What was your favorite book this year?

[View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter]( December 21, 2021 Howdy! You may have seen that we published [a list of the best books]( we read this year, ranging from contemporary picks to Hunger, the 1890 Norwegian existential downer by Knut Hamsun. We'd also like to solicit some reading material from you, our loyal readers. If you read a great book this year (modern or ancient) please send the title along with your name, your hometown, and a few sentences about why it moved you, to newsletters@motherjones.com. We hope to publish some of the responses on our website before the end of the year. I withheld my own pick from the website to save for the newsletter, both because you people are my favorite audience and because I was procrastinating with other assignments. If I'm honest, the best book I read this year was War and Peace (which I've since been trying to force on hesitant friends as the Napoleonic equivalent of The Wire, because it's full of extremely engaging plots and characters who'll stay with you forever). But choosing War and Peace would be almost as pretentious as [putting your middle initial in your byline](, so instead I'll go with Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen. Until this year, a lot of my literary friends were pretty dismissive of Franzen because his brand of nuclear-family social realism didn't seem radical enough to them, and because he has a tendency to [put his foot in his mouth during public appearances](. But Crossroads is so good that it's led to a mini-Franzen revival among even my most disdainful contemporaries. ("Way better than American Pastoral," texted my friend Luke, a laconic Navy SEAL who typically sticks to Shakespeare, Moby Dick, and Marcus Aurelius.) Crossroads is probably Franzen's least experimental novel so far, shearing away the narrative pyrotechnics and global preoccupations that suffused his previous work. Instead, the book centers on the local: the complexities of family dynamics, the church, the fear of "losing one's edge," and the question of whether acting good is distinct from being good. I thought it was a moving, insightful investigation into what it means to be human, and—in case that turns you off—it's also pretty funny. Can't wait to read your suggestions! —Noah Y. Kim Advertisement [Earth Justice]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [The Best Books We Read in 2021]( New titles and older classics that fired us up. BY MOTHER JONES SPONSORED POST [Sponsored Content]( [Farmers Are Seeding a Regenerative Future]( Faced with the realities of climate change, farmers are implementing regenerative agriculture to weather the storm. THIS CONTENT WAS PAID FOR AND SPONSORED BY [AMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST](. [Trending] [The Biden administration is ramping up its Omicron response]( BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG [The youth activists who wouldn't eat until Congress took on voting rights]( BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG [Donald Trump sues New York AG Tish James for asking too many questions]( BY RUSS CHOMA [Big Lie conspiracist and pillow guy has put his finger on exactly what Kentuckians do NOT need right now]( BY STEPHANIE MENCIMER Advertisement [Earth Justice]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [How Minnesota’s foster care system reminds Native moms of a racist legacy]( "That fear is always there." BY JESSICA WASHINGTON [Help Protect Democracy] Read Monika Bauerlein’s fearless column, “[What if Media Covered the War on Democracy Like an Actual War?](,” and please consider supporting Mother Jones’ hard-hitting journalism with a year-end donation to help us reach our urgent $350,000 December goal and keep charging hard in 2022. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755