Black Friday sales; Books We Love 2024 : NPR

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Books we love: Staff Favorites

Good morning! Andrew Limbong here, books reporter at NPR. I'm subbing in this newsletter to tell you about Books We Love, our year-end round-up of our favorite reads. The 2024 edition lists more than 350 books. Which just means there's something for everyone here. Poke around the platform to discover a book for you or someone you love (or are gift-shopping for). And, scroll down for a few of the top staff picks this year. If you want to shout out your favorite, the email is bookoftheday@npr.org and subscribe to NPR's Book of the Day podcast.

OK, technically, hundreds of the selections in Books We Love are made by staff. That's kind of the whole shtick! Here are a few 2024 books that got LOTS of votes from our NPR colleagues.

• 📚 All Fours by Miranda July: Is it just me, or are we hearing a lot more about perimenopause since this novel dropped? It's about an unnamed artist who leaves her husband and kid to go on a wild trip exploring the edges of her desires. Wailin Wong, host of NPR's The Indicator podcast, says the protagonist makes choices "that you may find hilarious, relatable, or infuriating, but they are never boring."
• 📚 Funny Story by Emily Henry: You've probably spotted this book at your local bookstore. If you haven't perused it yet, it's a rom-com from one of the reigning champs of the genre. NPR Growth Editor Arielle Retting explains the plot as "The ex of my enemy is my friend, I guess?"
• 📚 Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar: A debut novel that came out with a splash this year, getting nominated for a National Book Award. It's about a guy obsessed with death. The book is filled with sadness and anger. But also, every review of the book I've read points to how funny it is. NPR Wild Card Editor Dave Blanchard writes, "It could leave you in tears of laughter or of sorrow. Or most likely both."

These are just a tiny fraction of the hundreds of books recommended by our staffers and critics. Over in the NPR Books newsletter, we'll be showcasing different genres and categories through the end of the year. Biographies, thrillers, cookbooks and more! Subscribe here if you want to keep the recommendations coming.

Black Friday stories you may have missed

People are expected to spend a record of up to $989 billion this holiday season. Higher prices explain some of the higher spending, but it's not the whole story. A greater share of people also plan to splurge this holiday season, according to a survey by market research firm Circana. Here's what to expect from this year's Black Friday and holiday shopping season.

If you're looking for some great deals today, try looking beyond the big stores like Amazon, Target or Best Buy. Some of the best sales are hiding in plain sight, if you know where to look. Joanie Demer of the website thekrazycouponlady.com shares her bargain-hunting tips with Morning Edition. 

Music lovers have something to look forward to today. Record stores across the country are offering special releases as part of what they call Record Store Day Black Friday. The billion-dollar vinyl record industry has been growing steadily over the years. Now the manufacturers who press these records face competitors from abroad.

Not into shopping 'till you drop? Ditch the shopping cart and try one of these four ways to observe Black Friday without spending money.

Weekend picks

Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend:

• 🍿 Movies: Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig focuses on a family of four in Tehran that grows increasingly divided over the daughters' support for the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. Rasoulof talked with Morning Edition about the making of the new political thriller and how he escaped Iran on foot.
• 📺 TV: Ted Danson stars in A Man on the Inside as a lonely widower hired by a private investigator to live undercover in a senior living facility to find who stole a precious item.
• 📚 Books: Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's new memoir Freedom shines a light on her life and political journey. She is the only woman to lead Germany and is one of the longest-serving leaders in the European Union. She talks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly to discuss her book, feminism, Vladimir Putin and more.
• 🎵 Music: Kendrick Lamar's surprise album GNX lays out his agenda: truth-telling and fraud-exposing, going scorched-earth and drawing out the fence-sitters in a culture war he is hell-bent on ending.
• 🍫 Food: Dubai chocolate is the new craze and it's not just a phase, with franchises like Baskin-Robbins adding it to their menu. The chocolate bars are like KitKats, but filled with pistachios and aromatic pistachio nougat.

This newsletter was edited by Carol Ritchie.