I wasn't planning to write a favorite books blog this year. Too busy with other projects. But when my friend Sarah asked about it, wanting suggestions for winter reading, I decided to look back at the books I loved this past year. I'd love to hear what your favorites were.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, James McBride
McBride's latest novel is big and messy. Set in the 1920s and 1930s in Pottstown, Pa, his characters are mostly immigrants—eastern European Jews and southern Blacks—who live...