Weekend Writing: Best Books of 2019

It's hard to believe we're wrapping up another year. 2019 is practically over and we'll soon be starting a whole new decade. Like many others, 2019 was an exciting year--one that I will recount soon in another post. But in terms of reading and the literary world, 2019 was an exciting year where writers reflected on cultural conversations, politics, feminism, peace, art, and more.

2019 was a good year for books, so I present to you my list of the best books of the year. If you haven't read these books yet, definitely add them to your "to be read" list.

1. "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" - Ocean Vuong 

Ocean Vuong's "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" (photo/Philadelphia Inquirer).

Ocean Vuong is a gifted poet, but in 2019, he emerged as an equally gifted novelist. His first foray into fiction, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, grasped readers' hearts with its brilliant, heartbreaking, tender, and original story written as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother. The speaker, Little Dog, unearths a family history that serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known.

Vuong's breathtaking novel is a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. He asks questions central to our American movement, but it's also undergirded by compassion and tenderness. Vuong was willing to solve the equation of his own existence, and readers can try to answer the questions about their own lives. His debut novel is raw and showcases a story that deserves to be told.

2. "Olive, Again" - Elizabeth Strout 

Elizabeth Strout's "Olive, Again" (photo/Left Bank Books).

2019 was a year of many anticipated novels, but Elizabeth Strout's Olive, Again was simply one of the best of the bunch. A sequel to her 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Olive Kitteridge, Strout uses the same interrelated short story framework seen in its predecessor. She revisits the fictional town of Crosby, Maine, reuniting with its inhabitants some years after the events of the first novel.

We meet a retired school teacher, Olive Kitteridge. She's grappling with the complexes of the other residents around her, whether it's a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during the most inopportune time, a nurse who confesses to having a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she doesn't want to accept. Olive continues to startle and move readers--leaving us inspired by the secrets she uncovers. Strout writes with such humor and grace that you don't realize you're crying until the book is over.

3. "Women Talking" - Miriam Toews 

Miriam Toews' "Women Talking" (photo/Philadelphia Inquirer).

Miriam Toews outdid herself with her latest hit novel, Women Talking. She managed to write a book that feels both timely and timeless at the same time. Based on a real-life crime, women in a remote Bolivian Mennonite colony discuss what they can do about discovering they have all been repeatedly drugged and raped over the course of several months by men in their own community.

The women are only fluent in Low German and they're unable to read or write, so they must rely on August Epp, a shunned former member of the colony, to record the minutes of their secret meetings. Through her, they "talk" about their options. Should they stay and live with the men who hurt them? Or should they take their children and flee? Exploring various philosophical and ethical questions, Toews highlights the way women are oppressed, punished, and beg for forgiveness in a culture very different from our own. However, all readers can find a way to relate to this timeless tale.

4. "The Topeka School" - Ben Lerner 

Ben Lerner's "The Topeka School" (photo/Portland Mercury).

Ben Lerner's novel, The Topeka School, is a gripping portrayal of masculinity and whiteness in the United States, based on the author's life growing up as a child of psychiatrists in Topeka, Kansas. The novel focuses on Adam, a high school debate team champion. It's his last year of school and he's finally waking up to the world around him.

Adam's parents are therapists at a local psychiatric institution, called The Foundation. Readers understand each person at the institution. The novel is colored by the rhetoric of psychoanalysis, as well as the failures of each mental patient. Lerner's brave novel deals with themes of abuse, betrayal, and prejudice, and it's impossible to put down.

5. "In the Dream House: A Memoir" - Carmen Maria Machado 

Carmen Maria Machado's "In the Dream House" (photo/Philadelphia Magazine).

You assume most abusive relationships are between men and women. Carmen Maria Machado's memoir, In the Dream House, presents a different idea: the abusive relationship between two women. The memoir is a thought-provoking, stunning novel that serves as an act of personal and formal bravery. It explores the vulnerability involved in an abusive relationship.

Writing in short chapters that sometimes ramble on many subjects, Machado stops to address theories while weaving a captivating tale of a romance gone sour. She uncovers the deep scars that emotional and verbal abuse can leave. You won't forget her memoir. I promise.

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Of course, there were many other novels from the past year worth celebrating on my blog. Because I can't properly feature them, below is a brief list of some more books I recommend reading from this year:

• Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
• The Yellow House: A Memoir by Sarah M. Broom 
• In West Mills by De'Shawn Charles Winslow 
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett 
• Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi 
• Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett 
• Big Sky by Kate Atkinson 
• Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips 
• Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner 
• Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane 
• The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates 
• The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang 
• Trust Exercise by Susan Choi 
• Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli 
• City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert 
• Know My Name by Chanel Miller 
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo 

As you can see, there have been many captivating, exciting books published this year. Each book is thrilling, thought-provoking, and aware of today's evolving culture. I can't wait to see what books will be published in 2020. If they're anything like what we saw this year, it will be another exhilarating year in the literary community. As always, I will happily share the most exciting books of the year along the way.  

Read on! 

-KJL-