Most popular books published in 2019
Books most frequently added to goodreads members' shelves, updated weekly.
The Silent Patient
Alex michaelides.
Daisy Jones & The Six
Taylor jenkins reid.
Nobody ever knew why. Until now.
They were lovers and friends and brothers and rivals. They couldn't believe their luck, until it ran out. This is their story of the early days and the wild nights, but everyone remembers the truth differently.
The only thing they all know for sure is that from the moment Daisy Jones walked barefoot onstage at the Whisky, their lives were irrevocably changed.
Making music is never just about the music. And sometimes it can be hard to tell where the sound stops and the feelings begin.
Red, White & Royal Blue
Casey mcquiston.
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
Holly jackson.
The Unhoneymooners
Christina lauren.
Regretting You
Colleen hoover.
Such a Fun Age
The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)
Holly black.
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know
Malcolm gladwell.
Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)
Leigh bardugo.
Anxious People
Fredrik backman ...more.
The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean vuong.
The Giver of Stars
The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale, #2)
Margaret atwood.
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The Best Books of 2019
By Katy Waldman
Since 1983, it has been customary for nearly every State of the Union address to include the line “The state of the union is strong.” That rote confidence, though perhaps misplaced in politics, seems warranted in the world of books: there are always good books being written. But is it possible that, in 2019, there was a slightly greater number of them? I had a terrible time whittling down my top ten this year. There was a longer than usual tally of titles, reputed to be excellent, that I wanted to read (but have not, yet), with the result that the ballot below may be more reflective of idiosyncratic consumption than objective judgment. The lineup is heavy on fiction, memoir, fiction that behaves like memoir, and memoir that impersonates fiction. The books of 2019 may be slippery to categorize, but the state of them is strong—a luscious year, like 1997 for Brunellos—and I’m thrilled that my job calls upon me to share some of my favorites, rather than my assessment of the nation’s affairs. To the list!
“ Mostly Dead Things ,” by Kristen Arnett
This début novel follows a taxidermist, Jessa-Lynn, who lives in central Florida and is mourning the death of her father. Jessa-Lynn’s lover, who is also her brother’s wife, has run off. Her mother is taking apart her father’s specimens—he, too, was a taxidermist—and turning them into erotic art installations. Black humor meets lush prose; Arnett’s Florida—a world of sensuousness and danger—expresses the freedom that her characters seek, as taxidermy itself becomes a figure for queerness, sex, art, and loss.
“ The Divers’ Game ,” by Jesse Ball
This dystopic fable imagines a society riven in two, with the upper class empowered to murder members of the lower class, for any reason. Characters are given varying degrees of self-awareness; spare, simple language evokes innocence maintained at too high a price.
“ Trust Exercise ,” by Susan Choi
Sarah and David, teen-agers at a prestigious performing-arts high school, conduct their love affair under the watch of a manipulative and charismatic drama teacher. The students are all sweat, hormones, and painful self-consciousness. The novel, tense and lovely as a dancer’s clenched muscle, explodes into a mid-act twist, which brilliantly foregrounds questions of authorship and appropriation.
“ Ducks, Newburyport ,” by Lucy Ellmann
This stream-of-consciousness novel, most of which unspools over a single sentence, is an inquiry into how we live—and think—now: drowning in information, aghast at the news, yet captive to the mundane details of work and family. Ellmann’s unnamed protagonist, a middle-aged housewife in Ohio, is at once conventional and specific, not to mention funny. Her litany of fears and yearnings acquires an almost sacral quality.
“ Girl, Woman, Other ,” by Bernardine Evaristo
Evaristo’s eighth novel, which shared this year’s Booker Prize with “ The Testaments ,” by Margaret Atwood, creates a symphony of black womanhood. Each chapter centers on a different character—a feminist playwright, her goth-alien daughter, the “separatist lesbian housebuilder” dating her friend—and their connections emerge gradually. At different times, Evaristo’s tone is either ringing or confiding, amused or stricken. Her language spills over the page in free verse that suggests Ntozake Shange but lays down its own rhythms.
“ How We Fight for Our Lives ,” by Saeed Jones
New Yorker writers reflect on the year’s best.
Jones’s tale of coming of age in the South as a black, gay poet has a startling immediacy. He writes of college lovers, the threat of hate crimes, and his self-possessed mother, who supported him but struggled to talk about his sexuality. The book, which is slim and focussed, quakes with a nervous energy that often erupts into euphoria.
“ In the Dream House ,” by Carmen Maria Machado
This memoir, which tells the story of Machado’s abusive relationship with another woman, is an act of personal and formal bravery: a narrative refracted through multiple genres—“ Dream House as Creature Feature,” “ Dream House as Word Problem”—that explores vulnerability but vibrates with power. Machado heightens a sense of dislocation by seeming to practice literary criticism on herself. (Right before her prologue, she writes, “I never read prologues. . . . If what the author has to say is so important, why relegate it to the paratext? What are they trying to hide?”)
“ Valerie ,” by Sara Stridsberg
In this whirling, poetic mashup of a novel, Stridsberg takes liberties adapting scenes from the biography of Valerie Solanas, the feminist who shot Andy Warhol. (Behold Valerie, languishing on her deathbed, sparring with the book’s narrator, who was not there.) The emotional through line is Stridsberg’s longing to know her mysterious, self-contradictory subject.
“ Axiomatic ,” by Maria Tumarkin
The book is comprised of restless, gorgeous essays, each of which uses an aphorism—“time heals all wounds,” “you can’t enter the same river twice”—to reflect on Tumarkin’s preoccupations: trauma, the ongoingness of the past, and the unworkability of language. Tumarkin takes up subjects like youth suicide and the plight of homeless people in North Melbourne, but her approach is never maudlin. The book exudes pity, as it’s classically defined— “a sorrowing compassion.”
“ On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous ,” by Ocean Vuong
Vuong, a poet and Vietnamese immigrant, studies his upbringing through the lens of his mother, to whom the novel is addressed. This woman, Rose, is both loving and abusive. She cannot read English, and yet her imagined readership is the occasion for the story’s telling. Rose becomes, for her son, a horizon where intimacy and loneliness converge; the grace of the book is to measure distance while acknowledging that few distances are fixed.
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The 21 Best Novels of 2019
By Chloe Schama
During the past year, we've had plenty of genre-busting, conversation-setting, and era-defining fiction to cherish and discuss. From late-period le Carré espionage thriller to cult Instagram read, for every kind of reader, here are the novels we loved in 2019.
The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells (Penguin Books, January)
In an age when the double tap is so often the fastest path to fame, there is something appealingly old-fashioned about a literary success story. This holds especially true for the tale of Benedict Wells, the 34-year-old German wunderkind who survived a downright Dickensian childhood before emerging as a cultural sensation in his native country. Wells was only six when illness and financial troubles shattered his household, forcing his parents to send him to state-run Bavarian boarding schools. This early experience informs Wells’s überpersonal fourth novel, The End of Loneliness (Penguin Books), an international phenomenon that won the European Union Prize for Literature. The tale centers on the orphaned Jules and his two older siblings, following the trio through a series of events that are unfortunate but also joyful and funny. It is not a perfect novel, but it is a life-affirming work. As Jules says near the end, “I’m always surprised by how the light of memory makes particular moments shine brightly.” — Lauren Mechling
Looker by Laura Sims (Scribner, January)
Failed by IVF treatments and her husband, the narrator of Looker is left to fester in her Brooklyn brownstone with only her feline companion. “I am sick to death of men,” she tells us, so instead she fixates on the beautiful actress who lives down the block. In prose that moves between lyrical and caterwauling, the poet Laura Sims has pulled off the high-wire act of making bitterness delicious. —Lauren Mechling
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray (Berkley, February)
By Alexandra Macon
By Kerry McDermott
Sudden loss profoundly shakes a Michigan family in Anissa Gray’s utterly absorbing debut, The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls (Berkley). When Althea and her husband are arrested for fraud, the hardheaded matriarch is suddenly “a mother to nobody”—not to her teenage twin daughters, nor to her much younger sisters, Viola and Lillian. As in Tayari Jones’s best-selling An American Marriage, Gray uses imprisonment as the backdrop for a disarmingly compelling story that skirts easy answers and sentimentality. Conversational in tone and difficult in subject, Care and Feeding tells not just an American story but several important ones. —Lauren Mechling
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James (Riverhead, February)
Game of Thrones in Africa? That was the early buzz on Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James’s Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Riverhead)— the first volume of what is to be an intricate, Tolkien-esque trilogy. A vivid read, it is the story of a mercenary hired to hunt for a missing boy across an ancient landscape. He’s called Tracker for his ability to follow scents hundreds of miles, and he’s fearless in a fight and lovestruck for a shape-shifting warrior named Leopard. James writes action sequences as pitiless as they are gripping, and his (very long) novel is ultimately a riveting vision—dark, sensual, and indelible. — Taylor Antrim
Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi (Riverhead, March)
In 2014, the wildly inventive novelist Helen Oyeyemi retold the story of Snow White in Boy, Snow, Bird. In her latest, Gingerbread (Riverhead), Oyeyemi again plays with folklore and fairy tale. In Oyeyemi’s rendering, gingerbread is a family tradition for mother-daughter duo Harriet and Perdita Lee, whose lives blend the real and the magical: They live in a gold-painted walk-up with some uncannily talkative housemates, and Harriet hails from a perhaps nonexistent place called Druhástrana. This homeland becomes the center of Perdita’s quest for self-knowledge when she sets out to find her mother’s long-lost childhood friend. In Oyeyemi’s hands, a simple-seeming premise becomes a story about class, myth, and dark family histories. Her prose is not without its playful bite. — Bridget Read
Stay Up with Hugo Best by Erin Somers (Scribner, April)
With no job and only 119 Instagram followers to her name, 29-year-old June Bloom hops into a chauffeured SUV bound for the country compound of her former boss, late-night comedy legend Hugo Best, in Erin Somers’s zippy debut Stay Up with Hugo Best (Scribner). June’s quick wit keeps the banter flowing over a bizarre Memorial Day weekend during which the larger-than-life figure reconciles himself to the cancellation of his show. The millennial and the magnetic celebrity are surprisingly well suited, two sardonic souls who find themselves connecting. “A crazed billionaire lurked in all of us, ready to have the lawn mowed on the hour,” June realizes midway through her stay. The ending doesn’t quite live up to the book’s magnificent opening, but it’s a devilishly fun ride along the way. —Lauren Mechling
Normal People by Sally Rooney (Hogarth, April)
The young Irish writer Sally Rooney has invented a sensibility entirely of her own: sunny and sharp, free of artifice but overflowing with wisdom and intensity. Her prose possesses an inside-out quality, with seemingly plain sentences that feel less observed than a direct transmission of their protagonists’ most private feelings. In Normal People , Rooney follows Marianne and Connell, whose tragi-romantic pas de deux starts when they are still in high school and spins into increasingly complicated configurations over the course of their university years at Trinity College Dublin. The son of the woman who cleans Marianne’s house, Connell is self-possessed and popular at the book’s outset, while Marianne is timid and troubled, with a face “like a small white flower.” The novel touches on class, politics, and power dynamics and brims with the sparky, witty conversation that Rooney’s fans will recognize. This is a darker and more devastating work than Rooney’s breakthrough, Conversations with Friends , though, at 28, the author might still be approaching the height of her powers. —Lauren Mechling
The Parisian by Isabella Hammad (Grove, April)
A finely wrought coming-of-age story set in France and Palestine under the British Mandate, Isabella Hammad’s The Parisian tells the story of the young Palestinian medical student Midhat, who travels to Europe to complete his medical studies and experiences more of a sentimental education. With strong echoes of Flaubert both in its precise renderings of its characters’ interiority and its nuanced, humanistic depictions of political shifts, Hammad’s debut novel reads like a work from another century. — Chloe Schama
Lost and Wanted by Nell Freudenberger (Knopf, April)
