It's the most wonderful time of the year! Best books season is upon us and I had the pleasure of talking about favorites with reader extraordinaire and recurring FictionMatters contributor, Liz Hein. Today, we each share our top 12 books of the year. We have some significant overlap, but we also each share books that just missed the other's list, that weren't mutually loved, or that the other hadn't yet read. Digressions include a cameo from Louise and just a little bit of ranting about review practices.

I hope you love this episode! Be sure to follow Liz's reading life on Instagram and stay tuned for a best backlist books of the year episode coming soon.

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Books Mentioned:

* Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin (16:20)

* The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (18:50)

* On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniels (21:38)

* The Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang (23:50)

* North Woods by Daniel Mason (26:41)

* Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt (30:22)

* The Postcard by Anne Berest (33:34)

* The Fraud by Zadie Smith (36:09)

* The Laughter by Sonora Jha (42:50)

* Loot by Tania James (45:25)

* Orbital by Samantha Harvey (48:28)

* Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond (52:46)

* The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (55:31)

* Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (58:38)

* The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller (1:03:53)

* My Work by Olga Ravn (1:06:55)

* The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff (1:13:13)

* Wellness by Nathan Hill (1:18:35)

* Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward (1:22:40)

* Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (1:32:50)

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