The Best Books I Read in 2019
Reading on the terrace in the spring sunshine. Lausanne, Switzerland. May 19, 2019.
In 2019, I read a total of 67 books. For the full list of books read, you can check out the quarter-by-quarter replay:
To create a shortlist of the best books I read in 2019, I took the best of each quarter—noted by their bolding on each reading list—and picked my absolute favorites. I defined “absolute favorites” as the books I still remember and think about months later and that, in the thinking, continue to elicit a visceral response:
All that Man Is, by David Szalay
Here I Am, by Jonathan Safran Foer
From the Shadows, by Juan Jose Millas
I would recommend these three books highly to any person interested in literary fiction.
Highly honorable mentions include the powerful series of short folios on feminism from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and the seasonal quartet (still pending the publication of its entry for summer) from Ali Smith—especially the volume called Winter. (You can find links to these books in the quarterly lists bulleted at the top of this article.)
I don’t have a woman on my best-of-the-best list, and that disappoints me. In truth, though I loved a lot of the literature I read by women in 2019, none of it gut punched me and stuck with me with the resonance of the three books listed. Is this an issue with me in general? Is it an issue with the books I selected? Is it an issue with the publishing industry and its selections for books to print and promote? Is it a combination of these causes? I don’t know.
I find it difficult to uncover good and original voices with important perspectives. To do so, I read as many book reviews as I can from sources that I trust and I save the compelling books to my reading list to work though, one at a time.
A better way to find good fiction must exist. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to better uncover great reads? I’m all ears (and eyes).
P.S.—Interested in my best-of-the-best lists for other years? Read my article listing my favorite books of 2020, my post on the best books I read in 2021, and my write up for the best books I read in 2022.