My Books of 2019

I read a lot of books (around 90 a year) and usually forget them once I’m finished, except for the few real standouts. In January I decided that I wanted to remember them better, as well as increasing my brain’s memory power. So before I went to sleep, I recited the books by title, adding each new one as I finished it. I expected this to last a month or two, but I actually made it well into October, nearly 80 books, before I faltered. I decided to drop it for the rest of the year and start again in January 2020.  Maybe I’ll add the author’s name this time, which probably will shorten the timing! The process did help me remember more about each book. I keep a record on a spreadsheet as well as on the Goodreads website. 

In recent years, I have tended more and more toward historical fiction, to the point where I’m reading fewer novels set in modern times. I have learned a lot about the World War I and II periods in England and Europe (and some in the US), as well as other historical periods. Many of them combine a modern element with the historical part: frequently a descendant delving into (usually) her family’s past.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been more willing to quit on a book that I’m not really enjoying. I had three or four of those this year.

I get book recommendations from my daughter (her monthly book blog at anjviola.com is well worth checking out), my neighbor Pat, and other friends. I keep a lookout for new books from my favorite authors, checking Goodreads, Amazon, and my local library.

This year I read a total of 100 books, 15 of them audio. I mainly listen to audio books when I am driving.

The list below doesn’t include books that are from my favorite series and authors: Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs; Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters; Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street, Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency, and others; Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell; Susan Ella MacNeal’s Maggie Hope; Louise Penny’s Still Life, the first (but not my last) Armand Gamache; and anything by Nevil Shute.

The books that have stood out and made lasting memories for me this year are below:

Kate Morton, The Secret Keeper. A teenaged girl sees her mother murder a man. 50 years later, she is trying to unravel what actually happened. The backstory of her mother’s past during the Blitz in London ends with a surprising discovery.

Rhys Bowen, The Victory Garden. During World War I, a young woman defies her parents and falls in love with an Australian soldier. She becomes a “land girl,” working with plants and healing herbs.

Sofia Lundberg, The Red Address Book. The story of a Swedish woman through entries in her address book. She has an amazing life, stretching from Stockholm to Paris to the US. 

Hazel Gaynor, A Memory of Violets. I’ve read several books by this author; this one is about two orphaned girls in London who try to make a living by selling flowers. They are separated and can’t find each other. Years later, another woman finds a diary and tries to unravel the mystery of what happened to them.

Gabrielle Zevin, Elsewhere. Although far outside my usual genres, I loved this YA about a teenage girl who is killed on her bicycle. She wakes up on a cruise ship headed to Elsewhere, the place that dead people go to live backwards until they can be sent back as a new baby in a new family. Absolutely charming with a wonderful main character.

Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka’i. A long-awaiting sequel to Moloka’i, this book follows Ruth’s daughter Rachel who was adopted by a Japanese family through a WWII internment and the search to find her mother.

Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Amazing Interlude. It came up as a freebie on my Kindle and turned out to be wonderful. Written in 1918, while WWI was still raging, it is about a young woman in Philadelphia who feels such a strong urge to help that she goes to France to run a soup kitchen for soldiers.

Helene Tursten, An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good. This tiny book was absolutely hilarious. Maud lives in a rent-free apartment in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is resented by her neighbors. She cheerfully murders those she disagrees with.

Lisa See, The Island of Sea Women. A novel that follows the lives of Korean women on the island of Juju who dive for a variety of seafood, focusing on the friendship between two divers. The details of their diving right through winter were fascinating.

Kate Quiinn, The Huntress. This takes place after WWII, when Nazi hunters were working to find and prosecute former Nazis. They are on the trail of a woman who has disappeared into mid-century America. One of the hunters is a Russian woman who left Siberia with a fierce desire to be a pilot.

Davis, Fiona, The Address. An Englishwoman working in a London hotel is hired to become the “manageress” of the new Dakota apartment building in New York.

Lena Manta, The House by the River. One of a group of free international books in 2018, it is about a Greek woman who raises her five daughters in a village. They each leave and we follow their life stories. In the end they all return home (spoiler, but pretty obvious from the beginning).

Esi Edugyan, Washington Black. Another unusual book for me, about a young slave on Barbados. He is given to the plantation owner’s brother, who is a scientist. They travel the world and his life is amazing.

Kate Quinn, The Alice Network. A complicated story of both WWI and WWII. A female spy from WWI is contacted by a pregnant young American woman searching for her French cousin in the aftermath of WWII. They end up traveling to France together.

Lisa Wingate, Before We Were Yours. A tragic story of children taken from their home to be adopted by the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in the 1920s-30s. The granddaughter of one of the sisters is tracking down her family’s history.

Quinn, Perinot, Kamoie, Dray, Knight, Webb, Pataki, Ribbons of Scarlet. Part of the History 360 Project, this book has six sections, each focusing on a specific unforgettable woman during the French revolution. Very engrossing, and I learned a lot about that time period. The project has other similar books in progress.

Diane Chamberlain, Dream Daughter. Pregnant Vietnam war widow’s brother-in-law assists her to time-travel to 2001 to have fetal heart surgery. It works, but complications with return travel arise (surprise!).

Allison Montclair, The Right Sort of Man. Promising debut of a series about two women in post-WWII London who start a match-making agency; one of their clients is murdered.

Jojo Moyes, The Giver of Stars. Women become Appalachian horseback-riding librarians in Depression-era Kentucky. Strong women, great story.

Ann Patchett, The Dutch House. A brother and sister are abandoned by their mother, sent away by their stepmother, but can’t forget the mansion they lived in.

Ruta Sepetys, The Fountains of Silence. Spain under Franco, young American falling in love, entanglement with stolen babies. Great characters and setting.

Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy. This book has been on my shelf for 15 years. I started it once or twice, but at 1400+ pages, it won the battle. In December I decided I must read it and delved back in. It is a vast and complex story of several families in 1950 northern India. It touches on a wide range of social issues as they deal with marriages and other life events. Excellent, but requires quite a commitment!

Here’s wishing you lots of wonderful books to read in 2020!