Ending 2019 with a Book List

So, how many books did I read this year?

In my first year to take on the #52booksin52weeks challenge, I finished a total of 71 books. If I started reading something, I finished it. And along the way, I learned a lot of interesting things, which I summed up in a post (“What I Read in 2018”).

Wow–I’d never done such a good job of keeping track of my reading. So I decided to continue tracking for 2019. Honestly, I figured the minute I relaxed my self-imposed rule about finishing each book started, I’d lose momentum and see my numbers drop.

My biggest discovery? Just how escapist my 2019 reading choices would turn out to be. I wanted shorter, easier books (hello, young adult fiction!) and different problems (#whodunnit). And what with the current political atmosphere, hefty nonfiction and easily identifiable downers got a hard pass.

So here’s the wrap-up of this year’s list. By the time the new year debuts, I’ll be deep into January’s book club pick, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

And yet, one thing still haunts me . . . The Luminaries. That big ol’ novel sits, halfway read and mostly forgotten, on my nightstand. Ah, well; never give up, never surrender–there’s always 2020!

Books 61–? in 2019

No. 61: Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

At this year’s Texas Book Festival, I listened to the National Book Foundation’s discussion between three writers. Panelist Randy Ribay impressed me so much I immediately bought his young adult novel, Patron Saints of Nothing, at the book tent. A striking story of cultures, Patron Saints is part mystery (how exactly did Jay’s cousin, Jun, die?) and part coming of age (what role does Jay’s extended Phillipino family play in his sense of self, so firmly rooted in his American upbringing?). Honest and moving.

No. 62: The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

This novel appeared in my Little Free Library, so I scooped it up to read before letting it go again. Based on the true story of Dita Kraus, a Czech teenager who took care of the few books hidden by prisoners at Auschwitz, The Librarian is more uplifting than you might expect. Iturbe met and interviewed Kraus, and her voice shines through (at times, the slightly stilted language in this historical fiction reads like a translation).

No. 63: The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantu

I’d read a review of Cantu’s memoir in The New York Times (“A Different Perspective on the Border,” Feb. 2018), which put it on my “must read” list. Our book club was looking for something topical to discuss, so I suggested The Line Becomes a River. Cantu’s book about his experiences as part of the U.S. Border Patrol isn’t exactly a straightforward accounting; he includes impressions, dreams, memories, and many conflicted feelings. His experiences after leaving the Border Patrol are even more informative, and all felt it was a worthwhile read.

No. 64: My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

I’m a sucker for a pretty book cover, and My Name is Lucy Barton‘s a lovely hardback. Plus, Strout’s novel has been adapted into a one-woman play starring one of my favorite actresses, Laura Linney. Lucy Barton (novel and play) has won awards and received favorable reviews. Why, then, didn’t I care for it? Nothing about Lucy’s memories or interactions with her mother engaged me; I’ve little patience for things hinted at. If the book hadn’t been so short, I wouldn’t have finished it. Bleh.

No. 65: Celine by Peter Heller

Sometimes, you fall for a character so hard you’ll forgive a book’s flaws. That’s what happened with Celine, an unconventional detective novel. The titular character is an elegant and wealthy older woman — 68! — who happens to be an ace detective and crack shot. Celine loves solving puzzles and I loved every moment spent with her. Who cares about the case involving those dead and missing people?! I’m there for any additional “Celine” books Heller chooses to write (and I sincerely hope more will come).

No. 66: Jump-Starting America: How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream by Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson

You know, I’m positively gleeful when I say, “I read this for work.” Could I be any luckier?! Jump-Starting America is the product of two MIT professors who believe it’s possible to spark a new wave of American technology hubs. Their inspiration? The massive public investments of the 1940s. Wartime government and private partnerships fired an “American growth engine” that the authors believe can be recreated across the nation by focusing on key areas. Interesting.

No. 67: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Another mystery. Can I help it if I enjoy the genre? For years, I’d heard people say these were good; The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is the first of 20 books (so far) in Smith’s series. Book 1 is the origin story–how Precious Ramotswe came to own Botswana’s leading detective agency (and become its sole detective). “Charming” is an apt descriptor. I did wonder, however, about an older Scottsman’s giving voice to a vivacious African woman but, hey; it’s fiction. I’d happily sit on a beach and read Book 2, Tears of the Giraffe, and more. Entertaining.

