Every year around this time I try to make sense of my year that was. The series kicked off with a collection of the Best* posts, followed by a series of lists that double as recommendations from this past year.
Six favorite novels I read this year:
- Beloved, Toni Morrison
- If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin
- My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
- The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
- The Witch Elm, Tana French
- The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K. Le Guin
Seven favorite non-fiction books I read this year:
- The Real All Americans, Sally Jenkins
- Winners Take All, Anand Giriharadas
- Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann
- In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson
- White Rage, Carol Anderson
- The Gunpowder Age, Tonio Holscher
- Dark Money, Jane Mayer
- Lenin, Victor Sebestyen
Books I’m looking forward to (maybe) reading in 2020:
- The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen
- The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner
- The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolaño
- A Darker Shade of Magic, V.E. Schwab
- Sugar Street, Naguib Mahfouz
TV shows I loved watching this year
- Elementary
- Watchmen
- Killing Eve (season 1)
- The Good Place
Movies that were totally worth the price of admission:
- Knives Out
Video games I enjoyed getting lost in:
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
While I mostly listen to singles, these albums dominated my listening:
- “Chime,” Dessa (2018)
- “Old Time Reverie,” Mipso (2015)
- “Dark Holler Pop,” Mipso (2013)
- “Me Oh My,” The Honeycutters (2015)
- “Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World,” Johnny Clegg and Savuka (1989)
5 thoughts on “My 2019: Lists of Note”