Wow, what a year of reading! I’m finally bringing you my Best Books of 2019 and my Favorite Books Read in 2019. I kept thinking I was going to finish more 2019 books towards the end of the year, but eventually I had to call it: the reading year is over. And a new one—and a shiny, glittering new decade—is here! So let’s put the best books of 2019 to rest. I can’t wait to kick off what I hope will be my best year yet as a reader and book blogger. But first, some kudos to the best books from 2019.
Part 1: Broke by Books’s Best Books of 2019
Here are my top ten books published in 2019! Starting clockwise from the top left…
Strange Harvests: The Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects by Edward Posnett
This was one of the many books I discovered through BookMarks, the book review aggregator. I really enjoyed this book, and I discovered I have an obscure connection to the author and his chapter on edible bird nests. In doing research for that chapter, Posnett consulted with Penn Museum’s Oceania Collection, where I worked one summer in the coolest job I’ve ever had. (Later set a short story there I wrote first semester at VCFA!) Turns out I’m not the only one with esoteric knowledge of early 20th century artifacts from Borneo! I definitely want to email the author (who also lives in Philly!) at some point to let him know this book is reminding me of my curiosity for the world at large. I have a niche fascination in learning about expeditions and explorers (probably thanks to my early crush on Indiana Jones).
I also think I’m getting into books by nature and naturalists, having loved Sy Montgomery’s How to Be a Good Creature last year. As I look to deepen my pagan spiritual practice, I’m incorporating books about nature into my reading. Maybe it’s time to take a walk in the woods and discover something for myself.
How to read it: Purchase Strange Harvests on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang
The Collected Schizophrenias was probably my favorite book of the year. In fact, I nominated it for Book Riot’s Best Books of 2019 and wrote the following blurb for it:
In The Collected Schizophrenias, Esmé Weijun Wang illuminates the experience of living on the schizophrenia spectrum. The Collected Schizophrenias is an urgent contribution to literature on mental illness, shot through with grace, candor, and courage. Wang’s book is a new classic of narrative medicine and an invaluable resource, giving patients, advocates, and mental health practitioners alike a vocabulary to describe the indescribable contours of psychosis. Most of all, Wang’s The Collected Schizophrenias offers a balm of hope for those seeking answers and a light of witness to all who struggle with this paralyzing, dazzling darkness.
Surely one of the reasons why this book felt like such a personal fave was because this year I was re-diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder bipolar type. In other words, the exact same condition Wang describes in The Collected Schizophrenias. To read someone who had gone through many of the same issues I have find a way towards hope and healing was like getting thrown a life raft when I felt I was drowning.
How to read it: Purchase The Collected Schizophrenias on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Wow, I totally loved this book! I was asked to read it by the lovely team at EBSCO NoveList as a book discussion guide project. I think I connected to City of Girls so much because I identified with the heroine and narrator, Vivian. I’ve always loved Bildungsroman, novels of education where young characters learn the hard way about the ways of the world.
This was also one of my favorite books because it was so readable. Gilbert has a gift that way; she can write anything, and the style feels so confessional, so intimate, and so informal that it’s just like listening to a friend. I devoured this book in big, hungry gulps of 30, 40, 50 pages at a time. More than any book I read this year, City of Girls earns the title of a perfect beach read. It’s a bestseller with brains and heart.
City of Girls was one of my fifteen best summer historical fiction reads of 2019.
How to read it: Purchase City of Girls on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belonging, and Being Yourself by Matthew Gray Gubler
Oh, gosh! I love this one. Matthew Gray Gubler’s Rumple Buttercup is such a sweet story about a creature learning to love himself. This chapter book or picture book for beginning readers manages to reach inside your heart. For anyone who has ever felt self-conscious, like they don’t belong, this book is for you. I was in tears by the end, but they were cathartic tears, like I could tell a dark part of my childhood was starting to heal.
I featured this book in my list of “7 Great New Picture Books from the First Half of 2019.”
How to read it: Purchase Rumple Butercup on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
My first Ruth Ware! If this year taught me anything, it’s that mysteries and thrillers are my favorite genre. I was glad to be introduced to Ware through The Turn of the Key, a really smart, totally page-turning modern retelling of the famous Henry James gothic story, “The Turn of the Screw.” I inhaled the last 100 pages in one desperate gasp! This was also another solid read from Book of the Month Club in 2019, with The Silent Patient being another (as you’ll see in a little bit).
