Another year done! Another decade, even! I didn't read as many books as last year, but I visited a ton more states and moved two thousand miles, so I guess that's the trade off. Some really good finds this year. Also note that since I started keeping track in 2011 I've read 705 books. Not too shabby :)
Totals:
65 books, 34 nonfiction/31 fiction
Page Count: 21,820, 10,498 NF / 11,322 fiction (GoT and Chuck Wendig really boosted fiction)
65 books, 34 nonfiction/31 fiction
Page Count: 21,820, 10,498 NF / 11,322 fiction (GoT and Chuck Wendig really boosted fiction)
Top 10 Reads of 2019
The first book in a long time that I finished and immediately read again. WONDERFUL. I'm was genuinely angry to discover it was Ms Honeyman's first book, because no one has the right to be that talented right away and I needed much more to binge! It's about a lonely woman in a bleak time of her life; it's uplifting and sweet and completely human. One of the only books since A Man Called Ove that I actually cried while reading. Recommend to anyone who has ever felt like the world is full of rules and secrets everyone else knows but you somehow missed the class on.
2. The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago - Douglas Perry
In my opinion there is nothing better than a good nonfiction read, and this one brings 1920s Chicago to life. All the women, both the murderesses and the reporter who couldn't believe men were being fooled by their beautiful facades, are depicted in a way that makes you feel like you know them. I was shocked at how much dialogue from Chicago came right out of court testimony. Highly recommend for any musical theatre or jazz age buffs.
Sam Kean seems to make my list every year he puts a new book out! (And I thought that even before he responded to a fan email I sent him.) My favorite science writer, hands down. This year's book was right up my alley, detailing the struggles of World War II scientists in their race against Nazi Germany to create the atomic bomb. This was a side of the war I hadn't learned much about, Curies, Kennedys, and other famous names abound. The outcome may seem inevitable now, but when in the beginning it seemed like the Germans would seize the prize of atomic bombs first.
Last year a biography of Clementine Churchill was one that stuck with me. This year, it's the wife of Napoleon, Josephine Bonaparte. While she certainly knew how to scheme and politic with the best of them, Napoleon truly did view her as his lucky charm and love of his life. There are some twists and turns in her fortune, but in the end she was inevitably tied to the general from Corsican, and certainly a lot of his success with those in power in France can be attributed to Josephine.
Wow, this is quite a novel. Alaska, after the Vietnam War, a family of three in a state so wild and empty (at least in terms of humans) that most of us can't really fathom it. I also reading Into the Wild this year; Alaska is a dangerous and beautiful place, maybe the last real wilderness left to us. This book features young love, but also fear. Fear of missing out, fear of physical danger, both from man and nature, and fear that comes from being somewhere completely alone, where all you have is what you can do. I didn't love the ending but the rest of the book is so good that it makes the list anyway.
This is a great companion to The Girls of Murder City, but in the Big Apple. Until the last century, poison was an ideal murder weapon, almost impossible to detect, much less be criminally convicted for, even if the death was seen as suspicious. Until Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler were put on the case, that is. This book covers many common poisons, how they kill, real life examples, and how science was able to bring them into the light, and justice. Fascinating.
Ms Obama has no interest in running for public office, but she'll be forever associated with politics. Growing up in Chicago, meeting and marrying future president Barack Obama, her experiences with presidential campaigns and living in the White House are all recounted in her down to earth style memoir. I especially appreciated her opening up about her struggles to conceive, as fertility issues are not discussed openly enough and are nothing to be ashamed about.
I'm a sucker for a good thriller, and this one is a classic for a reason. If you met someone on a train who, after both of you indulged in a few drinks, promised to eliminate a person that was causing you problems, what would your response be? And what if that troublesome person turned up dead? And now the stranger on a train is saying, "You owe me"? Gave me shivers.
Who doesn't love a good underdog story? Washington State was an underdog not just at the Olympics, but to get there as well, as fancy East Coast schools had the highest rating crew (rowing) teams. This book follows several of the boys destined to go to the Olympics through the Depression and beyond. I loved it-- humans are survivors.
