Book of the Year 2019 – the long list!

My Book of the Year for 2019 is…

one of the following.

Book of the Year 2019 long list

I long list nearly all of those I’ve given five stars on Goodreads during the year. So those are (links to my reviews here):

• Sapo Saga by Tony Laplume (scifi)
• The A-Zs of Worldbuilding: Building Fictional Worlds from Scratch by Rebekah Loper (non-fic)
• The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths (crime)
• ‘Kill the Black One First’ by Michael Fuller (non-fic)
• Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer (non-fic)
• Galileo’s Theme Park ed. by Juliana Rew (scifi, anthology)
• Cosmic Colin: Hairy Hamster Horror by Tim Collins (scifi, mg)
• Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Torro (dark fantasy)
• The Unwinding: Gin’s Story by Juliana Rew (scifi)
• Oceans (Frontiers of Speculative Fiction) ed. by Jessica West (spec fiction, anthology)
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (fantasy)
• The Witches by Roald Dahl (mg)
• Witchbone Winter – the Goblin’s Tale by Alex Norton (fantasy, mg)
• Starry Night by Rhonda Parrish (scifi novella)
• Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor (historical suspense)
• Deeplight by Frances Hardinge (scifi, mg)
• Secrets of the Great Fire Tree by Justine Laismith (mg)
• The Earthkeepers by Shawn Underhill (fantasy, mg)
• Death by Library by Rebecca M Douglass (cosy mystery)
• My Sister’s Bones by Nuala Ellwood (suspense)
• Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers (scifi)

That’s 21 out of 58. It’s a couple more than my average.  I think the number of excellent Netgalley offerings helped that.

This year I’m going to award some genre prizes, since I have a lot of scifi/fantasy/speculative fiction to pick from, and lots of 5 star mg and non-fiction reads, which is unusual.

Best Speculative Fiction (inc. scifi and fantasy)

Really difficult choice between The Unwinding: Gin’s Story, The Scorpio Races and Record of a Spaceborn Few…..

and the winner is:

[bctt tweet=”‘a wild story, full of harsh island life, and legends, and twists and turns. It’s compelling, engrossing, and makes you wonder why nobody’s told you about this book before’ THE SCORPIO RACES – my Book of 2019 #awards” username=”jemima_pett”]

Best MG/Teen

The winner is:

[bctt tweet=”‘I really enjoyed the danger that they walked inexorably into. This is a cracking good story, full of things to exercise your imagination.’ DEEPLIGHT – my Book of 2019 (MG/teen) #awards #deeplight” username=”jemima_pett”]

Best non-fiction

The winner is:

[bctt tweet=”‘Sensitively and powerfully written, and thought-provoking from start to finish. This is a brilliant book.’ ‘KILL THE BLACK ONE FIRST’ – my Book of the Year 2019 #biography #awards #killtheblackonefirst” username=”jemima_pett”]

Book of the year 2019

even more difficult choice between The Scorpio Races, Record of a Spaceborn Few, The Stone Circle, Ashes of London, My Sister’s Bones and Deeplight…

and the winner is:

oh, heck… I really can’t decide.  Pick any of them, they’re brilliant.

[bctt tweet=”Can you choose my Book of 2019 from The Scorpio Races, Record of a Spaceborn Few, The Stone Circle, Ashes of London, My Sister’s Bones, and Deeplight? I can’t! #awards #5star #books” username=”jemima_pett”]

Watch out for the Book of 2019 Giveaway Hop starting on 15th January!