The Best Books I Read in 2019

2019 was the year I really got back into reading. It was the first year I set myself a target of how many books I wanted to read, and the year that I made a conscious effort to read when commuting and before bed, rather than mindlessly scrolling on my phone. It was the year I spent a lot of money on books, but realised that books were one thing I wanted to spend money on. It was the year that I read many, many amazing stories that I will read again and again over the years.

I set myself a target of reading 75 books this year and I’m currently almost finished book number 72. I’ve been reading an average of six-and-a-half books each month - an average that I’m going to try to exceed next year. My dream is to continue to fill our little spare room with books, growing my collection by adding more shelves each year.

It’s somewhat overwhelming to share my favourite books when I’ve read so many this year. Next year, I’m planning on sharing my book recommendations more often but this year you’re going to get a REALLY long blog post with all of the books I’ve loved this year. Here you go.

A LITTLE LIFE BY HANYA YANAGIHARA

This was one of my first reads of the year and is now cemented as one of the best books I have ever read. The sheer scale and ambition of this book is impressive enough on its own, before you even begin to consider the subject matter and the writing. It’s a difficult read, mainly due to its heartbreaking subject matter; there were several times I had to pause and put the book down because I literally couldn’t see the type through the tears flooding down my face. I haven’t read anything else that fleshes out its characters as well as A Little Life. Jude, Wilem, Malcolm and JB all felt like real people that I genuinely cared about. At it’s heart, this is a book about friendship and how friends can help you to cope with unimaginable trauma.

SEALED BY NAOMI BOOTH

Sealed is supposed to offer a dystopian view of the near-future, but it may be closer than we think. The backdrop to this book is an Australia engulfed with terrifying uncontrollable forest fires - sound familiar? The immediate threat in the novel however is from our own bodies. A skin-sealing epidemic is sweeping the nation, causing orifices to seal over and nobody knows how to stop it. A heavily pregnant Alice and her husband move out to the bush in an attempt to escape the pollutants of the city but she finds that she can’t outrun the things that give her nightmares. Beautifully written and genuinely horrifying, this is a book I’ve been recommending to friends all year. A word of warning - perhaps not one to read if you’re pregnant.

THE DREAMERS BY KAREN THOMPSON WALKER

I loved the concept of The Dreamers - a sleeping virus has taken over a tranquil California town, and an anthology of characters attempt to survive and stay awake. If you haven’t already guessed, I enjoy clever, unusual dystopian novels. I love how Karen Thompson Walker writes, setting a slow tone with lyrical language rather than a fast-paced thriller. One of my favourite parts of the book was the talk of dreams, time and consciousness. When you turn the last page, you’ll sit there for a while puzzling over your own thoughts.

THE SUMMER BOOK BY TOVE JANSSON

Tove Jansson is perhaps best known for her children’s books depicting the adventures of The Moomins. The Summer Book had been on my radar for some time, and I finally read this beautiful book at the beginning of spring. The book is a simple tale of a grandmother and her granddaughter living alone on an isolated Finnish island, somewhat autobiographical with the main characters based on Tove’s mother and niece. The writing is very simple and beautifully descriptive, transporting you to the island in your mind. There’s something almost magical about it, especially the descriptions of nature and the heartwarming relationship between the young girl and her grandmother.

DAISY JONES & THE SIX BY TAYLOR JENKINS REID

Daisy Jones is one of the most fun books I read this year. It’s a rollicking read depicting the relationships between a fake Californian band in the 1960’s. I was worried about the format of the book when I first picked it up (the story is told in interview form) but after a few pages I was completely into it. I devoured this book, imagining that I was reading about a real band and crossing my fingers that someone adapts it into a film or TV series so I can hear the songs for real. If you’re looking for an enthralling light read, pick this up immediately.

CAUCASIA BY DANZY SENNA

Caucasia is a real eye-opener about racism in America in the 1970’s that I devoured in just a couple of days. The main character in the novel is Birdie, a girl growing up in Boston with a white mother, a black father (who are both part of the Civil Rights movement) and a devoted sister who looks like their father. Birdie doesn’t really look like either of her parents and is often mistaken for being Sicilian or Puerto Rican. One day, her father takes her sister away and Birdie goes on the run with her mother, separating her from her sister, the most important person in her life. The rest of the novel is as much a coming-of-age story as it is Birdie’s quest to be reunited with her sister. After mainly reading new releases all year, it was refreshing to pick up a book from a couple of decades ago that read like a modern classic.

THE PISCES BY MELISSA BRODER

The Pisces was a delight to read! It’s unabashedly filthy, vividly depicting sex scenes between a floundering woman and her merman lover. Yep, merman! The clash of fantasy and reality is brilliantly done - for it’s most part, this is a book about a young woman trying to find her way in the world, her sexual encounters and the mistakes she makes. She just happens to meet a merman on a Los Angeles beach who she begins a romantic relationship with. If you’re a bit of a prude, don’t pick this up, but otherwise - enjoy!

LONG LIVE THE TRIBE OF FATHERLESS GIRLS BY T KIRA MADDEN

I read several memoirs this year, and Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls was one of my favourites. T K Madden is a literary essayist, and the book reads more like a series of essays than a traditional story. As a child, Madden lead a privileged life with horses, designer labels and private education - but the dark underbelly to her world was her parents drug addictions. Her memoir discusses the loss of her father, teenage rebellion and the important friendships in her life. Her prose is lyrical and exquisite as she beautifully tells her story.

THE WYCH ELM BY TANA FRENCH

I love a good literary thriller, especially one that keeps me guessing until the very last page.The Wych Elm is a mystery tangled in complex family relationships, centered around a house that becomes a character in itself. The protagonist, Toby, suffers serious injuries in a seemingly unprovoked attack, leading him to move into his family home where he spent many summers as a child. Shortly after his arrival, a skull is discovered in the garden, causing Toby to question everything he thought he knew about his family and his childhood. A riveting read that kept me up at night wanting to get to the bottom of the mystery.

SALTWATER BY JESSICA ANDREWS

I need to stop describing books as having ‘lyrical prose’, but honestly I think I’m just attracted to books like this. I adored Saltwater, especially the parts that gave me flashbacks to my own childhood growing up in Britain in the nineties. The story flits between Lucy’s teenage years growing up in a working-class family in Sunderland, her time at university in London where nothing is as she expected, and her retreat to her grandfather’s cottage in rural Ireland. I found that I really related to the book, perhaps because I grew up at the same time as the character and have had a similar journey from small town to city to rural living.

JULIET THE MANIAC BY JULIET ESCORIA

I spent most of my spare time when reading this book googling if it was a memoir or fiction - I really wasn’t sure what I was reading. Following a little research, it seems to be mainly fiction, but the attention to detail and the name of the protagonist make me think there are bits of reality entwined in the fiction. At age 14, Juliet finds herself unraveling, spiraling down a rabbit hole of mental illness; the book details her innermost thoughts as she goes addiction, suicide attempts, treatment and rehabilitating. A riveting read that really puts perspective on mental illness.

PEACH BY EMMA GLASS

Peach is a tricky book to write about. It’s an amazing short read but the themes are hard to stomach for most people - rape, violence and even cannibalism feature heavily. The story is told in first-person with unusual choices of language and puzzling metaphors in abundance. At times, you’re not quite sure what is happening or who is who. I loved the ambiguity of the book and adored Emma Glass’s unusual prose.

BUNNY BY MONA AWAD

Bunny was one of my favourite reads of the year - but I cant say too much without ruined the utterly bonkers twists and turns of this fabulous novel. I have a real thing for books set on American college campuses or English boarding schools; I’m not sure why but they just make intriguing settings for stories. Bunny is one of the strangest books I’ve ever read, set on a wonderfully described college campus with a tantalising private study group at its core. So far, so Secret History. But there are other elements at play here: Heathers, Mean Girls and bizarre elements of dark fairy tales all come into play. You’ll never guess the twists - or the ending.

SALT SLOW BY JULIA ARMFIELD

I’ve picked up several volumes of short stories in 2019, and Salt Slow was undoubtedly my favourite of them all. Mythic and gothic fantastical elements fuse with everyday people and everyday happenings to create a series of stories that all focus around women and bodies. Armfield’s choice of words, unusual descriptions and zany dark sense of humour all combine to create a memorable anthology that can be enjoyed in short chunks or devoured in one read.

SUPPER CLUB BY LARA WILLIAMS

I know Lara in real life and adored her short story collection, Treats so was very excited to read her debut novel. Supper Club is another of my absolute favourite reads of the year, Lara’s voice feeling so refreshing in a sea of similar-themed stories. In the book, the main character, Roberta, starts a supper club that focuses on indulgence and pleasure that overtakes her life and all of her relationships. I absolutely adore how Lara writes, making mundane everyday occurrences (such as queuing up at Starbucks) seem riveting. If you like food writing, there are delectable interjections discussing cooking and baking that will tantalise your taste-buds.

EXPECTATION BY ANNA HOPE

Expectation is an easy-to-read tale of female friendships with the majority of the story taking place in London. The book focuses of three inseparable friends, Hannah, Lisa and Cate as they live their best lives in East London, dissecting their relationships with their mothers as well as with each other. Flash forward ten years, and all three women are unsatisfied for different reasons: their jobs, their romantic relationships, their new (or lack of) babies. Upon finishing the novel, you’ll be left with questions about who you are and who you want to be.

THREE WOMEN BY LISA TADDEO

Three Women has been hailed as the best book of the year by many, and while there are other books that beat it to that title for me, it still ranks pretty highly. It’s a non fiction book like no other - Taddeo spent eight years living alongside and researching the lives of Maggie, Sloane and Lina, capturing the details of their lives in this book. I’ve read several reviews that mention that it’s a shame that all three women’s lives are so determined by men, which I have to agree with but I really liked how the book focused on desire and how we make right or wrong choices by listening to our hearts, without stopping to consider the consequences.

