It is that time of year when the year-end lists of best books start filling up your newsfeed. Despite the backlash against these lists, we still devour them, but then we decide we read nothing from the current year and put it on our list for the new year and the cycle continues. Desi Writers’ Lounge also has month-long activities planned so watch this space. For now, let’s start to deck the halls with boughs of lists, fa la, la, la, la, la.

1. The Millions has begun its annual Year in Reading series, where authors write about the best books they read that year. Loving Celeste Ng’s endorsement of Elena Ferrante.

2. These poems by Lydia Davis in Bomb Magazine are part-story, part-examination of a relationship but never do they let up in their depth of desire and longing.

3. So yours truly is frequently under fire for reading literary fiction which is hardly ever popular. But what makes a book more popular than the other? Lincoln Michel investigates.

What are your favorite books of this year? Let us know in the comments.