The Best Books I've Read in 2019

2019

I have done quite a lot of reading this year.  My goal was to read 200 books in 2019.  As of December 31, 2019, I have read 260 books so far this year.  (Who knows what will happen before midnight?)  I stopped posting all of my book reviews to this blog as it is incredibly time consuming.  However, if you wish to read my book reviews, please "friend me" on Goodreads where my reviews are posted there.  This year, most of my books were written by authors of colour.  Also in 2019, I did not read enough science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction books to merit creating its own list as I had in 2018.  Instead, I have added an adult fiction, a middle grade, and an adult non-fiction list.  As an author, I dream about finding my book on variety of reading lists, including the ones I have compiled below.  Books that are not listed here, does not mean I don't like them.  I chose books that I love over the moon and back.  I have a soft spot for diverse characters, #ownvoices, and social justice themes.  If an author released two books in 2019, I chose one of the two so no repeats(looking at you SK Ali).  I will share my list on social media outlets and tag most of the creators so they could feel some validation (we all need some) and that another "writer who supports writers".  (Cue in: You are not alone by Michael Jackson.)

My 2018 Top 10 Favourite Canadian Books I Read in 2019:
These books were written by authors who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, authors residing in Canada, or Canadians living overseas.  Regardless, these authors all have a Canadian connection.
​
Winners:
Love from A to Z   by SK Ali
and
Learning to Breathe by Janice Lynn Mathers
​
Runners up:

• Reproduction by Ian Williams
• In the Key of Nira Ghani by Natasha Deen
• Shut Up You’re Pretty by Tea Mutonji
• Fried Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
• Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell
• Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
• That Time I Loved You by Carrianne Leung
• No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

My Top 10 Favourite Young Adult (YA) Books I Read in 2019 (I cheated a bit here)

Winners:  
With the Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo,
Love from A to Z by SK Ali, and
Learning to Breathe by Janice Lynn Mathers
​
Runners Up:

• In the Key of Nira Ghani by Natasha Deen​
• Calling My Name by Liara Tamani
• Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
• Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
• Riot by Walter Dean Myeres
• Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert
• The Agony of Bun O’Keefe by Heather Smith​

​My Top 10 Favourite Middle Great (MG) Books I Read in 2019

Winner:  
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
​
Runners up:

• The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
• The New Kid by Jerry Craft
• Sunny by Jason Reynolds
• Bad Babysitters by Caroline Cala
• The Season of Styxx Malone by Kekla Magoon
• Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boone
• Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen​
• Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott

​My Top 10+ Favourite Picture Books I Read in 2019

Winners (I cheated a little bit, included my own):
Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty, illustrated by Bryan Collier​,
A LIKKLE MISS LOU: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice by Nadia L. Hohn, and
Sulwe by Lupita Nyongo, illustrated by Vashti Harrison
​
Runners Up:

• The Undefeated  by Kwame Alexander
• The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
• Stumpkin by Lucy Ruth Cummins
• Khalida and the Most Beautiful Song by Amanda Moeckel
• You are Stardust by Elin Kelsey, illustrated by Soyeon Kim
• Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
• A Place to Land by Barry Wittenstein, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
• Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal
• I, Promise by Catherine Hernandez, illustrated by Syrus Marcus Ware 
• The Good Egg by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald
• Small World by Ishta Mercurio, illustrated by Jen Corace
• King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton

​My Top 10 Favourite Adult Fiction That I Read in 2019

Winner:

• Queenie by Candace Carty-Williams (really, really hard choice as I would tie this with Carrianne Leung, Tea Mutonji, and Ian Williams)

​
Runners Up:

• Reproduction by Ian Williams
• How to Love A Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs
• Aisha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
• The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel
• Fried Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
• Shut Up! You’re Pretty by Tea Mutonji
• Women Talking by Miriam Toews
• That Time I Loved You by Carrianne Leung​

​My Top 10 Favourite Adult Non-Fiction That I Read in 2019
Winners: 
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell,
Well-Read Black Girl edited by Glory Edim 
Runners Up:

• The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
• Becoming by Michelle Obama
• Hunger by Roxane Gay
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• Real Romance by Aziz Ansari
• The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell
• Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northrup
• How to Be A Bawse by Lilly Singh
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• The Wait by Devon Franklin & Meagan Good

​Top 12 Overall Favourite Books I Read in 2019 That Were Published in 2019

• Love from A to Z  by SK Ali 
• Learning to Breathe by Janice Lynn Mathers

• Reproduction by Ian Williams
• Shut Up You’re Pretty by Tea Mutonji
• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell
• The New Kid by Jerry Craft
• Queenie by Candace Carty-Williams
• Sulwe by Lupita Nyongo
• The Good Egg by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald
• King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
• Fried Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta