This week on the podcast a special edition with our critics Dwight Garner, Jennifer

Salai and Parle Siggle as they talk about what it means to be a best book and how they

compiled their respective top 10 lists of 2019.

Plus we'll talk about what we and the wider world are reading.

This is the Booker V Podcast from The New York Times.

I'm Pamela Paul.

It's the end of the year and so it's list time and our three critics Dwight Garner,

Parle Siggle and Jennifer Salai have come up with their 10 best books of 2019.

They join us now to talk about those books a little bit about the process and the difficulty

of coming up with lists like these Dwight, Jen, Parle, thanks for being here.

Hey Pamela.

Hi Pamela.

How natural is this process?

I mean is this something that you're thinking of from the very beginning of the year when

you're choosing your books or is this like, oh my god it's November and we need to think

about it?

For me it's the latter.

I mean I feel like I was surprised again even though I shouldn't have been surprised

that all of a sudden we were putting together our lists.

I think I'm always thinking about it.

I think that's just I'm always even just like weighing one book against the other ones

that I've read just naturally just before you start flinging around adjectives.

...