By Terri Schlichenmeyer, February 2020 Issue.

Like

the saying goes: so many books, so little time.Here are the can’t-miss,

shouldn’t-skip books of 2019.

Fiction

If

the subject of death can be taken lightly, there’s no better way than in How

Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper. It’s the story of a man who works in

London as a finder: when someone dies, the people in his office are tasked with

locating the survivors of the deceased. That’s not the funny part; the humor

comes in a blurted statement that literally takes on a life of its own, and the

lengths the man goes to perpetuate it. Clever, witty, perfect.

Lovers

of Mark Twain’s adventure books will relish This Tender Land by William

Kent Krueger, the story of two boys who run away from an Indian Training School

in 1932, and they head down the Mississippi to escape the adults who want them

back. Lush, exciting, and irresistible, this novel will fill a good evening or

two.

What

can you say about a book that starts off with an attempted suicide? That’s Talk

to Me by John Kenney, and that’s what happens after a TV newscaster insults

a temporary worker and because of it, his life falls completely apart. Media

folks will particularly enjoy this story, but if you’re a news junkie or a

hardline TV watcher, you’ll love it, too.

If

you’ve already seen the movie about Harriet Tubman, then you know the kind of

treat you’re in for when you read The Tubman Command by Elizabeth Cobbs.

Taking one small event from Tubman’s life, this novel blows it up big and makes

it exciting, while reminding readers that Tubman was a woman, first and

foremost. For readers who need a novel that means something, this is it. (Tip:

get it in an audiobook, for the full effect).

And,

last but not least in the fiction category, American Pop by Snowden

Wright is a sweeping, multigenerational novel about a family whose patriarch

creates a drink sensation. When he passes the business down to his scheming children,

interesting – and heart-wrenching – things begin to happen.

Non-Fiction

For

political animals and those who are tired of politics as usual, Palm

Beach, Mar-A-Lago, and the Rise of America’s Xanadu by Les Standiford is a

book to read. It’s a biography of a place and the people who made it, and it’s

also a history of us, our need to explore, our adventurous spirit, and

our forever fascination with celebrities.

You

don’t have to have visited Las Vegas, nor do you have to remember the Rat Pack

to enjoy Elvis in Vegas by Richard Zoglin. Sure, it helps, but loving

glitz, glamour, entertainers, and scandal is really all you need to want this

book.

It’s

not cheating to put together Bitten by Kris Newby and Mosquito by

Timothy C. Winegard in one Best Of list, because they really belong

side-by-side on your shelf. Newby’s book is about all the things that can bite

you and maybe kill you. Winegard’s book is about one thing that bites and kills

more humans than any other creature. How can you resist books like those?

And

then there’s The League of Wives by Heath Hardage Lee, a book about the

wives of the men who served in Vietnam and were captured, and what these brave

women did for themselves, their husbands, and others to bring their men home.

If you remember the war — or if you didn’t — you owe it to yourself to read

this hidden history.

Children’s

Books

It’s

going to be hard to decide if the story in Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o is

the better part of the book, or if the illustrations by Vashti Harrison are the

better reason to have it. Either way, this beautiful book is about a little

girl who learns to come to terms with the tone of her skin in a way that’s

magical. Story or illustrations? Both.

Kids

ages 7-12 will love the slightly-creepy story of friendship in The

Afterwards by A.F. Harrold, illustrated by Emily Gravett. It’s the story of

a girl who finds a garden in which things that are dead, aren’t quite dead.

When she discovers her best friend in the garden, she must make a hard, hard

decision. Bonus: borrow it back for a wonderful reminder of childhood

friendships.

And

rounding out the Best of Children’s Books for 2019 is Fraternity by

Alexandra Robbins, who takes a look at college fraternities and some young men

who joined them. It’s an eye-opener for teens who are heading to college soon,

and it’ll give parents something to think about and discuss.