books 2016: The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
This book was absolutely amazing. It completely lives up to the hype. What I kept thinking about as I read was that saying that "Fiction is a lie that tells the truth". In this book, Whitehead has invented a version of America's past. He's envisioned the underground railroad as a literal train track, and that's given him freedom to revise other aspects of this time period. Knowing this, it's hard for me to tell what in the book is historical fact and what is fiction - but this book tells the truth in the best ways that books can achieve. I feel like this book, this character, has helped me to hear the stories about this period of history in a new way. Highly, highly recommended.