The twists and turns of these 30 Texas novels, nonfiction narratives, and other works published between January 2010 and December 2019 reveal undercurrents that run deep through our Lone Star Statea whole decades worth. All of these authors have significant Texas ties: They were born here, raised here, write here now, or had significant parts of their lives shaped by the states traditions and history.

To deliver this inclusive roundup, we sought help from the Lone Star States literati. Our informal survey turned up celebrated gemsand some surprises. Youll find multiple entries from big cities like Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, and El Paso. But outstanding Texas authors also inhabit little towns like Utopia, tucked deep in the Texas Hill Country, and Groves, in Southeast Texas. Three of the darkest Texas narratives here made other lists of the nations best true crime stories: Bloodlines, Midnight in Mexico, and The Midnight Assassin.

Feel free to use this as your boilerplate request to Santa, or as an investment strategy to support icons of Lone Star State literature.

Heres our list, organized by cities closely tied to authors. Read all 30 and let us know what else youd like to add.

These nominations were compiled and edited for length and clarity by Lise Olsen.

AMARILLO

Lincoln in the Bardoby George Saunders

The life of Abraham Lincoln may seem like an improbable way into exploring the psyche of a grieving father. But through a world of spirits both demonic and benevolent, the debut novel (yes, really) from Amarillo native Saunders gives new depth to the 16th presidentnot as a politician, but as a man trying to keep it together in the face of tragedy.

Nominated by Abby Johnston, executive editor

AUSTIN

Barefoot Dogs: Storiesby Antonio Ruiz-Camacho

These interwoven stories by Ruiz-Camacho, a Dobie Paisano Fellow who lives in Austin, capture what our review called the flawed but fascinating humanity of the extended Arteaga family: five children and seven grandchildren of kidnapped family patriarch Jos Victoriano.

Nominated by Rose Cahalan, managing editor

Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynastyby Melissa del Bosque

A fascinating and fast-paced tale of how a Texan blew the whistle on a pair of brothers who laundered millions through horse racing. Del Bosques vivid, meticulous book, born from border reporting she did at the Observer, was recently selected by the New York Times as one of Texas best true crime tales.

Nominated by Lise Olsen, senior reporter and editor

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American Historyby S.C. Gwynne

The deeply researched and compelling epic tale of Quanah Parker, the Comanches last brilliant chief, is intertwined with that of his mother, a pioneer girl who built her life with the tribe after being taken captive and marrying its leader. Gwynne later went on to write about Stonewall Jackson.

Nominated by Lise Olsen

God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star Stateby Lawrence Wright

Including a book explaining Texas on a list of the best Texas books of the decade might feel a little meta, but Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wright deserves it. God Save Texas takes on a formidable task: attempting to explain why, despite its flaws, Texas is great. Wright, who now lives in Austin, originally hails from Dallas.

Nominated by Abby Johnston and Lise Olsen

Im Not Missing: A Novelby Carrie Fountain

This YA novel from Fountain, primarily known as a poet, explores a young womans life after the disappearance of her best friend. This captivated me, Observer poetry editor Naomi Shihab Nye wrote. Poets take refuge in novels on long trips and long plane flights. I held this close to my body and read it with voracious interest!

Nominated by Naomi Shihab Nye, poetry editor

See How Smallby Scott Blackwood

A riveting novel about the aftermath of the slayings of three teenage girls, See How Small is written in surreal, incantatory paragraphs. The story is based on the infamous 1991 yogurt shop murders in Austin.

Nominated by Mary Helen Specht, contributing writer and author of Migratory Animals

The Sonby Philipp Meyer

Meyer drank buffalo blood as part of his research for this sweeping Texas epic, which follows one family for six generations. Its recommended for fans of Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner, as well as anyone looking to get lost in an absorbing, expansive novel. Meyer is an alum of the University of Texas Michener Center and later adapted his book for TV.

Nominated by Rose Cahalan

The Which Way Treeby Elizabeth Crook

Our review called this book a foray into the labyrinths of family and history in Texas and an absorbing coming-of-age adventure set in post-Civil War chaos, a time when not all that many people came to all that much of an age. And, as with Im Not Missing, Naomi Shihab Ney highly recommends it as a great read for long flights.

Nominated by Naomi Shihab Nye

BROWNSVILLE

The Boy Kings of Texas: A Memoirby Domingo Martinez

Martinez left Texas long ago, but his books draw deeply from his painful youth in the barrio in Brownsville, as well as his later struggles as an adult. He was coronated as a literary king when his first memoir was named a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award.

Nominated by Lilly Gonzalez, executive director of the San Antonio Book Festival

DALLAS

Love Me Backby Merritt Tierce

Tierces quirky debut novel has been described alternatively as restaurant fiction and mom fiction. She breaks out of Texas stereotypes while still representing important experiences from our stateand her narrative voice is both edgy and dark. Tierce now works as a writer for Netflix in Los Angeles, but formerly ran a nonprofit in Dallas.

