It's the last day of the year, which means it's time again to list my favorite books of the last 365 days. In the order I read them:
* Free Love, by Tessa Hadley -- Somewhere I've read that every novel is about whether life is worth living. I'm not sure that's true about every novel (Don Quixote? The Phantom Tollbooth?) but this book definitely is. Phyllis Fischer blows up her perfect life, provoking the question of how much damage you can do in pursuit of your true self before it becomes unforgivable.
* Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel -- A high-concept cartwheel through history, bringing together characters and ideas from Mandel's previous novels Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel. Is life worth living? Yes, Mandel says, yes yes yes.
* Trust, by Hernan Diaz -- I don't always love puzzle novels but this one really worked for me. An exploration of a woman's life from four different perspectives, in which the truth doesn't emerge until the last page.
* Olga Dies Dreaming, by Xochitl Gonzalez -- A deceptively light-hearted book about a wedding planner and her politician brother that takes on serious themes of love, commitment, and betrayal. Bonus points for its portrayal of political activism in Puerto Rico.