Year-End Lists

BuzzFeed: Best Fiction and Nonfiction of 2019

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2018]

Fiction

• The Nickel Boys
  Colson Whitehead
• Olive, Again
  Elizabeth Strout
• Gingerbread
  Helen Oyeyemi
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  Ocean Vuong
• Nothing to See Here
  Kevin Wilson
• The Old Drift
  Namwali Serpell
• The Organs of Sense
  Adam Ehrlich Sachs
• Women Talking
  Miriam Toews
• Machines Like Me
  Ian McEwan
• Patsy
  Nicole Dennis-Benn
• The Book of X
  Sarah Rose Etter
• The World Doesn't Require You
  Rion Amilcar Scott
• The Dutch House
  Ann Patchett
• Your House Will Pay
  Steph Cha
• Fly Already
  Etgar Keret
• Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea
  Sarah Pinsker
• Everything Under
  Daisy Johnson
• The Tenth Muse
  Catherine Chung
• All This Could Be Yours
  Jami Attenberg
• The Topeka School
  Ben Lerner
• Lot
  Bryan Washington
• The Man Who Saw Everything
  Deborah Levy
• In West Mills
  De'Shawn Charles Winslow

Nonfiction

• The Yellow House
  Sarah M. Broom
• Say Nothing

  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• Survival Math

  Notes on an All-American Family
  Mitchell Jackson
• The Queen

  The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth
  Josh Levin
• Good Talk

  A Memoir in Conversations
  Mira Jacob
• The Collected Schizophrenias
  Esmé Weijun Wang
• Wild Game

  My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
  Adrienne Brodeur
• How We Fight for Our Lives
  Saeed Jones
• In the Dream House
  Carmen Maria Machado
• Homesick
  Jennifer Croft
• The World According to Fannie Davis

  My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers
  Bridgett M. Davis

Anthony Domestico: 2019 Books in Review, as published by Commonweal Magazine. Domestico is "only listing books that I haven’t yet had a chance to write on" and has "tried to avoid books that have popped up again and again on end-of-year lists."

• Lay Studies
  Steven Toussaint
• The Heavens
  Sandra Newman
• The Corner That Held Them
  Sylvia Townsend Warner
• Hue and Cry
  James Alan McPherson
• The Manzoni Family
  Natalia Ginzburg
• Human Relations and Other Difficulties
  Mary-Kay Wilmers
• What It Is

  Race, Family, and One Thinking Black Man's Blues
  Clifford Thompson
• Where Reasons End
  Yiyun Li
• No Matter
  Jana Prikryl
• In My Mind's Eye

  A Thought Diary
  Jan Morris
• Yellow Notebook

  Diaries Volume I 1978–1987
  Helen Garner
• The Caiplie Caves
  Karen Solie
• Cleanness
  Garth Greenwell

Dennis Cooper: Favorite Fiction and Nonfiction of 2019, in no order

[see also 2018 • 2016 • 2012]

Fiction

• The Complete Gary Lutz
  Gary Lutz
• King of Joy
  Richard Chiem
• The Devils
  New Juche
• Trump Sky Alpha
  Mark Doten
• The Hanky of Pippin's Daughter
  Rosmarie Waldrop
• This Brutal House
  Niven Govinden
• Juliet the Maniac
  Juliet Escoria
• Morelia
  Renee Gladman
• Song for the Unraveling of the World
  Brian Evenson
• The Silk Road
  Kathryn Davis
• Circus

  or, Moira Orfei in Aigues-Mortes
  Wayne Koestenbaum
• Rag
  Maryse Meijer
• Selected Stories
  Troy James Weaver
• Experimental Men
  M. Kitchell
• The Maze of Transparencies
  Karen An-hwei Lee
• The Book of X
  Sarah Rose Etter
• Between Appear And Disappear
  Doug Rice
• Baudelaire Fractal
  Lisa Robertson
• Xerox Over Manhattan
  Shane Jesse Christmass
• Drain Songs

  Stories and a Novella
  Grant Maierhofer
• We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff
  Isabel Waidner
• Haunted Girlfriend
  James Nulick
• Vincent and Alice and Alice
  Shane Jones
• Little Hollywood
  Jinnwoo
• Harlem Smoke
  James Champagne
• Soft Fruit in the Sun
  Oliver Zarandi
• Inside the Castle
  Josiah Morgan
• Shock Test…A Night of Truth: Bill Hicks & Timothy McVeigh Meet at Waco w/ Guest Lecturers: William Cooper & Ted Kaczynski
  Sean Kilpatrick
• Mnemic Symbols
  Andrew Hodgson
• The Ice Cream Man and Other Stories
  Sam Pink
• Mac's Problem
  Enrique Vila-Matas
• Angel House
  David Leo Rice
• The Alley of Fireflies and Other Stories
  Raymond Roussel

