The Must-Read Books of 2019
As we look back on this year, we’re reflecting on some of our favorite books that moved us to laughter, tears, or somewhere in between. Chances are, you’ve read a few of these yourself. Take a look at some of the must-read nonfiction and fiction of 2019. We also asked our readers to pick their favorite book of this year. Take a look at what readers like you are reading and recommending here.
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1
Add to BookshelfRed at the Bone
by Jacqueline Woodson
An unexpected teenage pregnancy pulls together two families from different social classes, and exposes the private hopes, disappointments, and longings that can bind or divide us from each other, from the New York Times-bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of Another Brooklyn and Brown Girl Dreaming.
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2
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The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
The Testaments is a modern masterpiece, a powerful novel that can be read on its own or as a companion to Margaret Atwood’s classic, The Handmaid’s Tale.
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3
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Know My Name
by Chanel Miller
Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.
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4
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Normal People
by Sally Rooney
Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t.
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5
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Metahuman
by Deepak Chopra, M.D.
Is it possible to venture beyond daily living and experience heightened states of awareness? In his latest book, Deepak Chopra says that higher consciousness is available here and now.
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6
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Disappearing Earth
by Julia Phillips
Spellbinding, moving–evoking a fascinating region on the other side of the world–this suspenseful and haunting story announces the debut of a profoundly gifted writer.
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7
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The Nickel Boys
by Colson Whitehead
In this bravura follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize, and National Book Award-winning #1 New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.
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8
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Exhalation
by Ted Chiang
From the acclaimed author of Stories of Your Life and Others—the basis for the Academy Award –nominated film Arrival: a groundbreaking new collection of short fiction.
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9
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More Than Enough
by Elaine Welteroth
In this part-manifesto, part-memoir, the revolutionary editor who infused social consciousness into the pages of Teen Vogue explores what it means to come into your own—on your own terms.
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10
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Evvie Drake Starts Over: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Linda Holmes
From the host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast comes a heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a major league pitcher who’s lost his game.
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11
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Inheritance
by Dani Shapiro
From the acclaimed, best-selling memoirist, novelist—“a writer of rare talent” (Cheryl Strayed)— and host of the hit podcast Family Secrets, comes a memoir about the staggering family secret uncovered by a genealogy test: an exploration of the urgent ethical questions surrounding fertility treatments and DNA testing, and a profound inquiry of paternity, identity, and love.
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12
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The Secrets We Kept: Reese’s Book Club
by Lara Prescott
A thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice–inspired by the true story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago.
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13
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Black Leopard, Red Wolf
by Marlon James
In the stunning first novel in Marlon James’s Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child.
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14
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The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Book of Dust, Volume 2)
by Philip Pullman
Return to the world of His Dark Materials—now an HBO original series starring Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda—in the second volume of Philip Pullman’s new bestselling masterwork The Book of Dust.
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15
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Grand Union
by Zadie Smith
Moving exhilaratingly across genres and perspectives, from the historic to the vividly current to the slyly dystopian, Grand Union is a sharply alert and prescient collection about time and place, identity and rebirth, the persistent legacies that haunt our present selves and the uncanny futures that rush up to meet us.
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16
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Say Nothing
by Patrick Radden Keefe
From award-winning New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe, a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.
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17
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Frankly in Love
by David Yoon
As Frank falls in love for the very first time, he’s forced to confront the fact that while his parents sacrificed everything to raise him in the land of opportunity, their traditional expectations don’t leave a lot of room for him to be a regular American teen.
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18
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The Measure of Our Lives
by Toni Morrison
At once the ideal introduction to Toni Morrison and a lovely and moving keepsake for her devoted readers: a treasury of quotations from her work. With a foreword by Zadie Smith.
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19
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Dreyer’s English
by Benjamin Dreyer
A sharp, funny grammar guide they’ll actually want to read, from Random House’s longtime copy chief and one of Twitter’s leading language gurus.
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20
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Save Me the Plums
by Ruth Reichl
Trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl took the job (and the risk) of a lifetime when she entered the high-stakes world of magazine publishing. Now, for the first time, she chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet.
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21
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Olive, Again
by Elizabeth Strout
Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imaginations of millions.
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22
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SHOUT
by Laurie Halse Anderson
A New York Times bestseller and one of 2019’s best-reviewed books, a poetic memoir and call to action from the award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson.
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23
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Bill Cunningham: On the Street
by New York Times
The first published collection of photographs by the icon of street style, bringing together favorites published in The New York Times alongside never-before-seen work across five decades.
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24
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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.
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25
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American Royals
by Katharine McGee
What if America had a royal family? If you can’t get enough of Harry and Meghan or Kate and William, meet American princesses Beatrice and Samantha. Crazy Rich Asians meets The Crown.
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26
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The Infinite Game
by Simon Sinek
From the New York Times bestselling author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last, a bold framework for leadership in today’s ever-changing world.
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$29.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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27
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Trick Mirror
by Jia Tolentino
Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through a culture that revolves around the self.
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28
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The Water Dancer
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
From the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom.
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29
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Daisy Jones & The Six: Reese’s Book Club
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup.
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30
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The Uninhabitable Earth
by David Wallace-Wells
The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it—the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress.
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