ten top books of 2019
Prince, The Beautiful Ones
At the time of Prince’s sudden death in 2016, it seemed as though his just-announced memoir–of which he only managed to write an unfinished draft–would never see the light of day. But then as news trickled out that Prince never left a written will, the unthinkable happened: The sealed vault cracked open, and with it The Beautiful Ones came to be, which captures a colorful portrait of the pop star that uses his archives to fill in the gaps of his life that he never got around to writing about. The Purple One never really left us, did he? penguinrandomhouse.com
Marlon James, Black Leopard, Red Wolf
The Jamaican-born Macalester professor Marlon James is the Man Booker Prize-winning author of A Brief History of Seven Killings, and made his journey into epic fantasy with this year’s sprawling and National Book Award-nominated Black Leopard, Red Wolf, a Game of Thrones-meets-Africa genre exercise taking the form into uncharted territory. The beginning of a new trilogy that’s destined to become a blockbuster, it’s currently being adapted into a TV series by Michael B. Jordan. penguinrandomhouse.com
Claudia Rankine, The White Card
The renowned poet, essayist, and author of Citizen brings her incisive social commentary to The White Card. Claudia Rankine's first play is about the divisions between white and black society, concerning art, ownership, and representation. Published by local powerhouse Graywolf Press, it’s also currently being adapted by Talvin Wilks at Penumbra Theater to make its regional debut in February. graywolfpress.org
Bill Lindeke and Andy Sturdevant, Closing Time
You may remember this Twin Cities bar-history book from our October cover story—but the full story is worth the read. Gift a Minnesota history buff this book (published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in November 2019) detailing the history of saloons around town, starting with an 1830s rum trader named Pig’s Eye Parrant. Pairs well with whiskey, we imagine. mnhs.org
Lyz Lenz, God Land
Four years ago, Lyz Lenz was a Midwestern wife and Christian—and then she wasn’t anymore. Over the course of the 2016 election cycle, she started seriously questioning her own Evangelical faith and what it means to be a Christian in the U.S. as her marriage crumbled and the country divided. In the wake of the biggest shake-up in Lenz’s life, she began searching for the true meaning of faith—what she had lost along the way, and what it could (and should) mean to her in the future. iupress.indiana.edu
Jim Moore, Hunks and Heroes
If you’re looking to spiff up a coffee table, might we recommend Roseville native Jim Moore’s Hunks and Heroes photobook? Curating 40 years of the GQ creative director’s work, the glossy book is an inside account of how the men’s fashion magazine became so influential, beginning with a Q&A foreword by Kanye West. rizzoliusa.com
Jessica Lange, Highway 61
We all know Jessica Lange the actress, but do you know Jessica Lange the photographer? In Highway 61, her third collection of photography, the Cloquet native documents the storied route once mythologized by Bob Dylan, travelling by car from northern Minnesota down to New Orleans to mark its changes, places, and people along the way. Celebs, they’re just like us! penguinrandomhouse.com
David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee
An Ojibwe from northern Minnesota, David Treuer’s The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, a finalist for the National Book Awards, melds reporting with memoir as he retells the story of Native Americans, from first contact to their ongoing survival. The mainstream narrative, as written in the 1970 book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, is that Native civilization was essentially doomed after the massacre at Wounded Knee. But Treuer’s research flips that notion on its head, sharing a tale of a resilient people preserving their culture despite colonization and forced assimilation. penguinrandomhouse.com
Karen Babine, All the Wild Hungers
What do you feed somebody who has cancer? That was the question on Karen Babine’s mind when her mother was diagnosed with a rare form of the disease. In All the Wild Hungers, a collection of essays that contemplate the intersection of food, family, and illness, Babine serves up a healing dish of comfort that will feed the soul. milkweed.org
Jack El-Hai, The Lost Brothers
Local author and journalist Jack El-Hai reopens a case more than 60 years old with The Lost Brothers, a look back on what happened to the missing Klein brothers—three children who disappeared in 1951 and their intrepid parents who never gave up on the search. Got a true-crime lover on your gift list? Consider this very real, very local story from University of Minnesota Press. upress.umn.edu