Nell Freudenberger’s Lost and Wanted (Knopf) is set in a Boston that calls to mind Henry James country, a bastion of correctness and rational thought. It is all the more jarring, then, when Helen Clapp, a 40-something single mother (by choice) and tenured chair in MIT’s physics department, receives a phone call and then text messages from the afterlife. The missives are coming from the phone of Charlie Boyce, Helen’s Harvard roommate and estranged best friend, who moved to Hollywood straight after college and died of complications from an autoimmune disease two decades later. Helen doesn’t write off the transmissions as a hoax, however. She sits tight and collects data, all the while conducting a meticulous reexamination of her long and bewildering relationship with Charlie. The book takes up weighty themes such as grief and sexism in the worlds of academia and entertainment, peppering the narration with evocative asides on black holes and quantum entanglement: pairs of particles that “even once they’ve been permanently separated...behave as if they knew what each other was thinking.” The prose is no less enticing when concerned with Charlie and Helen’s friendship, that most unstable and mysterious of connections. —Lauren Mechling
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Griffin, May)
I’ll forever remember 2019 as the year of Red, White & Royal Blue —the sharp, sexy, and altogether delightful queer rom-com by Casey McQuiston. It’s set in an alternate universe (not too unlike our own) in which a woman won the American presidency in 2016, and her ambitious First Son first vehemently hates, then falls madly in love with, a British prince named Henry. I want to live in the world of this novel so badly, I’ll probably reread it in 2020. — Michelle Ruiz
Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Random House)
The titular Dr. Toby Fleishman in Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble (Random House) is a middling hepatologist, recently separated from his wife and suddenly caring for his nine-year-old son and tweenage daughter. Thanks to the wonders of dating apps, he’s also (happily) drowning in offers of casual sex. For weeks, Toby alternately celebrates his newfound autonomy and rages over the mess his spouse has left him. Brodesser-Akner is a master of Zeitgeisty pith, and Toby, while occasionally too saintly for realism’s sake, is a delightful mensch. But the real standout is Brodesser-Akner’s often hilarious grasp on what makes a certain kind of Upper East Side Manhattanite tick. — Hillary Kelly
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Grove, May)
It’s surprising for a book with twelve protagonists to actually feel cohesive, but that’s the case with Bernardine Evaristo’s Booker Prize–winning Girl, Woman, Other . The novel follows various figures, from a black lesbian playwright to a nonbinary social media influencer and a 93-year-old farmer, with a notable amount of care, telling twelve distinct yet linked stories about race, class, gender, and other facets of identity. Evaristo’s genre-bending prose style and ability to tell multiple stories without reducing any of them to clichés make this a book you’ll feel oddly sad to finish. — Emma Specter
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane (Scribner, May)
In Mary Beth Keane’s patient, powerful Ask Again, Yes (Scribner), two families live side by side in a leafy, middle-class bedroom community—the Gleesons and Stanhopes, uneasy Irish-American neighbors whose two young children become close friends, then as they grow older something more. A shocking tragedy turns what had been a portrait of domestic tension into a profound story of trauma and blame. Keane’s gracefully restrained prose gives her characters dignity, even as they mistreat one another and let their lives fall apart. The novel spans decades and shows how difficult forgiveness can be—and how it amounts to a kind of hard-won grace. —Taylor Antrim
Bunny by Mona Awad (Viking, June)
Mona Awad crafts a dark, dazzling fairy tale out of a lonely grad student falling in with a rarefied clique of classmates in her writing program, all of whom refer to each other as “Bunny.” A touching story of true-versus-faux friendship that many women will relate to is at the heart of this novel, but fans of the occult will find plenty to love about the Bunnies’ sci-fi-adjacent ritual experimentation. As if grad school needed to get any scarier. —Emma Specter
Supper Club by Lara Williams (G.P. Putnam's Sons, July)
Stephanie Danler’s Sweetbitter meets Donna Tartt’s The Secret History in this story of female desire, friendship, lust, and, above all, hunger. Best friends Roberta and Stevie meet at work and begin hosting all-female, food-focused bacchanals, but the indulgence quickly proves too much to maintain, forcing Roberta to question what she really wants out of life. This novel will alternately make you laugh, tear up, and text your group chat begging to start a wayward dining committee. —Emma Specter
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Deckle Edge, September)
With its resplendent rooms and gilded features, the titular building of Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House is more like a fairy-tale castle than a suburban home. So it’s fitting, then, that Danny and Maeve’s icy stepmother banishes the two children from the house—like something out of the Brothers Grimm—after their father passes away. (Their mother disappeared to India early in their childhood.) As the fiercely loyal siblings grow up, they’re held captive by the house and the lives that they might have lived inside it. —Hillary Kelly
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October)
The third novel from Ben Lerner, The Topeka School , arrives laden with the kind of future-of-the-novel hype that can sink a story from the get-go. And then the book itself surmounts it. It is ostensibly the tale of Adam, a high school debate prodigy, and his psychotherapist parents, one of them the author of a best-selling self-help book and “famous in Topeka.” Lerner—one of the preeminent modern autofiction writers—is also a poet who grew up in Topeka, but to confine his book to that genre is to reduce its power. The Topeka School is a tour de force that stands on its own. — Corey Seymour
All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October)
The witty Jami Attenberg further tills the fertile ground of family dysfunction in All This Could Be Yours . After a brutal, taciturn patriarch suffers a heart attack, the rest of his family is left to reconcile their own intensely flawed relationships. Told from a number of perspectives, the story’s center is the daughter, who is committed to unearthing some sort of truth about her father. Set in balmy New Orleans, All This Could Be Yours is an engaging portrait of the unshakable connection of family. — Jessie Heyman
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Random House, October)
The connections of family were put to the test in Elizabeth Strout’s greatest triumph, Olive Kitteridge , her 2009 Pulitzer Prize–winning collection of interconnected stories starring the flinty, flawed title character. Kitteridge is back in a sequel of sorts, Olive, Again —another novel-in-stories that is somehow both achingly sad and delightfully fun. The title character has a new man in her life and is still bewildered by love for her wayward son. Kitteridge remains a formidable and utterly human heroine to the final, heartbreaking page. —Taylor Antrim
Find Me by André Aciman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October)
Even those who haven’t read André Aciman’s desire-soaked 2007 novel Call Me by Your Name have likely lived through it by way of Luca Guadagnino’s sumptuous film adaptation, starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer as fated lovers Elio and Oliver. Now comes a sequel, Find Me , in which years have passed, and the scorching summer backdrop has given way to autumn. Aciman’s newest work is a composition in multiple movements, the first taking place on a Rome-bound train, where Elio’s newly divorced father meets Miranda, a manic-pixie dream ragazza who guides her new acquaintance to his late-stage sexual awakening. Meanwhile, Elio and Oliver now live continents apart and have struck up romantic arrangements, each unsatisfying in its own way. “What mattered now,” Oliver realizes with quickening despair, “was unlived.” A study of human intimacies, this novel asks: Does true love ever die? —Lauren Mechling
Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré (Viking, October)
Le Carré, who is 87, has written another sophisticated, characteristically dyspeptic espionage novel (his 25th, if anyone’s counting). Agent Running in the Field follows 2017’s better-than-it-had-any-right-to-be best seller A Legacy of Spies , which brought his famous spymaster George Smiley back for one last hurrah. Legacy felt like a curtain call, but Agent Running in the Field has plenty of pep. It’s set in Brexit London and begins with a 47-year-old intelligence officer named Nat, who suspects he’s in for an early retirement after a middling career at MI6. He’s more interested in skipping off to badminton matches than running a station of spies. The badminton material is fantastic—le Carré captures the atmosphere at Nat’s threadbare sporting club with characteristic ease. And he effortlessly weaves a plot involving a young opponent of Nat’s who is possibly a double agent for Putin’s Russia. This is late-period le Carré, understated and modulated to the low-key finale, but also deeply pleasurable. —Taylor Antrim
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Best Books of 2019: Fiction
- Feature by Cat, Deputy Editor
The year’s best in fiction have surprised, disoriented and dazzled, pinned us to deep memories and spun reality on its face. For me, whole weekends have disappeared in the mad dash to finish a novel in one go—how many weekends, I have no idea. And still, we readers want more. These are the 20 novels to read now.
- December, 2019
The year’s best in fiction have surprised, disoriented and dazzled, pinned us to deep memories and spun reality on its face. For me, whole weekends have disappeared in the mad dash to finish a novel in one go—how many weekends, I have no idea. And still, we readers want more. These are the 20 novels to read now.
20. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
Reminiscent of Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth in its depiction of the enduring effects of family secrets and betrayals, The Other Americans also addresses a multitude of other issues—immigration, prejudice, post-traumatic stress, love and murder—with what can only be described as magical finesse.
19. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
One of this rich, intricate novel’s greatest pleasures is the depth of its understory, such as a thread of upstairs-downstairs intrigue as Yangsze Choo portrays the unbalanced relationships among the British and their local servants.
18. Inland by Téa Obreht
A slow buildup led to the best ending of the year.
17. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
This emotionally sprawling yet psychologically taut legal thriller is a masterful blend of fiction and real life.
16. The Need by Helen Phillips
Dabbling in the supernatural, Helen Phillips has created a fascinating plot through which she explores the deep, conflicting tensions surrounding modern motherhood, personal identity and the nature of our existence in the universe.
14. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
Has there ever been a novel, even by Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, set in such a strange, ancient, beautiful place, with its glaciers and volcanoes and endless cold? It’s a place where miracles might happen—where what is lost can once again be found—if you jump over a traditional New Year’s fire in just the right way. Julia Phillips’ stunning novel dares to imagine the possibilities.
13. The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
The Old Drift , an expansive yet intricate novel that bends, inverts and at times ignores conventions of time and place. Part historical fiction, part futurism, part fantasy, Namwali Serpell’s hundred-year saga of three families and their intertwined fortunes is as unique as it is ambitious. And in just about every way, it succeeds.
12. Normal People by Sally Rooney
The quality of Sally Rooney’s writing, particularly in the psychologically wrought sex scenes, cannot be understated as she brilliantly provides a window into her protagonists’ true selves.
11. Naamah by Sarah Blake
Naamah plucks a female character from myth and imbues her with sexuality, personality and intimacy, making her an altogether more modern hero—the kind of woman capable of giving a stern talking-to to a vengeful god.
9. Lot by Bryan Washington
Voices rise from Houston’s neighborhoods in these linked stories.
Disarmingly frank, raw in subject matter but polished in style and language, Ocean Vuong’s debut novel reveals the strengths and limitations of human connection and the importance of speaking your truth.
6. Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
5. The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
A math genius finds her family’s roots in this sweeping tale.
Tangled lives shake loose in the marriage novel to top them all.
This debut is a total riot, scorching Tinder profiles everywhere and eviscerating journalistic bias against women.
1. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead’s latest novel is like a brutally dark response to Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon , with the events at the horrifying Nickel Academy for Boys mirroring a violent American history too leaden for flight. It’s difficult and disquieting to see a young black boy’s hope and idealism put to the ultimate test.
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The New York Times
Books | 100 notable books of 2019, 100 notable books of 2019.
NOV. 25, 2019
The year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.
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50 notable works of fiction in 2019
“10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World”
By Elif Shafak (Bloomsbury)
In the immediate aftermath of her death, a Turkish prostitute recalls a culture that pretends to protect the honor of women but enthusiastically casts them off.
“The Atlas of Reds and Blues”
By Devi S. Laskar (Counterpoint)
A violent police raid involving the daughter of Indian immigrants anchors a page-turner that’s also an exploration of surviving racism in America.
The best books of 2019
“Bangkok Wakes to Rain”
By Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Riverhead)
Flowing gracefully from historical fiction to contemporary realism to science fiction, linked stories imagine Thailand’s lush past — and climate-changed future.
“The Border”
By Don Winslow (Morrow)
In the final installment in the Power of the Dog trilogy, about America’s war on drugs, a DEA agent comes out of retirement to wage one final battle in a war he can never win.
