With only a few days left in 2019, I keep getting asked, “What’s the best book you’ve read this year?” As of today, I can definitively assert that [b:Giovanni’s Room|38462|Giovanni’s Room|James Baldwin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1501485157l/38462._SY75_.jpg|814207] takes top spot, period. James Baldwin’s prose is masterful, and when combined with his unflinching worldview that tears into society’s norms before being hindered or muted by them in any way, he creates this piece of art that so authentically captures the messy, moving, horrifying, painful, and beautiful nature of love.

A testament to this work—I am not someone who is in any appreciative way in touch with their emotions, and James Baldwin still somehow tore my heart out. In recent memory, I am not sure I have had such a visceral reaction to any literary work like I have to this story; any words I try to form simply will not do this book justice. Just do yourself a favor and read it while I try to pick my jaw up off the floor.