Friday, January 3, 2020

Book List: Books Read in 2019



Every January, I make a list of the books I read the past year. I usually read a 100+ and 2019 was the same. I read 104 books in 2019. Some were very short; some were very long. A few seemed longer than they were.

I'm trying to be less stingy about giving five stars. I've always reserved five for classics or a very few all-time favorites. I'm going start giving five stars for books I really enjoyed and would recommend generally; four for books I liked and would recommend to people who enjoy that type of book; three if I was lukewarm on it or if liked it personally, but wouldn't think of recommending it; two if I didn't like it; and one if I really didn't like it.

MY LIST OF 2019 BOOKS, IN THE ORDER I READ THEM

Educated by Tara Westover 

The Jewel in the Crown (The Raj Quartet, Book I) by Paul Scott 

The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan 

The Day of the Scorpion (The Raj Quartet, Book II) by Paul Scott 

A Year of Living Kindly: Choices That Will Change Your Life and the World Around You by Donna Cameron (my interview with Donna Cameron is here

On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books by Karen Swallow Prior 

The Towers of Silence (The Raj Quartet, Book III) by Paul Scott 

Henri, le Chat Noir: The Existential Musings of an Angst-Filled Cat by William Bradon 

Slam by Nick Hornby ⭐ ½ 

The Girl from Oto by Amy Maroney (my interview with Amy Maroney is here

The Shame of Losing by Sarah Cannon (my interview with Sarah Cannon is here

An Affair with a House by Bunny Williams 

The Tenth Man by Graham Greene 

Friend of My Springtime by Willa Cather 

Licking Flames: Tales of a Half-Assed Hussy by Diana Kirk (my interview with Diana Kirk is here

A Division of Spoils (The Raj Quartet, Book IV) by Paul Scott 

Mark Hampton on Decorating by Mark Hampton 

In the Woods by Tana French 

Staying On by Paul Scott (Booker Prize winner

Blood, Salt, Water by Denise Mina 

Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith 

Queen of Spades by Michael Shou-Yung Shum 

Headlong by Michael Frayn 

Zuckerman Unbound by Philip Roth 

The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion 

Vengeance by Benjamin Black 

The Robineau Look by Kathleen Moore Knight ½ 

I'd Rather Be Reading: A Library of Art for Book Lovers by Guinevere De La Mare

Agents and Patients by Anthony Powell 

12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson 

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson 

Collected Poems: 1944-1979 (NYRB Poets) by Kingley Amis (including A Case of Samples, Poems 1946-1956 and A Look Round the Estate, Poems 1957-67

A Woman of Means by Peter Taylor ½ 

Someone by Alice McDermott 

The Poorhouse Fair by John Updike ½ 

A Man of Property (The Forsyte Saga, Book I) by John Galsworthy 

In Chancery (The Forsyte Saga, Book II) by John Galsworthy 

Girl, 20 by Kingsley Amis 

The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie 

The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis--and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance by Ben Sasse ½ 

To Let (The Forsyte Saga, Book III) by John Galsworthy 

The Imitation Game by Ian McEwan 

Wise Virgin by A. N. Wilson 

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka 

The Best of Friends by Joanna Trollope 

A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell 

Uneasy Money by P. G. Wodehouse ½ 

The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall ½ 

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders 

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny 

Lila by Marilynne Robinson 

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold John le Carre 

Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin 

Backwards in High Heels: The Impossible Art of Being Female by Tania Kindersley 

There There by Tommy Orange 

Lady Into Fox by David Garnett (James Tait Black Memorial Prize Winner

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon 

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot 

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward 

The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery by Kyril Bonfiglioli 

Conquests and Cultures: An International History by Thomas Sowell 

Trove: A Woman's Search for Truth and Buried Treasure by Sandra A. Miller 

The Power by Naomi Alderman 

Something Special by Iris Murdoch 

Dirty Friends by Morris Lurie 

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty 

The Gift of a Letter: Giving the Gift of Ourselves -- Add Richness and Grace to Your Life Through the Art of Letter-writing by Alexandra Stoddard ½ 

Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown 

And When She Was Good by Laura Lippman ½ 

Do the Windows Open? by Julie Hecht 

The Dying Animal by Philip Roth ½ 

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson 

I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel 

The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World’s Happiest People by Meik Wiking 

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke 

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley 

The Small Room by May Sarton 

The Heart-Keeper by Françoise Sagan 

The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark 

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown 

Levels of Life by Julian Barnes 

The Gourmands' Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy by Justin Spring 

It's Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty and Other Tragedies of Married Life by Judith Viorst 

The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy 

First Love by Joyce Carol Oates 

The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey 

Mira's Way by Amy Maroney 

Birds of Wonder by Cynthia Robinson 

A Cat Abroad by Peter Gethers ½ 

Rash by Lisa Kusel 

A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George 

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett 

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty 

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs ½ 

Milkman by Anna Burns 

The Professor's House by Willa Cather ½ 

Shattered by Dick Francis 

The Hunter by John Lescroart 

Before Lunch by Angella Thirkell ½ 

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens 

Final Verdict by Sheldon Siegel ½

The Secret of Clouds by Alyson Richman

The Adults by Caroline Hulse 



NOTE

I usually link to amazon because I know I like to have a link to a book when I want more information about it and amazon is a clearinghouse of information. But I know some people dislike amazon. Please don't take offence. Feel free to find books and information wherever you chose.

3 comments :

  1. I’ve only read 3 of these: Educated, Sing Unburied Sing, and The Husband’s Secret.
    I’ll have to count my number for 2019. I’m sure it’s not 104.
    Good for you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't read Educated yet but so many have raved about it. I'd be interested to know why you gave it only three stars.

    I also enjoyed Tey's Man in the Queue. I thought the characterization really well done, but I called foul at the last-minuted confession from an unintroduced character.

    ReplyDelete

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