THE TRUANTS BY KATE WEINBERG

The Truants was another of my absolute favourite reads of the year and another book that drew parallels with The Secret History. Honestly, every time a novel is compared to Donna Tartt, it makes me want to pick it up. Set on an English university campus, literature student Jess Walker becomes sucked into a web of mystery and lies surrounding an elite quartet and their intriguing professor. The ensuing story takes in love, lies, mystery and death in a sweeping tale that completely sucks you in.

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE BY SHIRLEY JACKSON

I hadn’t previously read any Shirley Jackson but after countless recommendations, I finally picked up We Have Always Lived in the Castle this year and am so glad I did. This is a truly wonderful classic novel with a sense of dread that lingers throughout. There’s a mystery at the heart of the story (what happened to the sister’s parents and why is Merricat, the protagonist, so odd) but the beauty of the novel is as much in the prose as in the story itself. I’m going to be cliched and agree with other reviewers that it’s opening paragraph is one of the most engaging I’ve ever read.

THE RED WORD BY SARAH HENSTRA

Yet another novel set on a college campus. Sorry, I just lap them up! The Red Word was recommended to me by Lara Williams (author of Supper Club) and I absolutely loved it. Focusing on gender politics and rape culture on college campuses, this isn’t an easy read at times but it’s a brilliant one. Student Karen moves into a house share with three feminists who plot to take down a frat that is notorious for exploiting and raping women at its parties. Karen is sucked into the middle of the resulting war with devastating consequences.

ASK AGAIN YES BY MARY BETH KEANE

Fans of Celeste Ng will love this tale of two families living next door to each other in suburban America. The story begins with two couples moving out to the sticks and the relationship between them. One couple have a son, Peter and the other have three girls - the youngest, Kate becomes integral to the story. A devastating incident thrusts Peter and Kate’s blossoming relationship apart and the resulting conflict dictates the rest of their lives.

WATER SHALL REFUSE THEM BY LUCIE MCKNIGHT HARDY

This breathtakingly beautiful book tempted me with its description as a folk-horror set in rural Wales - it had all the makings of the films that I love. It turns out this genre also appeals to me in fiction, as I adored this book. Set in the 1970’s in the midst of a stifling hot heatwave, Nif and her family move to a crumbling cottage in the middle of nowhere for the summer. Here, she meets a local boy and they share their secret rituals with each other. I loved the creepiness of the setting and the descriptions of being an outsider in a strange community, mixed in with an unsettling feeling that something dark was to be revealed.

THE DUTCH HOUSE BY ANN PATCHETT

This wonderful novel focuses as much on the strength of the brother-sister relationship between main characters Danny and Maeve as it does on the wonderfully described house that they grew up in. The Dutch House is a family saga that spans the length of the sibling’s lives, beginning with their late childhood when their stepmother casts them out of their beloved home. I was completely hooked on this book, staying up late to finish chapters to find out what happened next, always willing the siblings to return to their ancestral home.

NINTH HOUSE BY LEIGH BARDUGO

Ninth House is definitely in my top five books of 2019. I was completely engrossed in this novel and am delighted to hear that a sequel and a TV show are both in the works! I haven’t been this excited about a fictional heroine in a fantasy world since I first watched Buffy! It’s the perfect blend of reality and believable characters with fantasy elements. The basic premise of the story is that the protagonist, Alex Stern has a scholarship to Yale in return for monitoring the magical activities of the college’s secret societies - I won’t say more in fear of revealing spoilers.

THE STARLESS SEA BY ERIN MORGENSTERN

I absolutely adore The Night Circus so had high expectations for Erin Morgenstern’s new book. Fortunately, The Starless Sea was just as magical and enthralling as its predecessor. This is a story about stories, interjected by stories, serving as a love-letter to stories. Basically, if you love to read and have been enchanted by books from a young age, you will love this. The main story here is Zachary’s, but there are other stories interwoven with his and you never know what you are going to read in the next chapter. I particularly loved all the talk and reference to ‘real’ books (extra points for referencing my favourite book of all time, The Secret History) and the beautifully detailed descriptions that really transport you into the story.

IN THE DREAM HOUSE BY CARMEN MARIA MACHADO

I’ve never read anything quite like this beautifully written account of an emotionally abusive relationship. Carmen Maria Machado has such a unique voice and I loved how she structured the book. There’s lots of discussion of the complexity and preconceptions of queer relationships throughout the book, that is essential reading. It’s the kind of book I want to go back over with a highlighter then pass onto my friends.

SUCH A FUN AGE BY KILEY REID

I was kindly gifted a copy of this book by Bloomsbury but it will be released at the beginning of January so not long to wait! I raced through this in just a couple of days, completely sucked in by the jumping perspective of the two women at the heart of the novel, Emira and Alix. The story begins when Emira, an African-American 25-year-old on the verge of being kicked off her parent’s health insurance is accused of kidnapping the white child she is babysitting, unleashing a white-saviour complex in Alix, a privileged white blogger who feels that it is her duty to protect Emira. An enlightened look at modern-day racism in everyday society that had me hooked.