Best Books of 2019Like this list

100 items

• 1919

  Ewing, Eve L.,

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  Sociologist, artist, writer and poet Ewing's latest book of poetry is a collection reflecting on the before, during and after of the 1919 race riots in Chicago. Ewing read about the riots while researching another book and was surprised…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• All This Could Be Yours

  Attenberg, Jami,

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  In the opening paragraphs of this briskly introspective family saga, abusive patriarch Victor Tuchman, a domineering developer whose thoughtless cruelty has severe repercussions on his extended family, has a heart attack and collapses at…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• American Spy

  a Novel

  Wilkinson, Lauren, 1984-

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  Young FBI officer Marie Mitchell jumps at the chance to infiltrate the regime of Thomas Sankara, the communist president of Burkina Faso. But as she’s drawn deeper into the president's inner circle, Marie realizes Sankara and his ideals…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• An American Summer

  Love and Death in Chicago

  Kotlowitz, Alex,

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  Award-winning reporter Alex Kotlowitz (There are No Children Here) examines Chicago's serious epidemic of violence in his latest book, but this is no routine work of journalism. Reading almost like a collection of unforgettable short…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Because Internet

  Understanding the New Rules of Language

  McCulloch, Gretchen,

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  Internet linguist, Wired columnist and podcaster McCulloch’s charming and highly accessible book explores how internet culture has affected the way we express ourselves, online and off. Among the fascinating topics she covers are: the rise…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Body

  a Guide for Occupants

  Bryson, Bill,

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  Many of us are familiar with the story that scientist Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin quite by accident back in 1928. But did you know that the strain of mold that turned out to be most suitable for mass production of Penicillin…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bringing Down the Duke

  Dunmore, Evie,

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  Dunmore's debut, the first book in the League of Extraordinary Women series, is set in late nineteenth century England against the backdrop of the suffrage movement. The book follows Annabelle Archer and Sebastian, the Duke of Montgomery.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bttm Fdrs

  Daniels, Ezra Claytan,

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  Chicago's Bottomyards neighborhood is a struggling community where outsiders dare not go - that is until some trust-fund art school grads move in to an eerie apartment building that houses more than just hipsters. Darla has roots in the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage

  Selected Stories

  Howland, Bette,

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  A contemporary of Saul Bellow, Margaret Atwood, Toni Bambara, and Raymond Carver, Bette Howland wrote about class in America like no one else. She has been compared to Lucia Berlin, yet Nelson Algren also resonates in her writing. This…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cantoras

  De Robertis, Caro

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  A life affirming, robust novel of five queer women, cantors, living under the Uruguayan dictatorship as they venture to live and love without fear.

• Catch and Kill

  Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

  Farrow, Ronan, 1987-

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  Ronan Farrow’s gripping account of his work uncovering and reporting on years of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment and assault, a bit of an open secret among Hollywood insiders, moves at the pace of a thriller. As Farrow investigates…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Charged

  the New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration

  Bazelon, Emily,

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  Bazelon's powerful book investigates the lopsided power balance between prosecutors and defense lawyers and the impact of prosecutorial overreach on those mired in the American criminal justice system, wherein prosecutors hold the crucial…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Curious Toys

  a Novel

  Hand, Elizabeth,

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  Hand sets her well-researched historical murder mystery at Riverview amusement park in 1915 Chicago, where fourteen-year-old Pin lives with her fortune-teller mother in a small shack. Because of her younger sister's disappearance when they…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Daisy Jones & the Six

  a Novel

  Reid, Taylor Jenkins,

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  This is the story of the rise of a 1970s rock band and their spectacular fall at the peak of their fame. Every girl wants to be Daisy Jones and every guy wants to be with her, but Daisy Jones wants to write music. When she teams up with…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Deep

  Solomon, Rivers,

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  The Deep is inspired by a song based on a myth of pregnant African women falling overboard during the Middle Passage and giving birth to hybrid creatures, neither of the land nor of the sea. One of these creatures is tasked with holding…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Disappearing Earth

  Phillips, Julia,

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  This innovative blend of literary and thriller fiction reads like a collection of linked short stories set in the fascinating far eastern Russian peninsula of Kamchatka. In the first chapter, two young sisters are abducted. Subsequently,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

  Tokarczuk, Olga, 1962-

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  Tokarczuk, winner of the coveted Man Booker International Prize for Flights, returns with this wonderfully bizarre existential murder mystery. Janina, the protagonist, uses astrology and philosophical ruminations to drive her unlikely…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ducks, Newburyport

  Ellmann, Lucy, 1956-

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  Two narratives intersect in this complex stream-of-consciousness novel that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. One centers on a pie maker who ponders the absurdity of life in one 1000-page sentence. She ruminates on the nature of being,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Dutch House

  a Novel

  Patchett, Ann,

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  Patchett's latest novel is perhaps her most powerful to date. The Dutch House centers on the bond between two siblings, Danny and Maeve, and what happens after their lives are turned upside down. At the center of the story is the house…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Elderhood

  Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life

  Aronson, Louise,

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  Aronson's beautifully written book is about aging, but also so much more. It is a collection of sensitively-told, heartbreaking and heartwarming stories of older adults and doctor-patient relationships, and a memoir of a doctor and her…Read moreRead more of this annotation