The Best Books of 2019

Set at the turn of the 20th Century, this novel focuses on a young girl, January Scaller, and her coming of age story. In her teens she happens upon a book that describes doors between worlds, and she knows that it’s based in truth because she’s discovered such a door earlier in her life. A quick excerpt to give you a sense of the writing:

“When I was seven, I found a door. I suspect I should capitalize that word, so you understand I’m not talking about your garden- or common-variety door that leads reliably to a white-tiled kitchen or bedroom closet. When I was seven, I found a Door. There -- look how tall and proud the word stands on the page now, the belly of that D like a black archway leading into white nothing.”

As all the things she thinks she knows about her life start to come into question, she embarks upon a quest to save herself when her world suddenly becomes unsafe, and to discover the truth of her identity. It's beautifully written, with characters you'll remember forever (how can't you love someone who names her dog "Sindbad" but just calls him "Bad" for short?) and a story that checked all the boxes for me. I loved every minute of it.

An immigrant family starts offering cutting-edge treatments in a hyperbaric chamber in the woods of Virginia. When a terrible accident leaves one patient dead and others badly injured, the reader is left guessing whether this was truly an accident or something more malicious. In this courtroom drama that will keep you guessing throughout, motives and possibilities abound, and Angie Kim is an expert puppeteer as she deftly makes you change your mind several times throughout the book on who may or may not have been at fault.

In the remote outback of Australia, a man is found dead on the family homestead, and his two brothers return home to try to determine what led to him being stranded under the hot Australian sun. Harper crafts a world in which every character you meet could have had a hand in the man’s death, and she keeps you constantly guessing and second guessing whodunit as more is gradually revealed. Harper’s debut novel The Dry was my favorite book of the year in 2017, and I think that The Lost Man may be even better than that.

This is perhaps the book I’m most wary to recommend this year; where I think anyone would enjoy most of the books on this list, Middlegame is a tougher putt. To borrow from the School Library Journal entry in the Amazon listing, it includes “genetic engineering, psychic links, alternate dimensions, and time loops.” If all of that sounds like something you'd never enjoy, skip it...but if that doesn't sound repulsive, this is a really well-crafted story that I enjoyed a lot. It's a little tough to get into...STICK WITH IT.

Technically this came out in 2018, but I didn’t read it until this year so it goes on this year’s list. The “Cemetery of Forgotten Books” series that Zafón started in 2005 with The Shadow of the Wind concludes with what, dare I say, is the finest of them all. While all four books (The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game, The Prisoner of Heaven, and The Labyrinth of Spirits) can be read as stand-alone novels, I think they’re best experienced as a set and read in order. I’d say more about the book, but those who have read Zafón's novels have probably already picked this one up. And if this is the first you’re hearing of these...well, go get The Shadow of the Wind today! You can thank me later.

I stumbled upon Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows a few years ago, and it was (to my surprise) my favorite book of 2015. She’s made a name for herself writing YA fantasy novels, and this is her first foray into something intended for older kids like me. The plot is centered around nine “secret societies” of Yale — groups that (in some cases) exist in real life, but that Bardugo imagines each practice different types of magic in this novel — and their potential involvement in a murder on campus. The protagonist, Alex Stern, tries to balance her responsibilities as a student, as a member of the “Ninth House” (Lethe) that is tasked with keeping the other houses in line, and her need to move on from a difficult past and start over in New Haven.

I haven’t read Whitehead’s well regarded debut The Underground Railroad yet, but I will likely tackle that in 2020 (NOTE: wishful thinking. It's 2026 and I still haven't read it!). The Nickel Boys is based on the true story of a Florida reform school that perpetuated atrocities against its students for decades. It’s a quick read -- under 300 pages -- and it will stick with you.

Written as an oral history, this tracks the lives of the fictitious Daisy Jones and the band The Six, and their eventual union to form the title group. The different band members and people connected to the band have unique voices, and the author uses the unique oral history format expertly to convey everything from tragedy to humor. It’s well done.

In a post-apocalyptic world, a young boy’s dog is stolen from him, and he embarks on a quest to retrieve his pup. It took me a bit to get into this book — the writing style is a little different and very direct. But as I grew more accustomed to that, I started to appreciate and enjoy it more and more. If you liked The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I think you’d see some similarities here. Plus, it has a pretty great twist at the end!

The simplest description of Magic For Liars is that it’s a detective novel set in a secret school for magic (hidden away in the hills south of San Jose). Throw in that the detective hired by the school to investigate the grisly death (and perhaps murder) is the estranged sister of one of the teachers at the school, and that the detective is “non-magical” while her sister can do magic, and suddenly you have something with a few additional layers of intrigue. This is a debut novel, and it certainly has some flaws. But I found it to be an enjoyable and satisfying yarn with a little heart thrown in.

This is more well-known now after the HBO Series (which I still have yet to watch), but it recounts the birth and eventual implosion of the Silicon Valley startup Theranos, which promised the ability to run dozens of tests from only a single drop of a patient’s blood. It’s a fascinating (and infuriating) account of a startup and the way that insecurity and immaturity can still trump genius and destroy a company.