As the year wraps up, we often look to best-of lists for books, movies, and music that stood out over the past 12 months—the so-called greatest the year had to offer. The understood suggestion of such lists is that we have something of a shared taste in what we read, watch, and listen to, and that there are winners (along with the implied losers) when it comes to those tastes (and sales).
This year, I’m foregoing the best-of mentality in order to share some books that have continued to hold my attention since their publication—changing me in large and small ways through their radical imagination, their fearlessness, and their ability to open my eyes to new ways of thinking and being in the world. Each has a local connection and is recommended for specific resolutions, quests, or adventures. These books are all available through local bookstores or the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library.
For inspiring radical possibility
Miranda Mellis’ latest novel, Crocosmia—which she discussed at New Dominion Bookshop earlier this year—is a reading experience that lingers. On the surface, it’s the story of a mother and daughter, and their experiences of radical social change through ecological collapse and transformation. It’s also about loneliness, communal care, creation, and family. A self-described philosophical fable, the novel reads like an enchantment and a meditation, overflowing with lush imagery even as it grapples with ideas from writers, activists, and philosophers including Joanna Macy, Mahmoud Darwish, Simone Weil, Mike Davis, and Vandana Shiva. It’s a novel about revolutionary belief and the midwifery necessary to bring dreams into being, and to share knowledge.
For inspiring awe (and your inner writer)
On the surface, Ed Park’s new collection of short stories, An Oral History of Atlantis, is about the stuff of life, featuring 16 stories that explore day-to-day occurrences from break-ups to online auctions. Through Park’s unique craft, humor, and creativity, these stories probe at something deeper. As in his Pulitzer Prize finalist novel, Same Bed Different Dreams—which is highly recommended if you’re in the mood for something longer and more complex—this new collection is full of witty wordplay, questions of memory, and self-knowledge. Fully enjoyable as a well-crafted and intriguing read, An Oral History of Atlantis is also a master class for writers as well as anyone looking to be reminded of the incredible talent in our midst. Park was the Rea Visiting Writer for the UVA creative writing program earlier this year, and will publish his memoir Three Tenses in 2026.
For rethinking your relationship to AI
Whether you love or hate AI, Karen Hao’s nonfiction book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, will make you think long and hard before you ask ChatGPT a question. Hao’s depth of insight and knowledge about Altman and his company’s key role in the development of AI as a large-language model remains unparalleled—even as the role of AI in our everyday lives and the question of an AI bubble dominate in-depth journalism. Approaching AI through the lenses of personal and corporate history, political power and neocolonialism, workers rights and environmental impacts, Hao examines the pitfalls and warning flags of the tech while also exploring alternative innovation to enhance the public good. In doing so, she has written a book that is not only engrossing to read but ever more relevant as OpenAI develops and we continue to live in a world where it is being implemented with little oversight.
For journeying through self and space
Charlottesville writer and artist MaKshya Tolbert’s debut book of poetry, Shade is a place, is a collection that’s got legs … and feet. The perambulatory poems document Tolbert’s personal journeys while engaging the reader in shade walks along Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, studying the willow oaks that tower above the well-trodden bricks. This is a work of embodiment, grief, evolution, and the quest to complicate personal and collective histories. A slim volume, it fits well in a day bag or even a large pocket, leaving ample room for other items you may need for your own explorations.
For embracing the natural world
It can be a real joy to hike in the woods with a friend who shares interesting facts about every plant and animal you pass. Even better if that pal also has mouth-watering recipes for using the mushrooms and plants that you find on your hike, helping you know what’s safe to forage for eating and what’s not. In Gathered: On Foraging, Feasting, and the Seasonal Life, local author, composer, and social media influencer Gabrielle Cerberville is that friend. Offering guidance to those who are new to nature as well as stories for more seasoned outdoorsy folks, Cerberville’s years of experience (and experimentation) combine with a smart, self-deprecating sense of humor in a book that will be enjoyed by anyone who values a walk in the woods.