By Elizabeth McCracken (Ecco)
Bertha Truitt turns up (alive) in a small-town Massachusetts cemetery and wins local hearts by building a six-lane bowling alley.
“City of Girls”
By Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead)
Having failed out of Vassar, Vivian becomes a theater costumer and embraces a bohemian lifestyle involving sex with as many men as possible.
“Daisy Jones & the Six”
By Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine)
In this fictional oral history, various musicians and hangers-on reminisce about the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll of a Fleetwood Mac-inspired band.
“Disappearing Earth”
By Julia Phillips (Knopf)
Ethnic and cultural tensions pervade the stories of women affected by the abduction of two young girls on Russia’s remote Kamchatka peninsula.
“The Doll Factory”
By Elizabeth Macneal (Atria/Emily Bestler)
A talented young woman encounters radical progressives and paradoxical sexual standards when she becomes an artist’s model and lover in 1850s London.
“Ducks, Newburyport”
By Lucy Ellmann (Biblioasis)
A mother of four has a bright, unpretentious, ironic voice that will keep you reading this 1,000-page novel made up mostly of one breathless sentence.
“The Dutch House”
By Ann Patchett (Harper)
Maeve and Danny Conroy, born into a storybook life in a 1922 mansion, lose their mother, father and childhood home.
“Exhalation”
By Ted Chiang (Knopf)
A collection of nine stories that reflect the ideal of science fiction — metaphysical or scientific speculation united with humanist emotion.
“The Far Field”
By Madhuri Vijay (Grove)
A grieving young woman in Bangalore, India, travels to Kashmir to find the man her dead mother may have loved.
“Fleishman Is in Trouble”
By Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Random House)
Newly separated Toby Fleishman is having a great time with lots of women — until his wife stops answering his calls or picking up their kids.
“Frankissstein: A Love Story”
By Jeanette Winterson (Grove)
This brainy, batty novel moves between the 1816 gathering that produced “Frankenstein” and modern Memphis, where a transgender man attends a convention on artificial intelligence.
“A Girl Returned”
By Donatella Di Pietrantonio, translated by Ann Goldstein (Europa)
A well-off Italian teenager learns the difference between the haves and have-nots when she is dropped at the crowded apartment of the birth family she didn’t know existed.
By Fernando Aramburu, translated by Alfred Macadam (Pantheon)
Two couples with a long kinship are torn apart by the blood-soaked actions of the infamous Basque separatist group, ETA.
By Téa Obreht (Random House)
In the 19th-century West, the outlaw Lurie rides with the U.S. Army Camel Corps, and a desperate housewife in Arizona Territory runs out of water.
“The Institute”
By Stephen King (Scribner)
Deep in the Maine woods, the Institute enhances and exploits paranormal talents of youthful prisoners; can the kids turn their abilities against their captors?
“Late in the Day”
By Tessa Hadley (Harper)
Two couples, friends for four decades, face one husband’s death and learn that their intimacy has equipped them to both help and devastate one another.
“Lost Children Archive”
By Valeria Luiselli (Knopf)
The collapse of an unhappy marriage is set against the brutal deportation of migrant children at the southern U.S. border.
“The Man Who Saw Everything”
By Deborah Levy (Bloomsbury)
In a jigsaw puzzle of a novel, a man realizes that his version of the past may be based on his own faulty memories and quest for self-preservation.
“The Memory Police”
By Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder (Pantheon)
On an unnamed island, a female novelist resists the mass amnesia that a faceless authoritarian government is inflicting on an unsuspecting citizenry.
“Miracle Creek”
By Angie Kim (Sarah Crichton)
The mother of a special-needs child being treated with high-pressure oxygen therapy is suspiciously absent on the day an explosion at the medical center kills her son.
“Mostly Dead Things”
By Kristen Arnett (Tin House)
After her father’s suicide, Jessa-Lynn takes over the family taxidermy business and her mother makes erotic art from the shop’s inventory of animal parts.
“Mrs. Everything”
By Jennifer Weiner (Atria)
Sisters Jo and Bethie spend their childhood in 1950s Detroit and the next few decades taking separate paths through American pop culture, politics and sexual mores.
By Helen Phillips (Simon & Schuster)
An overstressed archaeologist and mother of two copes with some strange finds — a toy soldier with a monkey’s tail, a Bible where God is a She, and a man wearing a papier-mache deer head.
“The Nickel Boys”
By Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
The author of “The Underground Railroad” writes a restrained, reality-grounded novel involving abuse and perversion at a 1960s reformatory.
“Normal People”
By Sally Rooney (Hogarth)
Marianne and Connell slip in and out of friendship and romance as they move from high school in quaint Carricklea, Ireland, to Dublin’s Trinity College.
“Nothing to See Here”
By Kevin Wilson (Ecco)
In this poignant comic novel, a depressed young woman agrees to take care of 10-year-old twins who burst into flames when they get angry.
“Olive, Again”
By Elizabeth Strout (Random House)
In 13 linked stories, Strout picks up the life of her bossy, sad, brave antiheroine Olive Kitteridge — as well as many of her acquaintances — after her husband’s death.
“On the Come Up”
By Angie Thomas (Balzer + Bray)
Bri Johnson, a spry urban teenager with hip-hop dreams, writes rhymes while side-eying the effects of racial and economic disparities.
“Orange World and Other Stories”
By Karen Russell (Knopf)
A collection of eight short stories includes a pregnant woman making a deal with the devil, a zombie doctor and a boy who falls in love with a body.
“The Other Americans”
By Laila Lalami (Pantheon)
A struggling young composer tries to learn the truth about the death of her father, a Moroccan immigrant, in a hit-and-run.
“Outside Looking In”
By T.C. Boyle (Ecco)
Boyle reimagines the early career of Timothy Leary, the spaced-out guru of LSD, seen through the eyes of a PhD candidate under his tutelage.
By Nicole Dennis-Benn (Liveright)
A 28-year-old Jamaican mother leaves her daughter behind to find a new life — and her old flame — in New York.
“The Porpoise”
By Mark Haddon (Doubleday)
A Greek legend is entangled with a modern narrative of sexual abuse, producing a riveting mix of swashbuckling adventure and feminist resistance.
“Red at the Bone”
By Jacqueline Woodson (Riverhead)
Woodson’s second work of adult fiction traces the effects of race, religion, sexuality and class on three generations of a black family in Brooklyn.
“The Secrets We Kept”
By Lara Prescott (Knopf)
Strong, smart women battle tricky cultural and political mores in a series of intertwined stories set on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.
“The Snakes”
By Sadie Jones (Harper)
Creepy disaster unfolds after a young British couple embark on a three-month driving vacation around Europe.
By Ali Smith (Pantheon)
Fey, 12-year-old Florence knits together several narratives in a modern world at odds with itself, teeming with displaced and fearful people.
“The Testaments”
By Margaret Atwood (Nan A. Talese)
Completely different in form and tone from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” this sequel is narrated, in part, by Aunt Lydia, turning the world of Gilead inside out.
“This Is Happiness”
By Niall Williams (Bloomsbury)
A young seminary student who lost his faith retreats to his grandparents’ house in a small Irish village where he learns the true meaning of love.
“Trust Exercise”
By Susan Choi (Henry Holt)
In the 2019 National Book Award winner for fiction, a charismatic theater teacher gets wind of a highly charged romance between two sophomores, and the ensuing classroom exercises feel more exploitative than educational.
“The Unpassing”
By Chia-Chia Lin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The loss of a child, precarious finances and fear of belittlement from their white neighbors confound an immigrant family from Taiwan.
“Wanderers”
By Chuck Wendig (Del Rey)
As bewildered scientists try to conquer a brand-new disease — a pandemic of sleepwalking — demagogues exploit people’s fears and prejudices.
“The Water Dancer”
By Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World)
Hiram, a slave in Virginia, has the ability to fold physical space like fabric and thus travel instantly to distant points — a skill of great interest to abolitionists.
“Women Talking”
By Miriam Toews (Bloomsbury)
The women in a remote Mennonite community, realizing they have been drugged and raped, must decide whether to fight, flee or forgive.
“The World Doesn’t Require You”
By Rion Amlicar Scott (Liveright)
A city founded by members of a slave rebellion copes, in the 21st century, with slapboxing, a cult-like megachurch and some unruly robots.
“World of Hurt”
By Thomas Tessier (Macabre Ink)
One of the reigning masters of horror fiction assembles a massive retrospective — 28 chilling, unsettling stories and novellas.
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The Best Reviewed Books of 2019: Fiction
Featuring colson whitehead, sally rooney, téa obreht, marlon james, and more.
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We’ve come to the end of another year in reading, folks, and as stewards of this venerable repository of literary criticism, it is once again our sacred duty to dust off the abacuses (abaci?) and tabulate the best reviewed books of past twelve months.
Yes, using reviews drawn from more than 150 publications, over the last two weeks we’ve been revealing the most critically-acclaimed books of 2019, in the categories of (deep breath): Memoir & Biography , Poetry , Sci-Fi & Fantasy , Essay Collections , Graphic Literature , Literature in Translation , Short Story Collections , Mystery & Crime , and Nonfiction.
Now, for our final roundup of the year, we turn to Fiction .
1. Normal People by Sally Rooney
34 Rave • 22 Positive • 5 Mixed
“… a compulsive, psychologically astute will-they-or-won’t-they love story involving two of the most sympathetic people you’re liable to meet between covers. Although hailed as a voice of millennials, Rooney offers plenty to appeal to readers across genders and generations … Rooney’s dialogue, like her descriptive prose, is slyly ironic, alternately evasive and direct, but always articulate. It cuts to the heart. She seems remarkably comfortable writing about sex—even uncomfortable sex—and she seamlessly integrates well-crafted texts, emails, and Facebook posts into her narratives like the digital native she is. Yet while Rooney may write about apparent aimlessness and all the distractions of our age, her novels are laser-focused and word-perfect. They build power by a steady accretion of often simple declarative sentences that track minuscule shifts in feelings … Although frequently heartbreaking, Normal People isn’t bleak. The brave determination of Rooney’s characters to reach out and try to catch each other with no guarantee of success — and to open themselves to ‘moments of joy despite everything’—is ultimately hopeful.”
–Heller McAlpin ( NPR )
2. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
41 Rave • 10 Positive • 1 Mixed • 1 Pan
“… no mere sequel. Despite its focus on a subsequent chapter of black experience, it’s a surprisingly different kind of novel. The linguistic antics that have long dazzled Whitehead’s readers have been set aside here for a style that feels restrained and transparent. And the plot of The Nickel Boys tolerates no fissures in the fabric of ordinary reality; no surreal intrusions complicate the grim progress of this story. That groundedness in the soil of natural life is, perhaps, an implicit admission that the treatment of African Americans has been so bizarre and grotesque that fantastical enhancements are unnecessary … Whitehead reveals the clandestine atrocities of Nickel Academy with just enough restraint to keep us in a state of wincing dread. He’s superb at creating synecdoches of pain … feels like a smaller novel than The Underground Railroad, but it’s ultimately a tougher one, even a meaner one. It’s in conversation with works by James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and especially Martin Luther King … what a deeply troubling novel this is. It shreds our easy confidence in the triumph of goodness and leaves in its place a hard and bitter truth about the ongoing American experiment.”
–Ron Charles ( The Washington Post )
3. Inland by Téa Obreht
27 Rave • 11 Positive • 3 Mixed • 1 Pan
“Magic realism served Obreht well in her fable about Yugoslavia’s baroque divisions, and it’s no less effective in shaping this alternative foundation myth about the American west. On the face of it the book begins conventionally enough … The twist lies in Obreht’s affinity for unusual transformations … Exquisitely panoramic as it is, Lurie’s account of his travels forms only one strand of the novel. It’s interwoven with the tale of a single day in the life of Nora, a frontierswoman … Obreht builds a narrative that is every bit as compelling as Lurie’s and just as full of revelations. Their parallel journeys into Arizona’s inhospitable interior…probe the cost of survival and the human yearning to belong. On every page gorgeously tinted images conjure the otherworldliness of this desert existence … It’s the west, but not as we know it. Nora and Lurie are set on a collision course: will they meet? Obreht’s narrative skill here is part of the magic of Inland, which succeeds spectacularly at reinventing a well-worn genre and its tropes. There are no stereotypes in this western, only ferociously adroit writing that honors the true strangeness of reality in its search for the meaning of home.”
