Favorite Books of 2019
Tis the season for the end of the year wrap up posts, and here’s mine. It was impossible to narrow it down to 10, so I’m giving you all of them in no particular order.
If numbers are important to you I read 130 books this year for fun. These are the best of those.
Best Books I Read in 2019:
The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay - this book had a huge impact on me. It’s short, and full of delight as it promises to be. It’s beautiful at the conceptual AND sentence level and will have you rethinking how much joy you can find when you look for it.
Tell the Machine Goodnight, by Katie Williams - the exact level of strange that I really love. This book tells the stories of several people each connected to a happiness device that will swab your cheek and tell you three things you should do to increase your happiness. It’s creative, interesting, and memorable. Slightly sci-fi.
French Exit, by Patrick deWitt - One of my most anticipated books of the year and it didn’t disappoint. I love his weird plots, characters with quirks and surprising oddities. This one is about a family that is really dysfunctional and was just what I was hoping for from deWitt.
Foe, by Ian Reid - this book is short, incredibly compelling, and makes you wonder what’s happening until you get to the end and then you realize what is happening and then go back to the beginning to check if you figured it out. Don’t read anything about it. Just read it. The less you know the better. Plot concerns two people isolated on a farm.
The Study of Animal Languages, by Lindsay Stern - This book is about a relationship, and what happens when it is strained. It also touches on aging parents and how to handle things when they just mercilessly continue. That sounds dramatic, but really this is a quiet story about a small group of characters. I loved it and it made me cry at least once.
The Plotters, by Un-Su Kim - Let me start off by acknowledging that this book is not going to be for everyone. It’s about an assassin that doesn’t follow orders, and part of the plot is about his killing a few people, figuring out how to survive when he’s become a bit of a target, and has some dark humor that might not be what you want. Personally, I thought it held the line of being an excellent balance between dark comedy, introspection, and had really awesome fight scenes.
The River, by Peter Heller - Such a masterful writer, Heller manages to combine nature writing, a compelling plot, thriller genre, and an intense study of friendship in this beautiful book. It’s not that long either. One of my favorite things about Heller’s writing is that he uses unconventional paragraph formatting, and it manages to increase the tension in the plot of this book while ALSO mimicking the atmosphere of the wilderness. It’s beautiful.
The Lady Sherlock series, by Shelly Thomas - A gender flipped Sherlock Holmes retelling that rivals my love of the original stories. It’s charming, clever, and one of the few historical mysteries I’ve enjoyed. There are four books out in the series now and it is important to read them in order, starting with A Study in Scarlet Women.
The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells - An excellent four novella series about an security bot in the future who just wants to watch programs but has to save humans instead. It’s wonderful and I am so excited for the full length novel out next year. Start with the first one, All Systems Red. It’s only 156 pages so you’ll fly through the series.
The Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel - This book is a wild ride of a book. It’s the story of a non-violent true crime in which a man decided to be done with the real world and made it work in the woods of Maine for like, 26 years. He survived by stealing food and was eventually arrested and this book discusses his thought process, the how he did it, and is one of the most interesting non-fiction things I’ve read.
Recursion, by Blake Crouch - I will read everything Blake Crouch writes. He’s one of the most compelling authors of my reading lifetime and has a great way with a plot - no matter how far fetched it might be, I’m ready for it. This was probably one of the more entertaining reads of my year. The story involves a mad rich guy, a brilliant beyond her years scientist, memory research, time loops, and an interesting examination of what life means and how we live it. I love how Crouch manages to include thought provoking questions in the midst of a great sci-fi thriller adventure story.
How Not to Die Alone, by Richard Roper - This one surprised me. I enjoyed the plot setup but did not expect to like it as much as I did, or to think about it as much as I have afterwards. The story is about a man who’s job is to go to the deceased when they have no next of kin to notify and make arrangements for them. The chaos begins when we learn that he has been lying to his coworkers about having a family when he is in truth a single man without a family. it’s a moving and darkly comedic look at loneliness, belonging, death, and choosing to actually live.
