RUSA 2018 Notable Books List Announced

The Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Notable Books Council, first established in 1944, has announced the 2019 selections of the Notable Books List, an annual best-of list comprised of 26 titles written for adult readers and published in the U.S. including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The winners were selected by the Notable Books Council whose members include 12 expert readers’ advisory and collection development librarians. The Council considers titles based on stellar reviews published in standard library reviewing sources and other authoritative sources.

The 2019 Notable Books List selections are:

Fiction

Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman. Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House.

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Mariner, an Imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner. Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. Viking, a division of Penguin Random House.

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje. Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House.

There There by Tommy Orange. Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House.

The Overstory by Richard Powers. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

The House of Broken Angels: A Novel by Luis Alberto Urrea. Little, Brown, and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group.

Don’t Skip Out on Me by Willy Vlautin. Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Nonfiction

High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing by Ben Austen. Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins.

American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer. Penguin Press, a division of Penguin Random House.

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight. Simon & Schuster.

Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father by Stephen Fried. Crown, a division of Penguin Random House.

Call Me American: A Memoir by Abdi Nor Iftin. Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House.

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson. Viking, a division of Penguin Random House.

Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found by Gilbert King. Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Random House.

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon. Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America by Beth Macy. Little, Brown, and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group.

The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life by David Quammen. Simon & Schuster.

Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush. Milkweed Editions.

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. Random House, a division of Penguin Random House.

Poetry

If They Come for Us: Poems by Fatimah Asghar. One World, a division of Penguin Random House.

American Sonnets for My Once and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes. Penguin Poets, a division of Penguin Random House.

The Carrying: Poems by Ada Limón. Milkweed Editions.

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