16 thoughts on “FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2019

  1. Jeff Meyerson

    I’ve actually read three of the four! And good choices they are. THE BEST OF MANHUNT is on my top 10 list too. And the Curran Crime Club book will be on it if I finish it by the end of the year (I’m halfway through it, enjoying all the great dust jacket illustrations, and wishing I could have found some of those books on our various trips to England).

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    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I loved the FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2019. Hours of delight reading them! Wonderful covers in THE HOODED GUNMAN (which may be my absolute Favorite Book of 2019!).

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    1. george Post author

      Patti, I use a Microsoft ACCESS data base to keep track of the book I read. I’m considering switching to a new Reading Diary for the iMac in 2020

      Reply
  2. Steve Oerkfitz

    I have Best of Manhunt but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
    My Favorite crime novels of the year:
    Night Fire by Michael Connelly
    Book of Bones by John Connelly
    New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke
    The Border by Don Winslow
    Metropolis by Philip Kerr

    My Favorite SF/F Books:
    The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick
    A God In Chains by Matthew Hughes
    Echoes edited by Ellen Datlow
    The Best of Greg Egan

    My Favorite Non Fiction Book:
    The Wild Bunch by W.K. Stratton

    I limited myself to books published in 2019

    I read about 150 books this year. Down from about 165 last year.
    I read a lot of very fine crime books this year. Not so many sf/f books. Too many fantasy novels all suffer from sameness.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Steve, like you, I read over 150 books in 2019. I have the Kerr, Swanwick, Datlow, and Egan on my READ REAL SOON pile. I probably show read more of the Connelly books in 2020.

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  3. wolf

    I still got so many unread books from the last years …
    The selection that you get in Germany or Hungary however is rather limited – and they are expensive. I often remember my shopping trips to London, but I’m too old for that now.
    So I can’t join this discussion.

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    1. george Post author

      Wolf, I don’t know if you have thrift stores in your area. We have several in Western NY and I find plenty of great books and music CDs and DVDs for a pittance. Since Marie Kondo showed up, people are getting read of plenty of Good Stuff! I visited a couple thrift stores a week and return home happy with my finds!

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      1. wolf

        George, yes we have them – but the kind of material you find there …
        My hometown Tübingen (Heidelberg’s little sister some call it) has 90 000 inhabitants – and 27 000 students.
        So anything worthwhile and cheap is immediately picked up.

      2. george Post author

        Wolf, people are donating their music CDs and movie DVDs to thrift stores. Streaming services–both music and movies–attract most of the younger audience, but even oldies are subscribing.

  4. Kent Morgan

    I just did my final list for 2019 for a friend. I read 73 fiction and 36 non-fiction and in my rating system where the best books receive four stars, only three made it this year. In non-fiction, Susan Orlean’s book about the Los Angeles Library and Wright Thompson’s collection of long pieces, primatirly on sports, titled The Cost of These Dreams, were my favourites. In fiction, the last book I read, Hunter’s Moon by Philip Caputo, topped the list. It’s called a novel in stories. Set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the characters hunt for grouse, moose, love, renewal, friendship, peace and even death.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Kent, I enjoyed Susan Orlean’s book about the Los Angeles Library. I’ve read an early book by Philip Caputo and enjoyed it. Caputo has mastered that “novel in stories” style.

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