How to read it: Purchase The Turn of the Key on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky
I read Deaf Republic, a harrowing collection of linked poems that tell a story of occupation, resistance, and trauma for the spring Dewey’s Readathon in April. Chosen for its short length, Deaf Republic left a large crater in my reading year, and as 2019 went on, I could not stop thinking about it. An important work of disability representation, Deaf Republic was a National Book Award finalist in 2019.
For more great short books to read for readathons, check out the Broke by Books epic list of “25 Short Books You Can Read in a Day or Readathon.”
How to read it: Purchase Deaf Republic on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
What a wild ride! I was not exactly loving The Silent Patient while it was reading it. I had some of my usual grumble-grumble issues with any book that makes a woman’s mental health issues into a sensationalistic plot. But something kept me turning the pages… and when I got to the reveal at the end, I totally didn’t see it coming. I do love a good plot twist, and The Silent Patient‘s is killer good. A successful narrative trick like that, when the author pulls it off, earns my love.
The Silent Patient was another Book of the Month Club thriller I loved, just like The Turn of the Key. I included it (and The Turn of the Key) in my list of the “25 Best Thrillers of 2019.”
How to read it: Purchase The Silent Patient on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
It’s hard to say no to a nice comfort food book, and that’s exactly what Things You Save in a Fire ended up being for me. I read it in early September, not long after I got discharged from the inpatient psych unit at Bryn Mawr Hospital. August and September were so hard for me. I was dealing with symptoms of schizoaffective disorder that challenged me and made me doubt that there could be hope for a positive future. But Katherine Center’s Things You Save in a Fire jolted some optimism in me. I ended up recommending this book quite often at TBR this year and got feedback that readers enjoyed it. I felt so pulled along with main character and narrator Cassie as she undertook an emotional journey to learn to trust love again.
How to read it: Purchase Things You Save in a Fire on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Red, White, & Royal Blue was one of my favorite reads of the year! I bought this one on impulse at the 30th Street Train Station in Philadelphia and read it while I was in the hospital in late July/early August. In fact, I loved it so much, I read it in two days. Casey McQuiston’s debut romance, which tells a queer love story of America’s First Son and one of Britain’s royal princes was a shot of much-needed good vibes. As a politics junkie, I totally fell for Red, White & Royal Blue‘s alternate universe that I hope to see come true one day. The only thing that bothered me was I felt a lot of anger coming through the book, and I know by now that stories (and real life) where anger is very front and center makes me uncomfortable. Regardless, this one was a terrific romance.
How to read it: Purchase Red, White & Royal Blue on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Jacqueline Woodson’s lyrical novel Red at the Bone is just 208 pages, but this little earthquake will leave shockwaves in your soul. Told in alternate perspectives, this novel revolves around the sixteenth birthday party of a girl who was conceived as an accidental pregnancy to two teens. Woodson is a master of creating unique narrative voices in this book, which reminded me an awful lot of Virginia Woolf’s masterful novels, especially The Waves.
How to read it: Purchase Red at the Bone on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Yay, the best books of 2019! But there are still a few others I’d like to give a shoutout to.
Here are a few honorable mentions or recipients of the “un certain regard,” an award at the Cannes Film Festival for appreciation of an interesting style or point or view:
- Another by Christian Robinson — made my list of the 7 best picture books from the beginning half of 2019 (Amazon|Goodreads)
- The Club by Takis Würger – See my review on the blog and find it on my list of the “25 Best Thrillers of 2019” (Amazon|Goodreads)
- Conviction by Denise Mina — Appears on my list of the “25 Best Thrillers of 2019” (Amazon|Goodreads)
- Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum by Dr. Seuss, Illus. Andrew Joyner (Amazon|Goodreads)
- The Envious Siblings: and Other Morbid Nursery Rhymes by Landis Blair (Amazon|Goodreads)
- Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon (Amazon|Goodreads)
- I Am a Wolf by Kelly Leigh Miller — on my list of seven great picture books from the first half of 2019 (Amazon|Goodreads)
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (Amazon|Goodreads)
- Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks — be sure to check out my review here on the blog (Amazon|Goodreads)
- Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell (Amazon|Goodreads)
- Trust Exercise by Susan Choi (Amazon|Goodreads)
- Turbulence by David Szalay (Amazon|Goodreads)
- The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, Illus. Kadir Nelson — appears on my list of the top picture books of early 2019 (Amazon|Goodreads)
Part 2: My Favorite Books Read in 2019
These were my 12 favorite books I read in 2019 that weren’t published in 2019. I’m going to keep this one pretty short, so here we go… (clockwise from the top)
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, Illus. Gordon C. James
This picture book was a total delight! Anyone who has ever relished the experience of getting a haircut will connect with this book. A celebration of diversity, community, pride, and self-confidence that belongs on any kid’s shelf.