No. 68: The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

When she became Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher was not much older than I was when I first saw “Star Wars: A New Hope.” She was 19; I was 16 or 17. Fisher is a good writer, a skill evidently developed at least partly through her diaries. The Princess Diarist draws directly from journals she kept during a tumultuous time, when she fell into acting and a not-so-healthy relationship with Harrison Ford (we all knew those sparks were real!). This memoir–her third–was originally published in Nov. 2016; Fisher died Dec. 27, 2016, at age 60, and we’re all worse for losing her.

No. 69: Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

Boo, an investigative journalist, won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service (1999) and National Magazine Award for Feature Writing (2004). Her book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, is nonfiction — why did I ever think it was a novel? Perhaps her beautiful writing fooled me; her words flow and paint indelible pictures of people and places. Unfortunately, the lives described are so completely heartbreaking and sad I found reading it a chore. I saw little “hope” in this “undercity” and no one should have to live like this. Incredibly depressing.

No. 70: A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles

Another book I’d learned about through Texas Book Festival. In 2016, I sat in on a discussion with Maria Semple, an author I truly enjoy. Titled “The Tight Quarters of Time and Space,” the panel included another author, Amor Towles. My notes from 2016 have gone missing, which bugs the crap out of me because I’d love to review what I’d written about A Gentleman in Moscow. The novel spans decades and is set within Moscow’s Metropol Hotel, where Count Rostov has been sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life. The story’s surprisingly sweet (I cried at least once) and not at all what my memories of that panel discussion led me to expect. Don’t you wish I could find those notes?

No. 71: The Library Book by Susan Orlean

I love libraries. As a child, I passed a lot of time with books, whether in my school library or at the public library. Those quiet hours spent looking through shelves, flipping through card catalogues, and reading in some secluded nook are some of my happiest moments. To this day, I enjoy time in any city’s public library. Susan Orlean and I clearly share a passion, and The Library Book is first and foremost a love poem to the people and spaces that make public libraries possible. Now, if you’re focused solely on the true crime aspect (who really set the Los Angeles Public Library on fire in 1986?), you’ll be disappointed but go into The Library Book for a feel-good historical testament to public libraries and you’ll be just fine.

No. 72: Imagine Pleasant Nonsense by Nathan W. Pyle

My daughters introduced me to Nathan Pyle’s cartoon, “Strange Planet,” on Instagram. Drawn in simple four-square panels, Pyle’s blue big-eyed aliens live their lives, referring to everyday objects and activities in phrases that reflect just how unfamiliar and inexplicable our human world can be. It’s hilarious. When Imagine Pleasant Nonsense appeared at our annual Nyfeler Chinese Christmas Gift Exchange, I strategized mightily to snag the book for myself. A gift that keeps on giving, for sure.

No. 73: All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

Yes, yes; it’s another mystery. In my office, I have three bins designated for my Little Free Library: one holds kids’ books, another adult lit, and the third for books I want to read before they go. All the Missing Girls was in the last bin. Miranda usually writes young adult lit; this was her first adult novel. It had the clear prose of YA with more adult themes (a parent with Alzheimers, class struggle, peer manipulation). A quick read, Girls was everything I wanted on a cold holiday evening.

No. 74: How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Another 2019 Texas Book Festival purchase, though I have nothing in my notes about the author, Saeed Jones. Clearly, I’d planned to go to a session (“On the Topic of Mothers,” with Jones, Michele Filgate, Angie Cruz, and moderator Jill Meyers) and somehow skipped it, though the book clearly made my “must buy” list. I’m glad I read it; Jones is first a poet and you see his careful use of words on every page of prose. How We Fight for Our Lives is the memoir Michael Arceneaux’s I Can’t Date Jesus wanted to be but wasn’t (see “Traveling with Books”). Powerfully vulnerable.

No. 75: This Is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories by America’s Best Woman Writers edited by Elizabeth Merrick

Ta da! Seventy-five books for 2019! As of this post, I haven’t finished this collection of short stories but I’ll finish soon. And it’s an appropriate end to the year. The first story in the collection, “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, was clearly a study for her later novel, Americanah. It just so happens that Americanah was my third book this year, one I finished reading while visiting New York City. Where I spent my time reading and working (you guessed it) at NYC’s famous Stephen A. Schwarzman public library on 5th Avenue. Full circle!

2019’s Book List by Links