My Favorite Books of 2019
Fiction
1. News of the World, by Paulette Jiles
2. The Passage, by Justin Cronin
3. These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Print, 1881-1901, by Nancy E. Turner
4. All the Names They Used for God, by Anjali Sachdeva
5. Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
6. The Known World, by Edward P. Jones
7. Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
8. The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein
9. Ocean of Words, by Ha Jin
10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
Non-Fiction
1. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, by Dee Brown
2. It’s Garry Shandlng’s Book, edited by Judd Apatow
3. The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups, by Daniel Coyle
4. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, by Anthony Bourdain
5. Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power, by Rachel Maddow
My Favorite Books of 2018
Fiction
1. Europe Central by William T. Vollman
2. Last Bus to Wisdom, by Ivan Doig
3. Plainsong, by Kent Haruf
4. Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories, by Ben Fountain
5. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
6. The Round House, by Louise Erdrich
7. World’s Fair, by E.L. Doctorow
8. The Cider House Rules, by John Irving
9. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloane
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling
Non-Fiction
1. H if for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald
2. The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism, by Ross King
3. The Escape Artist: Art, Thieves and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece, by Edward Dolnick
4. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101, Final Solution in Poland, by Christopher R. Browning
5. The Daily Show: An Oral History, by Chris Smith
My Favorite Books of 2017
1. Norwegian at Night, by Derek B. Miller
2. Pastoralia, by George Saunders
3. City of Thieves, by David Benioff
4. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
5. A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, by Robert Olen
6. The Magician King, by Lev Grossman
7. Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safron Foer
8. The Guernsey Library and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
9. The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller
10. Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng
Non-Fiction
1. Sugar Salt Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, by Michael Moss
2. Seven Years in Tibet, by Heinrich Harrer
3. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science Remembering Everything, by Joshua For
4. Everybody Writes, by Ann Handley
5. Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, by Elvis Costello
My Favorite Books of 2016
1. Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter
2. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain
3. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
4. A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin
5. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin
6. Native Son, by Richard Wright
7. The Man with the Golden Arm, by Nelson Algren
8. Euphoria, by Lily King
9. Marathon Man, by William Goldman
10. Big Fish, by Daniel Wallace
Non-Fiction
1. The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen, by Stephen R. Bown
2. Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin, by Jill Lepore
3. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
4. Contagious: Why Things Catch On, by Jonah Berger
5. The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson
My Favorite Books of 2015
1. The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
2. The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach
3. Everyman, by Philip Roth
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling
5. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, by John le Carre
6. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce
7. The Art Forger, by B.A. Shapiro
8. The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink
9. Close Range, by Annie Proulx
10. The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, by Melissa Bank
Non-Fiction
1. My Autobiography, by Charles Chaplin
2. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss
3. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, by Tadeusz Borowski
4. In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist, by Pete Jordan
5. I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend, by Martin Short
My Favorite Books of 2014
1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman
2. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
3. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
5. A Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes
6. Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
7. Hologram for the King, by Dave Eggers
8. Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder
9. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
10. Holes, by Louis Sacher
Non-Fiction
1. Jackson Pollack: An American Saga, by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith
2. The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the Twentieth Century, by David Laskin
3. Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer
4. Quiet, by Mary Cain
5. The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
My Favorite Books of 2013
1. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
2. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
3. Motherless Brooklyn, by Jonathan Lethem
4. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
5. All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy
6. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
7. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
8. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
9. High Fidelity, by Nick Hornsby
10. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, by Seth Godin