interesting but I just can‘t keep up with it.

Classic Harrison. A teacher from my home state, torn between two women, and caught in a constant battle between his memories and his future. I related to Joseph on several levels, and loved the brief journey home.

I realize this is technically a children‘s book, but the lesson is timeless and deeply important: friends are necessary for happiness. The most important things are from the heart. I should‘ve read this years ago.

Frederick Douglass was a hero to millions and is now an American icon. His story is the stuff of legends, and now that I‘ve finally read this, I understand why.

Yaa Gyasi‘s debut novel is a powerful story of the effects of slavery, colonialism, and racial tension. Told over the course of 8 generations, beginning in Africa and ending in the US, this was a revelation. It is poetic, hopeful, heavy, and beautiful.

I‘ve always loved Neil Gaiman, and this really spoke to me. It‘s a series of short essays, punctuated by illustrations, about the power of art, creativity and literacy. There are some really quotable passages here, and I‘ll come back to this anytime my art (writing) becomes hard and I feel uncertain about it.

This was a hard one. As much historical fiction as allegory for intolerance, Endo‘s masterpiece challenges everything we know about missionary work. It is also commentary on society‘s acceptance or rejection of ideas that are not our own.

I‘ve spent some time in the Delta. Life there is a series of contradictions, challenges, struggles, and uncomfortable truths. Richard Grant immerses himself in a largely unknown and misunderstood part of the US and addresses these things tactfully, intelligently, and with humor and compassion. He also reminds me of just how much I love it there.

I watched the Longmire television series before I knew it was a series of mysteries, and also before I knew that the town where the novels are set is based on a northeastern Wyoming town I‘ve visited. I have long loved Walt Longmire as a television character. Now he‘s my favorite crime novel protagonist. This was the most fun I‘ve had with a mystery since I met Philip Marlowe, and I‘ll be seeking out the other 14 books in the series.

I‘ve never read a book like this. Part historical record and part ghost story, this tells as much about the days after Lincoln‘s son Willie died as it does about the nature of grief and loss.

My last book of the year, my wife recommended this to me. It‘s a great story of love, learning, growth, family, and trying again after tragedy strikes.

Mythology is usually interesting but also kind of dry. Gaiman managed here to make it interesting and also fun.

This hit even closer to home than “Five People.” And it only took me five hours to read the whole thing. Even when I burst into tears on no fewer than three occasions. Mitch Albom remains one of my favorite authors, and this is the perfect sequel to the original.

This was a dense, emotional, beautiful story. It reminds me in several ways of “East of Eden” and “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” but at its core, it‘s the story of immigrants and outsiders who are just trying to build lives for themselves in a land that doesn‘t want them there. It‘s the best book I‘ve read so far this year.

I wish I could write like he did. There could be no better sequel to “Kitchen Confidential,” and no better epitaph for his life, for a man who lived as much as he did. Rest easy, Tony.

“Justified” was my favorite television series of the past decade. The story it‘s based on, by the same name as this book, is amazing, though that isn‘t the only reason why I liked this collection. Leonard was a genius, and his short stories always demonstrate that.

As a temporary resident of the southwest, I realized that I knew very little about the native peoples of this place. This was the perfect introduction to the 19 Pueblo tribes of New Mexico. I hope I can pay some of them a visit on my next trip to the region.

As much love letter to the southwest as book of philosophy, this has been a great summation of what I‘ve experienced living here in the southwest. I‘m leaving in just over two weeks, and this will be something I revisit when I find myself missing it.

I don‘t know why this isn‘t holding me. I know it‘s a classic and I know it‘s one of the best anti-war books out there, but it‘s begun to irritate me more than anything else. Maybe I‘m just in the wrong frame of mind for it right now.

This was such a crazy story. Brazen, smart, and necessary then just as it is now. I‘d really love to see the movie now.

I married an Alabama girl and she‘s been talking about this since we met, so I figured it was time. This was the most fun I‘ve had with a book this year. It was funny, sweet, nostalgic, and revealing about so much of my adopted second home state. Oh, and there are authentic southern recipes at the back, which I‘ll be using.

I‘ve long had an abnormal obsession with the English language. I read the dictionary when I was 7 and have loved them since. This was an incredible look into how Merriam-Webster makes it, told hilariously and brilliantly by one of the people who writes it. This is one of my favorite nonfiction books in recent memory.

This was a complex, mystical family story, told from multiple points of view. It‘s a beautiful story of love, loss, and the effects of intolerance.

I‘ve been living on the other side of the country from where I‘ve spent most of my life. I‘d be lying if I said that I wasn‘t homesick. This was a perfect visit home. Every story was alive, with diverse characters and situations, and references to my favorite city in the Great Lakes. I‘ll be revisiting this anytime I feel the need to visit Detroit.

I moved to New Mexico a couple months ago, and came in almost blind to what the place is like. The history, natural and human, of this place (as told by Dan Flores, a U of Montana professor who used to live here and still vacations here in the summer) is loaded with blood, upheaval, and disaster, but also beauty and inspiration. If you‘re a resident or traveler in the Near Southwest, you must read this. It might show you your home in a new light.

Before Raylan Givens, there were men like Charlie Martz. Charlie only appears in two of the stories in this collection, but this book shows the evolution of a master. Most of these were written long before Elmore Leonard became the king of crime fiction, just before he found his strong, spare, Hemingway-esque voice. It‘s a rare treat to watch a master begin to grow into himself.