Ep 46: Book Club 2019 (Best, Worst, and Buzziest Books of the Year)
/It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Allllll the Best Of book lists are rolling out and of course I have to throw my two cents in.
This episode is a conversation with two friends from my real life book club, Yasmin Dunn and Stephanie Newman-Smith. We are discussing the best, worst, and buzziest books of the year and we have a LOT of words.
In the first hour of the show, we discuss how (or if) our reading habits have changed, a few of the hottest books of the year, and popular books that missed the mark for us.
In the second hour of the show, we each list a handful of books that are among our favorite of the year. We tried to highlight books that aren’t already being talked to death.
Click HERE to see all these books in one place.
Reminder: this is NOT my final favorite books for all 2019. I will make a separate blog post with my Top 10 books for both fiction and nonfiction, and I’ll put those up in the last days of the year. Make sure you’re following the show on social media if you don’t want to miss those lists.
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Mentioned in this episode:
Smartest Person in the Room (My former podcast. There aren’t show notes for our Best Books of 2018 episode last year, but just search for the show in your favorite podcast app and it will be the last episode listed.)
Last Years Favorite Books:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Educated by Tara Westover
Best Books (NonFiction) of 2018
Reading Habits:
Writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner
This Tom Hanks Story Will Help You Feel Less Bad
The Dublin Murders (a combination of two Tana French books: In The Woods and The Likeness)
The Witch Elm by Tana French
Books I’m Re-Reading in my 40th Year:
Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself by Judy Blume (as discussed in this podcast episode)
IT by Stephen King
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The World According to Garp by John Irving
A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsyth Hailey
Buzziest Books of the Year:
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
(Also Stephanie raved about Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and also mentioned Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy and Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett)
Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
(I mention the book Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff)
Here is the episode where I further discuss Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
#MeToo Movement Books:
She Said by Megan Twohey and Jody Kantor
Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Rebecca Traister piece about The Toll of #MeToo
Misses:
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Agent Running in the Field by John Le Carre
Yasmin’s Best Books of the Year:
Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom
How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
Stephanie’s Best Books of the Year:
The Need by Helen Philips
(I do a deep dive on The Need in Episode 31 with Alyssa Hertzig, with spoilers AFTER the end credits)
Famous Men Who Never Lived by K Chess
Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson
A Perfect Spy by John Le Carre
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Laura’s Best Books of the Year:
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Books We Want To Get To By The End Of The Year:
The Afterlives by Thomas Pierce
No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder
The Institute by Stephen King
That is a LOT of book talk! Stay tuned for my final list of favorite books coming in the last days of the year!
Happy reading.
