Books of 2019

Here it is - an overview of my year of reading!  Books broaden our horizons, offer unique perspectives on life, help us to process the world and the events going on around us, while providing an escape from reality at times.  I love looking at the cover of a book and remembering where I was when I read it.  This year I read books on our Alaska trip, on road trips, at local coffee shops, and listened to audiobooks while hiking or walking the dog.  I read a few newbies from favorite authors (Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys, Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls, Barbara Kingsolver's Unsheltered, Stephen King's The Institute), explored some new authors (Sally Rooney's Normal People, Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties, Candice Carty-Williams' Queenie), read some award-winners (Florida, The Indian World of George Washington) and some lesser known titles (The Intuitionist, The Ensemble, The Whale: A Love Story).  I loved everything I read by Toni Morrison, John Boyne, Barbara Kingsolver and Ruth Ware.  I explored a variety of genres and discovered that I really enjoy long, drawn-out sagas (The Thorn Birds), thrillers (The Turn of the Key), and nonfiction (A Marriage in Dog Years, and Mama's Last Hug).  I tried to get into some fantasy stories (Black Leopard, Red Wolf, and Children of Blood and Bone), but realized that I just couldn't wrap my mind around this genre.  I also read a lot of books about mindfulness and awareness of how we devote our attention (Mindful Birthing, How To Do Nothing, and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck).  I listened to audiobooks from the library and, as always, I am so appreciative of my book club and the variety of titles my group chose for the year, from Braiding Sweetgrass and Beloved, to Let the Great World Spin and Ladder to the Sky.

Here are my top 19 books from 2019:
The Heart's Invisible Furies, by John Boyne
Three Women, by Lisa Taddeo
City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough
The Light of the World, by Elizabeth Alexander
Moral Resilience: Transforming Moral Suffering in Healthcare, by Cynda Rushton
So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo
A Marriage in Dog Years, by Nancy Balbirer
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson
A Ladder to the Sky, by John Boyne
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Whale: A Love Story, by Mark Beauregard
The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt
Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves, by Frans de Waal
The Friend, by Sigrid Nunez


And the complete list from the year: 

