Constant Reader discussion

We used to have a tradition of listing the books we most enjoyed reading during the past year and I'd like to revive it. This is not necessarily books that were published in 2019 but the books that you personally read and liked the most.

Here is my list and I'm looking forward to reading yours:

Print Books
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
Truth in Our Times: Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts by David E. McCraw
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister
Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig
There There by Tommy Orange
Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age by Mary Pipher

Audiobooks:
Becoming by Michelle Obama, read by Michelle Obama
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf, read by Mark Bramhall

Poetry:
Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky

I read all my books on my kindle. It is easier for me to handle.

There were so many good books this year.

There There, it stuck out
One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder for the Spiritual and Nonspiritual Alike
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina
The Yellow House
The Winter Soldier
The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels
Salvage the Bones


There were more , but these stand out the most.

Print Books

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens*
The Keep, Jennifer Egan
In a Lonely Place, Dorothy B. Hughes
Death in Venice, Thomas Mann (trans. Michael Heim)
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
The Shootist, Glendon Swarthout
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Library Book, Susan Orlean
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, Tom Reiss
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia, Dennis Covington
The Giro D'Italia: Coppi Vs. Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy, Dino Buzzati
The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey

Audio books

Teacher Man, Frank McCourt (read by author)
Great Expectations, Dickens (read by Eddie Izzard)*
The Mourner, Richard Stark (read by Stephen R. Thorne)
The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (read by J.D. Jackson)

* Some books I like to read in print and listen to in audio simultaneously. A kind of literary twofer experience as you get pleasure of great reader and of pausing to linger over wonderful passages.

I seldom keep a list of what I read. Here's what comes to mind for my best reads of 2019.

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
The Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

I read so many books, but what sticks out in my mind was really enjoying the reread of "A Gentleman in Moscow."

These are the 10 to which I gave 5 stars. There were many others that I gave 4 stars so all in all it was a very good reading year

ebooks
Graham Greene THE QUIET AMERICAN
Renee Nault THE HANDMAID’S TALE: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
James Baldwin THE FIRE NEXT TIME*
Joyce Carol Oates THEM

audiobooks
Chigozie Obioma AN ORCHESTRA OF MINORITIES
Madeline Miller CIRCE
Anthony Doerr ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
Margaret Atwood THE TESTAMENTS
James Baldwin ANOTHER COUNTRY
Michelle Obama BECOMING
* I also listened to James Baldwin’s THE FIRE NEXT TIME so I actually read it twice this year

I read 59 books in 2019, the most books I've read in a year in all the years I've had a Goodreads account.

I only read print; when I have time for audio, I listen to podcasts, and I don't like the experience of reading on an electronic device.

Here's my favorites of 2019, in the order I read them:

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
We Die Alone by David Howarth
The Coat Route by Meg Lukens
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morten
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Black is the Body by Emily Bernard
Lost and Wanted by Nell Freudenberger
Old in Art School by Nell Irvin Painter
The River by Peter Heller
The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

The best part about posting my own list is that I get to read everyone else's. Keep them coming, everyone!

Tom, I haven't heard about that Snake Handling book for a long time. Long before Constant Reader was on Goodreads, we had a member, Dale Short, who was a frequent contributor and was friends with Dennis Covington. I discovered the book through him and found it fascinating.

Barbara wrote: "The best part about posting my own list is that I get to read everyone else's. Keep them coming, everyone!

Tom, I haven't heard about that Snake Handling book for a long time. Long before Constant..."

I remember reading that at Dale’s suggestion, too.

There were several standouts for me in 2019:

The Nickle Boys by Colton Whitehead
Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Red Notice by Bill Browder
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
The Whip by Karen Kondazian

Can someone remind me how to make my titles “clickable” hyperlinks?

In the comment section (where we are now), there's a link to the right that says, "add book/author". That's all there is to it.

2019 was a great year for me as I read many great books. My very favorites were:
#1 - The Goldfinch
#2 - The Brothers K
#3 - Hag-Seed

Then in no particular order, the rest of my five star books:
The Power of the Dog
The Library Book
The Dutch House
Caravans
Grandfather's Journey
The Friend
Lamb in His Bosom (reread)
The Shepherd's Life: A People's History of the Lake District
The Shell Collector
The Winter Soldier
The Wayward Bus
Dreams of My Russian Summers
Thank You for Your Service
World Without End
All Creatures Great and Small (reread)
The Night Circus

Thanks to everyone who rates their books. I go back to old Goodread newsletters looking for inspiration on what to read next.

