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Goodreads Staffers' Top Three Books of the Year
Every December, as we wrap up our annual Goodreads Reading Challenge, we ask our well-read colleagues a simple yet incredibly tough question:
What were your three favorite books you read this year?
Oh, the angst we caused our coworkers as they whittled down their lists to just their top few books! Hopefully our carefully considered staff picks will inspire additions to your Want to Read Shelf.
You'll notice that our reading habits run the gamut. But if you look carefully, you can see some office favorites emerge, including multiple picks of the Odyssey-inspired fantasy Circe.
Now it's your turn! What are your top three books of the year? Please share them with us in the comments!
Oh, the angst we caused our coworkers as they whittled down their lists to just their top few books! Hopefully our carefully considered staff picks will inspire additions to your Want to Read Shelf.
You'll notice that our reading habits run the gamut. But if you look carefully, you can see some office favorites emerge, including multiple picks of the Odyssey-inspired fantasy Circe.
Now it's your turn! What are your top three books of the year? Please share them with us in the comments!
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Your turn! What are your top three reads of 2019? Share them with us in the comments!
Check out more recent articles:
Very Short 4-Star Books for Your Reading Challenge Books
The Top 40 Book Club Picks of 2019
The Most Read Books on Goodreads in December
Check out more recent articles:
Very Short 4-Star Books for Your Reading Challenge Books
The Top 40 Book Club Picks of 2019
The Most Read Books on Goodreads in December
Comments Showing 51-100 of 363 (363 new)
message 51:
by
Jim
(new)
Dec 17, 2019 07:39AM
I was on my way to my library book discussion on "Circe" exactly 52 weeks ago today when I tripped crossing the street. I slammed into a light pole, breaking my collarbone. I was pretty much out of commission for the next month. Never got to the discussion, obviously, which is a shame, because I really, really enjoyed "Circe."
flag
Good to see one of my favourites in your lists (When All is Said, Ann Griffin).I'd add Shadowplay (Joseph O'Connor) and the one I have only just started: The Overstory by Richard Powers
Not easy to read only 3. Although I liked Overstory, and Normal People and Ask Again, Yes, and some others published this year, these are the 3 I read this year which made me say Wow:The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadesh
The Last Good Chance by Tom Barbash
1. The Paper Bag Christmas by Kevin Alan Milne2. Where the Crawdad's Sing by Delia Owens
3. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
#1 is a must read for families valuing the reason for the season. Absolutely wonderful story.
Also I read about 20 books by Ursula k le guin. SO GOOD!
Tough one...so many books so little time.1. The Grip of It, Jac Jemc
2. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman
3. Dopesick, Beth Macy
I've read a lot of great books this year but these are my favorites:1. A Gentleman in Moscow
2. Becoming
3. Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth
It looks like I need to read Circe. It appears on many lists.
I have discovered John Boyne and loved The Heart's Invisible Furies. I see someone else listed him - yay! He also wrote A Ladder to the Sky which was very good but doesn't count as a choice - just saying. The Immortalists
Thrity Umriger people! - The Space Between Us and The Secrets Between Us
Augustus- John WilliamsMilkman- Anna Burns
The Overstory- Richard Powers
Wow, tough question! Here are my picks, in no particular order:Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
Six of Crows
Circe is very good- Silence of the Girls even betterAugustus even better than Stoner- which was great!
Then there is "The Leopard" !!!
This was tough, 2019 was a great year of reading for me...3. The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes
2. Evvie Drake Starts Over, Linda Holmes
1. The Giver, Lois Lowry
Honorable Mentions:
Gathering Blue, Lois Lowry
Firefly Lane, Kristin Hannah
The Gown, Jennifer Robson
Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti Callahan
Dark Age - Pierce BrownThe Testaments - Margaret Atwood
Lethal White - Robert Galbraith
Firm Denial by Licia FlynnAlgiers, Third World Capital by Elaine Mokhtefi
American Exceptionalism & American Innocence by Roberto Servent & Danny Haiphong
Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges
The Black Jacobins by CLR James
The Giver of Stars, Jojo MoyesAn Ocklawaha River Odyssey, Elizabeth Randall
Murder in St. Augustine, Elizabeth Randall
My top three:1) This Life - Martin Hägglund
2) The Work of Mourning - Jacques Derrida
3) Nietzsche and Metaphor - Sarah Kofman
Max wrote: "Nice lists. I saw a couple I read. Here are my top 3:1) The Grapes of Wrath
2) Moby Dick
3) How to Hide an Empire (a book that’s actually from 2019)"
Glad somebody likes MD. It is the first book that I ever hated, 1963.
