# Best Books You Read This Year **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-you-read-this-year/845636 "2019-12-30T22:38:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-you-read-this-year/845636/1 "2019-12-30T22:38:02Z")
Note that these don’t have to have been published this year. I’m only including books I read for the first time, but you can choose ones you’ve reread. I’m doing my Top Ten, but feel free to put in as few or as many as you choose. 1. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou 2. The Control of Nature, by John McPhee 3. Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik 4. The Library Book, by Susan Orlean 5. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 6. Good Omens, or The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 7. Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz 8. The Starship and the Canoe, by Kenneth Brower 9. Bunch of Amateurs: Inside America’s Hidden World of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Job Creators, by Jack Hitt 10. Early Riser, by Jasper Fforde ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-you-read-this-year/845636/2 "2019-12-30T23:22:55Z")
Looking over the books I read this past year, I see that the ones to which I gave 5 stars on Goodreads are _Math With Bad Drawings_, by Ben Orlin _So Brave, Young and Handsome_, by Leif Enger _Joyland_, by Stephen King _The Wind Through the Keyhole_, by Stephen King _The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage_, by Sydney Padua