Bookstore Staff Favorites of 2019
Revelatory. Humbling. Globe-trotting. Jagged. These are just a few of the ways we’d describe the past twelve months of reading at the Milkweed bookstore. To close out the year, we took on the incredible challenge of choosing five of our favorite books published in 2019; these lists are as exciting and significant as they are daunting and inexhaustive, and while we adore the authors and titles listed below, these are by no means the only books that moved us this year. That said, be assured that the titles on our lists are well-loved—likely by some of you, too!
Thanks for a beautiful trip around the sun, all! See you in 2020.
Much love,
The Milkweed Books Staff ?
“My year in reading was returning, departing, and jagged.”
- The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esmé Weijun Wang | Graywolf Press
- My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education by Jennine Capó Crucet | Picador
- Scared Violent Like Horses: Poems by John McCarthy | Milkweed Editions
- Ugly Music by Diannely Antigua | YesYes Books
- The Winter of the Witch: A Novel by Katherine Arden | Del Rey
“My year in reading was globe-trotting, aquatic, and fun.”
- Time Song: Journeys in Search of a Submerged Land by Julia Blackburn | Pantheon
- The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan | Grove Atlantic
- The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island by Katerina Lymperapoulou and Robert A. McCabe | Abbeville Press
- The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock | Soho Press
- Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington | Riverhead Press
“My year in reading was revelatory, youthful, and hopeful.”
- Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib | Tin House
- Invasive Species by Marwa Hela | Nightboat Books
- The Fire Keeper by J.C. Cervantes | Rick Riordan Presents
- What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays by Damon Young | Harper Collins
- The Book of Lost Saints by Daniel José Older | Macmillan
“My year in reading was humbling, enlightening, and mostly creative non-fiction.”
- I’m Trying to Tell You I’m Sorry: An Intimacy Triptych by Nina Boutsikaris | Black Lawrence Press
- In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado | Graywolf Press
- Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib | Tin House
- The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good by Elizabeth L. Cline | Penguin Random House
- Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages by Gaston Dorren | Grove Atlantic
“My year in reading was Florida, cowboys, and gay.”
- The New Me: A Novel by Halle Butler | Penguin Books
- Marilou is Everywhere: A Novel by Sarah Elaine Smith | Riverhead Books
- Rusty Brown by Chris Ware | Pantheon
- Socialist Realism by Trisha Low | Coffee House Press
- Trust Exercise: A Novel by Susan Choi | Henry Holt and Co.
“My year in reading was depressing, inspirational, and queer.”
- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel by Ocean Vuong | Penguin Random House
- Eyes Bottle Dark With a Mouthful of Flowers: Poems by Jake Skeets | Milkweed Editions
- The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay | Algonquin Books
- In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado | Graywolf Press
- Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead: A Novel by Olga Tokarczuk | Riverhead Press
AND FINALLY: For the full Milkweed Books reading experience, check out our “Songs to Read to” playlist, a genre-crossing collection of tunes lovingly compiled by your favorite Milkweed booksellers. These songs helped set the mood for our year in reading—so grab a book, get comfortable, and hit play!
?Want to fall in love with our most loved books? Come by the store or give us a call ( ?612-215-2540) and mention the 2019 Staff Favorites newsletter for 10% off your next Milkweed Books purchase! (One coupon per visit, please. Not valid with other offers.)
?To see more reading suggestions from bookstore staff and from some of the bookstore’s favorite authors, click here.
?To get bookseller recommendations and more fun literary stuff sent directly to your inbox, sign up for our bookstore newsletter.
