My Favorite Books from 2019

A subtle work that is as much the author’s self-reflection as it is a commentary on the Trump era. A novel about a scientist who receives text messages from a dead friend. And a collection of erudite essays on everything from Cavafy’s poetry to Game of Thrones. These are among my favorite books of 2019, listed here alphabetically by title.

My “Secrets of the Book Critics” Interview

In September 2017, Book Marks, the section of Literary Hub devoted to book criticism, launched the series “Secrets of the Book Critics.” Each week, a book editor or book critic answers questions about the world of book reviewing: the classic books they wish they could have reviewed, the trends they see in book criticism, and more. It’s a fascinating series.

“What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky” by Lesley Nneka Arimah

The opening story of What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, Lesley Nneka Arimah’s debut collection of short fiction, sets the tone for the revelatory experience that awaits readers. “The Future Looks Good,” a chilling tale about a pair of Nigerian sisters and the abusive husband the older one is married to, packs into eight short pages a father who hot-wired cars in his youth, the 1967-1970 Nigerian War, and childhood memories that torment the now-adult younger sister.

My Favorite Books from 2015

The brother of the man that Meursault killed in Albert Camus’s The Stranger; a hunter who wins a contest to kill a lion that is attacking women in a small village in Mozambique; a celebrated painter whose hobby is thievery; and a computer programmer who has written an algorithm that can summon dead people: these are some of the characters from my favorite books published in 2015.

My Favorite Books from 2014

You know it’s a great year for fiction when you have no trouble coming up with titles that are worthy of mention in a best-of blog post. I needed less than two minutes to come up with the list of eight books I’ve included here. I had the pleasure of reviewing all but two of these works. Six countries of origin are represented here, and the protagonists include a scientist trying to find music in DNA, a young man in 1960’s France struggling to make sense of his country’s role during World War II, and a judge who must decide whether to let a hospital give a blood transfusion to a 17-year-old who objects on religious grounds.

My Favorite Books from 2013

Here’s one of the most pleasant dilemmas I can think of: The year in fiction was so good that you have dozens of titles you could single out for praise as among the year’s best. I’ve spent the past couple of days rereading the notes I wrote for more than forty books. Most of them were titles I reviewed for Bookreporter, but some were books I read for fun and thought so highly of that I needed to jot down my reactions. It has been a delightful couple of days. Every year should be like 2013.

Tenth of December, by George Saunders

I love to finish a book and feel as if I have just completed one of the best books I will ever read. That’s how I felt when I concluded Tenth of December, George Saunders’s fourth collection of short stories. The New York Times Magazine proclaimed that Tenth of December was the “best book you’ll read this year”. There’s plenty of time between now and the end of the year, but it’s unlikely that another story collection will equal Saunders’s range and narrative skill.

The Real Jane Austen, by Paula Byrne

The criticism against Jane Austen from people who don’t like her work, or perhaps from people who have formed an opinion about her without reading her novels, is that she was nothing more than a spoiled woman who wrote dainty books that were not at all intellectual — in other words, the dreaded and much-maligned lady novelist. But as Paula Byrne demonstrates in her excellent new biography, The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things, Austen was hardly the bubble-headed lassie some would have you believe. This was a woman who, in her teens, wrote stories about children who bit off their mother’s fingers and heroines who poisoned their sisters. And supposedly innocent Jane knew enough about the laws regarding conduct in the military to make vulgar puns about sodomy in the Royal Navy.

My Favorite Books from 2012

In 2012, I began writing book reviews for Bookreporter.com. What made the privilege of being able to write for a wider audience even greater were the discussions, most of them online, that I enjoyed with equally passionate readers. Reading is at once the most solitary and most communal of experiences. You read on your own, but you know as you’re doing it that millions of others are reading as well, many of them perhaps reading the same book you’re enjoying. To talk with people about books is one of the great joys of my life. I’ve been honored to share the experience this year with so many others.

Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri’s 2008 collection of stories, is a primer on how to write memorable works of short fiction. There’s nothing postmodern or formally inventive about the eight pieces collected here, four of which appeared originally in the New Yorker. But if you like old-fashioned storytelling and compelling narratives about family life, especially families comprised of people from different ethnic cultures, then Lahiri’s third book—Interpreter of Maladies, her début collection, and the novel The Namesake were the first two—will be a rewarding reading experience.