Nominated by Mary Helen Specht

The Midnight Assassin: The Hunt for Americas First Serial Killerby Skip Hollandsworth

A master of truly strange Texas tales, Hollandsworth turns his attention to a 140-year-old unsolved mystery. His book brings back to life the victims of a serial ax murderer dubbed the servant girl annihilator, reopening the whodunnit debate in an extremely cold case. Like others on this list, Hollandsworth claims ties to more than one Texas cityhe spent part of his childhood in Wichita Falls.

Nominated by Lise Olsen

EL PASO

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universeby Benjamin Alire Senz

Nominator Lilly Gonzalez dubbed this coming-of-age novel set in El Paso a painful triumph. Saenz, born in New Mexico, is both a former priest and a graduate of the University of Texas El Pasos bilingual creative writing program.

Nominated by Lilly Gonzalez

Midnight in Mexico: A Reporters Journey Through a Countrys Descent into Madnessby Alfredo Corchado

Named one of the true best crime books ever by Time, this memoir delves deeply into a particularly violent chapter in Mexico history that Corchado experienced firsthandboth as a Mexican-born U.S. citizen and as a Texas journalist who returned to cover Mexico as a foreign correspondent for the Dallas Morning News. Corchado spent much of his life in El Paso, where his parents run a caf named after him.

Nominated by Lise Olsen

FRIENDSWOOD

Friendswood: A Novelby Rene Steinke

This novel is an illuminating journey inside the lives of the families who inhabit the Houston suburb of Friendswood. Everything seems normal on the surface, but the community is forever haunted and contaminated by a Superfund site. Steinke, who lives in New York but grew up in Friendswood, paints a deeply poetic and disturbing fictional portrait of her hometown.

Nominated by Lise Olsen

GALVESTON

No Apparent Distress: A Doctors Coming-of-Age on the Front Lines of American Medicineby Rachel Pearson

In lyrical prose, Pearson recounts her time working at a charity clinic for poor and uninsured patients in Galveston. Many of the people she cared for were abandoned by a local hospital in the chaos after Hurricane Ike. This searing indictment of the broken health care system is grounded in personal stories.

Nominated by Rose Cahalan

GROVES

Tropic of Squalor: Poemsby Mary Karr

Karr teaches writing at Syracuse University these days, but her roots are deep in East Texas. Her offbeat creative nonfiction is all about alcohol, insanity, and family secrets. But this 2018 poetry collection uses humor, shock, and good old-fashioned honesty to write about the divine! And Karr doesnt judge. Of course, her memoirs are must-reads too.

Nominated by Maggie Galehouse, editor of Pulse Magazine and former book editor at the Houston Chronicle

HOUSTON

Bluebird, Bluebird: A Highway 59 Mystery #1by Attica Locke

The debut of Lockes Highway 59 series, which features an African American detective in East Texas, was hailed by Publishers Weekly as a tale of racism, hatred, and, surprisingly, love. The sequel, Heaven, My Home, released in 2019, unearths even more compelling Texas secrets. Now a screenwriter and producer in Los Angeles, Locke is originally from Houston.

Nominated by Rose Cahalan

The Boy Who Loved Too Much: A True Story of Pathological Friendlinessby Jennifer Latson

A compelling narrative portrait, The Boy Who Loved Too Much follows the life of a mother raising a son with Williams syndrome, a genetic condition that prompts uncontrollable displays of love and emotion. Latson spent years observing this pair and places her readers deeply into their lives and struggles.

Nominated by Lise Olsen

Crazy Rich Asiansby Kevin Kwan

Its a little-known fact that Kwan, whose wildly popular satirical novel is set in Singapore, attended high school in the Clear Lake suburb of Houston. His prose is fresh and delicious, like bubbling champagne overflowing a glass.

Nominated by Maggie Galehouse

Lot: Storiesby Bryan Washington

Lot described parts of Houston I know but have never seen in books, and people Ive seen but never met, wrote Gwendolyn Zepeda, editor of Houston Noir. It was heartbreaking and filled me with hope. Manyagreed: Lot was nominated for this list by four people in our circle of critics.

Nominated by Gwen Zepeda, author and editor, and three others

Oleander Girl: A Novelby Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Divakaruni spins a complex cross-cultural romance and mystery. This tale plunges the reader into the life of an Indian woman on the verge of an arranged marriage who learns a secret that forces her to detour to America. Originally from India herself, Divakaruni is a professor at the University of Houstons creative writing program and has published more than a dozen novels.

The rest is here:

The 30 Best Texas Books of The Decade, from Amarillo to Utopia - The Texas Observer