I love Elizabeth Warren and intend to vote for her in the Democratic primary. This memoir covers her early life in Oklahoma, professorship at many universities including Harvard, work with financial reform and big banks, up through her successful campaign for Massachusetts Senate. I listened to this via audiobook because it's read by Senator Warren, and she's warm and funny and passionate, delightful. And very smart.
Nonfiction: I'm Sorry... Love, Your Husband: Honest, Hilarious Stories From a Father of Three Who Made All the Mistakes (And Made Up For Them)-- Clint Edwards
And now the full list, alphabetical by author, rereads marked with ***, recommendations bolded. I hope you enjoy!
Nonfiction
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- Maya Angelou
Don't Wait Up: Confessions of a Stay at Work Mom -- Liz Astrof (this one seems light at first but be warned it gets deals with the author's abusive childhood, real heavy)
James Buchanan-- Jean H Baker
Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose -- Joe Biden
***Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History -- Glen Berger
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder & the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York-- Deborah Blum
***James Madison -- Richard Brookhiser
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans & Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics -- Daniel James Brown
American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century-- Maureen Callahan
Swimming to Antarctica -- Lynne Cox
Evicted: Poverty & Profit in the American City -- Matthew Desmond
Life Itself: A Memoir -- Roger Ebert
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America -- Firoozeh Dumas
I'm Sorry... Love, Your Husband: Honest, Hilarious Stories From a Father of Three Who Made All the Mistakes (And Made Up For Them)-- Clint Edwards
My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie and Debbie - Todd Fisher
Wallace: The Underdog Who Conquered a Sport, Saved a Marriage, & Championed Pit Bulls One Flying Disc at a Time-- Jim Gorant
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed -- Lori Gottlieb
A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness and a Trove of Letters Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression -- Ted Gup
I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One on TV: Memoirs of a Middle Eastern Funny Man -- Maz Jobrani
The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb -- Sam Kean
Into the Wild -- Jon Krakuer
Little Demon in the City of Light: A Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Epoque Paris-- Steven Livingston
No Happy Endings: A Memoir -- Nora McInerny
Becoming -- Michelle Obama
Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters-- Nancy Pelosi
The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, & the Beautiful Girls Who Inspired Chicago -- Douglas Perry
On My Own-- Diane Rehm
Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross Country Adventure -- David Rosenfelt
This Land That I Love, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and the Story of Two American Anthems -- John Shaw
Better By Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong -- Alina Tugend
Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen-- Jose Antonio Vargas
A Fighting Chance -- Elizabeth Warren
Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte-- Kate Williams
A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Art of Gilbert & Sullivan-- Gayden Wren
Fiction
***The Girl With All the Gifts -- MR Carey
City of Bones-- Cassandra Clare
Boneman's Daughters-- Ted Dekker
The Wonder -- Emma Donoghue
Schoolgirl Missing -- Sue Fortin
Good Omens -- Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
E is for Evidence -- Sue Grafton
Less-- Andrew Sean Greer
The Great Alone-- Kristin Hannah
Strangers on a Train-- Patricia Highsmith
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine -- Gail Honeyman (read twice)
The Haunting of Hill House -- Shirley Jackson
Three Men in a Boat-- Jerome K Jerome
The Everything Box -- Richard Kadrey
Genuine Fraud -- E Lockhart (I would recommend it except I HATED the ending)
A Dance With Dragons -- George RR Martin
***Anne of Avonlea -- Lucy Maud Montgomery
*** Anne of the Island -- Lucy Maud Montgomery
Truly, Madly, Guilty-- Liane Moriarty
Sula -- Toni Morrison
Moving Pictures -- Terry Pratchett
Witches Abroad-- Terry Pratchett
Reaper Man-- Terry Pratchett
Small Gods-- Terry Pratchett
The House of Brass-- Ellergy Queen
***The Lightning Thief -- Rick Riordan
*** The Sea of Monsters-- Rick Riordan
Love & First Sight -- Josh Sundquist
***The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -- Mark Twain
The Fate of Mercy Alban -- Wendy Webb
Wanderers-- Chuck Wendig
