NPR's 'Books We Love' returns. 5 books for your Pacific Northwest reading list

The holidays are coming up. The election just happened. People have opinions. And perhaps you're looking for a mental escape pod in the form of a book to get away from it all.

Or maybe you're looking at the world around you and you're just kind of baffled. You want to understand it better. You want to understand the people around you better.

Whatever the reason, if you're reaching for a great read right now, NPR has the thing for you: the 2024 "Books We Love."

About 350 books made the cut this year. Unless you're a speed-reader of superhuman proportions, it's probably impossible to get through that many books in one year. It's hard enough to go through the list and find what you actually want to read. So, we've done some of the hard work for you and got some guidance from NPR Arts Desk reporter and host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast, Andrew Limbong.

(Scroll if you're just here for our recommendations. We get it.)

"What I love about having such a wide list is that you're guaranteed to find something you like," Limbong said. "I mean, there are books on this list that I might think are mid, right? But somebody loves them, and they're worth reading."

Limbong spoke from the position of someone who, apparently, has very good taste in books. He told KUOW his favorite book of 2024 was Percival Everett's "James," a retelling of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from Jim's perspective. Shortly after Limbong's interview with KUOW, "James" won the National Book Award for fiction.

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"I've been thinking about Percival Everett's books, as they always start off as one thing, but you realize pretty quickly that it's like a completely other thing," Limbong said. "It tricks you into thinking you're reading a straight retelling, but he's playing with language in such a way that you realize pretty quickly that that's not what's going on at all."

And many of the books on this year's list, "James" included, "are kind of grappling and arguing for the power of the written word." Consider "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder" by Salman Rushdie, which he wrote after he was violently attacked in 2022.

"That has a lot to say about what writing can do," Limbong said of "Knife." "Like, this guy knows some real risks of writing, and he only faces risks because writing has power."

That may sound a little highfalutin, Limbong said. This is NPR after all. But there are also lots of books among this year's "Books We Love" that are just fun to read.

We took a look at the many options and found five books for Pacific Northwest readers. (You can also find books for the PNW reader from 2023's list here.)

"The Return of Ellie Black" by Emiko Jean

Washington author Emiko Jean is back with this psychological thriller that will have you guessing until the very end. And, spoiler alert, "The Return of Ellie Black" just so happens to be on the KUOW Book Club's 2025 reading list. It's appearance on NPR's list is a good clue as to why.

The short version: Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s world is turned upside down when a girl who went missing two years ago, the titular Ellie Black, turns up alive. If that wasn't thrilling enough, the case stirs up Calhoun's own family history while she tries to solve the mystery of Ellie's disappearance — and more importantly, her sudden reappearance.

In her review for NPR, Samantha Wessel said this of "The Return of Ellie Black":

"Emiko Jean digs into family trauma and how the past never really leaves us, in this engrossing, fast-paced book. I had a hard time putting it down."

"All Fours" by Miranda July

While not explicitly for readers in the PNW, Miranda July's second novel "All Fours" has a whole of lot folks talking around here. In fact, it was included in Seattle author Angela Garbes' series "Midlife: Private Parts in Public" curated for Seattle Public Library in November.

RELATED: What do women and female orcas have in common? A lot in midlife

In its simplest form, "All Fours" is about a woman's sexual awakening later in life. But it's so much more than that, too. Don't get me wrong: If you're looking for something sexy and fun, look no further. "All Fours" delivers on that front while also exploring identity and what it means to live life as a woman.

Wailin Wong, host of "The Indicator from Planet Money," said this about "All Fours":

"It’s the novel that blew up a thousand group chats. ... It is a journey of creative and sexual fulfillment, unhinged interior design, and exploring desire within the liminal space of perimenopausal middle age. Miranda July’s protagonist makes choices that you may find hilarious, relatable, or infuriating, but they are never boring."

"Us Fools" by Nora Lange

This was Limbong's recommendation for PNW readers, even though it's neither from or about the region. Though lacking a direct connection, he said it's giving "a little PNW energy."

"It's about these two sisters growing up during the farm crisis in Iowa. They kind of call themselves 'junk kids,' because they're interested in this wide variety of topics," he explained. "So, they're talking about their crushes, but they're also thinking critically about, like, capitalism, and they're thinking about how their dad needs to get x loan from the bank in order to keep the farm. But they're also talking about femininity and, like, woman-ness in a kind of funny way for a couple of teenage girls."

Yeah, that sounds like something we might be into.

In his review of "Us Fools" for NPR, book critic Michael Schaub said this:

"This novel is tender and exceptionally moving, but also mordantly funny in parts, and it’s a razor-sharp critique of American capitalism. And it’s written so beautifully that it’s hard to believe it’s a debut novel."

"The Secret History of Bigfoot" by John O'Connor

Do I even have to explain why this made my list of "Books We Love" for Pacific Northwesters? My only amendment would be to the subtitle: "Field Notes on a North American Monster." I think we can just say "Northwest American Monster," you know? But I digress.

The thing is, journalist John O'Connor doesn't just look at the history of the classic cryptid but also at the Bigfoot researchers and enthusiasts who have built a culture around the forest-dwelling creature. This is a nonfiction book after all, so while you might be hoping for detailed instructions on how to find Bigfoot, you're more likely to get at the real humans who are keeping him (or her!) alive.

Gabino Iglesias, book critic and author of "The Devil Takes You Home," had this to say about "The Secret History of Bigfoot":

"Surprisingly political, unexpectedly hilarious and incredibly informative, this is a great serious book about a topic that most people quickly dismiss."

"How to Win an Information War" by Peter Pomerantsev

Since the University of Washington is home to the Center for an Informed Public, which researches and aims to dispel mis- and dis-information, this feels like a fitting pick for readers in our region.

Journalist Peter Pomerantsev tells the story of Britain’s top covert propagandist during World War II. Sefton Delmer created elaborate radio broadcasts that mimicked Nazi broadcasts, which is wild enough, right? Not for Delmer apparently, who also found ways to smuggle information into the diets of Germans who may not have been able to obtain it otherwise. His efforts went a long way toward subverting Hitler's propaganda machine.

Brett Neely, supervising editor of NPR's disinformation reporting team, said this of Pomerantsev's work:

"Pomerantsev is an expert on autocracy and democratic backsliding, and his insights about Delmer’s work 80 years ago still feels fresh and useful today."

This selection of "Books We Love" barely scratches the surface of what's waiting for readers in the PNW. NPR's picks cover everything from the fight for jurisdiction over Native American lands to the latest thriller from Tana French, one of my favorite authors, and so much more.