
To close out this year on The Stacks we’re sharing our favorite books of 2019. We brought back friend of the podcast, past guest, and avid reader Lauren Fanella. Today Lauren and Traci each share their top five books of 2019, see how their 2018 predictions held up, and look ahead at the books they are most excited for in 2020.
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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.
- “Ep. 15 Talking Unconventional Women with Lauren Fanella” (The Stacks)
- “Ep. 16 Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore — The Stacks Book Club” (The Stacks)
- “The Short Stacks 3: The Best of 2018//Lauren Fanella “ (The Stacks)
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
- Know My Name by Chanel Miller
- Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
- Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
- MacArthur Fellows
- Ocean Vuong
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
- Our Bodies and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
- Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom
- “The Short Stacks 23: Tressie McMillan Cottom//Thick” (The Stacks)
- Bunny by Mona Awad
- Heathers (Michael Lehmann, 1989)
- The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff
- “The Short Stacks 21: Grarrett M. Graff//The Only Plane in the Sky” (The Stacks)
- Normal People by Sally Rooney

- Conversation with Friends by Sally Rooney
- “See the first photos from Hulu’s adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People“ (Ruth Kinane, Entertainment Weekly)
- How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones
- Saeed Jones on Twitter
- It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders (NPR)
- “Interview: Writer And Poet Saeed Jones On ‘How We Fight For Our Lives'” (It’s Been A Minute with Sam Sanders, NPR)
- Heavy by Kiese Laymon
- Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
- Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
- Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
- Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
- Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
- “Ep. 89 Staying True to Yourself with Jason Reynolds” (The Stacks)
- Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
- Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
- Little, Brown & Company
- Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
- Marvel Comic Cinematic Universe
- Jesmyn Ward
- Kiese Laymon
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Cleaness by Garth Greenwell
- Stephanie Danler
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Lot by Bryan Washington
- “The Short Stacks 10: Bryan Washington//Lot” (The Stacks)
- “The Short Stacks 22: Ibram X. Kendi//How to Be an Antiracist” (The Stacks)
- Memorial by Bryan Washington
- Riverhead
- Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
- Fight of the Century edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman
- Avid Reader Press
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Marlon James
- Dave Eggers
- Morgan Parker
- Ann Patchett
- Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Stray by Stephanie Danler
- Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
- Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham
- Jenna Wortham
- Still Processing (The New York Times)
- One World
- The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Good Talk by Mira Jacobs
- Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
- Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
- Scribner
- The Mothers by Brit Bennett
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- Knopf
- Old Fourth Ward by Tayari Jones
- The Source of Self Regard by Toni Morrison
- What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey
Connect with Lauren: Instagram
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