So, without much further ado, let's get to the books: The good, the great, the meh, and the ugly (not in that order):
Disliked So Much I Wanted To Throw My Kindle Across the Room (But didn't because it would hurt my Kindle):
To be honest, I didn't understand this book, and I think that's why I
Nope.
If you have read it, and you "got" it, could you please write me a five-to-seven paragraph essay explaining it? That would be great, thanks. I'll get back to you on the rubric.
Not Worth All the Hype [Okay, this sounds mean-spirited of me - I just mean, a book that had SO MUCH HYPE and for me, didn't live up to the expectations. I'm not saying don't read them. I am saying...don't hype them up so much, and let their stories just be]:
I read Crouch's Dark Matter about a year before Recursion was released, and really enjoyed it (see below). And then, 2019 was like, the year of Recursion. Everyone was reading it and r a v i n g about how groundbreaking it was, blah, blah, blah, and I was like...yeah, it was good...but that good? That groundbreaking? I don't know. It was a good read. But it didn't make me think about it for a long, long time like Dark Matter.
Where the Crawdad Sings by Delia Owens
Again, good - but as amazing as everyone says? Eh. *insert shrugging emoji* (Sacrilege! Reese Witherspoon said she didn't want it to end! How dare you disagree with Reese Witherspoon's taste in reading!) Look: it was a sweet story, with some structural and characterization problems. It's definitely a worthwhile read. But it didn't shatter the earth beneath my feet or anything.
True confessions: I must admit that I have a HUGE bias when it comes to hyped books. When a book is plastered everywhere as Amazing and Earth-Shattering and Must Read and endorsed by celebrities, I'm skeptical. And this impacts how I read the book, because honestly, I'm looking for problems rather than enjoying the story. Stop overhyping books, media! Just let the book be the book and let readers discover it for themselves. I'm not talking not promoting a book - but over-promoting a book is a problem, at least for me.)
And with that little confession about how I don't like over-hyped books, I am now going to tell you about the books I loved and hope you read and love, too. But don't take my word for it. Just read them. Ignore the fact that I recommended them. Just, pretend that you heard they were terrible or something. I don't know. Don't be like me and be biased just because someone told you it was good.
Honorable Mentions/Runners Up (I told you it was a good reading year!):
For me, this was a great year of reading nonfiction (as in...I actually read nonfiction for once). The Spirit Catches You was excellent - if you haven't read it, do. This book is about the Hmong people of Southeast Asia, and the conflict between an refugee Hmong family in California and American doctors over the treatment of their daughter's epilepsy. I think everyone who works in a cross-cultural environment (medical or not) should read it simply for the questions it raises: how do we respect the cultural and religious practices of people from cultures different from our own? And how do we effectively meet the (medical) needs of people who have an utterly and completely different world view from our own?
This was a sweet little romance. It's a little off the beaten path (as in, I don't think many people have heard of Marisa de los Santos) but she is a really, really good wordsmith. As in...she writes well. I don't just mean the stories and characters but the way she puts words together is actually magic. And the story was pretty good, too.
A Pride and Prejudice retelling set in a Muslim community in the suburbs of Toronto. I liked this book because the author used the framework of the original story, but made it her own thing. All the elements were there, but it was also original. This was actually the 2nd P&P retelling I read this year set in a Muslim context - the other was was Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal which was also good (but not as good as Ayesha at Last so if you had to choose, read Ayesha). Because the Muslim community is still fairly conservative (in comparison to mainstream Western culture), it makes it a realistic setting for a P&P retelling. It's really good - read it (especially if you like or love P&P - Pride and Prejudice retellings are a dime a dozen but this is worth the read).
This book was so weird and quirky and snarky - who would think to write a young adult novel about the doomed Lady Jane Grey of Tudor England? No, really? Who? This book combines revisionist history with magic and teenagers. I don't know why, but it works. It's fun and silly, and for me it hit all the right notes. The narrators reminded me a little of the narrator of The Princess Bride. I recently read My Plain Jane by the same authors, and it's quite similar in snark and quirk and weirdness.
Tell Me Three Things Julie Buxbaum*
This is a YA novel about a teenager whose mother has died from cancer, and whose father has quickly remarried and moved her across the country from Chicago to LA to live with his new wife. The main character starts at a new school, and gets a friendly but anonymous email giving her inside information on how to navigate the cliques of the school. It's sweet and smart, while also being authentically thoughtful about the grief that comes with losing a parent at that age. I recommended this book to my students while I was reading it - it was that good.
My Favorite Reads of 2019:
I didn't think I would like this book. I really only picked it up because I heard it recommended on "What Should I Read Next," (my favorite podcast) several times by several different kinds of readers, readers whom I felt like I related to in their reading choices and preferences - so I took a "risk" and tried it. The story is about an almost-100-year old woman who is befriended by a boy who (most likely) has autism, and who obsesses over the Guinness Book of World Records. You never really meet the boy - he has died before the start of the story (not a spoiler), and the book is about the fallout of grief because of his death, but also the relationships that are found through the people who loved him. I don't like sentimental books. While this book was sad, it wasn't sentimental - it was thoughtful, provocative, funny. I think it was one of my favorites for the year because I was so surprised I liked it. For fans of The Man Called Ove by Frederich Bachman, this is similar - curmudgeonly older person and the people who come into their lives that soften them and make them realize how good they have it (not a spoiler).
