Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
Where the Crawdads sing by Delia Owens
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoache Williams
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman by Lindy West
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
When I look at this list altogether, the first thing I noticed was, “Wow, this was the year of the blue book cover, huh?” Completely unintentional, but has me thinking, since blue is my favorite color maybe I gravitate towards them?
The next thing I noticed is that genre-wise, I was all over the place, from memoirs to essays to historical fiction and that I mostly read works by female authors! In fact, in 2019, 17 out of the 24 books I read (71%) were written by women. While I’m absolutely proud of this fact and have no intention to change it, I’m a little surprised as I really haven’t been particularly intentional about that either.
Speaking of women authors, three of my favorites from last year were all written by female authors and two were their debut novels! Here are my reviews of each:
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
What a journey Delia Owens takes us as readers on in Where the Crawdads Sing.
Kya is the true embodiment of grit, persevering and surviving despite several different kinds of heartbreak and turns in her life that would have led many to give up. My heart would break as the story depicted the never failing ability of a child to cease losing hope, as Kya would wait and wait for her mother to come back. The character development in this book was second to none.
I adored Owens’ vivid depiction of the swamp and marsh and her detailing of Kya’s relationship with nature: a relationship of consistency, education, and support. Mother Nature fills the parental figure void in Kya’s life. It was so interesting to see how Kya, without the help of family or friends, learned much about love and life from learning biology and observing nature. Owens does such an amazing job of transporting readers to the swamp through her imagery, whereby we feel we can almost smell the saltiness of the sea and feel the comfort given by the overgrowth and creatures of the marsh.
I also enjoyed the way in which the book went back and forth in time between two narratives, where at the beginning it wasn’t clear how the two would eventually intertwine. The connection becomes clearer and clearer as you read on which was a great experience as a reader.
Owens’ story reminded me of both Tara Westover’s “Educated,” and Jeannette Walls’ “The Glass Castle,” in that each tells a story about a young girl growing up with siblings in a rural setting with an unconventional and sometimes abusive upbringing. The difference is, of course, that Westover and Walls’ stories were memoirs while Owens’ was a work of fiction. Nonetheless, it seems I’ll never get sick of a classic coming-of-age story with a resilient, but very vulnerable and human, female protagonist. But more than just a coming-of-age story, Where the Crawdads Sing had elements of murder mystery and drama, and also moments of romance. There really is a little something for everyone.Overall Score: A+
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Chanel Miller. Know her name.
I’m in awe of Chanel’s bravery in sharing her story and all of the painstaking details of what happens after someone is raped. It’s hard to read at times for sure, as you feel her pain, you experience her sleepless nights and anxiety. You see how quickly these decisions by others to take what was not given freely affects someone’s life in every facet from then on.
Chanel brings us inside the rape clinic, the courtroom, the dark recesses of her healing mind to see up close what she so unfortunately had to experience. You witness the shortcomings of a system that is set up to make victims questions whether or not to pursue "justice" at all, knowing that, as was the case for Brock Turner, even if you "win," your rapist could spend little to no time in jail or otherwise paying for his crimes. She so clearly and vividly points out all of the double standards and frustrations around rape culture, victim blaming, and the justice system and how some peoples' right to safety and to live a full and unencumbered life seems to be valued above others' right to do the same.
Chanel is an exceptional writer: eloquent, vivid, and unafraid. I’m so glad I was able to read her story, in her own words. I believe her. I’m inspired by her. I know her name.Overall Score: A+
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
There’s definitely something to be said for a book that leaves you in tears. This one did just that. Kristin Hannah is a phenomenal storyteller who did nothing short of transport me to another county, another time, another way of life. Books like this are the reason I adore historical fiction.
I thoroughly enjoyed the immersion into the day-to-day life of characters whose lives were each affected so differently by the war. I was brought to a time that certainly highlighted the very worst of humanity. But despite that, and the many heart wrenching moments, this story was ultimately a tribute to the great courage and strength of women that may sometimes go unrecognized. It is also a story about the power of love.
I think we all hope to embody a little Isabelle Rossignol in our lives.
Overall Score: A
As we move into 2020, I plan on sharing my reads and reviews (just like three above) on here, but on a monthly basis instead of just a year-end round up! If you have any recommendations for books I should read in 2020, please drop a comment below or feel free to email me!
As always, happy reading!
