Jaw dropped? Have we got news for you. —Jessie Heyman, Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Random House, October), The connections of family were put to the test in Elizabeth Strout’s greatest triumph, Olive Kitteridge, her 2009 Pulitzer Prize–winning collection of interconnected stories starring the flinty, flawed title character. Riverhead Books/St. Debuts stood out in the world of short stories, too, notably Wendy Erskine’s clear-eyed tales of Belfast life in Sweet Home and Julia Armfield’s haunting Salt Slow (both Picador). Emma Lee-Potter @EmmaLeePotter. Bernardine Evaristo, Lee Child and more pick the best books of 2019 Save up to 30% on the books of the year at guardianbookshop.com Sat 30 Nov 2019 03.00 EST Last modified on Sat 30 Nov 2019 … More Chatter... “Best Of” Lists. The distribution and morality of wealth is an ever more urgent subject. Fan-pleaser, literary curio, a fascinating example of the interplay between written fiction and TV: the book is all three, with Atwood’s musings on power and the patterns of history as incisive as ever. So, will she find love? Every item on this page was chosen by a Woman's Day editor. The Nickel Boys follows Elwood and Turner, teen boys sentenced to an inhumane Florida reformatory (based on the shocking true stories of abuses at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys). Get great book recommendations! The field narrows to the top 10 books in each category, and members have one last chance to vote! From "The Testaments" to "Trust Exercise," here are the 10 best fiction books of 2019. It's a fun look at family dynamics, which might make yours look a lot more functional. A book may be nominated in no more than one genre category, but can also be nominated in the Debut Novel category. Immigration is at the forefront of everyone's mind right now, and Lost Children Archive couldn't be a more timely read. The 21 Best Novels of 2019. This twisty, chilly novel set in a remote British house will make you want to cozy up with your favorite blanket and a cup of tea -- and all of the lights on. Best friends Roberta and Stevie meet at work and begin hosting all-female, food-focused bacchanals, but the indulgence quickly proves too much to maintain, forcing Roberta to question what she really wants out of life. Phillips taps into the overwhelming anxiety that comes with love in its deepest, truest form, a sense of fierce protectiveness one need not be a parent to understand. The best new culture, style, and beauty stories from Vogue, delivered to you daily. Vuong brings his mastery of evocative, lyric language to his story of Little Dog, a Vietnamese-American boy growing up in Connecticut with his mother and grandmother—survivors of the Vietnam War—and bearing the weight of inherited trauma. Read this, and then give your own sister a call. Take a peek at our must-have reads in both fiction and nonfiction … Guardian fiction editor Justine Jordan on the celebrated and overlooked books of the year Best books of 2019: genre by genre Bernardine Evaristo, Lee Child and more pick the best books of 2019 We analyze statistics from the millions of books added, rated, and reviewed on Goodreads to nominate 15 books in each category. Wednesday 09 October 2019 10:35. Written in gleeful approximations of priestly, courtly and peasant medieval English, To Calais, in Ordinary Time (Canongate) follows a motley group of travellers in the shadow of the Black Death. It is ostensibly the tale of Adam, a high school debate prodigy, and his psychotherapist parents, one of them the author of a best-selling self-help book and “famous in Topeka.” Lerner—one of the preeminent modern autofiction writers—is also a poet who grew up in Topeka, but to confine his book to that genre is to reduce its power. Buy now: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. If that doesn't make you want to cancel your plans for a night in, nothing will. The bad news: The bride and groom can't go on their honeymoon, which means Olive and Ethan go in their place — and pretend to be married. Same. “A crazed billionaire lurked in all of us, ready to have the lawn mowed on the hour,” June realizes midway through her stay.