This is another book that is probably a favorite in part because its goodness surprised me. The Almost Sisters is about a woman who finds herself pregnant as a single woman after a one-night stand - it's important to note, for the plot of the book, that the woman is white, but her partner was black. In the midst of her pregnancy, she suddenly has to take on the care of her ailing grandmother. The story takes place in the South, and the main character's grandmother is white, and lives with her best friend, who is black. The two grew up together (the friend's mother was the grandmother's housekeeper). I did not know what to expect from this story, and I resisted reading it first, because I thought the cover was stupid (it is - the designer clearly hasn't read the book), and second, because I didn't think I would like it...I tend to not like Southern fiction (sorry to my dear Southern friends!). But I did finally read it and I'm so glad I got over my dislike-of-Southern-fiction bias - the story is really well-crafted, the characters rich. It's also quite humorous, while simultaneously maintaining its seriousness. I'm not doing it justice with this description - just know that it is a thoughtful reflection on race in America, as well as how racism impacts families and relationships over the generations. And it somehow manages to be funny and not preachy at the same time.
Everyone should read this book. E v e r y o n e. Particularly people who live in North America. Dreamland is a book that I couldn't stop thinking about while I was reading it, and long after I read it. Dreamland is actually the reason I'm motivated to write this book review this year, because I think it's really important and I wanted to tell more people to read it. It's about the opioid epidemic in the United States. It's well-researched and well-written. It's just very well done, and I think it's an important book for people to read, and hopefully, act upon. I really had no understanding of the opioid epidemic before I read this book. I knew, vaguely, there was a problem. I didn't understand why there was a problem. Now I do. Now I want to make sure we elect people who are aware of the problem, and who have good strategies for combatting it. This book makes me feel ashamed that I did not know more. It made me more compassionate towards people who have a drug addiction. For me, it was just one of those books that opened my eyes to a world - a very vast world - that I have so little awareness of, but inexcusably so. I feel like I'm sounding very, very preachy but I just think that as Americans, in particular, we have no excuse to not be aware of this problem in our country.
A few 2018 honorable mentions (since I didn't write a review):
This story takes place in a future in which death has been eliminated - to temper the population growth, there are state-sanctioned "Scythes" who have a quote of people to kill each year. I can't stop recommending this book to my students - they love it. You'll love it, especially if you like philosophy and ethics. And young adult fiction.
Dark Matter Blake Crouch
It's a physics thriller.
Yes. You read that right.
A physics.
Thriller.
Blake Crouch released Recursion this year, which was decent - but I think Dark Matter was better (admittedly probably because no one told me it was the most amazing book I would ever read in my life ever).
Born a Crime Trevor Noah
First of all, t's important that everyone understands that Trevor Noah is basically my soulmate (he may just doesn't know it yet - I don't know, he may know by now because I say this a lot in really inappropriate places, like in front of a classroom full of teenagers who have access to social media). I love him. (Move over, Benedick Cumberbatch.)
Born a Crime is just...really good. It's the story of his childhood in South Africa. Noah is literally "born a crime" as the child of a white father and a black mother. We listened to it on audiobook while road-tripping to the Grand Canyon. If you get a chance to listen to the audiobook, do. Usually I don't recommend audiobooks (they put me to sleep or I begin to daydream immediately) but Born a Crime is well-done (and narrated by my bae, Trever Noah himself).
My brother recommended this book, and series, to me when I was lamenting that Scott Lynch and Patrick Rothfuss still haven't released sequels to the next book in their series (it's been nearly a decade for each). The Way of Kings is well-written, has real, rich characters, good world-building, and thoughtful but not in-your-face themes (sometimes I find fantasy and science fiction can be a bit...didactic). And, the great thing about Sanderson is that he actually finishes what he starts. And each book is like a 1000 (well-written) pages, which is great.
Friends and Readers and Non-Readers: I hope this gives you some reading inspiration for 2020. Just. Read. Books. Don't worry about reading a certain amount, even though reading challenges can be fun. You don't have to read high brow literature, or the latest, hot, trending book. You don't have to read more nonfiction (or less nonfiction). You don't have to be embarrassed about reading a "beach read" or a fantasy or a bodice-ripper romance. Just read. Read what you want to read, not what you feel like you have to read. Stop reading books that aren't working for you (unless it's for school, and just suck it up and read it, okay?). Don't stall out of reading entirely because you feel obligated to finish a book. Pick up another one - maybe that one wasn't right for you at that point in time. You can always go back to it and try again. But Don't. Stop. Reading. I'm saying this as Ms. Bowers and Danielle. Reading is good for the soul - I believe that as firmly as I believe just about anything.
What did you read in 2019 that was worth celebrating?
*By the way, 7 out of the 8 books under "Honorable Mentions" and "Favorites" I read because I heard about them on the "What Should I Read Next" podcast. If you like books, and want to hear people talk about books, and get book recommendations - you should listen to it. I've marked the books I picked up because of that podcast with an asterisk - just so you know.
