Year-End Lists

Chicago Public Library: Top Ten Books of 2019

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014]

• An American Summer

  Love and Death in Chicago
  Alex Kotlowitz
• The Dutch House
  Ann Patchett
• The Nickel Boys
  Colson Whitehead
• Normal People
  Sally Rooney
• Olive, Again
  Elizabeth Strout
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
  Ocean Vuong
• Say Nothing

  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• The Starless Sea
  Erin Morgenstern
• The Water Dancer
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Yellow House
  Sarah M. Broom

Ben Travers: The Best TV Shows of 2019, as published by IndieWire

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020]

1. Fleabag
2. Watchmen
3. Better Things
4. Tuca & Bertie
5. Succession
6. Russian Doll
7. Glow
8. Barry
9. PEN15
10. Superstore

Honorable Mentions

• Veep
• BoJack Horseman
• Chernobyl
• Unbelievable
• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
• You’re the Worst
• Broad City
• Catastrophe
• David Makes Man
• Mindhunter

J Hoberman: 10 Best Films of 2019, as published by Artforum

[see also 2021 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. State Funeral
   Sergei Loznitsa
2. Martin Eden
   Pietro Marcello
3. Synonyms
   Nadav Lapid
4. The Sky Socialist: Environs and Out-Takes
   Ken Jacobs
5. Jordan Belson exhibit at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
6. 48 War Movies
   Christian Marclay
7. ten documentary shorts
   Vittorio De Seta
8. Charlie Says
   Mary Harron
9. Climax
   Gaspar Noé
10. Olivia
    Jacqueline Audry

Melissa Anderson: 10 Best Films of 2019, as published by Artforum. Several entries "are new restorations of older films I saw for the first time in 2019...."

[see also 2018 • 2016 • 2015 • 2012]

1. La Flor
   Mariano Llinás
2. A Bigger Splash
   Jack Hazan
3. Atlantics
   Mati Diop
4. Amazing Grace
   Sydney Pollack
5. Pain and Glory
   Pedro Almodóvar
6. Queen of Diamonds
   Nina Menkes
7. Martin Eden
   Pietro Marcello
8. Gay USA
   Arthur J. Bressan Jr.
9. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
   Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
10. Ad Astra
    James Gray
10. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
    Quentin Tarantino

James Quandt: 10 Best Films of 2019, as published by Artforum

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. Luc Tuymans exhibit at Palazzo Grassi, Venice
1. The White Album
   Arthur Jafa
2. Vitalina Varela
   Pedro Costa
3. Beanpole
   Kantemir Balagov
4. State Funeral
   Sergei Loznitsa
5. Collective
   Alexander Nanau
6. Bacurau
   Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
7. Heimat is a Space in Time
   Thomas Heise
8. Invisible Life
   Karim Aïnouz
9. Fire Will Come
   Oliver Laxe
10. Nana
    Jean Renoir

Amy Taubin: 10 Best Films of 2019, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. Honeyland
   Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov
2. The Sky Socialist: Environs and Out-Takes
   Ken Jacobs
3. Parasite
   Bong Joon-ho
4. The White Album
   Arthur Jafa
5. Give Me Liberty
   Kirill Mikhanovsky
6. Us
   Jordan Peele
7. To the Ends of the Earth
   Kiyoshi Kurosawa
8. High Flying Bird
   Steven Soderbergh
9. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
   Céline Sciamma
10. Beanpole
    Kantemir Balagov
10. Martin Eden
    Pietro Marcello
10. The Vast of Night
    Andrew Patterson

John Waters: 10 Best Films of 2019, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Climax
   Gaspar Noé
2. Joan of Arc
   Bruno Dumont
3. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
   Quentin Tarantino
4. Border
   Ali Abbasi
5. Amazing Grace
   Sydney Pollack
6. Hail Satan?
   Penny Lane
7. Pain and Glory
   Pedro Almodóvar
8. The Golden Glove
   Fatih Akin
9. The Souvenir
   Joanna Hogg
10. Joker
    Todd Phillips

Time Magazine: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2019

[see also 2018]

1. 1619
2. You're Wrong About...
3. Blank Check
4. The Last Days of August
5. Moonface
6. Decoder Ring
7. Scattered
8. Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
9. Mobituaries with Mo Rocca
10. Spectacular Failures

The Skinny: Top 10 TV Series of 2019

1. Chernobyl
2. BoJack Horseman
3. Russian Doll
4. Fleabag
5. Derry Girls
6. This Time with Alan Partridge
7. Succession
8. The End of the F***ing World
9. Tuca & Bertie
10. Unbelievable

Time Magazine: The 10 Best Albums of 2019

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2015]

1. Magdalene
   FKA twigs
2. When I Get Home
   Solange
3. U.F.O.F.
   Big Thief
4. Norman Fucking Rockwell!
   Lana Del Rey
5. Hiding Places
   Billy Woods & Kenny Segal
6. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
   Billie Eilish
7. i,i
   Bon Iver
8. Cheap Queen
   King Princess
9. Turn to Clear View
   Joe Armon-Jones
10. Assume Form
    James Blake