Year-End Lists

Time Magazine: The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019

[see also The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 • The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2020 • The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 • The 10 Best Fiction Books of the 2010s • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the 2010s • The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2019 • Best Books of 2018 • Top 20 Books of 2017]

1. Say Nothing

   A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
   Patrick Radden Keefe
2. Know My Name
   Chanel Miller
3. The Yellow House
   Sarah M. Broom
4. Underland

   A Deep Time Journey
   Robert Macfarlane
5. In the Dream House
   Carmen Maria Machado
6. Furious Hours

   Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee
   Casey Cep
7. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

   Native America from 1890 to the Present
   David Treuer
8. The Collected Schizophrenias
   Esmé Weijun Wang
9. Midnight in Chernobyl

   The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
   Adam Higginbotham
10. This Land Is Our Land

    An Immigrant's Manifesto
    Suketu Mehta

Time Magazine: The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2019

[see also The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 • The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2020 • The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 • The 10 Best Fiction Books of the 2010s • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the 2010s • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019 • Best Books of 2018 • Top 20 Books of 2017]

1. The Nickel Boys
   Colson Whitehead
2. The Testaments
   Margaret Atwood
3. Lost Children Archive
   Valeria Luiselli
4. The Need
   Helen Phillips
5. Black Leopard, Red Wolf
   Marlon James
6. Trust Exercise
   Susan Choi
7. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
   Ocean Vuong
8. Where Reasons End
   Yiyun Li
9. The Topeka School
   Ben Lerner
10. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
    Olga Tokarczuk

The New York Times: The 10 Best Books of 2019

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 100 Notable Books of 2023 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 100 Notable Books of 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 100 Notable Books of 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2020 • 100 Notable Books of 2020 • 100 Notable Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2017 • 10 Best Books of 2017 • 10 Best Books of 2016 • 10 Best Books of 2015 • The 10 Best Books of 2014 • The 10 Best Books of 2013 • 100 Notable Books of 2012 • 10 Best Books of 2012 • 100 Notable Books of 2011 • Ten Best Books of 2011]

Fiction

• Disappearing Earth
  Julia Phillips
• The Topeka School
  Ben Lerner
• Exhalation
  Ted Chiang
• Lost Children Archive
  Valeria Luiselli
• Night Boat to Tangier
  Kevin Barry

Nonfiction

• Say Nothing

  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• The Club

  Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
  Leo Damrosch
• The Yellow House
  Sarah M. Broom
• No Visible Bruises

  What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
  Rachel Louise Snyder
• Midnight in Chernobyl

  The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
  Adam Higginbotham

The Washington Post: Best Books of 2019

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2021 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 10 Best Books of 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2020 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 10 Best Books of 2017 • The 10 Best Books of 2016 • 10 Best Books of 2015 • The Ten Best Books of 2014 • Top 10 Books of 2013 • The 10 Best Books of 2012]

• Black Leopard, Red Wolf
  Marlon James
• Falter

  Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
  Bill McKibben
• Girl, Woman, Other
  Bernardine Evaristo
• A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves

  One Family and Migration in the 21st Century
  Jason DeParle
• Know My Name
  Chanel Miller
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  Ocean Vuong
• Say Nothing

  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• Strangers and Cousins
  Leah Hager Cohen
• The Topeka School
  Ben Lerner
• The Yellow House
  Sarah M. Broom

National Book Award: Fiction 2019

[see also Fiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2023 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2019 • Fiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2018 • Fiction 2017 • Nonfiction 2017 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2013 • Nonfiction 2013]

Winner

• Trust Exercise
  Susan Choi

Finalists

• Sabrina & Corina
  Kali Fajardo-Anstine
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf
  Marlon James
• The Other Americans
  Laila Lalami
• Disappearing Earth
  Julia Phillips

Longlist

• Fleishman Is in Trouble
  Taffy Brodesser-Akner
• Black Light
  Kimberly King Parsons
• The Need
  Helen Phillips
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  Ocean Vuong
• The Nickel Boys
  Colson Whitehead

National Book Award: Nonfiction 2019

[see also Fiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2023 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2020 • Fiction 2019 • Fiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2018 • Fiction 2017 • Nonfiction 2017 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2013 • Nonfiction 2013]

Winner

• The Yellow House
  Sarah M. Broom

Finalists

• Thick

  And Other Essays
  Tressie McMillan Cottom
• What You Have Heard Is True

  A Memoir of Witness and Resistance
  Carolyn Forché
• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

