This year, a bizarre one full of fracture, distress, hope, fear, and introspection, the books I remember were all written by authors of uncommon empathy. After months of listening to candidates tripping over each other to “feel your pain,” it’s easy to forget that actually feeling someone’s pain — and then writing about it, sharing it, granting it legitimacy and the respect of critique — is a rare talent.

Every year cookbook styling and recipe development get better and better. In reviewing the past year’s offerings, I ended up with a large pile of favored cookbooks. Reducing this stack to only 10 was a bit sad, as I had to put away some cookbooks that I really, really like. Each of the remaining books had to pass a test: I had to be inspired to cook from it repeatedly.