The Parasol Protectorate Series, by Gail Cariger - This is a great series that I have been devouring on audio this winter. It’s a little bit steampunk, a little bit romance, a lot werewolves, vampires, and soulless, and enough comedic wit and great writing to make it work so well. It charmingly jumps over any cliche’s you might be anticipating, and is a fantastic load of fun. I loved it all and am about to start book 5 of the series. You need to read these in order. Start with Souless. The cover art isn’t my favorite but you know what they say about that.
Well Met, by Jen DeLuca - My favorite romance of the year, or maybe ever. By romance, I mean it’s a rom-com in a book form. It’s a delight to read. It’s adorable without being annoying, the characters are charming and the cutest. All of it worked for me. The story, as you may have guessed, is about two people who end up falling in love. They meet at a renaissance fair and start off badly, but the road to their HEA is one I would rewatch all the time if it was a movie, and I plan on reading it at least once next year for sure.
Evvie Drake Starts Over, by Linda Holmes - This could be termed a romance, but I think it’s more just actual fiction. It’s about a woman starting over with her life, a guy trying to work on his own (he’s a baseball player trying to get rid of the yipps) and how their friendship might have more to it. The thing I loved about this book was how real it felt. It wasn’t full of giant romantic sweeping gestures, the characters didn’t act like weirdos, or movie characters, but like people you know. The timing of this plot is paced so well. The ending had me catching my breath. I loved it. It grabbed me deeply and I enjoyed it so much (It took me a few chapters to really get into it, so if that happens to you, I’d encourage you to keep going!).
Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson - I was so intrigued by the premise of this book and got it as one of my Book of the Month picks. It did not disappoint and was just weird enough to hit the sweet spot for me. I don’t think this book is for everyone, but if you like weird stories, strange relationships, a bit of magical realism/speculative fiction (the kids catch on fire, literal fire. I’m not sure what genre that qualifies as!), rich people problems, narrators with a chip on their shoulder, you should give this a try. It’s short and I don’t think it’s like anything you’re ever read before.
The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson - I read this during the season of Halloween/Thanksgiving when the air gets crisp from being newly cold. It is an expert scary story. Jackson lets you know this is a book about a haunted house at the start. Her writing is delicious, precise, and comforting, so you let her drive you wherever, happy to have the ride, and then before you know it, you’re deep in a horror story and you cannot look away. I don’t like horror, to be clear. However, I love suspense. I love when writers can make a feeling tangible. I like the more internal thrills where the author churns you up, not from excessive violence or gross stuff, but from taking a bunch of things that make sense and putting them in a blender. This book is phenomenal and spooky as hell. It reassures you and then makes you rethink what you decided is happening. It’s excellent. You should read it for Halloween 2020. It’s worth it and not very long.
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, by Caitlin Doughty - I LOVE Doughty’s work about death. Her two books before this are so great, interesting, and informative. In this one she answers kids questions about death. They’re kindof gross, but also, this is the stuff we all want to know! Doughty is funny, practical, and smart as a whip. Highly recommend to all humans.
Sabriel, by Garth Nix - Tim Curry narrates this audiobook and it is an excellent YA fantasy story about a girl who must go to death and back to find her dad. And then take his place. It’s wonderful. Minimal angst for a YA story. Excellent plot. Charming, realistic characters who are interesting and multi-dimensional. It’s great. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.
This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar - This book took my breath away. I was expecting a story about rivaling sci-fi time warriors and a fun creative plot, but this is all of that but so very much more. It’s written in letters between these two rivals. It’s also written with a time frame of eons and galaxies, with epic creative formats, and some of the most beautiful sentences and evocative settings I’ve ever read. This is a love story. I want to buy this book and just hold it to my heart. It is like the most beautiful combination of letters. It’s also very short, strange, and just brilliant.
Honorable Mentions:
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb
The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal