Sure, you picked up a book or two last year. You tore through God Is Not Great, nodding in agreement along the way. You read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows on the Metro, brandishing the cover proudly and caring little that anyone saw you. You read a lot of graphic novels. And, then, just for grins and giggles, you picked up The Divine Comedy in the original Italian.

Okay, maybe you read this version instead.

But life is short and literature is long. And hey, you were busy. So there’s probably an ever growing list of stuff you didn’t get around to reading last year.

Well, here are five more terrific books — two novels, a book of reportage/interviews, a biography, and a collection of literary essays — you might have missed last year, books in which Washington, D.C., its political culture, or its icons figure prominently.

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

Gentrification in D.C. neighborhoods. Race relations. White flight. No, it’s not a collection from DCist’s comments section, but just a few of the many things dealt with in this movingly rendered debut novel by Ethiopian émigré Dinaw Mengestu. Set in Logan Circle, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears details the burgeoning relationship between an Ethiopian immigrant, Sepha Stephanos, and his neighbor, a white female scholar with a biracial daughter who have moved into the row house next door with plans to renovate it.