Nonfiction

• Tosh

  Growing Up in Wallace Berman's World
  Tosh Berman
• Beautiful Aliens

  A Steve Abbott Reader
  Steve Abbott
• How I Became One of the Invisible
  David Rattray
• Vile Days

  The Village Voice Art Columns, 1985-1988
  Gary Indiana
• A Cannibal Explains Himself to Himself
  Will Alexander
• Me & Other Writing
  Marguerite Duras
• Mr. Know-It-All

  The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder
  John Waters
• Camera
  Marcelline Delbecq
• 1979 Songbook
  Byron Coley & Joanne Roberston
• Bad Writing
  Travis Jeppesen
• Essays One
  Lydia Davis
• Death Mort Tod

  A European Book of the Dead
  Steve Finbow & Karolina Urbaniak
• Synthetic Cinema

  The 21st-Century Movie Machine
  Wheeler Winston Dixon
• Animal
  Dorothea Lasky
• The Ribbon at Olympia's Throat
  Michel Leiris
• A Body in the O

  Performances and Stories
  Tim Miller
• Foucault in California

  [A True Story―Wherein the Great French Philosopher Drops Acid in the Valley of Death]
  Simeon Wade
• Inflamed Invisible

  Collected Writings on Art and Sound, 1976–2018
  David Toop

Hyperallergic: Top 25 Books of 2019

1. Potential History

   Unlearning Imperialism
   Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
2. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments

   Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval
   Saidiya Hartman
3. Memes to Movements

   How the World's Most Viral Media Is Changing Social Protest and Power
   An Xiao Mina
4. Boom

   Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art
   Michael Shnayerson
5. C.R.E.A.M.
   Sable Elyse Smith
6. Sun Seekers

   The Cure of California
   Lyra Kilston
7. The New Black Vanguard

   Photography Between Art and Fashion
   Antwaun Sargent
8. Making Comics
   Lynda Barry
9. Life With Picasso
   François Gilot and Carlton Lake
10. Parks

    United States National Park Service Maps from the Collection of Brian Kelley
    Brian Kelley
11. Becoming Mary Sully

    Toward an American Indian Abstract
    Philip J. Deloria
12. The Canary and The Hammer
    Lisa Barnard
13. Optic Nerve
    Maria Gainza
14. An Encyclopedia of Political Record Labels
    Josh MacPhee
15. The Hard Tomorrow
    Eleanor Davis
16. Temple of Silence

    The Forgotten Works of Herbert Crowley
    Justin Duerr
17. BTTM FDRS
    Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore
18. Year of the Monkey
    Patti Smith
19. The Missing Pages

    The Modern Life of a Medieval Manuscript, from Genocide to Justice
    Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh
20. Good Talk

    A Memoir in Conversations
    Mira Jacob
21. Hot Comb
    Ebony Flowers
22. Hinge Pictures

    Eight Women Artists Occupy the Third Dimension
    Andrea Andersson
23. Supper Club
    Lara Williams
24. Changes

    Notes on Choreography
    Merce Cunningham
25. Out of Bounds

    The Collected Writings of Marcia Tucker
    Marcia Tucker

No Depression: Top Music Books of 2019, which includes a list of more good reads in addition to those listed here

• Janis

  Her Life and Music
  Holly George-Warren
• Blood

  A Memoir
  Allison Moorer
• Year of the Monkey
  Patti Smith
• No Walls and the Recurring Dream
  Ani DiFranco
• Texas Flood

  The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan
  Alan Paul & Andy Aledort
• Me
  Elton John
• Earl Scruggs and Foggy Mountain Breakdown

  The Making of an American Classic
  Thomas Goldsmith
• Up Jumped the Devil

  The Real Life of Robert Johnson
  Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow
• Move On Up

  Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power
  Aaron Cohen
• Country Music

  An Illustrated History
  Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns
• The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 2: 1964–1977: The Beatles, the Stones, and the Rise of Classic Rock
  Ed Ward
• God Save the Queens

  The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop
  Kathy Iandoli

The Wall Street Journal: The Best Books of 2019

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2018]