Hard to narrow it down from over 100 but here goes:1. Becoming
2. The Sixth Extinction
3. Daisy Jones and the Six
Not including any rereading of good ol' Harry Potter, this year's favorites were:The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore
A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman
My top three for the year:1. "A Man Called Ove", Frederik Blackman
2. "Fried Green Tomatoes", Fannie Flagg
3. " A Town Like Alice", Neville Shute
Nicola wrote: "That was interesting. I found a few new books to add to the ever-increasing Want To Read list.I only joined Goodreads this year to try and get back into the habit of reading, and these are the bo..."
Loved Born a Crime, recommended to me by my nail tech.
Gathering of Shadows (#2 in Shades of Magic trilogy) by V E. SchwabOcean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Off Planet by Aileen Erin
I read so many....but I'll start with Wicked King..King of Scars..Blood witch... My bonus pick Circe
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead -- Olga TokarcczukInfinite Jest -- David Foster Wallace
Wolf Hall -- Hilary Mantel
My top three books for the year are: 1) A peace to end all peace (David Fromkin)
2) 1913-the world before the great war (Charles Emmerson)
3) Far from the madding crowd (Thomas Hardy)
Circe - Madeline MillerThe Testaments - Margaret Atwood
The Dutch House - Ann Patchett
This was kind of an odd year for me as I listened to more short stories than novels or books. But the three best for me were:1) Kevin Kruse - One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America
2) Chuck Wendig - Wanderers
3) Garth Stein - The Art Of Racing In The Rain
If I had to pick only three - they would be:1. "Becoming" - Michelle Obama
2. "The Water Dancer" - Ta-Hehisi Coates
3. "The Whisper Man" - Alex North
That said, "This Tender Land" by William Kent Krueger was definitely also in the top of my favorites for 2019...
In no particular order Digital Minimalism
The Institute
Becoming
So many good books on this list, so little time.
I have read so many good books it is hard to pick my three favorites, but here I go:1) Black Beauty- Anna Sewell
2) The Perfect Horse-Elizabeth Letts
3) Five Feet Apart-Rachael Lippincott.
I am currently rereading The Perfect Horse. It is an incredible true story from WW2. It is a very good book.
So hard but ...1. American gods by Neil Gaiman
2. Circe by Madeline Miller
3. The astonishing colour of after by Emily X R Pan
1) The overstory2) A Gentleman in Moscow
3) Sing Unburied Sing
1. Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston2. Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
3. Becoming by Michelle Obama
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins ReidThe Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Difficult to pick just 3 out of the 65 I read this year! I narrowed it down to 6 so on a different day, this list could be slightly different. :)- Recursion by Blake Crouch
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
My alternates:
- Hacking Darwin by Jamie Metzl
- The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
- La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
Daisy Jones and the SixRecursion
Catch and Kill --Ronan Farrow
I'd have to go with these:Cantoras--Carolina De Robertis
This Tender Land--William Kent Krueger
The Ragged Edge of Night--Olivia Hawker
...with a nod toward "Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany" by Jane Mount; not a straightforward narrative, but full of tiny delights!
This is a difficult exercise. I didn't include anything I reread this year, because if I reread it I obviously like it very much.Here goes:
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts
I read several books this year that I really loved. The top three (for now) would be:1. Metropolis by Philip Kerr (his final Bernie Gunther novel)
2. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman
3. Quichotte by Salmon Rushdie
Currently reading Horns by Joe Hill (loved his short story collection Full Throttle).
My top three books are: Harry's TreesWhere the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Giver of Stars by JoJo Mayes
I have read a lot of good ones this year but these 3 stand out as extra special!This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Best book I've read lately is Where the Crawdad's Sing by Delia Owens. I'm surprised it didn't make anyone's list, and shows up in only one comment. Have lots of these selections in my Kindle que!
The River by Peter HellerRomanov by Nadine Brandes
At Briarwood School for Girls by Michael Knight
How to Hide an EmpireChurchill's Menagerie
The Club
Island of the sea women by lisa see, where the crawdads sing by delia owen, and neverwhere by neil gaimanRunnersup- nickel boys by colson whitehead, what rose forgot by nevada barr, and landline by rainbow rowell
Current reads- the ocean at the end of the lane by neil gaiman, the family upstairs by lisa jewell, and criss cross by james patterson
Next want to reads- the silent patient by alex michaelides, a disvovery of witches by deborah harkness, and the dutch house by ann patchett
Top 3 books that I read this year:1. This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel
2. The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood
3. The Night Tiger by Yangse Choo
Honorable mentions to the book I'm reading now, The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo, and Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