–Elizabeth Lowry ( The Guardian )
4. The Topeka School by Ben Lerner
21 Rave • 16 Positive • 10 Mixed
“…thoroughly, intimidatingly brilliant and absolutely contemporary … funny, and at times, painfully acute. A bildungsroman in lyric chorus, it looks back on the past with affection but without nostalgia, and lands in the frighteningly unsure coda of the present day … manages, in its particularity, to tell a story that is emblematic of American life … Lerner seems to reinvent the novel as a happy side effect of some other project … He is a supremely gifted prose stylist, at once theoretical and conversational; he never bores or blathers, and is always limpid. Rather than inviting the reader to look at him or his life, he invites the reader to look through him … It is a testament to Lerner’s immense skill as a storyteller that his novels that double as essays and flicker like poems are also as frictionless as any classic work of nineteenth-century realism, easily reeling the reader in to their worlds, which display, in modernist style, all the seams … Lerner is a genius of self-consciousness in all its senses—the thinking mind, the ambivalent attachment, the awkward social performance.”
–Christine Smallwood ( Harper’s )
5. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
19 Rave • 20 Positive • 13 Mixed • 1 Pan
“Atwood picks up plot elements that originated in the TV series…and twists them to her own ends … The Testaments owes more to the TV series than a handful of details. Its tone hews closer to the series than to the novel that precedes it … The Testaments is fun to read in a way that The Handmaid’s Tale is not, fun in the same way that the TV series, for all its grim lighting and performances, is crowd-pleasing. Its characters are not powerless or crushed … The Testaments comes adorned with much splendid writing. Atwood, who is also a poet, can turn a metaphor that feels both original and like something you’ve always known … All of this and a corker of a plot, culminating in a breathless flight to freedom, makes The Testaments a rare treat.”
–Laura Miller ( Slate )
6. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
22 Rave • 14 Positive • 5 Mixed
“Vuong uses language to conjure wholeness from a situation that language has already broken, and will continue to break; loss and survival are always twinned … The structural hallmarks of Vuong’s poetry—his skill with elision, juxtaposition, and sequencing—shape the novel … Success as a writer is the mostly unspoken end point of Little Dog’s story: readers who know Vuong’s biography will assume it, and those who don’t will infer it from the strength of the book’s language … Reading On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous can feel like watching an act of endurance art, or a slow, strange piece of magic in which bones become sonatas, to borrow one of Vuong’s metaphors … Like the Beijing-born novelist Yiyun Li, Vuong has a fondness for the sort of wordplay that involves noticing odd accidents in the language that he had to consciously learn … Lines like these risk preciousness, but Vuong’s earnestness is overpowering … In the context of those conferences, Vuong’s story seems extraordinary. But, while Vuong himself is exceptional, much of his experience is not unusual.”
–Jia Tolentino ( The New Yorker )
7. Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James
21 Rave • 18 Positive • 3 Mixed • 1 Pan
“In these pages, James conjures the literary equivalent of a Marvel Comics universe—filled with dizzying, magpie references to old movies and recent TV, ancient myths and classic comic books, and fused into something new and startling by his gifts for language and sheer inventiveness … James is such a nimble and fluent writer … Even when he is nestling one tale within another like Russian dolls that underscore the provisional nature of storytelling… he is giving us a gripping, action-packed narrative. What the novel could have used is a little judicious pruning: As in superhero movies, the action sometimes assumes a predictable, episodic rhythm—one violent, bravura showdown after another, strung together by interludes of travel and efforts to regroup and connect the dots … With Tracker and the Leopard, James has created two compelling and iconic characters—characters who will take their place in the pantheon of memorable and fantastical superheroes.”
–Michiko Kakutani ( The New York Times Book Review )
8 . Orange World by Karen Russell
25 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed
“Something is, however, not right in each of these worlds. Usually two things—one private, the other bigger, in one way or another environmental. Russell’s gift is how she braids these together, letting the private un-right-ness bob to the surface like a beacon … With each story Russell pitches a pup tent in each new universe so rapidly you almost don’t feel its assumptions getting to their dark work … These tales are not short, but they feel even roomier owing to the way Russell cracks open narrative space with humor … Russell is also the greatest user of verbs in American fiction since Annie Dillard. Dogs ‘dervish’ around kitchens. A man is ‘turtled’ into his hoody in a rain storm … The precision of Russell’s writing makes it that much easier to accept how she is tilting reality.”
–John Freeman ( The Boston Globe )
9. Exhalation by Ted Chiang
22 Rave • 8 Positive
“A handful of living science fiction writers have attained godlike status—N.K. Jemisin, Cixin Liu, and Ann Leckie, to name a few. But Ted Chiang is the only one who’s done it without writing a novel … oh, his stories. They’re a religious experience … In Exhalation , which could be subtitled ‘Black Mirror For Optimists,’ every story seems crafted with one objective in mind—pure awe … The three longer stories in Exhalation are Chiang’s finest work to date … Savor all nine of these stories. Read them one sitting at a time, somewhere still and quiet, and let them sink in.”
–Adam Morgan ( The A.V. Club )
10. Women Talking by Miriam Toews
18 Rave • 12 Positive
“… less an indignant manifesto about sexual trauma, or a speculative celebration of female empowerment, than it is a confession of violence as something stitched into the fabric of every community, and an exploration of what it means to claim communal thought—even disagreement itself—as an inalienable human right … crackles with the energy of consciousness on every page. Its attention is tender and funny, its characters utterly distinct and alive … The novel is deeply aware of how this simultaneity—the weighty sitting shoulder to shoulder with the daily—is especially inescapable for women … Toews doesn’t just allow the trivial to live alongside the weighty, she insists on it…By refusing to segregate the mundane from the consequential, Toews implicitly argues that what we call trivial often isn’t trivial at all—that just as much truth lives inside those small moments of care and grace as in our grand philosophizing about authority and justice—and allows her characters to come to life as more than helpless victims or walking thesis statements … resists false binaries at every turn. Profundity and banality are entangled … This novel knows that truth: Violence is something more systemic than a few rapists; more like a wildfire than a small burn contained to a few toxic bodies you can lock away for good … holds the persistence of their grace while refusing to make false promises about the redemption or vindication waiting for them beyond its final page.”
–Leslie Jamison ( Bookforum )
Our System: RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points
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February 27-March 3, 2023
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Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming
László krasznahorkai, trans. from the hungarian by ottilie mulzet (new directions).
The ruined Baron Bela Wenckheim is returning to his small Hungarian hometown, where schemers, con men, and a biker gang await, setting off a chain of chaotic events. Krasznahorkai establishes his own rules and rides a wave of exhilarating energy in this apocalyptic, visionary novel.
- Read the Full Review
- Is László Krasznahorkai Finished With Novels?
Black Forest
Valérie mréjen, trans. from the french by katie shireen assef (deep vellum).
Mréjen’s extraordinary meditation on mortality is the story of a daughter moving through life after her mother overdoses, interspersed with fragmentary stories of other Parisians’ encounters with death. This meticulous, humane, and powerful volume unforgettably depicts the way the dead experience life after death in the traces they leave in the minds of the living.
Elizabeth McCracken (Ecco)
At the turn of the 20th century, Bertha Truitt is discovered unconscious in a cemetery in Salford, Mass., seemingly having fallen from the sky. Bertha establishes a bowling alley and starts a family, while other townspeople she comes in contact with find themselves in love. This funny, twisty novel is one readers will sink into and savor.
- Only in New England—And This Novel—Could Something Like This Happen
- Elizabeth McCracken's Entertaining Eccentrics
- Laughing in the Dark: PW Talks with Elizabeth McCracken
Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead
Olga tokarczuk, trans. from the polish by antonia lloyd-jones (riverhead).
This astounding mystical detective novel is narrated by Janina Duszejko, a loner who lives in an isolated Polish hamlet near the Czech border where bodies start turning up. Nobel laureate Tokarczuk’s novel succeeds as both a suspenseful murder mystery and a profound meditation on human existence and how a life fits into the world around it. Novels this thrilling don’t come along very often.
- The Near-Mythic Inevitability of Olga Tokarczuk's Novels
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Ducks, Newburyport
Lucy ellmann (biblioasis).
Ellmann’s momentous stream-of-consciousness novel is narrated by an unnamed Ohio wife and mother who, mostly in a single sentence, thinks about, among many other things, UFOs, her intimacy with her husband, the opioid crisis, Cincinnati chili parlors, her children, the barbers of murderers, and the mechanics of wiggling. This cascade of thoughts provides a marvelous portrait of a woman in contemporary America contemplating her own life and society’s storm clouds.
Jean-Philippe Blondel, trans. from the French by Alison Anderson (New Vessel)
Louis Claret is approaching 60, living alone in a small apartment, when Alexandre, his former student and now a famous painter, reenters his life and makes him an unusual offer: he’d like Claret to pose. Each time Claret is painted, Blondel reveals more of his past. This irresistible novel flies by with gentle humor, but also poses complex questions about the meaning of art and sexuality.
The Factory
Hiroko oyamada, trans. from the japanese by david boyd (new directions).
Three employees at a monolithic factory in an unnamed Japanese city—a document shredder, a studier of moss, and a proofreader of opaque documents—begin to see reality itself seem to mutate in Oyamada’s wonderful, mind-bending debut. By refusing to give answers (Who is the Forest Pantser? What’s with all those birds?) and instead letting the mundane and the uncanny blend together, Oyamada maximizes her puzzle, leaving readers reeling.
The Far Field
Madhuri vijay (grove).
Unmoored by her mother’s death, 24-year-old Shalini leaves her native Bangalore to search for Bashir Ahmed, her mother’s only friend, whom she hasn’t seen in years, eventually leading her to a Himalayan village. There, her actions have dangerous consequences. Vijay exceptionally depicts individual angst against the political turmoil in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state in the late 2000s.
Frankissstein
Jeanette winterson (grove).
Winterson reimagines Frankenstein —both the story and the genesis of it—in her magnificent, gorgeously constructed novel. The story shuttles back and forth between 1816, when a challenge leads Mary Shelley to write her indelible classic, and the present day, when a transgender man named Ry Shelley delves deeper into the burgeoning world and industry surrounding robotics and AI.
- The Bible Told Her So: Jeanette Winterson
From the Shadows
Juan josé millás, trans. from the spanish by thomas bunstead and daniel hahn (bellevue).
A page-turner of the strangest order, Millás takes readers on an absurdist ride into the psyche of Damián Lobo, a man who hides from a cop in a massive antique wardrobe, only to be transported inside to the home of a family. There, Damián becomes a ghostlike butler for the family during their daytime absences, only to slip back into the wardrobe at night.
- Writers to Watch Fall 2019: Anticipated Debuts
Sarah Moss (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The narrator of Moss’s potent, haunting novel, 17-year-old Silvie, is forced by her domineering, history buff father to join three college students and their experimental archaeology professor for a stay on a relatively isolated spot of land in the English countryside to gain insight into what it was like to live day-to-day in the Iron Age. What starts as a reenactment steadily morphs into something sinister.
- Roughing It with Sarah Moss
Grand Union
Zadie smith (penguin press).
Smith exercises her range while maintaining her wry humor in this bewitching collection. A New York drag queen who misses the “fabled city of the past” goes shopping for a new corset and gets into an argument with the shop owner; a married woman thinks about her boyfriend at university, where they were among the few black students; a child’s school worksheet spurs a humorous reassessment of storytelling itself.
