As of this writing, I’ve read 88 books in 2019. This year, most of my reading was once again done via audiobook, but it trended toward more adult fiction and nonfiction than it has in the past. This is a list of my top seven reads of 2019, in no particular order.

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby

I didn’t write an official review for this one, but I loved its 1930s Chicago setting, its dual points of view (one living, one not), and how the many different story threads Ruby wove came together in the end. Check out Kelly’s review at Book Riot for a personal and moving account of this lovely book.

 

 

 

Birthday by Meredith Russo

The only strictly contemporary realistic novel to make my list, Russo’s sophomore novel is something special. It’s got a great hook: two friends are born on the same day in the same hospital, and each chapter tells of their birthday from 12-18. It’s a friendship story and a romance and, above all, a story about loving people for who they are. It’s a supremely hopeful book that centers a trans teenage girl, and if you loved If I Was Your Girl, you may love this one even more.

 

 

Recursion by Blake Crouch

As I approached the end of this book, the tension was so high that I had to get up and walk around, the book held open in my hands as I paced in the kitchen. I loved Dark Matter, but Recursion is on a whole other level. It’s a fantastic science fiction thriller for adults that plays with time in a completely unique way. It’s one of those books where so much is going on, and at such a breakneck pace, that a reader may wonder how the author is going to pull it all together – and yet Crouch does in such a satisfying and surprising way. It’s also a deeply thoughtful book, more so than Dark Matter was, and really pushes at the concept of changing the past and what the ultimate consequences would be. I loved this book so much I read it in a single day.

 

Fireborne by Rosaria Munda

You know I really love a book when my review of it is this long. This is a YA high fantasy based on Plato’s Republic that features dragon riding and dragon fighting, but still manages to feel fresh and unique. It’s about the aftermath of a revolution, and how we build a new, more just society – if that’s even possible. It features two very different leads with different goals but equally impossible choices. It’s full of magic and political intrigue and twists you won’t see coming. You will read this book with your heart in your throat.

 

 

American Kingpin: The Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton

This year, I discovered a love for true stories about white collar criminals who get busted. This one – about Ross Ulbricht, the 26 year old founder of the Silk Road, a site on the dark web that took advantage of the burgeoning cryptocurrency market to sell illegal drugs, guns, and a myriad of other unsavory things (including murder) – was particularly intriguing to me because Ulbricht grew up in Austin, so I recognized a lot of the references. Bilton connects the dots for his readers, making what could have been an overly complicated tale about a criminal investigation easy to understand, and tells a truly thrilling story (with a happy ending).

 

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

This was the other white collar criminal book I read in 2019 that really fascinated me. I knew very little of what Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos actually did and hadn’t paid much attention to the whole saga while it was ongoing, as big news about medical technology wouldn’t have naturally caught my interest. But Holmes’ story is fascinating, and like Ulbricht’s, demonstrates just how easy it was for these young egotistic criminals to get away with really terrible things for a very long time – and do it in plain view.

 

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware is one of my favorite writers, and is definitely my current favorite mystery writer. Her latest is a reworking of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, complete with a truly creepy setting in a fancy technology-forward smart house gone wrong. Unlike Ware’s previous books, I’d say this one is a bit more of a thriller than a mystery, but I still raced eagerly to the end to see if I was right about whodunnit. And as is usual, Ware still got me with one major twist halfway through.