How to read it: Purchase Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Tortot: The Cold Fish Who Lost His World and Found His Heart by Benny Lindelauf, Illus. Ludwig Volbeda
A contemporary children’s book in translation from the Netherlands, Tortot is a brutal story of how wartime warps and corrupts the childhood of kids growing up in times of military conflict. Volbeda’s illustrations are intricate works of art. For those who can stomach the at times queasy violence and unflinching gore, this is a unique book that feels both timely and timeless.
How to read it: Purchase Tortot on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel
This picture book became the foundation of my critical thesis for my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. I love how this subversive book makes the case for incorporating surrealism into kid lit, a powerful message that tells children, it’s okay to think differently. Also, cats!
How to read it: Purchase They All Saw a Cat on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
The Midnight Gang by David Walliams
British children’s writer David Walliams has earned his trademark as our best modern Roald Dahl. I’ve come to love his quirky, fast-paced, hilarious and heartfelt middle grade novels. The Midnight Gang was my favorite one of his I read in 2019. These books are whimsical but don’t shy away from real issues facing kids. Walliams is also notable for his creative typography, which moves the books along at a clip, making his longer titles at over 400 pages read like a breeze.
How to read it: Purchase The Midnight Gang on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
As I mentioned above, this was the year that I realized mystery is probably my favorite genre. Perhaps it’s no surprise as it’s the year I read my first Agatha Christie novels. And Then There Were None was a great escapist thriller that I gladly sunk a weekend into reading. I need to reread this one to unpack Christie’s genius plotting.
How to read it: Purchase And Then There Were None on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
Chilling, grimly hilarious, and unapologetically feminist, An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good is a nice little collection of mystery short stories. Each feature Maud, an 88-year-old woman who has zero f***s to give and handles her problems with murder. I read this book during the April readathon, and it hasn’t left my mind since. (For more mystery short stories, check out my article about ten great mystery short story collections.)
How to read it: Purchase An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill
An excellent mid-century middle grade story about Jenny, a shy cat living in Bohemian New York City and trying to make friends with the other kitties. I’m working on a cat novel of my own, and I appreciated how Averill built out a whole “cat world” in which her cat characters lived vibrant lives away from “human world.” This book is reprinted through the New York Review Children’s Collection, from which I’ve read a few other books and found them to be treasures I wouldn’t otherwise have found.
How to read it: Purchase Jenny and the Cat Club on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Calvin by Martine Leavitt
Martine is a faculty member in my MFA program, and I would give anything to work with her in a future semester. Calvin, her award-winning YA contemporary novel, reached me right when I needed a story about a boy with delusions overcoming—or at least making peace—with his psychosis demons. I’ve recommended this one quite a lot through TBR this year. It’s another quick, impactful read.
How to read it: Purchase Calvin on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Poet X was an all-student read for my MFA program in spring 2019, and I was so blown away by this astounding verse novel. I’ve read a lot of YA verse novels over the years (and am trying to write one myself). They don’t always showcase the medium of poetry. But in The Poet X, Acevedo is firing on all cylinders, showing how shaping language and pushing it in new directions can bolster a story and make our heroine/narrator come alive.
How to read it: Purchase The Poet X on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce
This was an impulse-grab at the library’s new release section. I found this charming historical novel set in London during the early days of World War II to be a nice pick me up. The stiff-upper-lip attitude of the endearing characters will help anyone keep calm and carry on. I included this in my list of “15 Best Books with Happy Endings.”
How to read it: Purchase Dear Mrs. Bird on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Usually I don’t love postmodern books because they can sometimes try to be too clever… but Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders was smart without being self-congratulatory. This homage to the Golden Age of Mystery Fiction is layered with careful plotting I appreciated as the story reached its gasp-worthy end. And, perhaps most important, it pointed me in the direction of Agatha Christie, the author whom Horowitz references the most in Magpie Murders. Now I’m a Christie fan, all thanks to this fun double whodunnit.
How to read it: Purchase Magpie Murders on Amazon and add it on Goodreads
I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya
Last but not least, I received I’m Afraid of Men as a Christmas present in 2018 and added it to my list for the April readathon. I’m so happy I did! This quiet work of thunder contains the memoir of Vivek Shraya, a trans artist and activist. I’m Afraid of Men raises urgent, necessary questions about misogyny and sexism from all corners, but it also ends on a hopeful note for gender harmony. It’s yet another unforgettable quick read.
