Favorite Books of 2019

Another year in the books. You will forgive any lack of thoughtful ruminations on the passing of time, the death of youth, societal fragility, and grand struggles of the heart; I have a splitting headache. In 2019 I read 368 books, of which the arbitrary 10 follow.

Riders in the Chariot by Patrick White – A collection of misfits engage in spiritual warfare against the grinding forces of bigotry and human cruelty. Stunningly written, unique in scope and execution, a genuine masterpiece. I loved this fucking book.

During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase – The memories of a group of formidable, complex, troubled women in a small Midwestern town. Chase was a real marvel, a fabulous writer of prose with a keen insight into gender relations and the inexplicable ties of family.

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood – A day in the life of a widowed homosexual college professor. Bittersweet, perfectly written, justly recognized as a classic.

The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe – Wolfe's death earlier this year deprived us of genre fiction's most frustrating and captivating author, evidence for which can be found in this suite of short stories, puzzle-box ruminations on the nature of humanity in a vastly foreign future.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson – There are few things rarer or more valuable than a genuinely hopeful work of high art, and Marilynne Robinson's beautiful meditation on fatherhood, family, love, death, and God, was the single best thing that I read in 2019.

The Children Of Dynmouth by William Trevor – William Trevor was one of my best discoveries of 2019, a writer of formidable technique and wide imagination with an oeuvre of impressive depth, but this bleak but not hopeless depiction of a sociopathic youth in a small Irish town of hypocrites stands out.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf – The collapse of a family is told in Woolf's maddening, brilliant, oblique prose. If you didn't read this at at some point during your schooling, you should do yourself a favor and pick it up now.

Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban – A boy grows to manhood in post-apocalyptic England. A masterpiece of world-building, written in a bizarre but coherent future patois, a distinctly brilliant work of science fiction.

Silence by Shusaku Endo – A Portuguese Priest sneaks into a Tokugawa Japan, spreads the gospel, discovers uncomfortable complexities in his pursuit of righteousness. Subtle, thoughtful, excellent.

In Parenthesis by David Jones – An epic poem set in the trenches of WWI. The prose is luminous and alien, the sentiment penetrating and tragic, excellent stuff, if a little difficult.