These are the books I read this year that I really liked, either a 5 or 4 star review:

In Country by Bobbie Mason
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Becoming by Michelle Obama (audiobook)
We Die Alone by David Howarth
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
All the Names by Jose Saramago
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
Mao II by Don DeLillo

Here are my favorite reads of 2019:
#1 Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland - Keefe
#2 Hard Times - Dickens
#3 Becoming - Obama (audiobook)

In no particular order, here are other books I read and gave 5 stars:
How to Be an Antiracist - Kendi
One Person, One Vote - Anderson
Give us the Ballot - Berman
Rebecca - du Maurier
End of Old Age - Agronin
A Gathering of Old Men - Gaines
Giovanni's Room - Baldwin

While putting together this list, I realized that I liked more nonfiction books than I usually do.

I love reading everyone's lists. It was a good reading year for me. I had a tough time winnowing the list to ten, but here they are in no particular order:

Fiction
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
La Rose by Louise Erdrich
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Nonfiction
A Question of Honor by Lynne Olson
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
American Eden by David Hosack

Ah Gina, you reminded me of The Brothers K. I loved that one.

I didn't read as many books this year, partly because I took on some heavy non-fiction books that took me a long time to complete, and partly because I went into a reading slump after I broke my ankle in three places (no energy). Fortunately, the ankle is healing very well and the slump is over.

2019 Favorite Fiction

The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes
Big Sky (Jackson Brodie #5) by Kate Atkinson
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
Bluebird, Bluebird (Highway 59 #1) by Attica Locke
The Dry (Aaron Falk #1) by Jane Harper
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

2019 Non-Faction Favorites

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes by Adam Rutherford
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
Khrushchev: The Man and His Era by William Taubman
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks

Ruth wrote: "Barbara wrote: "The best part about posting my own list is that I get to read everyone else's. Keep them coming, everyone!

Tom, I haven't heard about that Snake Handling book for a long time. Long..."

Here is a link to our long-ago discussion of Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern
Appalachia, if any of you are interested.

http://constantreader.com/discussions...

Good discussion.

Ann D wrote: "I didn't read as many books this year, partly because I took on some heavy non-fiction books that took me a long time to complete, and partly because I went into a reading slump after I broke my an..."

Sorry about your ankle, Ann. I’ve been missing your posts.

Thanks, Donna, I've been following all the discussions, but just got out of the habit of posting. I hope to become more active with the new year. Also, I got a tablet for Christmas and it's much easier for writing than my phone!

Ann D wrote: "Thanks, Donna, I've been following all the discussions, but just got out of the habit of posting. I hope to become more active with the new year. Also, I got a tablet for Christmas and it's much ea..."

I’ m glad your ankles better and you’re coming out of your reading slump. We’ve missed you.

And you’re going to love your tablet.

I love reading everyone's lists. Salvage the Bones is such a powerful book.The Golem and the Jinn is entrancing. And Lamb in His Bosom reminds us that Georgia was once frontier.
My favorites for 2019 were:
Homegoing by Gyasi
The Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy by Liu
Whiskey When We're Dry by Larison
Bring Up the Bodies by Mantel
Death is Hard Work by Khalifa
The Cicero Trilogy by Harris and
Semiosis by Burke

Rannie wrote: "I love reading everyone's lists. Salvage the Bones is such a powerful book.The Golem and the Jinn is entrancing. And Lamb in His Bosom reminds us that Georgia was once frontier.
My favorites for 2..."

I loved the first two Mantel books, the last book will be out in March. The Mirror & the Light

Rannie, I agree, these lists are great! In the 23 years I’ve been with Constant Readers, I’ve always found these lists to be tremendous resources. Probably why I have over 100 titles on my Want to Read list! There’s always room for more.

I enjoy seeing everyone's favorites of the year. Here are mine:

Fiction:
By Its Cover by Donna Leon

The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Nonfiction:

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria by John W. Kiser

THE WINTER SOLDIER has appeared so often on these lists for 2019 I decided today to add it to my TBR for 2020.

Mary wrote: "THE WINTER SOLDIER has appeared so often on these lists for 2019 I decided today to add it to my TBR for 2020."

And don’t forget to look at the discussion. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Gina wrote: "In the comment section (where we are now), there's a link to the right that says, "add book/author". That's all there is to it."

Or if you are using the website ... the "add book/author" is just above the comment box in which you type your post.

Mary wrote: "THE WINTER SOLDIER has appeared so often on these lists for 2019 I decided today to add it to my TBR for 2020."
I was just having the same thought as I was reading through this thread!

Ruth wrote: "I seldom keep a list of what I read. Here's what comes to mind for my best reads of 2019.

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
The Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky
Warlight ..."

