Our favorite books of 2019

We hope you’re sitting down because we’re about to tell you something shocking: We all read a lot in 2019.

Circulation at the Library is up, and we have so enjoyed sharing recommendations and talking with you about the books you’re reading. Here are the books you check out most:

• City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
• My Year of Rest & Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh (We all wanted to read this one before seeing Moshfegh deliver her Modern Novel lecture!)
• A Double Life by Flynn Berry
• Circe by Madeline Miller (A very popular book club pick!)
• Fear by Bob Woodward (Woodward was our Niehoff lecturer, and many of you spent the year reading all his books, including this one.)
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean (We got insider details about this book before it was even published, when Orlean visited the Library in 2018.)
• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (One of our most popular First Wednesday selections!)
• Educated by Tara Westover
• There There by Tommy Orange

And here are some of our favorite reads of the year:

Cedric loved Impossible Owls, a collection of essays by Brian Phillips, and a novel with a Cincinnati connection: The Sweetest Fruit by Monique Truong. The book tells the story of Lafcadio Hearn, the noted journalist and translator who lived here in the Queen City in the late 1800s.

Chris enjoyed Our Man by George Packer and Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry

Hillary and the other librarians were less decisive and had a harder time narrowing down their lists. That just means more recommendations for you.

HILLARY

• Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
• The Highway 59 mysteries by Attica Locke
• Orange World & Other Stories by Karen Russell
• Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
• Know My Name by Chanel Miller
• A Fortune for Your Disaster by Hanif Abdurraqib (She doesn’t read much poetry, but loves this collection from the brilliant, Columbus-based author.)

AL

• Wildlands by Abby Geni (Our April First Wednesday selection!)
• Trinity by Louisa Hall (Hillary seconds this!)
• Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch
• The Trojan War Museum and Other Stories by Ayse Bucak
• Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
• Nobody’s Looking at You:Essays by Janet Malcolm
• Visionary Women (Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall, Jane Jacobs, Alice Waters) by Andrea Barnet
• Feel Free by Zadie Smith
• Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie
• Horizon by Barry Lopez
• Citizen Illegal by Jose Olivarez (This poetry collection was popular among Library members.)

AMY

• Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
• Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (A very popular read for Library members this year!)
• The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (The book most likely to be on hold at the Library in 2019.)
• The Overstory by Richard Powers (A fascinating First Wednesday discussion.)
• Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright & Bradley Hope
• Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb (Everyone who checked out this book adored it.)
• A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
• Heavy by Kiese Laymon (Laymon is our 2020 Memoir lecturer!)

JASMINE

• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Internment by Samira Ahmed
• The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison