By Daniel Ford

According to GoodReads, I’ve read 102 books, totaling 31,355 pages. And that doesn’t include the dozen or so novels and nonfiction books scattered across my apartment with bookmarks in them. For those keeping track, I’m about 20 or so books off my typical pace, which I can proudly attribute to promoting my own work (Black Coffee, on sale wherever you buy your books)!

At Writer’s Bone, we love discovering new voices during this age of cultural and political angst, so it’s no surprise that more than half of the books featured here are debuts. We’ve not only lost in the stories by these incredible authors, but we’ve also learned so much about our world and our craft. Judging by the stack of 2020 titles already piling up in Writer’s Bone HQ, that trend is likely to continue unabated.

As always, this list only includes books I’ve read. That’s why you don’t see novels like K Chess’ Famous Men Who Never Lived, Attica Locke’s Heaven, My Home, Hank Phillippi Ryan’s The Murder List, Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, and Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments below. Rest assured, those works, and plenty of others, will be devoured during the podcast’s annual winter hiatus. Feel free to further add my descent into insolvency by sharing your favorites in the comments section or across our social media channels.

A special thank you to Trident Booksellers & Café, Belmont Books, Brookline Booksmith, Porter Square Books, Kew & Willow Books, I Am Books, Harvard Coop, North End Branch Library, and Ink Fish Books for all their support this year and for continuing to champion writers of all kinds.

Keep reading, and buy from your local bookstore!

50. Are You Afraid of the Dark Rum? by Sam Slaughter

Let's start with a drink, shall we? Our favorite '90s guy Sam Slaughter never disappoints when it comes to spirits and puns.

49. Freefall by Jessica Barry

Freefall could have easily been a simple plane crash and survival adventure, but Jessica Barry really crafts it into something much more. The mother and daughter relationship at the core of the story is one of the many reasons I couldn't put this down.

48. A Bound Woman Is A Dangerous Thing by DaMaris B. Hill

Extraordinary. This collection serves not only as a historical lesson about all these women, but also a call to arms to this generation.

47. Little Lovely Things by Maureen Joyce Connolly

Maureen Joyce Connolly wanted to explore "how people pull their lives together and how they move forward" in her debut thriller. You're turning the pages just as much for the characters as you are for the plot.

46. Miraculum by Steph Post

"None of the characters in Miraculum are devoid of sin," Steph Post told us earlier this year. I'll say. Those sins are damn fun to read though.

45. The Lie by William Dameron

Immersive, passionate, honest, and laugh-out-loud funny.

44. How Fires End by Marco Rafalà

You could tell Marco Rafalà had this story in his bones. A moving family drama that takes plenty of risks. Molto bene!

43. Famous in Cedarville by Erica Wright

You feel main character Samson's grief permeate off the page. His haphazard investigation into a small-town murder takes the edge off and flings us to exotic places like Los Angeles!

42. The World Doesn’t Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott

Rion Amilcar Scott explores race, love, brotherhood, and humanity through the lens of his imagined town Cross River while lighting your brain on fire with inspired prose and characters.

41. Miami Midnight by Alex Segura

I wasn't ready to let Pete Fernandez go, but Alex Segura's best writing to date made the end of this series such a treat to read. We assume Alex will continue to inspire our hunger for Cuban food in his future fiction.

40. Little Voices by Vanessa Lillie

It was a lot of fun following Vanessa Lillie's intrepid and troubled main character Devon around Providence, R.I. Oh yeah, Devon is harboring a secret you're going to want to stick around for.

39. The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla (ed.)

Necessary reading, especially with a Presidential election looming in 2020.

38. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

We won't begrudge Alex Michaelides for growing up in "in Cyprus in the Mediterranean in a house full of books." Especially when he writes fiction this twisted and thrilling.

37. Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer provides sharp observations about human nature through broken dimensions and bioengineered animals. Doesn't hurt that he's got arguably the best cover of the year as well.

36. The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini by Joe Posnanski

Joe Posnanski conjures plenty of his own wonder through his exploration of Harry Houdini's life and afterlife. A fun read that makes you think if our cynical times are still capable of producing wonder on a grand scale.

35. The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill by James Charlesworth

In between sending us other terrific authors to interview, James has been promoting his own debut The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill. It will hook you from the first sentence and never let you go. I'm still thinking about some of the things that went down (including an ugly family incident at Yankee Stadium).

34. The Way We All Became The Brady Bunch by Kim Potts

To paraphrase “A Very Brady Sequel” star Tim Matheson, "tripping with the Bradys" has never been more fun. A perfect pop culture morsel.

33. Three-Fifths by John Vercher

One gut punch after another. Yup, months later, I'm still not over it. John Vercher can write.

32. American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Marie Mitchell starts the novel fending off an armed intruder. This is after years of navigating the challenges of being an African American woman in the FBI. Wilkinson’s book deliberately winds through Marie’s life, which is packed with anger, angst, and resentment.

31. The Missing Ones by Edwin Hill

The only thing better than Edwin Hill's sophomore novel is his scholarly author beard.

30. Cape May by Chip Cheek

A sloshing good time that features sex, newlyweds, twisted friendships, and New Jersey. It's like a Springsteen song in a gin bottle.