• The Anarchy

  The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire
  William Dalrymple
• Armies of Deliverance

  A New History of the Civil War
  Elizabeth R. Varon
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf
  Marlon James
• Death Is Hard Work
  Khaled Khalifa
• Oliver Wendell Holmes

  A Life in War, Law, and Ideas
  Stephen Budiansky
• A Primer for Forgetting

  Getting Past the Past
  Lewis Hyde
• Say Nothing

  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• Say Say Say
  Lila Savage
• Underland

  A Deep Time Journey
  Robert Macfarlane
• The Vexations
  Caitlin Horrocks

Constance Grady: The Best Books I Read in 2019, as published by Vox

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020]

Fiction

• Fleishman Is in Trouble
  Taffy Brodesser-Akner
• The Dead Queens Club
  Hannah Capin
• Trust Exercise
  Susan Choi
• City of Girls
  Elizabeth Gilbert
• Normal People
  Sally Rooney
• Women Talking
  Miriam Toews
• The Nickel Boys
  Colson Whitehead

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Ninth House
  Leigh Bardugo
• Exhalation
  Ted Chiang
• Gideon the Ninth
  Tamsyn Muir
• The Book of Dust

  The Secret Commonwealth
  Philip Pullman

Nonfiction

• Sounds Like Titanic
  Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
• Because Internet

  Understanding the New Rules of Language
  Gretchen McCulloch
• Midnight Chicken

  & Other Recipes Worth Living For
  Ella Risbridger
• Trick Mirror

  Reflections on Self-Delusion
  Jia Tolentino

Powell's Books: Best Fiction of 2019

[see also Best Nonfiction of 2023 • Best Fiction of 2023 • Best Nonfiction of 2022 • Best Fiction of 2022 • The 14 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021 • The 18 Best Novels of 2021 • Best Fiction of 2020 • Best Nonfiction of 2020 • Best Nonfiction of 2019 • Best Fiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction Books of 2015 • Best Fiction Books of 2015 • Best Fiction of 2014 • Best Nonfiction of 2014]

• The Nickel Boys
  Colson Whitehead
• The Beadworkers
  Beth Piatote
• The Need
  Helen Phillips
• The Shadow King
  Maaza Mengiste
• The Man Who Saw Everything
  Deborah Levy
• The Reckless Oath We Made
  Bryn Greenwood
• Black Light
  Kimberly King Parsons
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  Ocean Vuong
• The Factory
  Hiroko Oyamada
• The Golden State
  Lydia Kiesling
• Flights
  Olga Tokarczuk
• The Dearly Beloved
  Cara Wall
• Girl, Woman, Other
  Bernardine Evaristo
• The Topeka School
  Ben Lerner
• Convenience Store Woman
  Sayaka Murata
• The Dreamers
  Karen Thompson Walker
• Like
  A.E. Stallings
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
  Olga Tokarczuk
• The Starless Sea
  Erin Morgenstern
• Lanny
  Max Porter

Entertainment Weekly: The 10 Best Books of 2019, compiled by David Canfield and Leah Greenblatt

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Normal People
   Sally Rooney
2. The Nickel Boys
   Colson Whitehead
3. Say Nothing

   A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
   Patrick Radden Keefe
4. Fleishman Is in Trouble
   Taffy Brodesser-Akner
5. Bowlaway
   Elizabeth McCracken
6. Girl, Woman, Other
   Bernardine Evaristo
7. Disappearing Earth
   Julia Phillips
8. Nothing to See Here
   Kevin Wilson
9. The Yellow House
   Sarah M. Broom
10. The Need
    Helen Phillips

Michael Silverblatt: Best Books of 2019, as posted by KCRW, a list of favorites from the host of Bookworm

[see also 2021]

Three books by Eve Babitz

• Eve's Hollywood
  Eve Babitz
• Slow Days, Fast Company

  The World, The Flesh, and L.A.
  Eve Babitz
• I Used to Be Charming

  The Rest of Eve Babitz
  Eve Babitz

• American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
  Terrance Hayes
• Making Comics
  Lynda Barry
• Where Reasons End
  Yiyun Li
• A Sand Book
  Ariana Reines
• Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming
  László Krasznahorkai
• Dunce
  Mary Ruefle
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf
  Marlon James
• A Wonderful Stroke of Luck
  Ann Beattie

Two books by Dave Eggers

• The Parade
  Dave Eggers
• The Captain and the Glory
  Dave Eggers