Year of reading 2019
Part 1
My top 18
To follow my tradition, here is part 1 of my yearly recap.
There is a total of 3 parts:
- my favorites, with my usual categories, see here below
- my stats
- my fun list with titles
If 2018 was my most pathetic year in the last decade, with only 77 books read, 2019 is my best year, with 118 books! I believe it justifies the 18 categories as shown here below, as I read enough in each category to list an awesome book in it.
The final choice is based on the quality of the book, on how it resonated with me and my own experience, and on how it stayed with me. Some of these books may actually have got only 4 out 5 Eiffel Towers at the time I read them.
MY FAVORITES
click on the covers to access either my review,
or the Goodreads page for the couple of titles I have not reviewed yet
PRINT COPIES
| Fiction | Historical Fiction | NonFiction | Mystery |
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EBOOKS
| Fiction | Historical Fiction | NonFiction | Mystery |
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AUDIOBOOKS
| Fiction Historical Fiction | NonFiction | Mystery | |
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SCIENCE-FICTION
CHILDREN BOOKS
GRAPHIC “NOVEL”
MANGA
SPIRITUAL BOOK
BOOK COVER
DO YOU HAVE SOME FAVORITES
IN COMMON WITH MINE?
MORE FUN RECAP TOMORROW!
HAPPY NEW YEAR OF READING TO YOU!
Words And Peace 
Looking forward to more! You read so much more widely than I do.
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My horizon has definitely expanded over the years. I just prepared a post for my favorites of the decade, and I realized that 10 years ago, Mystery was not even a category in my favorites recap!!
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Interesting. I used to read mystery and I hardly read any of those these days.
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Our reading life does evolve for sure
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I still have to read A Better Man – I love that series!
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Yes, great series!
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I’m excited to read The Years! Glad to hear it was one of your favorites this year.
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And actually of the decade in this category. Just prepared my post, it will go live on Jan 9. Let me know what you think about it
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Oh I can’t wait to see that post!! I’m going to make sure I get to The Years in time for or during Women in Translation month this year.
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This book should definitely be a priority, though I did have issues with the translation, as said in my review of it a few months ago.
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I’ll revisit your review when I read it, I work in translation too so I’m always interested when it significantly affects something about the text!
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Ah good, it will be good to have your translator’s point of view. Are you translating fiction?
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No, I translate and edit translations of the really boring stuff – primarily finance, legal, reports and business communications, medical and life sciences, etc. I’m translating a nonfiction book in my spare time just to practice and get more skill in something literary. Do you do fiction?
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Yes, I have translated several fiction, mostly mysteries (from English to French). I enjoyed the experience, but it’s a lot of work for little pay though
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Pingback: Year of reading 2019 Part 2: Statistics | Words And Peace
Wow, you read a lot last year!
My TTT.
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Yes, that was a good one. Thanks for visiting
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Pingback: Year of reading 2019 part 3 | Words And Peace
I loved Ivan too! That book was assigned reading for me in graduate school, and I still remember it vividly.
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Lovely that it would be an assigned book. What degree were you preparing? I highly recommend her Home of the Brave
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Pingback: Sunday Post #19 – 1/5/2020 | Words And Peace
Ok. So I’m a bit hesitant to read a Louise Penny book. I have one on my shelf, but it’s not the first in her series and I’ve been told you really need to start at the beginning. How would you describe Louise Penny books? I am always a bit hesitant to read a crime novel. I’ve heard Penny’s books can be pretty dark. Are they intense? Are they graphic? I’ve read Murder on the Orient Express, Gaudy Night, and The Thirty-Nine Steps and were fine with all those. But I consider those on the light side.
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Louise Penny’s mysteries are not dark. Armand Gamache,the Chief Inspector, is a very nice and gentle soul. He likes walking to think about the mysteries he has to solve. He is a very compassionate man, very gentle. There will be hurts and suffering in the series, but I do read some dark novels, and I would not put these in that category. They are not graphic. They are really full of human wisdom actually.
Yes, you do need to read them in order, because you are going to meet some of the same characters in all the books, and the relationships between some of them changes. And these people grow and evolve through what they have to go through.
The only problem I foresee for you would be that you are going to want to devour them all too quickly, lol, because they are so good, and then you will be frustrated because you will have to wait until end of August to read the upcoming one, lol.
Louise Penny is really a wonderful writer, and one of the rarest ones to be able to write books with very different plots or even narrative techniques, though with lots of the same characters, most happening in the same village, and this along 15 books so far. A feat that very few authors achieve. Usually it gets very repetitive after a while. Not with her.
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You’ve convinced me to give them a try. 🙂 So I went to check out the first book at my local library and there is a 6 month wait! *gasp*
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I’m going to see about getting the e-book. Otherwise I’ll be waiting about 6 months I guess….
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I just sent you an email about this
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wow, even for book 1!!
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I know, right? I thought there might be a long wait for the newer ones but not the first few. Ha!
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It only shows how good her books are 😉
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Ah, I loved Walden as well!! It brings back wonderful memories! I’ve wondered about Louise Penny too, so thanks for the information. And I always use your blog as reference for Orthodox books. What did you like about Prayers by the Lake?
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Prayers by the Lake is wonderful. You can read several excerpts of it on my Orthodox blog: https://myrtleskete.com/?s=Prayers+by+the+Lake&submit=Search.
If you like Walden, you might be interested in this one, I got it on Edelweiss: https://www.edelweiss.plus/#sku=0268107335&page=1
Lessons from Walden : Thoreau and the Crisis of American Democracy , by Bob Pepperman Taylor. On Sale Date: March 30, 2020
Ship Date: March 9, 2020
ISBN 9780268107338, 0268107335
Hardcover | 240 pages
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