29. A Particular Kind of Black Man by Tope Folarin

Smart and engrossing don’t even begin to describe this book. Looking forward to following Tope Folarin's career closely.

28. The East End by Jason Allen

Class is at the center of Jason Allen's debut. He beautifully depicts the issues facing rich vs. working class and tells one hell of a yarn in the process.

27. Sugar Run by Mesha Maren

Mesha Maren's debut features sentence-level beauty and charmingly broken characters you never want to leave.

26. Chances Are... by Richard Russo

I had the surreal experience of trading books with Richard Russo at one of his events in Boston. His new one is terrific and made me think of my father.

25. The Warehouse by Rob Hart

A chilling thriller that will leave you wakeful and restless into the early morning hours. While it holds a frightful mirror to real life, The Warehouse also posits that companies like Amazon are built on shoddy, flimsy facades that will eventually collapse with sustained vigilance and investigation. Sigh, I'm still an optimist.

24. The Lost Night by Andrea Bartz

On a short list of our favorite quotes of 2019: "Don’t tell me to take away the murder. That’s what I do. I’m not here for the literary coming-of-age story."

23. The Editor by Steven Rowley

Put on some Jackie O.-style sunglasses and enjoy a stiff drink while enjoying this wonderful novel from Steven Rowley. Smashing fun with powerful insights into loneliness, loss, and life.

22. Places and Names by Elliot Ackerman

It felt at times like Elliot Ackerman was across from me at a bar, telling me all of these stories. We owe him a beer in person one of these days. Illuminating prose, as always.

21. Stay Up With Hugo Best by Erin Somers

Funny, risqué, heartwarming, stomach-turning, anxiety-inducing. Sums up the human experience and the creative process all at once!

20. In West Mills by De'Shawn Charles Winslow

Azalea “Knot” Centre is one of our favorite characters of the year. De'Shawn Charles Winslow's winning The Center for Fiction's 2019 First Novel Prize is more than well deserved.

19. No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder

"Every social ill we are facing in this country intersects with domestic violence in some measure," Rachel Louise Snyder tells us. Read her gripping book to learn how and why.

18. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Miracle Creek was not only one of my favorite whodunits/family dramas of the year, but it also inspired one of my favorite NovelClass discussions in Season 3.

17. Normal People by Sally Rooney

I appreciated that this novel features two people who function like real humans who couldn't quite make their relationship happen. Still wish I had written this line: "Maybe they were just curious to observe the chemistry between two people who, over the course of several years, apparently could not leave one another alone."

16. The Border by Don Winslow

The perfect conclusion to his Art Keller series. And his support for his fellow authors remains top-notch.

15. I'm Telling the Truth, But I'm Lying by Bassey Ikpi

An emotional and mesmerizing reading experience. We're grateful Bassey Ikpi read from the essay collection on the air in Episode 374.

14. We Love Anderson Cooper by R.L. Maizes

Any of the characters we meet in R.L. Maizes' sensational debut short story collection could have spun out into their own novels. We can't wait to read more of her work.

13. The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero

Our pal James Charlesworth told us we’d fall in love with Melissa Rivero's characters and her prose, and he was absolutely right. I love how Rivero gave her main character Ana space to make mistakes and put her in uncomfortable, and, at times, harrowing situations.

12. Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

Every new Laura Lippman novel is a literary blessing. Lady in the Lake features an intrepid female reporter investigating a murder case no one wants to touch, multiple points of view, and snappy dialogue. It’s always a pleasure visiting Lippman’s Baltimore on the page (in whatever era she happens to be writing about).

11. Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout makes writing a sequel look easy. Her writing style is second to none in my book. I drop everything to read her work. It was nice to visit with Olive (one of my spirit animals) once more. Olive, again? Olive, forever.

10. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

It's crazy to think that Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys is better than his award-winning The Underground Railroad, but there's a good case to be made for that being true.

9. Correspondents by Tim Murphy

Tim Murphy's latest novel is criminally underrated. I picked it up at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris and loved every word.

8. The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

Everyone I recommended this book to this year came back to me and said a variation of "Lindsay Faye can really write, huh?" She can indeed, and this might be her best work yet.

7. Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

A tender, moving depiction of grief wrapped in taxidermy and Florida weirdness. A necessary new voice.

6. Holding On To Nothing by Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne

Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne composes such sweet, sweet music in this stirring debut. Leaves you aglow like a shot of quality whiskey. Heartbreak and angst that goes down easy.

5. We Cast A Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

A chilling satire that pairs nicely with HBO's “Watchmen” series. Ruffin's smiling presence on the book tour circuit was also a welcome respite from 2019 shenanigans.

4. Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

First of all, Laura Lippman recommended this novel to us, and we do what she says around here. Secondly, it looks great paired with the water tower tote bag we picked up at Shakespeare & Co. in New York City.

3. All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg

Jami Attenberg is the reigning, and undisputed, champion of family drama narratives. This one is pitch perfect.

2. Lot by Bryan Washington

Brutally honest, unsettling, and fiercely original.

1. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Julia Phillips' National Book Award-nominated debut was recommended to us more than any other book this year. It shattered every lofty expectation. Julia's passion for storytelling and dedication to craft assures us that this won't be her only appearance on our annual top 50 list. Masterful fiction.

Honorable Mention