My Best Books of 2019
I have read a lot of books this year. In fact I have read 275 books that I reviewed on Goodreads, plus however many more that I DNFd without reviewing or which were second reads. That's a lot of books.
You could just trawl through my reading (here and feel free to follow or friend), so I’m not going to list everything or this will be the world’s longest post. I’m going to do this by eccentric classifications of my own choosing, not just genre, because I can.
Ready? Sharpen your credit card, here we go.
Most Read Authors
I read nine of Therese Beharrie’s romance novels this year. Nine.She does lovely South-Africa-set romances—low heat, some angst, but overallwith a deeply comforting feel. Go on, get AWedding One Christmas, you know you want to.
In second place, I read six by Jackie Lau—modern diverseCanada-set romcoms, mostly, with lots of family. Try GrumpyFake Boyfriend, which is one of the great titles of our times.
And I read five of the magnificent Beverly Jenkins who needsno introduction from me. Rebel, the startof her new series, was a marvel.
I also glommed the first five of Mick Herron’s terrific Slough House series,with a group of failed spies doing boring admin led by the appalling evil-FalstaffJackson Lamb. Not comfort reads *at all* and I’m still building up the moralfortitude to read the latest one, but terrific.
Feel-good
Talia Hibbert’s terrific Geta Life Chloe Brown has met with much-deserved praise for its diverse rep,feelgood plot, and blend of serious issues with a proper romcom. I can’t waitfor the next book.
Ayesha atLast by Uzma Jalaluddin is a Muslim take on Pride and Prejudice, with areally lovely fundamentalist religious hero. That is not something you get alot. Bright, breezy, immense fun.
AJ Demas is one of my favourite historical romancers for herdelightful alt-ancient Mediterranean queer stories. Sword Dancehas a house party, a sinister plot, a spy, a soldier, a lovely romance and amickey-take of Greek philosophers. A pleasure.
For something completely different, Wilding byIsabella Tree is non-fiction (and you don’t get much of that underfeelgood) about turning land back to the wild and seeing how nature recoversleft to itself. It’s a fascinating, hopeful read.
Plaintive (Is that what I mean? Books with sadness as well as joy)
Notfor Use in Navigation by Iona Datt Sharma is a really excellent SFFR collectionof stories—haunting, beautifully written, deeply imagined. Don’t miss this one,it’s very, very much worth your time.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Godsof Jade and Shadow is a triumphant historical fantasy using Mayan myth. Compellingstory, fantastic characters. One of my favourite SFF of the year with abittersweet, wonderful ending.
Lordof the Last Heartbeat by May Peterson is a spectacular debut with denselybeautiful writing, a gnarly mystery in a fantasy world, and a wonderful m/nb romance.A sad feel, with the characters weighted by loss and pain, but the light shinesthrough and takes us to a triumphant happy ending.
Another romance that gets us to the HEA via heavy lifting isYou Me U.S.by Brigitte Bautista, a really excellent, realistic f/f set in seedy Manila. Theheroines drink too much, have sex with other people, and one of them is tryingto get a green card marriage. It’s brutally real, which makes the way theyfinally forge themselves an ending all the more joyous. I loved it.
Weird-ass
TheirBrilliant Careers by Ryan O’Neill is...okay, it’s a set of lit-critbiographies of various famous Australian writers. Except they’re fictionalones, and actually this is a magnificent meta sarcastic takedown of literarytwerpery, with some bonkers running jokes, lots of extremely cleverinterlacing, and a hidden plot which...all I can say is, don’t skip the index.Which is not a sentence I’d often write. Extremely clever and very very funny.
TheAffair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall is an absolutely gloriousHolmes/Watson riff where Holmes is a drug-addled pansexual sorceress in aLovecraftian-fantasy world, Watson is a gay trans man refugee from a puritannation, and the whole thing is just a mad, delightful romp. Intenselyenjoyable.
Every book by Saad Hossain is a gem, if you like your gemsviolent, unpredictable, disturbing, and plotted by a maniac. TheGurkha and the Lord of Tuesday puts djinn, nanotech, and a detective story througha blender to tremendous effect.
And for a wild card, the forgotten classic Fowlers Endby Gerald Kersch set in 1930s London. I described this as Dickens on meth in myreview and I stick to that; I also highlighted so many hilarious bits that myereader crashed. Absurd, scabrous, sweary, awful, laugh-out-loud.
Rereads
I reread the entire Johannes Cabalseries by Jonathan L Howard for the nth time. This is a fabulous 5-bookurban fantasy about a sarcastic necromancer with no social skills. It riffsgleefully off Lovecraft, is immensely readable, and has a surprising amount ofheart under the violence. Deeply enjoyable.
I also reread the wonderful Astreiant books byMelissa Scott. A pure pleasure, tracing an m/m couple (policeman and blade forhire) in the matriarchal fantasy city of Astreiant. Understated romance, greatmysteries.
And I glommed the entire oeuvre of T Kingfisherall over again, for the comfort of their marvellous imagination, kindness,sharp-edged morality and terrific wit.
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