4 Books from the Best of The Year Lists That We Want to Read [On Our 2019 Reading List]

We usually spend the first month of the year thinking about the books we want to read. We’ve already trimmed down Our Fresh “To Be Read” List for 2019 [The New Year New Start Edition] and now we’re adding books from the “Best Books of the Year” lists. These are the must reads  added to our reading list.

✩ KIM ✩

There are so many ‘best of’ lists and I love looking at each and every one of them. This time I found a couple that I’m excited to read on Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction of 2018. The first is a book in translation. (I was excited to see a list of translated works on Kirkus because reading those is a personal goal of mine this year.) Newcomer, Keigo Higashino (Giles Murray, translator) is actually the second book in a series so I’ll be reading the first as well.

Detective Kyoichiro Kaga of the Tokyo Police Department has just been transferred to a new precinct in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo. Newly arrived, but with a great deal of experience, Kaga is promptly assigned to the team investigating the murder of a woman. But the more he investigates, the greater number of potential suspects emerges. It isn’t long before it seems nearly all the people living and working in the business district of Nihonbashi have a motive for murder.

[Buy Newcomer @ Amazon]

Another I really want to read is from the Washington Posts Best Books of 2018. The Library Book, Susan Orlean. I’ll admit, this book is pure click bait for me, but it’s got amazing reviews. I’m excited to read it.

The New Yorker writer and author of “The Orchid Thief” has written another winner with a narrative that revolves around the devastating Los Angeles library fire that ruined or damaged 1 million books in 1986. But what starts out as a masterfully written tale of true crime turns into a sprawling look at the Los Angeles library system before pivoting into a heartfelt tribute to libraries as institutions devoted to making life better. In other words, it’s every bookworm’s dream read. 

✤ TANYA ✤

NPR’s Book Concierge is one of my favorite “Best Books” sources. I filtered by “Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction” and “The Dark Side”, looked through the choices and decided to read Trail of Lightening, Rebecca Roanhorse. This book is completely new to me, but after reading the summary and Goodreads reviews, it looks like a safe bet that I’m going to love this.

While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters. Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last—and best—hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much larger and more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

[Buy Trail of Lightening @ Amazon]

Another fave “Best Books” list is from Publishers Weekly. Admittedly, this year most of the books I hadn’t even heard of, but in PW’s Best Mystery / Thriller category, I came across a book by one of my favorite authors, Nine Perfect Strangers, Liane Moriarty.

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer – or should she run while she still can?

[Buy Nine Perfect Strangers @ Amazon]

Other books I’ve read and loved by Liane Moriarty have shown up on Reading From the Best Sellers List {Big Little Lies} and Top 10+ Books That Blew Our Minds in 2016.

Are there any books you’d like to read from last year’s “Best Books” lists?