I put this Goodreads list at the very top of this entry because it’s “the only major book awards decided by readers.” Check out the winners in a whole bunch of categories.
And here’s the list made up from other lists. Literary Hub editor Emily Temple collected every “best books of the year” lists she could find, “tallied up their recommendations, and figured out which books were most often included.”
From The New York Times: “The editors of The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year.”
This is the portal for entering Library Journal’s lists of best books in the following categories:
- crime fiction
- horror
- literary fiction
- pop fiction
- romance
- science fiction/fantasy
- short stories
- world literature
- arts
- biography & memoir
- cooking & food
- poetry
- religion & spirituality
- science & technology
- social sciences
- wellness
- graphic novels
The year’s best audiobooks in all the major categories.
From The Guardian comes this list: “the winners and runners-up of this year’s most coveted literary awards pick their three favourite titles of 2019.”
From Katy Waldman, staff writer at The New Yorker
Book Riot’s choices from all the genres
The staff of Bookish list the best books they read in 2019.
The portal for entry into NPR’s book recommendations from 2019 all the way back through 2013.
From GQ
“According to Slate’s books editor.” At the bottom of this list is a link to “the best books of 2019 according to Slate’s book critic.”
From Molly Young, Vulture literary critic
“Highlights From a Year in Reading by the Literary Hub Staff”
From The New Yorker
A list of “gorgeous graphic memoirs, epic fantasy tales, twisty thrillers, swoony romances, exceptional essay collections, and more!”
An exhortation from Good Housekeeping: “Crack open one of these best-sellers to find out what everyone’s talking about.”
A list from BookPage
From Thrillist. There are 39 books on this list, a lot of which are translations from writers outside of the U.S.
Recommendations from Barbara Kiser, Books & Arts Editor at Nature. This page also includes, along the right side, links to many other “best books” in science-related areas.
Australian Book Review has compiled this list from suggestions by their critics and writers.
Amazon’s audiobook giant Audible offers a top-ten list, plus additional lists in a whole bunch of categories such as fiction, memoir, mysteries & thrillers, true crime, young adult, and kids’ audiobooks.
From Book Riot
From The New Yorker
From the folks at CrimeReads, who explain they are “starting here with our choices for best novels from the big “crime” umbrella of crime, mystery, and thrillers. We’ll be back soon with our selections for the best new International Crime Fiction, True Crime, Noir, Psychological Thrillers, Espionage Fiction, and more.”
Those short quotations you often find at the front of books are called epigraphs. Here Ashley Holstrom lists her favorites for the year. “Sometimes the epigraphs are related to content or tone, or just something pretty the writer wants to share along with their work.”
From the Chicago Tribune. Not exactly a “best of” list, but interesting nevertheless.
Compiled by the staff and contributors of Electric Literature
“Staff and contributors recommend memoirs, essays, and reported work”
From the Los Angeles Times
A list of both fiction and nonfiction, from Cal Flyn, deputy editor at Five Books
From Literary Hub
“The Author of The Angel of History Alternative to theEndless ‘Best of’ Lists”
Best Books of the Decade
From Literary Hub: “Our Favorite Writers Recommend Some Underappreciated Gems.”
From fiction writer and editor Leah Schnelbach, for Literary Hub
Analysis by BookBub of 17 thrillers
“In this list, we’re showcasing two of the best books from each year — all titles that book clubs loved.” From BookBub
From Entertainment Weekly. At the bottom you’ll find links to the top 10 fiction books of the decade, the best fantasy of the decade, and the best book series of the decade.
From Emily Temple of Literary Hub: “we didn’t base our decisions on fidelity to, or creativity of departure from, the original text. We just wanted to pick the best television experiences.”
Also from Literary Hub
From the BBC: “Erica Wagner picks the most important book trends of the past decade.”
A list by For Reading Addicts
From Laura Miller at Slate
From Emily Temple for Literary Hub: “This is a list of books that, whether bad or good, were in one way or another defining for the last decade in American culture.”
A list by For Reading Addicts
BookBub’s list
“And You Thought Best of the Year Lists Were Intense?”
Emily Temple of Literary Hub: “I proposed a staff poll, of sorts: I asked each of my colleagues in the Literary Hub office to make a list of the ten books from the last ten years that they thought we’d still be reading—for good or ill—ten years from now, circa 2030.”
© 2019 by Mary Daniels Brown
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