Welcome to the 15th annual Year in Reading series at The Millions. When site founder C. Max Magee first put together his year-end reading reflections in the early 2000s, no one suspected that a blog post would eventually grow into a series that has featured hundreds of writers and readers: librarians, critics, bloggers, journalists, essayists, poets, and fiction writers ranging from just-starting-out to just-won-a-Pulitzer-Prize. What the participants have in common is that they are loving, devoted readers.
To celebrate its 15th year, this December’s series is, at 90-something contributors, the most crowded yet. As in every year, entries turn out not to be mere lists of books, but records of time passing–there were births and deaths, moves and separations and career changes. As in every year, some books pop up again and again in contributors’ collections of memorable reading experiences. And as in every year, we guarantee you will conclude the month with at least one book to add to your TBR pile.
The names of our 2019 contributors will be unveiled throughout the month as entries are published (starting with our traditional opener from Languagehat’s Stephen Dodson later this morning). Bookmark this post, load up the main page, subscribe to our RSS feed, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to make sure you don’t miss an entry — we’ll run at least three per day for the next three weeks.
Stephen Dodson, proprietor of Languagehat.
Ayşe Papatya Bucak, author of The Trojan War Museum and Other Stories.
Shea Serrano, author of Movies (And Other Things)
Dantiel W. Moniz, author of the forthcoming collection Milk Blood Heat.
Andrea Long Chu, author of Females.
De’Shawn Charles Winslow, author of In West Mills.
Omar El Akkad, author of American War.
Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Sabrina & Corina: Stories
Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine.
Isabella Hammad, author of The Parisian.
Nayomi Munaweera, author of What Lies Between Us.
Marcos Gonsalez, author of the forthcoming memoir Pedro’s Theory.
Max Porter, author of Lanny.
Yan Lianke, author of The Explosion Chronicles.
Lauren Michele Jackson, author of White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue … and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation.
Catherine Lacey, author of the forthcoming novel Pew.
Sonya Chung, staff writer for The Millions, author of The Loved Ones.
Carolyn Quimby, associate editor for The Millions.
Nick Ripatrazone, staff writer for The Millions, author of Longing for an Absent God.
Garth Risk Hallberg, contributing editor for The Millions, author of City on Fire.
Jianan Qian, staff writer for The Millions.
Nick Moran, special projects editor for The Millions.
Kate Gavino, social media editor for The Millions, author of Last Night’s Reading and Sanpaku.
Adam O’Fallon Price, staff writer for The Millions, author of The Grand Tour and The Hotel Neversink.
Merve Emre, author of The Personality Brokers.
Rion Amilcar Scott, author of The World Doesn’t Require You.
Devi S. Laskar, author of The Atlas of Reds and Blues.
Jason R Jimenez, author of The Wolves.
Iva Dixit, associate editor at The New York Times Magazine.
Jennifer Croft, author of Homesick.
Venita Blackburn, author of Black Jesus and Other Superheroes.
C Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold.
Jedediah Britton-Purdy, author of This Land Is Our Land: The Struggle for a New Commonwealth.
Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth.
Osita Nwanevu, staff writer at The New Republic.
Jennine Capó Crucet, author of My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education.
Kate Zambreno, author of Appendix Project (Semiotext(e)’s Native Agents) and Screen Tests.
Chanelle Benz, author of The Gone Dead.
John Lingan, author of Homeplace: A Southern Town, a Country Legend, and the Last Days of a Mountaintop Honky-Top
Beatrice Kilat, a writer and editor living in Oakland, Calif.
T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls.
Grace Loh Prasad, a contributor to the anthology Six Words Fresh Off the Boat: Stories of Immigration, Identity and Coming to America.
Kaulie Lewis, staff writer for The Millions.
Il’ja Rákoš, staff writer for The Millions.
Zoë Ruiz, staff writer for The Millions.
Ed Simon, staff writer for The Millions.
Edan Lepucki, staff writer and contributing editor for The Millions, author of California.
Hannah Gersen, staff writer for The Millions and the author of Home Field.
Matt Seidel staff writer for The Millions.
Bill Morris, staff writer for The Millions, author of Motor City Burning.
Rene Denfeld, author of The Butterfly Girl.
Bridgett M. Davis, author of The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers.
Anita Felicelli, author of Love Songs for a Lost Continent.
Oscar Villalon, managing editor of ZYZZYVA.
Terese Mailhot, author of Heart Berries: A Memoir.
Jenny Offill, author of Last Things and Dept. of Speculation.
Joseph Cassara, author of novel The House of Impossible Beauties.
Daniel Levin Becker, senior editor at McSweeney’s.
Nishant Batsha, a writer whose work has appeared in Narrative, TriQuarterly, and The Believer.
Mike Isaac, author of Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.
Andrew Martin, author of Early Work.
Kate Petersen, a writer whose work has appeared in Tin House, New England Review, Kenyon Review, and Paris Review Daily.
Anne Serre, author of The Fool & Other Moral Tales.
Tanaïs, author of Bright Lines and creator of independent beauty and fragrance house Hi Wildflower.
Sophia Shalmiyev, author of Mother Winter.
Grace Talusan, author of The Body Papers.
Anne K. Yoder, staff writer for The Millions.
Michael Bourne, staff writer for The Millions.
Marie Myung-Ok Lee, staff writer for The Millions.
Lydia Kiesling, contributing editor at The Millions and the author of The Golden State.
Thomas Beckwith, staff writer for The Millions.
Roberto Lovato, teacher, journalist and writer based at the Writers Grotto in San Francisco, California.
Dustin Kurtz, Social Media Manager for Catapult, Counterpoint, and Soft Skull.
Kevin Barry, author of novel Night Boat to Tangier.
Susan Straight, author of In the Country of Women.
Don’t miss: A Year in Reading 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
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