  Native America from 1890 to the Present
  David Treuer
• Solitary

  Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement. My Story of Transformation and Hope
  Albert Woodfox

Longlist

• Go Ahead in the Rain

  Notes to A Tribe Called Quest
  Hanif Abdurraqib
• The End of the Myth

  From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America
  Greg Grandin
• Say Nothing

  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• Burn the Place

  A Memoir
  Iliana Regan
• Race for Profit

  How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership
  Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Library Journal: Best Literary Fiction of 2019

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2017 • 2016 • 2012 • 2011]

• Night Boat to Tangier
  Kevin Barry
• The Water Dancer
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Boy Swallows Universe
  Trent Dalton
• The Shadow King
  Maaza Mengiste
• Inland
  Téa Obreht
• Disappearing Earth
  Julia Phillips
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  Ocean Vuong
• The Nickel Boys
  Colson Whitehead
• Frankissstein

  A Love Story
  Jeanette Winterson
• Red at the Bone
  Jacqueline Woodson

Vogue: The Best Novels of 2019

[see also 2023 • 2020 • 2015]

• The End of Loneliness
  Benedict Wells
• Looker
  Laura Sims
• The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
  Anissa Gray
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf
  Marlon James
• Gingerbread
  Helen Oyeyemi
• Stay Up with Hugo Best
  Erin Somers
• Normal People
  Sally Rooney
• The Parisian
  Isabella Hammad
• Lost and Wanted
  Nell Freudenberger
• Red, White & Royal Blue
  Casey McQuiston
• Fleishman Is in Trouble
  Taffy Brodesser-Akner
• Girl, Woman, Other
  Bernardine Evaristo
• Ask Again, Yes
  Mary Beth Keane
• Bunny
  Mona Awad
• Supper Club
  Lara Williams
• The Dutch House
  Ann Patchett
• The Topeka School
  Ben Lerner
• All This Could Be Yours
  Jami Attenberg
• Olive, Again
  Elizabeth Strout
• Find Me
  André Aciman
• Agent Running in the Field
  John le Carré

O, The Oprah Magazine: The Best Books of 2019

[see also 2020 • 2018 • 2017]

1. The Water Dancer
   Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. Maggie Brown & Others
   Peter Orner
3. The Dutch House
   Ann Patchett
4. Dreyer's English

   An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
   Benjamin Dreyer
5. The Need
   Helen Phillips
6. Sontag

   Her Life and Work
   Benjamin Moser
7. Patsy
   Nicole Dennis-Benn
8. Doxology
   Nell Zink
9. Lost Children Archive
   Valeria Luiselli
10. Grand Union
    Zadie Smith
11. Normal People
    Sally Rooney
12. Red at the Bone
    Jacqueline Woodson
13. Rules for Visiting
    Jessica Francis Kane
14. Olive, Again
    Elizabeth Strout

She Reads: The Best Books of 2019

Literary Fiction

• The Most Fun We Ever Had
  Claire Lombardo
• Queenie
  Candice Carty-Williams
• The Testaments
  Margaret Atwood
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  Ocean Vuong
• Red at the Bone
  Jacqueline Woodson

Thrillers

• The Whisper Man
  Alex North
• The Chain
  Adrian McKinty
• The Lost Man
  Jane Harper
• The Silent Patient
  Alex Michaelides
• My Sister, the Serial Killer
  Oyinkan Braithwaite

Historical Fiction

• Daisy Jones & The Six
  Taylor Jenkins Reid
• The Huntress
  Kate Quinn
• Mrs. Everything
  Jennifer Weiner
• The Water Dancer
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Night Tiger
  Yangsze Choo
• The Nickel Boys
  Colson Whitehead

Fantasy

• Gods of Jade and Shadow
  Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January
  Alix E. Harrow
• The Red Scrolls of Magic
  Cassandra Clare
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf
  Marlon James

Romance

• The Bride Test
  Helen Hoang
• Love At First Like
  Hannah Orenstein
• The Wedding Party
  Jasmine Guillory
• The Girl He Used to Know
  Tracey Garvis Graves

Science Fiction

• Recursion
  Blake Crouch
• This Is How You Lose the Time War
  Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Horror

• The Institute
  Stephen King
• Full Throttle
  Joe Hill
• Imaginary Friend
  Stephen Chbosky

Nonfiction

• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

  A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
  Lori Gottlieb
• Three Women
  Lisa Taddeo
• Inheritance

  A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
  Dani Shapiro
• Maid

  Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive
  Stephanie Land
• More Than Enough

  Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)
  Elaine Welteroth
• Know My Name
  Chanel Miller