Nonfiction Winner: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

"Right next to fiction, nonfiction is one of the most expansive categories out there. While its scope offers a myriad of content, it also highlights the fact that few titles engage with all aspects of the genre. Memoir, self dev, and science all fall under the umbrella of nonfiction, but they’re also genres in their own right—genres that don’t necessarily do the same work. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, Lori Gottlieb’s Maybe You Should to Talk Someone marries the three into something that feels decidedly nonfiction.

Gottlieb’s de-stigmatization of mental health also surfaces another trend of 2019: giving voice to the otherwise voiceless. Whether it’s the exposure of sexual violence against women in Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill and Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women, or Ibram X. Kendi’s plea to acknowledge the painful truths of racial inequality in How to Be an Antiracist, writers have been defying categorization and doing incredibly important work this year. But it’s also been a year of optimism with titles like Samantha Power’s The Education of an Idealist—a testament to hope, kindness, and empathy. Ultimately, 2019 has proven itself a year of truth and revelations, though there’s still a lot more work to be done." —Michael C., Audible Editor

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