Something like 300,000 new books come out every year in the U.S. That’s about one book for every thousand Americans. Compare that with the 75,000 albums and singles released, or the mere 700 films that receive a theatrical release of any sort in a year.

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In an era where we rely on technology to cut through huge swaths of data, it might be a surprise that a Pew study reveals that 68% of people still discover books from other friends, family, and co-workers, as opposed to 28% from online bookstores. Word-of-mouth is still a more powerful recommendation system for literature than any Amazon algorithm.

So who better to name the year’s best books than the people who penned the most acclaimed novels and nonfiction titles this year? I asked a handful authors to tell me about a book they loved and what they learned from it.

