Best of 2018

Quiz

BuzzFeed Staff Writer

Books

Eat Your Way Through These Comfort Foods And We'll Give You A Cozy Book Rec

Eat Your Way Through These Comfort Foods And We&#x27;ll Give You A Cozy Book Rec

In April of 2014, Boko Haram gained national media attention when he kidnapped 276 girls from Chibok in Nigeria, 50 of whom were able to escape. Although Nwaubani tells a story of a fictionalized girl, the events are true to reality. The nameless narrator of this story is determined to gain a government scholarship in order to attend university for free and help her family, but then her village is attacked by Boko Haram. She and her best friend are kidnapped and forced to serve their captors’ radical beliefs. Yet, despite everything, she is determined to escape. This is a must-read for everybody. It is poignant, powerful, and heartbreakingly real.

_Buried Beneath The Baoba Tree_ by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

This solid, gripping mystery is told in alternating sections. The first is from the point of view of 19-year-old Sadie, who is on a journey to find her younger sister's killer. The other perspective tells the same story as a true crime podcast, covering what happened to Sadie five months after her departure. Summers has penned a dark, gritty, but truly captivating novel that will appeal to fans of true crime.

_Sadie_ by Courtney Summers

Set in post-9/11 2002, Shirin is 16, Muslim, and tired of being stereotyped. Shirin, her older brother, and her parents are constantly moving from city to city, and when Shirin starts her new school, she's greeted with whispers about her hijab. Worst of all, she has to put up with degrading comments and harassment from her peers. Her outlet is forming a breakdancing club with her brother and his friends, but still, Shirin has learned to build walls. She doesn't see the good in any of her classmates — that is, until a boy named Ocean James sincerely puts forth an effort to be her friend. And the closer the two become, the more conflicted Shirin feels. This deeply moving story is a work of fiction based on personal experiences from the author, but it is powerful in the way it tackles white privilege and racism.

_A Very Large Expanse Of Sea_ by Tahereh Mafi

In _The Incendiaries_, R.O. Kwon circles three disastrous characters — lapsed evangelical Will, the highly suggestible, former piano prodigy Phoebe, whom Will loves, and John, the gulag prison escapee and cult leader who has successfully wooed Phoebe. Kwon draws the trio closer and closer to a climax hinted at from the beginning, but it isn’t suspense alone that drives this story forward. Kwon’s lyricism is enchanting, soothing even while describing the most disturbing details, and nearly impossible to break away from.

_The Incendiaries_ by R.O. Kwon

When a writer loses her best friend and mentor to suicide, her shock is augmented by the fact that he’s left her Apollo, his great Dane. Though she’s at first reluctant — she’s not really a dog person, and her building doesn’t even allow dogs — the two end up forming an unlikely bond in their shared grief, and falling into their own kind of love. It is as much an exploration of human–animal relationships as it is about mentor–student relationships, and Sigrid Nunez’s keen emotional fluency allows the reader to feel a sense of healing and catharsis alongside her protagonist.

_The Friend_ by Sigrid Nunez

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Eat Your Way Through These Comfort Foods And We'll Give You A Cozy Book Rec

Pssst, the results to this quiz were from our 2018 Best Fiction and Best YA lists. Check them out for more recommendations!

Eat Your Way Through These Comfort Foods And We'll Give You A Cozy Book Rec

Pssst, the results to this quiz were from our 2018 Best Fiction and Best YA lists. Check them out for more recommendations!

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