“The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power,” by Shoshana Zuboff
“The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company,” by William Dalrymple
“Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee,” by Casey Cep
“Girl, Woman, Other,” by Bernardine Evaristo (Booker Prize winner)
“The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present,” by David Treuer
“How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy,” by Jenny Odell
“Lost Children Archive,” by Valeria Luiselli
“Lot: Stories,” by Bryan Washington
“Normal People,” by Sally Rooney
“The Orphan Master’s Son,” by Adam Johnson
“The Yellow House,” by Sarah M. Broom (National Book Award winner, nonfiction)
“Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland,” by Patrick Radden Keefe
“Solitary,” by Albert Woodfox
“The Topeka School,” by Ben Lerner
“Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion,” by Jia Tolentino
“Trust Exercise,” by Susan Choi (National Book Award winner, fiction)
“We Live in Water: Stories,” by Jess Walter
There he recommended Exhalation/Ted Chiang -- my favorite of the year