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 201-250 of 363 (363 new)
message 201:
by
Stephanie
(new)
Dec 17, 2019 04:16PM
My top 3 reads of the year were:
flag
Ah, so many good book rec!My Top 3 Favorite Read for this year would be;
1. Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds
2. Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
3. Kim Ji-yeong, Lahir Tahun 1982 - Cho Nam Joo
So many good books this year!!!! My top three are....(in no particular order)1. Elantris by Sanderson
2. Recursion by Blake Crouch
3. The Silent Patient by Michaelides
Others I read that I really enjoyed were
*Arm of the Shpinx/The Hod King (2nd and 3 rd books of Senlin Ascends Series)
*Sometimes I lie
*Hillbilly Elegy
*The Wife Between Us
*An Anonymous Girl
*Circe
Among the books I read in 2019, here are the three I rated highly:The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
Tough to narrow it down, but here are three I read this year which have stayed in my mind as favorites:
Thomas wrote: "My top 3:Harlan Coben - Gone for Good
Blake Crouch - Wayward Pines Trilogy
Terry Hayes - I Am Pilgrim"
I Am Pilgrim is AMAZING!
My three top reads Cry of the Curlew by Peter Watt
White thorn by Bryce Courtney
The Widow of Ballarat by Darry Fraser
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Becoming by Michelle Obama
Things You Save In a Fire by Katherine Center
Honorable mention: The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
My top 3 books I read this year:1. A Little Life
2. Milkman
3.Testament of youth
However, lots of other good ones in the lists from other people (read Circe last year and loved it)
Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia OwensCirce - Madeline Miller
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Lots of very good books, but my top 31. Landscape of farewell by Alex Miller
2 The Chilbury Ladies Choir by Jennifer Ryan
3 Edge of the sacred by David Tacey.
And several more clamouring to be included.
Grace wrote: "Many books listed are not 2019"I think it's what you read in 2019 no matter what year it was published.
My top three read this year were:
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
My first favourite is Animal Farm by George Orsan Welles and my second is Bad Signs by R.C. Ellory and my third is The Illustrated Herbal Handbook by Juliette Dr Bairacli Levy which is packed full of awesome Herbal tips and I own. Bad Signs is a thrilling murder mystery from start to finish. Found every page riveting and I purchased and read from cover to cover.Sent cold shivers up my spine and Orsan Welles Animal Farm which is a wonderful old classic and who would think animals could be so clever?
Probably nothing that was released this year but:1. The hearts invisible furies - John Boyne
2. All the light we cannot see - Anthony Doerr
3. Educated - Tara Westover
My top three for 2019.(1) The Lost Man by Jane Harper
(2) A Gift From Darkness by Andrea Hoffmann
(3) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Stephanie Meyer - The ChemistAdriana Trigiani -The Supreme Macaroni Company
Joel Rosenberg - The Auschwitz Escape
My top 3 for this year: Us Against You by Frederik Backman.
The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup.
View From The Summit by Sir Edmund Hillary.
My 3 best of the year are Case Histories, The Secret Keeper, and Peace Like a River. I am looking forward to another year of “good reads”.
Outstanding and unchallenged:#1: Days Withthout End by Sebastian Barry
Just as easy to rank:
#2: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
The difficulties start when it comes to pick No. 3, winner is:
#3 The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse by Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen
It was very hard to choose three books, because I read so many good ones.NOS4A2 by Joe Hill is definitely number one.
Imagica by Clive Barker is number two.
And for number 3 it would be a number of tied titles including:
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
My fav reads for this year are oldies,The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdoch
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier
The Corner that Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The best recent book:
Milkman Anna Burns
My top 3 reads for 2019 (though i can list 10!) are:1) Circe by Madeline Miller
2) Becoming by Michelle Obama
3) Poonachi by Perumal Murugan which was an absolute surprise and who's soulful protagonist lingers in my heart and mind)
My top 3:Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne
Found in Night by Ben Alderson
The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons
My top 3:1) The Woman in the Window - A.J. Finn
2) The Tatooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris
3) Then She Was Gone - Lisa Jewell
Moje top 3 knjige za 2019. su:1. USPAVANE LEPOTICE - STIVEN KING
2. AMERIKANA - ČIMAMANDA NGOZI ADIČI
3. BOLJE NAM JE ZAJEDNO - ŠILA O'FLANAGAN
Wow this is tough.My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
The Hearts Invisible Furies, John Boyne
Grief is a Thing With Feathers, Max Porter
My top 3 for 2019 are;1) Very Far Away from Anywhere Else /Ursula K.Le Guin
2) The Hours /Michael Cummingham
3) The Sense of An Ending /Julian Barnes
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith2) The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boy e
3. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Unimpressive. Scrolling through the the list your staffers deem, the three 'best,' reads of the year for them, what I see is an embarrassing absence of diversity. Your editors and staffers don't read nearly enough books by authors of color. Their sampling and choices of books do not come close to representing multiple viewpoints and diversity. No, their reading habits do not run the gamut.
I couldn't choose just 3...so here are my top 4 in alphabetical order by title: 1. The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal
2. Circe, by Madeleine Miller
3. A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine
4. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
This was a hard decision for sure! My top 3:Not the Girl You Marry - Andie J. Christopher
Well Met - Jen DeLuca
City of Girls - Elizabeth Gilbert
PaulaHard choice!
1. Born to Run-Bruce Springsteen
2. Hope-Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus
3. Earth's Children Series-Jean Auel
Number 1 was easy: The Library Book by Susan Orlean. Number 2 is The Paragon Hotel by Lindsey Faye Number 3 is A Better Man by Louise Penny.













