My 2019: Lists of Note

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)

Find the past lists here: 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.