What I'm Reading: Becky's Best Books I Read in 2019

For the third year now, I am doing my best books that I read in this year in a category list rather than in raked order, Why? Because why I loved these particular books matters more to me than the order in which I would place them. How I interacted with them, how they affected me, how they stayed with me is what is important here because that is why they are my personal "Best."

Some of the categories are the same from year to year, others change. This is because the books I read create their own experiences and categories to me personally and I want to capture that experience each year along with the titles. I am not a robot, I am a human reader, even if reading and suggesting titles is my job. In order to remind myself [and all of you] of the joy in what we are paid to do, I am trying to create a year end best list that captures, celebrates, and acknowledges that.

Also, by this time, lots of people have already weighed in with critically acclaimed "best" lists for weeks now, so why do you need more of that from me?  I played my part in that side of the "best" debate with my Best Horror of 2019 list as part of #LibFaves19. That is a place where my opinion on what is the BEST matter from that expert perch.

What I bring here on the general blog that is most helpful to all of you out there in the trenches, is a list that reflects my best experiences as a reader. This is a list that is personal to me, my tastes, and my weird quirks. You can use it to help other readers, yes, but because it is so specific to me, it is actually better used by you as a conversation starter.

For example, you can ask people "What is the most fun you had reading a book this year?" or "What title was the biggest surprise to you?" Those are questions readers can answer much more quickly and easily than "What was your favorite book?" These are also questions that encourage longer conversations.

The categories I have listed here provide great conversation starters to offer to your patrons. You can even use my answers to keep the conversation going by saying, "I was thinking about this question because Becky said [fill in the title] as her answer."

The point of my "Best" list is to both offer books that I loved this year, while also presenting an example of a regular reader view of a "best" list.

Below you will find my list of the best books I experienced in 2019 [regardless of publication year] in 14 categories created by me. It is arbitrary but so what? It's my list of what mattered to me the most this year. Each title links to a longer review which will explain why it is the "best" book for that category, and will include my "Three Words."

After today, I am off on vacation until 1/6/20. Have a safe and happy New Year.

Becky's Best Books I read in 2019

Most Fun I Had Reading a Book This Year: Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

Books from 2018 Best Lists That I read in 2019: Severance by Ling Ma [Fiction]; The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte [Nonfiction] 

Best Book I read in 2018 That Actually Came Out in 2019: The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

Best Surprise: Sabbath by Nick Mamatas

Best Backlist Gem: The Blizzard by Vladimir Sorokin

Best Audio: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Best Graphic Novel: Good Talk by Mira Jacob

Best Horror: Growing Things by Paul Tremblay and here is the link to my 2019 Top 10 Horror for Libraries

Best Historical: The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames [also the Best Debut I read all year]

Best Speculative: [Tie] The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa and We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin [I can't shake either title; I just keep thinking about them and suggesting them, still]

Best Nonfiction: Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara

Best Story Collection: Orange World by Karen Russell

Best Book That Stayed with Me All Year But Didn't Fit Anywhere Else: Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Best Title That Snuck in Just Under the Wire: In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado