Quality over quantity - the best books of 2019
A quick fire look at the best books of 2019
In an earlier post, I mentioned that in 2019 I read 26 books when I first got my reading mojo back after a bit of a hiatus. Now, this isn’t the greatest number of books I have read in a year, but the ones I did read …. wow! Nearly all of them make the list of best books. This could almost be a list for a book club, if I do say so myself.
Let’s get into it! In no particular order…
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. As you can probably tell, I am usually a big fan of Good Reads and swear by the ratings. This one has a 3.7 on Good Reads which I find shocking. This book is about sex though - and the real life sexual experiences of women. Maybe the Good Reads readers are prudish? In any event, I loved this and everyone I know who has read it rates it highly as well. It is non fiction but written like fiction. If you are squeamish reading about other people’s sex lives, maybe this isn’t for you?
This is Going to Hurt, by Adam Kay. This one gets a 4.4/5 on Good Reads (redemption!) and is about the life of a junior doctor who is an obstetrician/gynaecologist (now also a mini series). I have read some scathing reviews about this because of the way he talks about women, their bodies, and their experiences. If you had a traumatic birth experience, this may not be the book for you.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland. A beautifully written book by an Australian author. The main character uses Australian flowers to say the things that are too hard to say. “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a story about stories: those we inherit, those we select to define us, and those we decide to hide. It is a novel about the secrets we keep and how they haunt us, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.”
Educated by Tara Westover. This book has won multiple awards - it is a shocking memoir. Tara Westover grew up preparing for the end of the world. She was never put in school, never taken to the doctor. She did not even have a birth certificate until she was nine years old. At sixteen, to escape her father's radicalism and a violent older brother, Tara left home. What followed was a struggle for self-invention, a journey that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it. 4.5/5 on Good Reads.
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. Winner of the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction. 4/5 on Good Reads and one of Oprah’s Book Club books.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - 4.1/5 on Good Reads.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah - you can’t really go wrong with anything by Kristin Hannah. 4.4/5 on Good Reads.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. This story, full of beauty and hope, is based on years of interviews author Heather Morris conducted with real-life Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov. Heather Morris is a New Zealand author so buy this one if you can! 4.3/5 on Good Reads.
Normal People by Sally Rooney. This only has a 3.8/5 on Good Reads as well. This is now a tv series too, but the book is much better.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. If you have not read a book in a long time and don’t know where to start with your reading (I am looking at you Caitlin), this is the one for you to pick up.
Becoming by Michelle Obama. I don’t think we could have a 2019 wrap up without this one on the list! A memoir.
Last but by no means least, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. If I was writing a post about my top ten books of all time, this one would be on it. This is not an up-beat book. This is not a feel good book. This is a BIG book of 736 pages which will rip your heart out. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction. Winner of Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Finalist for the National Book Awards. Read it and weep.
What did I tell you? A bloody great list of books read in 2019. I would love to know if any of these would make your list of favourites?
… Because life is too short to read bad books.