Ruth, I keep a list and sometimes when I look at it I can't remember a thing about the books that are on it. Exit West stands out as my favorite read of 2019. I was also excited to see Ondaatje's name on your list with a title I'm not familiar with. I'm going to have to look back now and see if Warlight was one of CC reads in 2019 as it's mentioned by a few people here.

I regret not making a list sooner. Better do it tomorrow.
Ann, glad you are healing well. I will be having back surgery in February so I know I will be absent for a bit. Actually I haven’t been as regular a participant for a while in good part because of my back.
My plan is to return to “normal” (whatever that is :-) ) by late spring.

Finally went through my 2019 list. My favorites are, roughly in the order read,

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
The Afrikaner by Ariana Dagnino
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Light in August by William Faulkner, reread, last read while in college
The Electric Hotel by Domenic Smith
The Women of the Copper Country ** possibly my favorite
Petra’s Ghost by C.S. Cinneide
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Olive Again by. “. “

Poetry
Blackbird Song by Randy Lundy

Non-fiction
Blowout by Rachel Maddow
Mighty Justice: My Life in Civil Rights by Dovey Johnson Roundtree

Children’s
The Piano Recital by Akiko Miyakoshi
Jane Goodall: My First Jane Goodall by M. Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Stolen Words by Melanie Florence


Several of these books I read as ARCs through NetGalley or from publishers.

Sue, my high school classmate, Katie Burns McCabe co-wrote Mighty Justice with Dovey Johnson Roundtree. I understand that the book has been optioned for a movie. I’m glad you liked it.

MaryAnn, I’m some I left her name off. She did a truly wonderful job. This is one biography I recommend everyone read. I wonder why she was little known given her accomplishments and the only reasons I can come up with are the facts that she was a black woman.

Dovey Johnson Roundtree deserves a well done film and I hope your friend gets to work on it.

Sue wrote: "Finally went through my 2019 list. My favorites are, roughly in the order read,

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Tin Man by Sarah Winman
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
The Afrikaner by Ariana..."

I'm adding several of these to my to-be-read list - thanks Sue!

Fannie, I’ll be interested in what you think about the ones you decide to read. There are a lot of good books being written from my recent experience.

Rannie, sorry my spellcheck decided to change your name and I didn’t catch it’s nefarious deed before posting. I see this happened in another of my recent posts too.

Sue wrote: "Rannie, sorry my spellcheck decided to change your name and I didn’t catch it’s nefarious deed before posting. I see this happened in another of my recent posts too."
No worries, Sue, spellcheck delights in embarrassing us all ;)

I don't keep lists, either, but the standout for me was SALVAGE THE BONES for its poetic prose. Made me cry, and I'm not one to cry easily.

This is one I thought was going to be a "best book" and sadly, it wasn't. THE LITTLE STRANGER is one of my all time favorites. I loved the ending.

I read THE PAYING GUESTS by Sarah Waters in 2019. Has anyone else read it, and if so, what did you think? I've read FINGERSMITH and THE LITTLE STRANGER and loved those, so I was eager to read THE PAYING GUESTS. I was very underwhelmed. The writing was good, and Waters is fabulous at evoking a place and atmosphere, but I felt the plot was really lacking, especially when compared with the other two books I mentioned. I could actually guess what was going to happen, and I'm terrible at that. If anyone else has read THE PAYING GUESTS, will you please let me know what you thought? Thank you. :)

Kiki, I didn't keep up with books I read with any regularity until CR moved here to goodreads. Now I always know what I've read, and even what I started and didn't finish. You may want to start using the "My Books" tab now, and rate books you finish. As long as I've been here, there has been a topic like this every year.

Tonya wrote: "Kiki, I didn't keep up with books I read with any regularity until CR moved here to goodreads. Now I always know what I've read, and even what I started and didn't finish. You may want to start usi..."

Thank you, Tonya. I appreciate the advice. I've started to use the bookshelves. :)

I am one who doesn't keep lists, but working from memory, the best books I read in 2019, and I didn't read many because of work, were SING, UNBURIED, SING and THE MURMUR OF BEES.

Kiki,
I loved Sing Unburied Sing, too. One of my favorite books ever.

I agree enthusiastically - Sing, Unburied, Sing was superb!

That was such an amazing book.
I was so struck by the article she wrote in Vanity Fair after losing her husband to Covid. Raw, visceral, honest emotion.

I didn't know she lost her husband. That is really sad. If her writing stays as wonderful as it is in SING, UNBURIED, SING I think she'll someday be a Nobel winner.

I would agree. She is so talented, and presents the world and her characters in a remarkable way.