Give Me Your Hand	Abbot, Megan
The Optimistic Decade	Abel, Heather
Golden Child	Adam, Claire
Children of Blood and Bone	Adeyemi, Tomi
The Power	Alderman, Naomi
The Light of the World	Alexander, Elizabeth
Shout	Anderson, Laurie Halse
Morning in the Burned House	Atwood, Margaret
Longbourn	Baker, Jo
A Marriage in Dog Years	Balbirer, Nancy
The Fix	Baldacci, David
The Dakota Winters	Barbash, Tom
Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body, and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond	Bardacke, Nancy
The Whale: A Love Story	Beauregard, Mark
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas	Boyne, John
A Ladder to the Sky	Boyne, John
The Heart's Invisible Furies	Boyne, John
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me	Brodeur, Adrienne
Mean Streak	Brown, Sandra
The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation	Calloway, Colin G.
Queenie	Carty-Williams, Candice
The House of Impossible Beauties	Cassara, Joseph
Grant	Chernow, Ron
A Life in Parts	Cranston, Bryan
Eight Hundred Grapes	Dave, Laura
Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves	de Waal, Frans
French Exit	deWitt, Patrick
We Never Asked for Wings	Diffenbaugh, Vanessa
The Idiot	Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
America's First Daughter	Dray, Stephanie
Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Executives	Dye, Carson F.
Birthing from Within	England, Pam
The Story of the Lost Child	Ferrante, Elena
The Beautiful and the Damned	Fitzgerald, F. Scott
This Side of Paradise	Fitzgerald, F. Scott
The Ensemble	Gabel, Aja
Neverwhere	Gaiman, Neil
Lethal White	Galbraith, Robert
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth	Gaskin, Ina May
City of Girls	Gilbert, Elizabeth
The Last American Man	Gilbert, Elizabeth
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls	Gray, Anissa
Less	Greer, Andrew Sean
When All is Said	Griffin, Anne
The Reckoning	Grisham, John
Florida	Groff, Lauren
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion	Haidt, Jonathan
Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet	Halifax, Joan
Before the Fall	Hawley, Noah
The Children of Jocasta	Haynes, Natalie
The Beantown Girls	Healey, Jane
The Sun Also Rises	Hemingway, Ernest
A Farewell to Arms	Hemingway, Ernest
Loudermilk	Ives, Lucy
Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family	Jackson, Mitchell S.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf	James, Marlon
The Snakes	Jones, Sadie
An American Marriage	Jones, Tayari
The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters	Kashner, Sam
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants	Kimmerer, Robin Wall
The Institute	King, Stephen
Unsheltered	Kingsolver, Barbara
I Owe You One	Kinsella, Sophie
How Toddlers Thrive	Klein, Tovah P.
This Tender Land	Krueger, William Kent
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions	Kuhn, Thomas S.
The Court Dancer	Kyung-sook, Shin
Crudo	Laing, Olivia
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive	Land, Stephanie
The Piano Teacher	Lee, Janice Y.K.
Number One Chinese Restaurant	Li, Lillian
Her Body and Other Parties	Machado, Carmen Maria
No One Tells You This	MacNicol, Glynnis
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life	Manson, Mark
The Garden Party	Mazur, Grace Dane
Let the Great World Spin	McCann, Colum
Cities of the Plain	McCarthy, Cormac
The Crossing	McCarthy, Cormac
The Thorn Birds	McCullough, Colleen
The Wright Brothers	McCullough, David
The Sisters	McTiernan, Dervla
The Silent Patient	Michaelides, Alex
Michelin Must Sees: Alaska	Michelin
Circe	Miller, Madeline
The Song of Achilles	Miller, Madeline
The Starless Sea	Morgenstern, Erin
The Tattooist of Auschwitz	Morris, Heather
Beloved	Morrison, Toni
God Help the Child	Morrison, Toni
The Bluest Eye	Morrison, Toni
The Clockmaker's Daughter	Morton, Kate
The Giver of Stars	Moyes, Jojo
The Girl You Left Behind	Moyes, Jojo
Elmet	Mozley, Fiona
Norwegian Wood	Murakami, Haruki
The Devil's Star	Nesbo, Jo
The Friend	Nunez, Sigrid
Becoming	Obama, Michelle
How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy	Odell, Jenny
Who Fears Death	Okorafor, Nnedi
So You Want To Talk About Race	Oluo, Ijeoma
Don't Call Me Princess: Essays on Girls, Women, Sex, and Life	Orenstein, Peggy
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming	Oreskes, Naomi
Pieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate	Ostby, Anne
Where the Crawdads Sing	Owens, Delia
Lullaby	Palahniuk, Chuck
The Dutch House	Patchett, Ann
Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids	Payne, Kim John
The Air You Breathe	Peedbles, Fraces de Pontes
When Katie Met Cassidy	Perri, Camille
Behind her Eyes	Pinborough, Sarah
No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions About Core Buddhist Teachings	Rasheta, Noah
Daisy Jones & The Six	Reid, Taylor Jenkins
Normal People	Rooney, Sally
The Au Pair	Rous, Emma
Moral Resilience: Transforming Moral Suffering in Healthcare	Rushton, Cynda H.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane	See, Lisa
One Day in December	Silver, Josie
Pieces of Her	Slaughter, Karin
The Kept Woman	Slaughter, Karin
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities	Solnit, Rebecca
Where the Desert Meets the Sea	Sonne, Werner
The Longest Ride	Sparks, Nicholas
Three Women	Taddeo, Lisa
The Hate U Give	Thomas, Angie
Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story	Tobia, Jacob
Nora Webster	Toibin, Colm
The Patient Will See You Now: The Future of Medicine is in Your Hands	Topol, Eric
Vinegar Girl	Tyler, Anne
The Color Purple	Walker, Alice
The Turn of the Key	Ware, Ruth
The Death of Mrs. Westaway	Ware, Ruth
The Nickel Boys	Whitehead, Colson
The Intuitionist	Whitehead, Colson
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration	Wilkerson, Isabel
The Story Keeper	Wingate, Lisa
Bridge of Clay	Zusak, Markus

My priorities for 2020 are to finish some of these titles on my shelf before buying anything new, to dive into a few of the award winners from this year, and to read more from authors of color or gender minorities. 

A few things to keep me busy this year...

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!