--- description: From page-turning fiction to conversation-starting nonfiction and poetry, here are 100 books from 2019 that are worth reading. title: The 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c5dacec291c82e0/698a060122fb850525e2a270/100-books-2019-hero.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  100 Books 2019Kim Bubello for TIME # The 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 ## Realistic Fiction *  [_All This Could Be Yours_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724518/all-this-could-be-yours/) Jami Attenberg byTIME Staff *  [_Doxology_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724519/doxology/) Nell Zink byTIME Staff *  [_Ducks, Newburyport_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724520/ducks-newburyport/) Lucy Ellmann byTIME Staff *  [_The Dutch House_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724521/the-dutch-house/) Ann Patchett byTIME Staff *  [_Find Me_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724522/find-me/) André Aciman byTIME Staff *  [_Fleishman Is In Trouble_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724523/fleishman-is-in-trouble/) Taffy Brodesser-Akner byTIME Staff *  [_Girl, Woman, Other_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724524/girl-woman-other/) Bernardine Evaristo byTIME Staff *  [_Lost Children Archive_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724525/lost-children-archive/) Valeria Luiselli byTIME Staff *  [_The Man Who Saw Everything_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724526/the-man-who-saw-everything/) Deborah Levy byTIME Staff *  [_Miracle Creek_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724527/miracle-creek/) Angie Kim byTIME Staff *  [_Mostly Dead Things_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724528/mostly-dead-things/) Kristen Arnett byTIME Staff *  [_The Nickel Boys_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724529/the-nickel-boys/) Colson Whitehead byTIME Staff *  [_Normal People_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724530/normal-people/) Sally Rooney byTIME Staff *  [_Nothing to See Here_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724531/nothing-to-see-here/) Kevin Wilson byTIME Staff *  [_Olive, Again_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724532/olive-again/) Elizabeth Strout byTIME Staff *  [_On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724533/on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous/) Ocean Vuong byTIME Staff *  [_The Other Americans_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724534/the-other-americans/) Laila Lalami byTIME Staff *  [_Patsy_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724535/patsy/) Nicole Dennis-Benn byTIME Staff *  [_Queenie_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724536/queenie/) Candice Carty-Williams byTIME Staff *  [_Red at the Bone_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724537/red-at-the-bone/) Jacqueline Woodson byTIME Staff *  [_Searching for Sylvie Lee_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724538/searching-for-sylvie-lee/) Jean Kwok byTIME Staff *  [_Supper Club_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724539/supper-club/) Lara Williams byTIME Staff *  [_The Revisioners_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724540/the-revisioners/) Margaret Wilkerson Sexton byTIME Staff *  [_The Shadow King_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724541/the-shadow-king/) Maaza Mengiste byTIME Staff *  [_The Topeka School_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724542/the-topeka-school/) Ben Lerner byTIME Staff *  [_Trust Exercise_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724543/trust-exercise/) Susan Choi byTIME Staff *  [_The Unpassing_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724544/the-unpassing/) Chia-Chia Lin byTIME Staff *  [_Women Talking_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724545/women-talking/) Miriam Toews byTIME Staff ## Suspense & Altered Worlds *  [_American Spy_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724589/american-spy/) Lauren Wilkinson byTIME Staff *  [_Black Leopard, Red Wolf_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724590/black-leopard-red-wolf/) Marlon James byTIME Staff *  [_Bunny_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724591/bunny/) Mona Awad byTIME Staff *  [_The Chain_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724592/the-chain/) Adrian McKinty byTIME Staff *  [_The Farm_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724593/the-farm/) Joanne Ramos byTIME Staff *  [_Inland_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724594/inland/) Téa Obreht byTIME Staff *  [_The Need_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724595/the-need/) Helen Phillips byTIME Staff *  [_Ninth House_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724596/ninth-house/) Leigh Bardugo byTIME Staff *  [_The Old Drift_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724597/the-old-drift/) Namwali Serpell byTIME Staff *  [_An Orchestra of Minorities_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724598/an-orchestra-of-minorities/) Chigozie Obioma byTIME Staff *  [_Quichotte_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724599/quichotte/) Salman Rushdie byTIME Staff *  [_Recursion_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724600/recursion/) Blake Crouch byTIME Staff *  [_The Starless Sea_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724601/the-starless-sea/) Erin Morgenstern byTIME Staff *  [_The Testaments_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724602/the-testaments/) Margaret Atwood byTIME Staff *  [_The Water Dancer_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724603/the-water-dancer/) Ta-Nehisi Coates byTIME Staff *  [_Where Reasons End_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724604/where-reasons-end/) Yiyun Li byTIME Staff ## Literature in Translation *  [_The Capital_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724614/the-capital/) Robert Menasse, trans. Jamie Bulloch byTIME Staff *  [_China Dream_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724615/china-dream/) Ma Jian, trans. Flora Drew byTIME Staff *  [_Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724616/drive-your-plow-over-the-bones-of-the-dead/) Olga Tokarczuk, trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones byTIME Staff *  [_It Would Be Night in Caracas_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724617/it-would-be-night-in-caracas/) Karina Sainz Borgo, trans. Elizabeth Bryer byTIME Staff *  [_The Memory Police_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724618/the-memory-police/) Yoko Ogawa, trans. Stephen Snyder byTIME Staff *  [_Stalingrad_](/collections/must-read-books-2019/5724619/stalingrad/) Vasily Grossman, trans. Robert Chandler, Elizabeth Chandler byTIME Staff The 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2019/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2019/"},"headline":"The 100 Must-Read Books of 2019","description":"Stirring novels and short stories, thought-provoking histories, affecting memoirs and more. These are the books that captured our attention.","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2019/","datePublished":"2026-03-17T00:08:21.127Z","dateModified":"2026-03-17T00:08:20.777Z","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156}},"mainEntity":{"@type":"ItemList","numberOfItems":100,"itemListOrder":"Descending"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c5dacec291c82e0/698a060122fb850525e2a270/100-books-2019-hero.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2019/","name":"The 100 Must-Read Books of 2019"}}]}] ```