As the year races to a close, we revisit the adrenaline rush of five key books: one inspired in part by SCUM Manifesto scribe Valerie Solanas; another powered by a Great Dane; a play-by-play plus backstory on the epic James Baldwin-William F. Buckley debate of yore; a biographer attempting to reveal his secret sauce; and one book to help us detox from it all, on defusing women's stress. Along with an introduction to 16 books published by Grotto writers in 2019, this rangy conversation involving Amelia and Emily Nagoski's Burnout, Sigrid Nunez's The Friend, Nicholas Buccola's The Fire Is Upon Us, Andrea Long Chu's Females, and Robert Caro's Working has something for just about everyone.