Romance
1. Call of Crows trilogy by Shelly Laurenston (The Undoing, The Undoing, The Unleashing) - paranormal that takes on modern women's rage and Norse mythology. It's messy and fun and cathartic.
2. The Donovan Legacy by Nora Roberts (Charmed, Enchanted, Captivated, Entranced) - there is paranormal romance and then there is ParaNora romances. I think this is where Roberts first started in the paranormal genre.
Graphic Novels
3. Saga series by Brian Vaughn and Fiona Staples - the only sci-fi story I can stick with.
4. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman - the story of the Holocaust as told by mice.
5. The Complete Persepolis - the coming of age of an Iranian girl as the US backed government fell and the Islamists took power. A story of an immigrant, even when she went back to living in Iran.
6. The March trilogy by Rep. John Lewis, Nate Powell, and John Robert Lewis - not just the story of the march on Washington, Lewis tells of the early days of the civil rights movement interspersed with the first inauguration of President Obama.
Non-Fiction - Corporations Are People and Sometimes People Are Corrupt
7. Bad Blood: Secret and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start-Up by John Carreyrou - a train-wreck that you can't keep your eyes off.
8. Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald - the story of the rise and fall of Enron, written as a suspense novel.
Non-Fiction - US Politics
9. All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward - the Watergate scandal. Back when US politicians put country before party...a simpler time.
10. Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration's War on American Values by Keith Olbermann - the written version of the comments Olbermann made on his MSNBC show with a bit more context and fleshed out.
Non-Fiction - History
11. To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild - I think this is the definitive history of the Great War, ensuring even coverage of both the Axis and Allies side of the story and placing the war among the other events happening in the respective countries (such as the women's suffrage movement).
12. Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky - how science and vaccines conquered a disease that affected everyone - including a US president. Timely given the shit going on now.
13. The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Their Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler - just timely given the shit going on now.
Biography/Memoir
14. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates - I think this would make a great companion to the memoir by James Yates which was on my original list.
Non-Fiction
15. AIDS in America by Susan Hunter - although in my lifetime AIDS went from a straight death sentence to a chronic if manageable disease, the rise of new cases in America and the policies of certain politicians (looking at you Pence!) means this is still a public health issue and needs to be addressed. A little dated as the book was published 2006, but addresses a lot of the root causes that continue today.
16. Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy - a bonus pick because I couldn't leave it off a second time.
I could add a whole bunch more, but some of the titles have already been picked by other BL-ers (well done everyone! we have wonderful taste in books, lol).
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