Best Books of the Year
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TIME Best Books of the Year 2019

TIME Best Books of the Year 2019 names 20 books across 2 categories. 17 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

Fiction

  1. 1The Nickel Boys by Colson Whiteheadsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. 2The Testaments by Margaret Atwoodsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. 3Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luisellisource (opens in a new tab)
  4. 4The Need by Helen Phillipssource (opens in a new tab)
  5. 5Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon Jamessource (opens in a new tab)
  6. 6Trust Exercise by Susan Choisource (opens in a new tab)
  7. 7On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuongsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. 8Where Reasons End by Yiyun Lisource (opens in a new tab)
  9. 9The Topeka School by Ben Lernersource (opens in a new tab)
  10. 10Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jonessource (opens in a new tab)

Nonfiction

  1. 1Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefesource (opens in a new tab)
  2. 2Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Millersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. 3The Yellow House: A Memoir by Sarah M. Broomsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. 4Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlanesource (opens in a new tab)
  5. 5In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machadosource (opens in a new tab)
  6. 6Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cepsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. 7The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuersource (opens in a new tab)
  8. 8The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esmé Weijun Wangsource (opens in a new tab)
  9. 9Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbothamsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. 10This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant's Manifesto by Suketu Mehtasource (opens in a new tab)

About the TIME Best Books of the Year

Fiction and Nonfiction top 10 lists by year (a single combined top 10 in 2006 and 2025) plus TIME's unranked 100 Must-Read Books, published 2020-2025. Separate YA/children's and genre lists are excluded. 2012-2013 cite entertainment.time.com, TIME's arts site at the time.

Organization: TIME. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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