The Man Who Saw Everything
Deborah levy (bloomsbury).
This playful, consistently surprising novel begins with young historian Saul Adler, who is preparing to write a paper about East Germany’s economic miracle, getting hit by a car on London’s Abbey Road in 1988, altering his entire life. Levy brilliantly plumbs the divide between the self and others, as Saul reluctantly acknowledges both his culpability in his own life’s tragedies and his insignificance in others’ narratives.
Asja Bakić, trans. from the Croatian by Jennifer Zoble (Feminist Press)
This genre-bending, psychologically acute collection thrums with eerie, oddball energy. A writer in purgatory isn’t allowed to leave until she composes her masterpiece; a woman senses something is off with her husband, who keeps feeding her shellfish; a writer contends with loneliness on Mars, where all literature has been banished. Bakić’s straightforward prose effortlessly transports the speculative stories into almost realist territory, making for an arresting, uncanny collection.
Mouthful of Birds
Samanta schweblin, trans. from the spanish by megan mcdowell (riverhead).
Schweblin deploys a heavy dose of nightmare fuel in this frightening, addictive collection. A just-married woman whose husband has abandoned her by the side of the road senses an approaching swarm of jilted women; two parents try to figure out what to do about their young daughter, who has started eating live birds; the children in a mining town suddenly disappear.
Helen Phillips (Simon & Schuster)
Danger arrives for Molly, mother of two young children, in the form of a black-clad, deer-mask-wearing intruder who knows intimate details of Molly’s life. Phillips grounds her cerebral themes in a sharply observed evocation of motherhood, all while crafting an agonizingly suspenseful story.
The Nickel Boys
Colson whitehead (doubleday).
In Jim Crow–era Florida, high school student Elwood Curtis is erroneously detained by police before being sent to Nickel Academy, a juvenile reform school where the boys—especially the black boys—suffer from near-constant physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. Elwood befriends the cynical Turner, and their struggles to survive are interspersed with glimpses of Elwood’s adult life in Whitehead’s unforgettable examination of America’s history of violence.
- WI18: Colson Whitehead Revisits 1970s New York City
Olive, Again
Elizabeth strout (random house).
With humor and compassion, Strout’s follow-up to Olive Kitteridge portrays the cantankerous retired math teacher in old age. Across 13 linked stories, Olive is wooed by a 74-year-old widower, awkwardly admires gifts at a baby shower and then efficiently delivers another guest’s baby, and offers characteristic brusque empathy to her own two home nurses—one a Trump supporter, one the daughter of a Somali refugee.
Optic Nerve
María gainza, trans. from the spanish by thomas bunstead (catapult).
This phenomenal novel provides a portrait of a Buenos Aires woman named María by connecting episodes in her life to works of art she observes. Gainza explores the spaces between others, art, and the self, and how what one sees and knows forms the ineffable hodgepodge of the human soul.
- Writers to Watch Spring 2019: Anticipated Debuts
An Orchestra of Minorities
Chigozie obioma (little, brown).
Obioma’s electrifying novel follows doomed Nigerian poultry farmer Chinoso, who falls in love with Ndali, the daughter of a prominent local family—it’s his attempt to win their approval that begins his downfall. Obioma combines Igbo folklore (the story is narrated by Chinonso’s chi, or guardian spirit) and Greek tragedy in the context of modern Nigeria, creating a meticulously crafted and emotionally intense character drama.
- Chigozie Obioma's Magical African Mystery Tour
Vasily Grossman, trans. from the Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler (New York Review Books)
Grossman’s epic, sprawling saga about the Battle of Stalingrad, a prequel to Life and Fate , is a masterpiece of intertwined plots told from dozens of perspectives, including those of Jewish scientist Viktor Shtrum, whose mother is lost to the Germans; the valorous Shaposhnikov family, who refuse to leave Stalingrad before the Nazi invasion; tank commanders; lowly foot soldiers; and even Hitler himself.
- What Robert and Elizabeth Chandler Found in Translation
The Sweetest Fruits
Monique truong (viking).
Truong remarkably gives voice to three women in the life of 19th-century writer Lafcadio Hearn. On the island of Cythera in the 1840s, Lafcadio’s mother, Rosa, meets Charles Hearn; in 1872 Cincinnati, Alethea Foley, a young woman born enslaved in the U.S. but now free, meets Lafcadio and they marry; in 1890s Japan, Koizumi Setsu becomes Hearn’s translator, wife, and the mother of his children.
- Monique Truong’s New Novel Shows the Unreliability of History
Trust Exercise
Susan choi (holt).
Fifteen-year-old classmates Sarah and David have an intense sexual relationship at their performing arts high school. Then, after a string of decisive events, they become estranged. The novel shifts dramatically in its second part, casting most of what readers thought they knew into doubt. Choi boldly and ambitiously explores the long reverberations of adolescent experience, the complexities of consent and coercion, and the inherent unreliability of narratives.
- In Susan Choi's Latest, Doing Everything Doesn't Mean Knowing Everything
Women Talking
Miriam toews (bloomsbury).
After more than 300 women in the Mennonite colony of Molotschna were attacked by men from their community between 2005 and 2009, eight of the settlement’s women, from the Loewen and Friesen families, gather secretly to discuss their plan of action. Toews’s inspiring, stellar novel tracks every conversation leading to the women’s final, life-changing decision.
- In This Religion-Heavy Novel, The Devil Isn't the Only Evil
- Road Tripping with Miriam Toews
The World Doesn’t Require You
Rion amilcar scott (liveright).
In this collection, the last—and least exalted—son of God tries to redeem himself by leading a gospel band at his elder brother’s church, and an English professor plots the downfall of his departmental colleague, whose course syllabus grows increasingly entangled with his personal life. Scott’s bold and often outlandish imagination combines with an emotional authenticity that’s never once in doubt.
- How the Absurdity of the Five-Paragraph Essay Inspired Rion Amilcar Scott's Novella
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- International edition
- Best books of 2019
Need help with what to read or gift this Christmas? Our critics pick the best novels, poetry, sports, memoirs and children’s books of the year
- Bernardine Evaristo, Lee Child and more pick the best books of 2019
- Save up to 30% on the books of the year at guardianbookshop.com
Fiction, picked by Justine Jordan
It has been a year of doubles: two Nobel laureates, two Booker winners, even two Ian McEwan books. Guardian fiction editor Justine Jordan on the celebrated and overlooked books of the year, including some exceptional US novels, extraordinary translations and great short stories.
Crime and thrillers, picked by Laura Wilson
In a bumper year, we bid farewell to one of crime fiction’s iconic investigators (the late Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther), welcomed the return of another (Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie), lapped up new novels from John le Carré, Tana French and Don Winslow, and saw the rise of what might be described as “hot-flush noir”.
Science fiction and fantasy books, picked by Adam Roberts
SF remains the best predictor of our collective future – and some of the most brilliant SF and fantasy of the year have tackled dystopian islands made of tech trash, a climate emergency zombie plague and the end of the internet.
Graphic novels and comics, picked by James Smart
Cult favourites Chris Ware and Seth returned with new books, the legendary Alan Moore bowed out, and childhood underpinned some great graphic memoirs in a fantastic year in the field.
Poetry, picked by Sandeep Parmar
Often poems conjure an event, a lyric occasion marked by stillness and observation. But in a year characterised by frenzy, political anticlimax and uncertainty, poetry should afford us no such luxury. Collections like Jay Bernard’s Surge and Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic took a long view of the present to ask not how history will live with what was, but how we come to terms with our history now.
Children’s books, from young readers to teens, picked by Imogen Russell Williams
For the little ones, there are some beautifully illustrations and fun books to read aloud; empowering and engaging non-fiction for older kids; and some new YA adventures from Malorie Blackman and Philip Pullman.
Celebrity memoirs, picked by Hadley Freeman
Demi Moore, Debbie Harry, Elton John, Julie Andrews ... this year we were spoiled for superbly written, funny and revelatory memoirs by celebs.
Politics books, picked by Gaby Hinsliff
It’s not long now until Britain finds out what Santa has brought us for a government. But whether the election delivers just what you’ve always wanted, or the political equivalent of a stocking full of ashes, a book may help – whether it is a primer for a Corbyn government, an attack on private education, or a scathing assessment of Theresa May.
Memoirs and biographies, picked by Aida Edemariam
A history of Jack the Ripper’s victims, memoirs about trauma and class, and a bestselling study of desire and sex ... here are the standout life stories of the year.
Science, nature and ideas books, picked by Ian Sample
With Naomi Klein, Robert Macfarlane and Barry Lopez tackling issues like the climate emergency, AI, gender bias and tech giants, Ian Sample picks the outstanding books of the year – and finds some hope in them, too.
Sport books, picked by Emma John
It might seem counter-intuitive, after 12 months of end-to-end sporting excitement, to pick up a book on the art of pigeon racing, or a travelogue that meanders gently around Flanders trying to understand its peculiar passion for cycling over cobbles – but there were some interesting standouts this year.
Cookbooks and food writing, picked by Meera Sodha
This year’s hottest and most hunger-stoking food writing has been in vegetarian and vegan books. As chefs turned away from meat, they also celebrated simplicity, pickling and the joys of cooking for others.
- Fiction in translation
- Crime fiction
- Science fiction books
- Comics and graphic novels
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Book Reviews
Maureen corrigan's favorite books of 2019: here are 10 unputdownable reads.
Maureen Corrigan
My best books of the year list for 2019 is a mix of literary fiction and true crime and memoirs and essays. There are acclaimed authors here, as well as some brand new voices. The only thing that unites all these books is that, in my opinion, they are unputdownable.
The Nickel Boys
by Colson Whitehead
With his inventive plots and charged (and often witty) language Colson Whitehead knows how to his lure readers into looking squarely at some of the worst episodes in American history. In the early 1960s, an African American teenager finds himself wrongfully convicted of a crime and sent to the brutal Nickel Academy, based on a real-life reform school for boys that operated in Florida called The Dozier School. Whitehead's novel is short, intense and compassionate.
Trust Exercise
by Susan Choi
A deliciously sharp and self-aware novel, Trust Exercise is set in the 1980s in a performing arts high school. Two students fall in love within the hermetically sealed world of the school and Susan Choi somehow makes out of that teenaged affair an ingenious and entertaining meditation on the ways memory and art can comfort and tragically mislead us.
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
A gorgeous and devastating novel about a brother and sister who stand by each other through the loss of their parents, the lavish house they grew up, and the certainties they shared about their childhood memories. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've reread the ending of this novel at least five times, trying to unpack its sad magic.
Lost and Wanted
by Nell Freudenberger
The heroine of this powerful novel is a professor of physics at MIT who receives a phone call from a friend. The catch is that that friend has just died. From that classic creeper premise, Nell Freudenberger crafts a deeply engaging story about friendship, midlife uncertainty, and the mysteries of universe.
Orange World and Other Stories
by Karen Russell
The eight stories in Karen Russell's new collection range from good to really good to one certified masterpiece. That would be the first story, "The Prospectors," about two young women who hit the road during The Great Depression. In that tale, Russell gives us the grit and hollow dreams of deliverance that characterized the 1930s and she does so in language that's spirited and true.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong emigrated to this country from Vietnam when he was two years old and his autobiographical debut novel explores the vexed situation of a child who surpasses his immigrant parents. Written in the form of a letter by a son to his illiterate mother who works in a nail salon, Vuong's poetic novel explores the heavy price to be paid for dreaming of a better life.
Say Nothing
A true story of murder and memory in northern ireland.
by Patrick Radden Keefe
This is a panoramic investigation into the disappearance of a young widowed mother of ten in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1972, the era of "The Troubles." Patrick Radden Keefe's book is part true crime; part narrative history. However you want to characterize it, Say Nothing is a stunning book.
