Of the books I've read this year here's my verdict on the ones worth (re-)reading:
Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado: A collection of short stories from Carmen Maria Machado. When trying to describe it to other people I've tried "fantastical horror while trying to describe the female experience" but I don't mean that with some sort of Stephen King IT connotation: all of the stories have a fantastical element to them, and they're worrisome, but they're not out-right terrifying. The only exception to this (for me in any case) was the third story that was basically a fanfiction of Law & Order SVU. Opinions in my book club were pretty split and many hated it but I found it to be the most haunting thing I've read all year.
Also, met the author in person and she seems pretty rad. Gifting this book to a few ladies in my life this year. Plot
Seating Arrangements, Maggie Shipstead: When I finished this in August I immediately began researching Shipstead's other work and was really sad to learn that her only other novel wasn't like this one at all. The story of a few days leading up to a wedding, Seating Arrangements really captured inner-family WASP drama and the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows' idea of sonder. Plot
Arbitrary Stupid Goal, Tamara Shopsin: New York is obsessed with itself. People who live in New York are obsessed with New York. I live in New York and am becoming obsessed with New York. (New York is really quite ambivalent to the whole thing.) A graphic designer-and-also-writer (-and-also-cook) Shopsin writes about her family's restaurant in short breaths in a way that mimics the hustle of a pre-whitewashed Greenwich Village. Synopsis
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, Salman Rushdie: After a mysterious storm in New York City our characters find that they're not quite the same: an elderly gardener finds he can no longer reach the floor, hovering half an inch above it. A baby is born with the ability to sniff out corruption in people, breaking them out in hives. A comic book artist finds that he has the same powers his superhero does. While I sometimes struggled to stay engaged with this book despite its excellent premise I include it because time and time again I'd stumble into a passage and sit there, stunned by the beauty of what I'd read. (For reference that normally only happens in say, one passage, every three-or-so books.) Plot
Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan: Um, excuse me, what do you mean you haven't read Crazy Rich Asians yet?? If you're going to the beach, sitting on a plane, going on a long train ride, whatever, and you need a light read that will keep you so engaged with ~ the drama ~ you arrive at your destination and you're annoyed you have to get up: this is the series for you. Plot
How to Murder Your Life, Cat Marnell: If you enjoy (as I do) reading the memoirs of people whose lives have spiraled out of control due to mental breakdowns, eating disorders, drugs, (or in Marnell's case: all three,) this is an engaging read. Synopsis
Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance: I started this on vacation in a house with a ton of my friends and pretty much ignored everyone around me for the two days I was reading this. Part memoir, part research, a heart-breaking description of the Appalachia in America and the poverty and desperation that has created disrest and distrust between the coasts and middle-America. Synopsis