Best Books of 2019

My Best Books Of 2019

Literary 2019 was a few things to me: The first being more amazing books than ever before, especially the last half of the year where the hits kept coming. 

But the biggest thing was the discovery of this whole new world of like minded people my daughter nicknamed: ‘BERDS’, short for Book Nerds! On Instagram I found myself sliding down a rabbits hole of people obsessed with a love of books or inflicted with what author Nicholas A Brisbane once termed, “A gentle madness” in his book of the same name. So I can only say it’s such a joy to discover so many of you out there similarly afflicted. 🤣 You’ve inspired me, gave me tons of suggestions, and made me up my game. This is the closest I’ve felt to my time being a manager at Borders book store once so very long ago. My favorite part of the job was hand selling to customers and having them return to ask you to help them again, having loved what you had recommended. 

So here’s to an even better, bookish 2020! I can also be found on Goodreads where I show what I’m currently reading, and Instagram @ bret2028

My final  choices were the ones that lodged in my brain, my guts, my heart or all three well after I finished. And although I could have picked more based on my post yesterday, these were for me, the best of the best. In no particular order. 

⭐️The Light Years: Remember the Vegas section of the “Goldfinch” and how f’ed up that was? Cross that with Burroughs “Running With Scissors”, drop a tab of acid and play “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane and you’ll be ready to enter the world of Chris Rush. A harrowing, sometimes funny decent into psychedelic America where drugs is the religion and money salvation. Set well before the current opioid crisis affecting the country today, this is the turbulent late sixties and early seventies, and Rush is effectively abandoned by his parents and learns to fend for himself courting death at more than one turn. It’s an unforgettable memoir, and additionally my favorite cover of the year. 

⭐️Boy Swallows Universe: I’ll be the first to admit the end of this book takes off into territory that barely resembles what precedes it, but this coming of age story that is loosely based on Trent Dalton’s own childhood in Brisbane Australia was a fantastic ride. Thirteen year old Eli Bell and his mute older brother are being raised by his Mother and her long term boyfriend, both of whom work for a notorious drug kingpin. His babysitter is an aged ex con who regales young Eli with his escapees from prison while Eli just dreams of escaping his life. Fantastic story that takes its time to last out the track to ultimate deliver the goods. 

⭐️Fleishman is in Trouble: Probably one of the more polarizing books of the year, and as I said in my original review pick this for a couple’s book club and see what conversation comes out of it. Taffy Akner has written an eviscerating portrait of a marriage that is anything but consciously uncoupling. Uncomfortable but terribly funny with it’s insightfulness of long term relationships this for me was one of the best of the year.

⭐️Correspondants : Set in war torn Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a female Lebanese/American journalist is embedded in the heart of the action and paired with a local interpreter terrified his darkest secret will be exposed. Tim Murphy has followed his excellent ‘Christodora’with another ambitious yet terribly  intimate story. And one that deserves high praise and even higher readership. 

⭐️The Dutch House: Ann Patchett’s modern fairy tale of two siblings set adrift following the death of their father once agin proves what a master she is at developing characters to fall in love with. Maybe it’s age, but I love her themes of sibling bonds, facing your past and learning to let go. 

⭐️Girl Woman Other: Wow. Twelve woman, predominantly black, spanning a variety of ages all living in or around London and many interconnected makes for a terrific read exploring ideas of race, gender, class and sexual identity and expression.

⭐️The Chestnut Man: I still hate the title. I mean I get it, but still makes me think of Christmas. It’s no surprise @netflix is making this a limited series. IMHO it’s the best thriller of the year, and if that’s your jam, you should get it immediately and make it your first of 2020. A missing politicians tween daughter and a string of murders that begin a year after she goes missing. Here’s the rub: Missing daughters fingerprints are on all the bodies signature item: A chestnut man. Ahhhhh, so that’s why the title. 

⭐️Olive Again: Again Strout takes tiny stops into the lives of the townspeople of Crosby Maine and her most memorable, Olive as she approaches the end of her final chapter. There are certain  books strike that you because of where you are in your own life, and this one was certainly that for me, and frankly for anyone who has an aging loved one. 

⭐️Lady in the Lake: True confession, I loved this book but part of my utter enjoyment and why I kept coming back to it after I had finished is that I listened to it on audio and the reader, Susan Bennett was masterful. If you like audio books I highly highly recommend. The story. Baltimore late 1960s. Madeline Schwartz is recently divorced and trying to forge a path as a journalist for a local paper. But when the body of an African American woman is pulled from the lake Madeline begins to connect the dots. 

⭐️Catch and Kill: Ronan Farrow meticulously investigates and exposes one of the biggest titans of modern media, Harvey Weinstein and years of sexual abuse. But he also shows the lengths the media went to to quell what he was doing and brush it all under the table. By the time the book is done the net falls even wider including anchor Matt Lauer (which this section was truly some of the most disturbing) to the current occupant of the Oval Office. A fantastic book that reads like a thriller, but is all unfortunately true.

⭐️The inheritance: Bonus cause technically a play, but a truly exceptional piece of literature, Lopez updates Forster’s, “Howards End” but in modern Manhattan among a group of gay men in their thirties. Spanning nine years over the course of two parts, thirty years after the height of the AIDS epidemic, it’s a moving memory piece, and a heart rending relationship drama between friends and  lovers past and present. Currently playing on Broadway and primed to sweep all the awards come spring. But! Even if you don’t see it, it’s a fantastic relevant read.