The Yellow House
by Sarah M. Broom
Sarah M. Broom's debut memoir is a vivid multigeneration account of the lives lived in her family's house in New Orleans, which was blown off its foundations when Hurricane Katrina hit. By intently focusing on that house, Broom constructs a larger narrative about race, class, and the long-term toxic consequences of shame.
Black Is the Body
Stories from my grandmother's time, my mother's time, and mine.
by Emily Bernard
In this outstanding essay collection, Emily Bernard writes with depth, poetic intensity and humor about growing up in the South and living and teaching in the snow globe state of Vermont. Bernard's autobiographical writing about race never hews to safe or expected paths.
How We Fight for Our Lives
by Saeed Jones
In his debut memoir, Jones writes about growing up black, gay and isolated in Texas. Jones' voice and sensibility are so distinct, he turns the traditional coming-of-age memoir inside out and upside down.
NPR's Book Concierge returns with 350+ new books handpicked by NPR staff and critics — including recommendations from book critic Maureen Corrigan and Fresh Air staffers Seth Kelley and Molly Seavy-Nesper. Click here to find your next great read. NPR hide caption
NPR's Book Concierge returns with 350+ new books handpicked by NPR staff and critics — including recommendations from book critic Maureen Corrigan and Fresh Air staffers Seth Kelley and Molly Seavy-Nesper. Click here to find your next great read.
Maureen Corrigan Picks The Best Books Of 2018, Including The Novel Of The Year
Maureen Corrigan Picks Books To Close Out A Chaotic 2017
The 10 Best Books Of 2016 Faced Tough Topics Head On
Maureen Corrigan's Best Books Of 2015: Short(ish) Books That Pack A Big Punch
Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014
The 11 Best Fiction Books of 2019 So Far
F or the characters in many of the best novels and short-story collections of the year so far, the search to understand oneself is fraught. Teenagers facing the turbulence of first love wrestle with their places in the world as they mature into adults. Immigrants, families and even a spy grapple with what it means to be an American when faced with growing hardships. A mother struggles with her identity as a parent after losing her child. From veterans including Susan Choi and Amy Hempel to emerging voices like Namwali Serpell and Angie Kim, the authors of these stories ask their characters and readers alike to consider how they’ve become who they are. Here, the best fiction books of 2019 so far.
Read TIME’s picks for the best nonfiction books , movies and TV shows of 2019 — so far.
Trust Exercise, Susan Choi
Write to Annabel Gutterman at [email protected] .
A Trusted Friend in a Complicated World
RD.COM Arts & Entertainment Books Best Books & Must-reads
49 Best Fiction Books of 2022
No matter what you love to read—gritty suspense novels, lighthearted rom-coms or thoughtful literary fiction—you'll find a favorite among the best fiction books of 2022
Our editors and experts handpick every product we feature. We may earn a commission from your purchases.
Must-read fiction books from 2022
After two years of living through a global pandemic, we all crave a little relaxation. And what better way to chill out than with one of the best fiction books of 2022? Novels help us escape no matter where we’re curled up reading: a cozy armchair, the beach or on the train or bus during a busy morning commute. Even if you have a soft spot for classic novels , there’s a special joy that comes from anticipating a new release from your favorite author—or even a debut author whose book blurb piqued your interest.
That’s why we narrowed down a list of the best fiction books from 2022. These titles span several genres and are handpicked based on book recommendations from Reader’s Digest editors. Along with new novels from previous award-winning authors, we’ve also added a few debut novels that have generated positive buzz from advanced readers.
With everything from romance novels , mystery books , fantasy and fantasy romance books , beach reads and feminist books to future best books of all time (or at least the best books of 2022!), there’s sure to be one you’ll want to crack open soon.
Join the free Reader’s Digest Book Club for great reads, monthly discussions, author Q&As and a community of book lovers.
1. The Maid by Nita Prose
Release date: Jan. 4, 2022
Nita Prose’s debut novel has the perfect Clue -like beginning: A grand hotel. A motley cast of personality-rich characters. And, of course, a murder. The story’s protagonist is a hotel maid named Molly Gray who quickly becomes a suspect in the case. Molly sees things a little differently. She notices details that others might miss, but she also struggles to follow social rules that others find natural. Fans of cozy mysteries , locked-room investigations, books for women and Agatha Christie fiction will fall head over heels for T he Maid.
2. Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez
Another much-anticipated debut novel, Olga Dies Dreaming is the perfect new fiction book for fans of witty rom-coms that aren’t afraid to ask complex questions or tackle tricky topics beneath the veneer of sparkling humor. Set in New York and anchored in time by Puerto Rico’s devastating hurricane Maria, the story follows Olga, a Latinx wedding planner, as she grapples with her own less-than- fairy-tale love story and the return of a long-lost mother. Author Xochitl Gonzalez gives readers a modern romance complete with themes of race, identity, political corruption and the American dream. This one seems destined to be a top pick for online book clubs and book subscription boxes .
3. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Release date: Jan. 11, 2022
To Paradise takes place in an alternate New York reality that can be seen as utopian or dystopian, depending on the person’s position in society. Readers will meet characters in 1893, 1993 and 2093. From these disparate times and versions of America, characters survive crises like the AIDS epidemic and totalitarian rule as well as personal, intimate tragedies. Despite the varying plot lines, a common thread pulls every scene together: the question of what makes us human and what makes us love.
4. Violeta by Isabel Allende
Release date: Jan. 25, 2022
If you prefer sweeping historical fiction to page-turning beach reads, you’ll want to leave a space for Violeta on the nightstand. It’s one in a long line of beautiful novels from acclaimed Hispanic author Isabel Allende, who wrote The House of the Spirits and Eva Luna . One of the best fiction books of 2022, Violeta is told in the form of a letter to someone deeply loved. Violeta’s life is marked by a series of cataclysmic, far-reaching events: the Spanish flu pandemic, the Great Depression, World War II, the Cuban Revolution and even the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it all, Violeta survives with passion and determination.
5. The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
Fiona Davis’s latest historical fiction mystery whisks readers away to the Frick mansion, a palace of political power, secret trysts and tangled family histories. Told in dual timelines, the book follows art model Lillian Carter in the 1920s and mod model Veronica Weber in the 1970s as the two become embroiled in the dramas of the Frick residence. The Magnolia Palace is the full package: mystery, history, rich characters and lavish details about art, money and high society in days gone by.
6. The Fields by Erin Young
A body. A newly appointed investigator. A second body. Ghosts of a dark past. The story of Sergeant Riley Fisher, a new crime investigator in a small farming town, simmers with tension and the niggling fear that there’s something dangerous just around the corner. If you love cracking open crime procedurals or page-turning thriller books , Erin Young’s debut crime novel will have you clamoring for more from the author. The best part? The Fields is set to be the first in a series, so get ready for the next installment!
7. The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
Release date: Feb. 1, 2022
Here’s another crime-fueled page-turner for you! But Brendan Slocumb’s The Violin Conspiracy is far from a formulaic mystery. It’s the story of Ray, a Black violinist whose love of music finally blossoms after discovering that his great-great-grandfather’s old fiddle is a world-renowned violin. But when the priceless heirloom is stolen from him just before a major performance, the musician must race to trace a random note and recover his life’s work. One of the best fiction books of 2022, The Violin Conspiracy is set to take its genre to the next level. It’s a literary thriller rife with themes of art, history, racism and overcoming adversity.
8. Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak
Release date: Feb. 15, 2022
Shake up political drama, international espionage and potentially tyrannous female friendship. What do you get? Anna Pitoniak’s latest novel. In Our American Friend , you’ll meet USSR-born First Lady Lara Caine and jaded journalist Sofie Morse. When Lara inquires after Sofie to write her biography, the two strike up an unlikely friendship. But what is Lara’s motive? And what does it mean for Sofie to be caught in a strategic political game of international proportions? Whether you love mystery, interpersonal drama or friendship books , this is a new release you won’t be able to put down.
9. The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
Release date: Mar. 1, 2022
Alex Finlay’s twisty new thriller follows the intersecting lives of two victims of murder attempts. One narrowly escaped a tragic night shift at a Blockbuster on the eve of Y2K. The other lives through a harrowing night shift at an ice cream parlor in the same town 15 years later. Are the attempted slayings connected? What are the police missing? And is reliving the traumatic stories worth it to find out? Encompassing the genres of thriller, mystery and horror , The Night Shift is a novel that will stick with you.
10. Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik
Though not a vampire book , Erica Ferencik’s Girl in Ice bears echoes of the undead. In the chill of the Arctic Circle, a researcher discovers a young girl frozen in ice. When the ice thaws, she begins to speak. Thus, protagonist Valerie “Val” Chesterfield, a linguist specializing in dead Nordic languages, is summoned. But though Val is willing to help, returning to arctic waters unleashes memories of her twin brother’s mysterious death by exposure to the elements.
11. Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton
Release date: Mar. 7, 2022
You read that right. One of the most anticipated fiction books of the year was co-authored by the country music queen herself, Dolly Parton. The powerhouse writing duo’s tale of a young singer-songwriter escaping to Nashville will appeal to young readers as much as longtime bibliophiles and Dolly fans. It’s as much the story of AnnieLee Keyes leaving an abusive past behind as it is a hard-knocks tale of relying on grit and creativity to achieve a dream. Fun fact: While this is the songstress’s first novel, it’s not her first book. In the ’90s, her autobiography hit the bestseller list.
12. Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett
Release date: Mar. 8, 2022
Sharp, smart and heartbreaking is the story of reality TV star Desiree Pierce. The morning after her 25th birthday, she’s found dead by an apparent overdose. But Desiree never visited that part of town. And besides that, the police were too quick to declare the Black woman’s death a closed case when several loose ends remain. Like a Sister follows Desiree’s half-sister, Lena, as she hunts for the truth about what happened. But will the pursuit of justice—and the discovery of dark, buried family secrets—be the death of her too? Next, discover more riveting fiction books from Black authors you should know.
13. The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Part domestic psychological drama, part cat-and-mouse page turner, The Golden Couple is one of those fiction books from 2022 you might expect to devour in a weekend. Readers will get to know three main characters: posh married couple Marissa and Matthew Bishop and their unlicensed therapist, Avery. When the Bishops’ picture-perfect life starts to crumble, who will take the fall? The twisty tale of lies, lies and more lies is perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Paula Hawkins.
14. The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
Release date: Mar. 15, 2022
Peng Shepherd does it again. While The Book of M gave readers a dark, futuristic, speculative thriller, The Cartographers delves into the mysteries of the past. The story (also available as an audiobook ) follows Nell Young, a cartographer with a complicated relationship with her father. When he is found dead, she uses a map found in his desk to seek answers. The plot unfolds fast and furiously, covering academic drama, science and art, a dark family secret and a bit of magic.
15. Remember Me Gone by Stacy Stokes
Release date: Mar. 22, 2022
Imagine being able to forget your worst, most embarrassing moments. Would you? In Remember Me Gone , Stacy Stokes’s young adult fiction debut, Lucy’s father has the power to take away memories. That’s why folks swarm their little Texas town: They want help forgetting something or other. But when Lucy becomes old enough to learn his skill, she witnesses one of her dad’s memories—one she wasn’t meant to see. This fast-paced paranormal thriller blends science fiction, fantasy and a touch of adolescent romance. But what makes it stand apart are the deep, thought-provoking questions woven into the story. What would you choose to forget? And what secrets are worth remembering?
16. What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline
Release date: Mar. 29, 2022
Yet another much-anticipated suspense novel, What Happened to the Bennetts presents readers with a classic conundrum: What if you had to choose between following the law and finding true justice? In this fast-paced book, a carjacking changes the lives of the Bennetts forever. They’re shuttled into witness protection, where they begin to crumble under psychological stress, chronic uncertainty and complete lack of control over their own paths. But when the father gets wind of what really precipitated that one random act of violence, he decides to take matters into his own hands.
17. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Release date: Apr. 5, 2022
In a flood of new book releases, Emily St. John Mandel’s work always stands out. Whether you loved the sci-fi book Station Eleven or fell for Vincent in The Glass Hotel , you’ll be swept away by the author’s mind yet again in Sea of Tranquility . This time, she takes us from the wilds of North American forests to future cities to the stark artificiality of a moon colony. It’s a novel about human grit through literal space and time—a multidimensional, multi-timeline story for readers who like to sink their teeth into a good book.
18. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
The author of Shuggie Bain returns with an LGBTQ book centered on romance in religious communities where such relationships are hidden or damned. Young Mungo takes place in working-class Glasgow, Scotland, where Protestant Mungo and Catholic James forge a friendship that deepens to something more. When Mungo is forced away by his parents, he experiences a frightening encounter with two strange men—one that makes him realize he and James need to find their way back to each other and to safety.
19. Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen
Release date: Apr. 19, 2022
Welcome to Garnett, Texas, where locals gather for gossip and drinks at the honky-tonks and investigator Annie McIntyre cuts her teeth on a missing-person mystery. In Pay Dirt Road , author Samantha Jayne Allen paints a detailed picture of small-town Texas life and invites readers along on a crime-solving adventure full of deepening family relationships and life lessons.
20. Trust by Hernan Diaz
Release date: May 3, 2022
Straddling the line between literary and historical fiction, Trust invites readers into New York City in the 1920s. Meet Benjamin and Helen Raks, a Wall Street suit and aristocratic darling. Of course, everything is not as it seems, but when has it ever been? Enter a world of power, money and glittering facades to find out just how they’ve made their fortune and what it means for the people they’ve invited into their fold. Next, check out these stellar Kindle Unlimited books and read for free.
21. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Did you love A Man Called Ove ? What about the 2020 Netflix original My Octopus Teacher ? Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures ripples with similarities to the two acclaimed works while staying wholly original. This debut novel follows a lost widow who takes a night shift job at the local aquarium. It’s a way to stay busy. It’s a way to pass the time. But soon her nights are brightened by an unlikely friend: Marcellus, the aquarium’s giant octopus. The warm, quirky, feel-good book , which includes perspectives from Marcellus himself, is sure to reel in rave reader reviews.
22. Book of Night by Holly Black
This dark, deeply imaginative adult urban fantasy novel from veteran young adult author Holly Black follows con artist Charlie Hall’s foray into the underground world of trading with shadow selves—the separated shadows that harbor everyone’s deepest, darkest secrets. It’s a story steeped in secret societies, magic thieves and plain human trauma. In other words, it’s poised to be one of the next great adult fantasy hits. When you’re done, you’ll want to gobble up Black’s teen book series for more intricate world-building.
23. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Emily Henry’s newest romance thrums with enemies-to-lovers vibes. Heroine Nora Stephen is a literary agent who agrees to go on a trip with her sister to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. It’s meant to be a blissful girls getaway. Instead, she runs into a rival literary acquaintance, who is also taking time away from the city. It’s the perfect setup for a spring romance novel or summer beach read.
24. The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian
Release date: May 10, 2022
When two Hollywood stars arrive in Tanzania for their honeymoon, they expect wildlife sightings with a side of wine and charcuterie. Instead, they’re in for a deadly kidnapping and life-changing ordeal in unfamiliar territory. The Lioness is a sweeping story with a full cast of characters, endless suspense and themes of race, fame and love.
25. This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
Release date: May 17, 2022
In This Time Tomorrow , prolific author Emma Straub plays with time travel like these time travel books . On the eve of her 40th birthday, protagonist Alice reflects on life—then suddenly wakes up on the morning of her Sweet 16. The book explores memories, longing and some of life’s big questions, like what you might do differently if you could go back.
26. You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Release date: May 24, 2022
Our list of much-anticipated 2022 reads wouldn’t be complete without this lush novel from Akwaeke Emezi. Our hero, Feyi Adekola, is still healing from the tragic death of her partner. She’s ready to ease into the dating scene again but is plunged, all at once, into the deep end. A rooftop party leads to a summer fling, which leads to a potential long-term relationship. But if she’s so happy, why does she feel so attracted to the one person she’s not allowed to love?
27. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
Release date: June 7, 2022
Meet Nora Hamilton, the brains behind the latest romance channel hits and the protagonist of Nora Goes Off Script . After a heart-shattering breakup, she comes up with her most brilliant plot yet: a romantic movie that spotlights her ex’s selfishness. But life goes off-script when her little screenplay gets picked up as a big-screen blockbuster. Suddenly, Nora must learn to navigate Hollywood—and the sexy celebrities she encounters along the way.
28. The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
This story within a story within a story (intrigued yet?) takes place in the reading room of the Boston Public Library. The typically peaceful retreat turns to chaos at the sound of a woman’s ear-piercing shriek. Security instructs four strangers in the library to stay put until authorities have secured the area. As time passes, friendships blossom, secrets come to light and a murderer is eventually revealed.
29. Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
Release date: June 21, 2022
Ottessa Moshfegh’s Lapvona has a captivating premise: In a medieval village, an abused motherless boy finds solace in the company of the local midwife, whose mystical gifts scare some of the other neighbors. But when an incident with the town priest and prevailing feudal lord occurs, the boy becomes part of a violent clash of forces—new and old, natural and spiritual, and the very natures of life and death. Find more great fiction on this list of banned books that everyone needs to read.
30. The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
Julie Clark’s latest thriller follows two women whose lives intertwine for the second time. First, there’s Kat Roberts, the whip-smart journalist hell bent on unmasking the con woman who has eluded her for 10 years. Then there’s the slippery pro herself: alternately known as Meg Williams, Maggie Littleton and Melody Wilde. When the two strike up a friendship—driven by their ulterior motives—who will come out on top? And how many lies will they tell before the truth comes out?
31. Gilt by Jamie Brenner
From the author of The Forever Summer and Blush comes a glittering gem so escapist that it also landed on our summer reading list . Jamie Brenner’s Gilt invites readers to spy on a family of wealthy jewelers. When prodigal daughter Gemma Maybrook returns to visit one sizzling summer, a veritable Pandora’s box of secrets opens. Follow the lush drama from high society New York to sunny Cape Cod.
32. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Release date: June 28, 2022
A spicy, supernatural romantic comedy for anyone tired of plain ol’ vanilla rom-coms, The Dead Romantics delivers with wit, quirks and, yes, a ghost story. Meet Florence Day, a New York City ghostwriter whose latest breakup has convinced her that romance is dead for good. But then a couple of very real deaths occur, landing Florence back in her hometown to face the ghosts of her past—along with a decidedly sexy spirit standing on the doorstep of the local funeral parlor. Alternating between poignant themes of death and grief and laugh-out-loud humor, this romance will have you flipping pages into the wee hours of the night.
33. The Hidden One by Linda Castillo
Release date: July 5, 2022
The Hidden Ones protagonist Kate Hurholder is not Amish. But as the police chief in an Amish community, she has grown familiar with the community’s intricacies and norms. But when she’s summoned to solve a cold murder case in Pennsylvania’s Kishacoquillas Valley, she realizes that Amish culture can vary wildly from place to place. So can she chalk up Bishop Stolzfus’s evasive actions to cultural differences—or does the man know more than he’s letting on? The plot only thickens when Kate runs into her first love in Pennsylvania. By the time you turn the final page, you may be inspired to pick up a nonfiction book about the Amish.
34. Florida Woman by Deb Rogers
Deb Rogers’s darkly comic thriller opens when Jamie, a lifelong Florida woman, is caught on film during one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. Relieved to get community service rather than jail time for her crime, Jamie heads off to Atlas, a monkey sanctuary. But all is not as it seems. She is soon consumed by the sinister world of Atlas, complete with sacrifices and cult-like adoration for the organization’s leaders. This is a suspenseful novel for readers seeking a good LGBTQ+ contemporary mystery.
35. The 6:20 Man by David Baldacci
Release date: July 12, 2022
Travis Devine, the main character of The 6:20 Man , is a man of routine. Every morning, he puts on a cheap suit, picks up his cheap briefcase and heads out on the 6:20 train to Manhattan. Every day, he peers out the train window and dreams about living large like one of the elite financial investors he sees in passing. Then one day, everything changes. He’s blackmailed into participating in an investigation into those very investors. As he infiltrates their lavish lives and learns more about their shady schemes, he finds himself in the crosshairs of a murderer.
36. The Floating Girls by Lo Patrick
Did you love Where the Crawdads Sing or the movie adaptation of the book ? Then you’ll fall head over heels for this evocative coming-of-age drama told from the perspective of 12-year-old Kay. In the summer heat of Bledsoe, Georgia, Kay experiences the loss of a sister, a blossoming friendship with a boy and the trouble and heartbreak of family secrets. Don’t forget to check out these hit books that are becoming movies this year.
37. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
Release date: July 19, 2022
Whether you’re already a fan of Things You Save in a Fire and How to Walk Away or utterly new to Katherine Center’s writing, her latest summer sizzler will satisfy any craving for lighthearted romance. Hannah Brooks looks cute and unassuming—the opposite of her life as a bodyguard. When she’s hired to protect sexy celebrity Jack Stapleton from a stalker, the two pretend they’re dating during Jack’s visit home. Fans of The Wedding Date and T he Proposal , you know where this is going!
38. The Other Guest by Helen Cooper
Release date: July 26, 2022
Helen Cooper’s latest page-turner slams together two unrelated women’s lives in the aftermath of a tragedy at an Italian resort. Leah knows deep down that her niece’s death was not an accidental drowning. And far away in England, a woman named Joanna knows deep down that her sexy new beau might be too good to be true. The truth is that Leah and Joanna’s lives are already intertwined and on the brink of another potentially devastating collision. Not sure what to read after you binge The Other Guest ? Try picking your next book based on your zodiac sign .
39. Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
Release date: Aug. 9, 2022
What would you do if you woke up with no memory of the last two years, no phone and “stay awake” written in black ink all over your hands and arms? This is how Liv Reese finds herself in the opening pages of Stay Awake . The breathtaking thriller unfolds as Liv runs from a crime she doesn’t remember committing. She does everything in her power to discover why her memories have disappeared into thin air—and who is responsible for the erasure.
40. Lucy Checks In by Dee Ernst
Release date: Aug. 16, 2022
Love Under the Tuscan Sun ? You’ll feel right at home following Lucy Checks In ‘s 49-year-old protagonist to the French countryside, where she moves to fix up and manage the storied Hotel Paradis. Of course, renovating a rickety inn can be a monumental task, so Lucy experiences more than her fair share of funny misfortunes along the way. This heartwarming women’s fiction story about new beginnings brims with fresh friendships, blossoming romance and mouthwatering descriptions of French food.
41. T he Housekeeper by Joy Fielding
New York Times bestselling author Joy Fielding reels us in again with this riveting domestic drama . Thriving real estate agent Jodi Bishop knows her aging parents could use a helping hand at home, so she hires a housekeeper. Vibrant and warm, Elyse Woodley seems perfect for the job. But when Jodi’s parents seem to deteriorate rapidly while clinging to Elyse’s care more than their own daughter’s, Jodi has to wonder: Is the housekeeper really there to help her family? Or is something sinister afoot?
42. Fox Creek by William Kent Krueger
Release date: Aug. 23, 2022
William Kent Krueger’s latest nail-biting thriller plops readers into the Boundary Waters, where hunters have swarmed in search of a woman named Dolores Morriseau. She herself seeks a haven with a local Ojibwe healer. Told from multiple perspectives, the book weaves together drama, mystery and masterful Native American storytelling .
43. Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Release date: Aug. 30, 2022
Here’s one for the sports fans, the athletes and anyone who knows what it’s like to put everything on the line for ambition. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s beloved tennis hero Carrie Soto is back. This time, she’s decided to leave her early retirement and take a stab at one more win. But of course, the world of sports moves quickly. At the age of 37, can Carrie pull off another triumph? With themes of ambition, sacrifice and self-doubt, plus a sizzle of romance, this book deserves a spot on your 2022 must-read list.
44. Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
Other Birds invites readers to dip their toes into magical realism with the story of the Dellawisp, a building inhabited by quirky people haunted by personal secrets and longings—and ghosts. There’s Zoey, who’s trying to connect with her late mother in the apartment she once owned. There’s the isolated chef. A famed writer. A mystery girl who’s running from something—or someone. Here, Sarah Addison Allen offers a beautiful, lyrical story about love, friendship and found family—an ideal book club book that’ll give you plenty of things to discuss with the group.
45. The Make-Up Test by Jenny L. Howe
Release date: Sept. 13, 2022
Enemies to lovers. Second chances. Bookish characters. All find a place on the pages of Jenny L. Howe’s The Make-Up Test , a deliciously swoony story of academic rivals. When a family emergency forces Allison Avery and Colin Benjamin on a weekend road trip together, they realize just how much chemistry their brains and bodies have together. But with hearts and a coveted job position on the line, is choosing love worth the risk? Don’t miss the steamy Scrabble scene as you read to find out.
46. Before I Do by Sophie Cousens
Release date: Oct. 11, 2022
One of the year’s most anticipated new books to read , Sophie Cousens’s latest romance tackles an age-old question: How do you know if someone is “the one”? It’s the night before Audrey’s wedding. Her relationship with Josh has been solid and steady, but a tiny bit of her wonders if she might be settling. So when Fred, a one-time fling, appears at the rehearsal dinner, Audrey’s alarm bells sound at full volume. Should she go for stability or sparks? Is she about to make the biggest mistake of her life—or is this simply one last test of a love that’s meant to last forever?
47. No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child
Release date: Oct. 25, 2022
Jack Reacher is back! The 27th book of the highly acclaimed thriller series opens with Reacher discovering a purported suicide that he suspects is a murder. As with all books in this series, the plot thickens with additions of global conspiracies, complicated intrigue and supervillains reminiscent of James Bond. If you’re only familiar with the Jack Reacher played on screen by Tom Cruise, this book offers a great starting point for reading the whole series.
48. Racing the Light by Robert Crais
Release date: Nov. 1, 2022
Fancy a romp through crime noir? Then add Racing the Light to your preorder list. This devilishly delightful story follows private eyes Elvis Cole and Joe Pike into the underworld of Los Angeles, where porn stars, secret agents and shady politicians punctuate their path to solving the case of a missing man. True crime connoisseurs and comedy buffs alike will want to snag a copy of this rollicking page-turner.
49. The Circus Train by Amita Parikh
Release date: Dec. 6, 2022
“Magic, love, destiny and illusion combine with the glitter of 20th-century circus life and the heartbreak of war,” writes Kristen Harmel, author of The Book of Lost Names. In Amita Parikh’s The Circus Train , mid-20th-century Europe serves as the backdrop for a traveling circus aboard an elite luxury train. As the tragedy of the Holocaust unfolds around the train, disabled illusionist Lena Papadopoulos must dig deep to find her true calling, discover the magic of the real world and learn that love prevails over all. Next, check out these book recommendations based on fan favorite TV shows .
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Opinion: One surprising source of hope for climate change? Fiction
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As the climate crisis continues to reshape our world, climate fiction has become one of the fastest-growing genres in literature. But what happens when the catastrophes that dominate headlines become indistinguishable from plots of fiction?
During an era of rolling disasters, we might expect readers to seek comfort in escapist stories, and yet the literary marketplace continues to reward those engaging head-on with environmentalist themes. It might be a signal that climate fiction has become so convincingly nuanced that readers are turning to these stories to help them interpret our new reality.
Now often known as “cli-fi,” this once-nameless sci-fi sub-genre has evolved into a major, prizewinning literary movement. Cli-fi doesn’t have to be dystopian. But as our fictional dystopias begin to resemble our reality, and as reality feels increasingly dystopian, the climate crisis has taken root among the usual settings and categories of literature: city life, college towns, coming-of-age, infidelity, love, tragedy.
As novelist Lydia Millet wrote , the climate crisis is now a condition of human life. Through my own writing — which is often influenced by living in California, where we’re reminded daily of our environmental challenges — I’ve discovered that fiction can provide us a space in which to make meaningful and sustained contact with the current and possible effects of the climate crisis, in a way that news headlines can’t.
In the spring of 2019, I was struggling to write a since-discarded novel. Needing a change of scenery, I got in my car and drove up the coast, from Van Nuys all the way to Vancouver. I saw the snowy mountains and crystal-clear freshwater of Lake Tahoe; the rivers and gorges and waterfalls outside of Portland; the indomitable pine forests of Olympic National Park; the jungly rainforests of British Columbia.
Novelist Elvia Wilk highlights in her book of essays, “Death by Landscape,” that in fiction, the landscape is often in the background, with the characters in the foreground . On this journey, the landscape was suddenly in my foreground.
I hadn’t taken that road trip with the intention of writing about the environment, but the dystopian realities of living in Los Angeles — a city that often feels both like the starting block and the finish line of the climate crisis — caused me to wonder what life might look like if all that natural beauty vanished. I ended up writing a cli-fi novel, a speculative story that also felt entirely plausible. Too real, even.
While trying to get that book published, I was often asked, “So, is this serious literature? Or sci-fi? Or is it that new one . . . cli-fi?”
I answered, “Why not all three?”
Some recent examples in this genre are Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic, biosphere-less “The Road”; Jesmyn Ward’s portrait of the days preceding Hurricane Katrina, “Salvage the Bones”; and Ursula K. Le Guin’s universe of interplanetary species, the Hainish novels, which were popular sci-fi books of the 1960s and ’70s. But many works with cli-fi elements challenge our conception of sci-fi versus “serious” literature and might even obliterate the bounds of genre altogether: Take Jonathan Franzen’s “Freedom” (for all that hinges on the conservation of an endangered bird species), and just about anything by George Saunders (for all his invented technologies that change the rules of society).
Any genre that can contain such breadth and depth of literature is no longer a trend. And as our everyday lives have become inextricably entangled in futuristic technologies and crises, sci-fi and cli-fi have become sorts of new realism — too-realism, if you will. How do we situate human hardship for the sake of narrative, when human activity has put so many nonhuman lives in danger? Perhaps cli-fi can help us rethink familiar dichotomies — human versus nature, utopia versus dystopia, savior versus destroyer — and expand the possibilities of storytelling.
One risk of tackling inherently political subjects such as the climate crisis is that writers can fall into didacticism. Le Guin, for instance, who wrote many enduring works of fiction, was critical of her own 1972 cli-fi novella, “The Word for World Is Forest,” later calling it “strident” and a “preachment.” It’s a thinly veiled environmentalist parable, in which her characters take a back seat to the message, and it suffers from one of the steepest pitfalls of cli-fi: heavy-handedness. What good is fiction when it reads just like one of the headlines?
Neither fiction nor the news should lead readers to imagine the worst-case-scenario for its own sake (climate psychologist Jessica Kleczka warns against the pernicious effects of “doomism ”). Rather, when cli-fi succeeds, the reader will halt with recognition. The story will heighten our awareness of our own experience of the world, and we’ll consider reality a bit more keenly before reading on.
While reading Jenny Offill’s 2020 “Weather,” a slim but forceful novel about a librarian who goes down the rabbit hole of disaster psychology as she envisions the end of the world, I felt this recognition and wondered whether works of climate fiction might someday include a trigger warning for inducing eco-anxiety.
For now, the greatest threat to cli-fi is probably oversaturation, if publishers fatigue readers with books that resemble the never-ending stream of disastrous headlines. But as long as the climate crisis is a condition of everyday life, stories that feel too real won’t be going anywhere — whether we call them sci-fi, cli-fi or “serious” literature. We’ll need them as a record of humanity and how we either failed or made it through.
Daniel Vitale is a writer in Los Angeles and author of the novel “Orphans of Canland.”
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Best-Sellers: ‘The Midcoast,’ ‘Reading the Glass’
The current top-selling fiction and nonfiction books at Longfellow Books in Portland.
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FICTION Hardcover
1. “The Midcoast,” by Adam White (Hogarth) 2. “Big Truck Little Island,” by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick) 3. “Lucy by the Sea,” by Elizabeth Strout (Random House) 4. “Sea of Tranquility,” by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf) 5. “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,” by Gabrielle Zevin (Knopf) 6. “This Other Eden,” by Paul Harding (W.W. Norton) 7. “Demon Copperhead,” by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper) 8. “Victory City,” by Salman Rushdie (Random House) 9. “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” by Charlie Mackesy (Harper) 10. “Lungfish,” by Meghan Gilliss (Catapult)
1. “Night of the Living Rez,” by Morgan Talty (Tin House) 2. “The Song of Achilles,” by Madeline Miller (Ecco) 3. “Klara and the Sun,” by Kazuo Ishiguro (Vintage) 4. “The Guest List,” by Lucy Foley (William Morrow) 5. “Rules for Visiting,” by Jessica Francis Kane (Penguin) 6. “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” by Sally Rooney (Picador) 7. “The Secret History,” by Donna Tartt (Vintage) 8. “The House in Cerulean Sea,” by TJ Klune (Tor) 9. “The Best American Short Stories 2022,” edited by Andrew Sean Greer (Mariner) 10. “The Blacktongue Thief,” by Christopher Buehlman (Tor)
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1. “Reading the Glass,” by Elliot Rappaport (Dutton) 2. “Northeaster,” by Cathie Pelletier (Pegasus) 3. “The Creative ACT,” by Rick Rubin (Penguin) 4. “Four Thousand Weeks,” by Oliver Burkeman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) 5. “The Hurting Kind,” by Ada Limón (Milkweed) 6. “Rebels at Sea,” by Eric Jay Dolin (Liveright) 7. “Rough Sleepers,” by Tracy Kidder (Random House) 8. “Smitten Kitchen Keepers,” by Deb Perelman (Knopf) 9. “Wolfish,” by Erica Berry (Flatiron) 10. “The Climate Book,” by Greta Thunberg (Penguin)
1. “Several Short Sentences about Writing,” by Verlyn Klinkenborg (Vintage) 2. “Downeast,” by Gigi Georges (Harper) 3. “Worn,” by Sofi Thanhauser (Vintage) 4. “Take It Easy,” by John Duncan (Islandport) 5. “How to Not Always Be Working,” by Marlee Grace (Morrow) 6. “The Stranger in the Woods,” by Michael Finkel (Knopf) 7. “All About Love,” by Bell Hooks (William Morrow & Co) 8. “Caste,” by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House) 9. “Otherlands,” by Thomas Halliday (Random House) 10. “Dopamine Nation,” by Anna Lembke (Dutton)
— Longfellow Books, Portland
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5 non-fiction books everyone should be reading about work in 2023
March is here, which means that spring cleaning is around the corner — and as you deep clean your home and get rid of things that no longer "spark joy," consider adding your career to your spring-cleaning checklist.
Spring cleaning your career could mean updating your resume , organizing your calendar or any other task that helps you better manage your time at work and get closer to achieving your professional goals.
If you're looking for inspiration or feel stuck in your job, these 5 career books, recommended by Goodreads , can help put you in the right mindset.
These books, all published in 2022, have at least a 4-star rating on Goodreads and at least 1,000 members added the book to their "want-to-read" shelf on the site.
'Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen'
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FICTION Hardcover. 1. "The Midcoast," by Adam White (Hogarth) 2. "Big Truck Little Island," by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick) 3. "Lucy by the Sea," by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)
Damn, I forgot it that this dress does that, I slipped my feet into the sandals, tugged everything back into place and made my grand entrance. Last as usual, everyone else had wine glasses in hand. "Interesting look," Mand whispered in my ear. "It was the first thing I pulled out.". "You might want to lose the bra," she suggested.
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If you're looking for inspiration or feel stuck in your job, these 5 career books, recommended by Goodreads, can help put you in the right mindset. These books, all published in 2022, have at ...