Every year since 2013, NPR asks their staffers and trusted critics to offer their book recommendations for the year called “Books We Love.”
Books are sorted into the typical categories such as nonfiction, mysteries and cookbooks, but the interactive reading guide also boasts a fun but specific taxonomy. Think books tagged “It’s All Geek To Me,” “No Biz Like Show Biz” and “The Dark Side.”
We searched the list of 384 titles for works by South Florida authors or books with ties to South Florida, so you can add them to your “To Read” list.
READ MORE: Book picks 2024: A magical masterpiece, a (very) Florida memoir, a queer coming-of-age tale and more
The Antidote by Karen Russell
After the Miami native released Swamplandia! 14 years ago, author Karen Russell returns with her second novel that’s rooted in Dust Bowl tragedies. The Antidote centers on five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small town in Nebraska.
“Histories we collectively cannot withstand and what they mean for our future are at the core of this National Book Award finalist, in which Russell masterfully renders the strange quotidian and imbues the everyday with menace or magic,” said Taya Burney, NPR’s director of Network Programming and Production.
Kwéyòl / Creole: Recipes, Stories, and Tings from a St. Lucian Chef's Journey by Nina Compton
James Beard award-winning chef Nina Compton has developed a cookbook that offers flavorful Caribbean recipes — think “tender beef empanadas, classic shrimp and grits and rosemary-flecked glazed ribs.”
“Caribbean cuisine often gets short shrift in the cookbook world, as if there is some unbridgeable gap filled with ackee, saltfish and pigeon peas. If you try one island cookbook, let it be this one from St. Lucian chef Nina Compton of New Orleans restaurant fame,” said NPR food writer T. Susan Chang.
Although Compton is not from South Florida, a portion of the book talks about her time in Miami where she discovered a whole new culinary culture. It’s also where she happened to meet her husband while cooking at the Versace Mansion.
A Book of Maps for You by Lourdes Heuer (for ages 4 to 8)
In the latest children’s book by South Florida resident Lourdes Heuer, a young cartographer moving out of his old house leaves behind some guidance for the child moving into the space. What starts off as a child making maps of their neighborhood — the school, the library and home — becomes a story of honoring the homes we leave behind.
“The unexpected gut punch of an ending gives a surprising resonance to what, at the start, just seemed like a straightforward map compendium. It turns out that this is less a book about the beauty of mapmaking (though that certainly plays a role) and more about moving from one home to another,” said Besty Bird, a librarian and author of POP! Goes the Nursery Rhyme.
She said it’s “ideal for both reminding children about what they love and are leaving, and how much they may love the place where they are going.”
How to Say Goodbye in Cuban by Daniel Miyares
In this coming-of-age graphic novel, Daniel Miyares tells the story of Carlos, a young boy from the Cuban countryside whose life changes drastically after his papi wins the lottery. Forced to leave his friends and family for the big city, the growing pains of adolescence are only intensified by the rise of rebel leader Fidel Castro.
Inspired by his father’s escape from Cuba as a young child, Miyares tells the story of a family's quest for freedom as they must build a new home for themselves.
“Sumptuous watercolor art ripples off the pages, as the book provides the best explanation of the Cuban Revolution for kids I’ve ever read. There’s humor and some serious heart going on in these pages,” said Betsy Bird, librarian and author of POP! Goes the Nursery Rhyme.
