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2019 in books
Dec. 28th, 2019 02:28 pmSo I know I've been very quiet here this past year, but I didn't stop reading during that time. I've tried to read more books by WOC and queer authors because honestly, I'm just tired of stories where the white guy ends up the center of the narrative and redeeming himself no matter how shitty and abusive he was.
According to Goodreads I finished 52 books this year, and I'm currently reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, which is due in 4 days so it miiight end up being 53? (ETA: Finished it and loved it to bits too!) LOL I have no idea why I've gravitated so much to historical fiction so much this year, but some other stand outs were definitely The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (I ugly cried. SO BEAUTIFUL AND POWERFUL.) and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr which also broke my heart but was absolutely wonderful. I might ask for Yuletide fix-it fic for it next year.
Sci-Fi and Fantasy:
I really liked King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, which is set in her Grisha Universe and set after her incredible Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom, but follows the POV of Nina, Nikolai and Zoya instead. Nina's grief was so visceral and real in the first part of the book. It felt so realistic, how it still felt so huge and endless to her that her getting over it mid-book and then getting a new love interest right away was actually jarring instead of triumphant. IDK, Nina is still one of my faves, but I disliked this particular choice. I'm shipping Nikolai/Zoya now too. Really love getting Zoya POV, as she was such an antagonist in the original Grisha books.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi was fantastic and I can't wait for the next!
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw was good and absolutely haunting. (What a great twist! I loved figuring it out!)
Also liked the worldbuilding and style of Heartless by Melissa Meyer but not how the story ended. Am waiting to see how she's re-told other fairy tales before I make a judgement call. Blood of Elves (The Witcher) by Andrzej Sapkowski was decent too, but now that there is a Netflix show I doubt I will ever get off the waitlist for the next.
I also read The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller and adored both. I am going to buy paper versions so I can re-read and flip through for my favorite parts again. The other stand out this year that I want a real version of is The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Just such a beautiful coming of age tale.
I finished all of Mercedes Lackey's Hunter series in a few days and I really enjoyed it- wish her publisher had liked it more too. Also likely to be a Yuletide wishlist item. Also finished Sarah J Maas' Court of Thorns and Roses series and I sort of wished she had stopped at book 3, which was definitely the best of the bunch. Great love scenes. I really liked how her main protagonist changed lovers from the first book to the third. Good for her. I've read a couple interesting, action packed books by Ilona Andrews too, but since it seems I started both in the middle/end of the series (Innkeeper Chronicles, Hidden Legacy) I'm currently waitlisted for the originals. Legend by Marie Lu was a good beginning but my interest petered out mid-series when she split up her protagonists. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan was pretty good. Incredible worldbuilding and man, the stakes are so high now! I should get the next book soon.
Some books that were highly recced but that I didn't love: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Weight of Feathers by Anne-Marie McLemore and Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter. Also really didn't like The Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat. I think it's supposed to be an anti-hero/redemption sort of situation, but honestly, I can't ship it when when one party is actively abusing the other.
Currently on my Libby bookshelf: Gideon the Ninth, Water Logic, Magic Bites, Uprooted, Clean Sweep. Which is a lot, but I have at least another week off, so I have faith in my ability to devour a good book in a few hours. It's just that if I really love the universe and characters, the story swirls around in my head so much after!
YA Fiction/Romance: To All the Boys I've Loved Before series by Jenny Han was wonderful! The Netflix movie was fabulous too, and I can't wait for the next one! The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang was pretty good too. Year One by Nora Roberts was kind of laughably bad by the end? Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren was cute and I read some more of their co-authored books, but this was the best of the lot. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell didn't wow me, but it was good. Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan started out strong but all the adults behaving terribly just sort of annoyed me by the end. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas was excellent! I love her teenage POV and dialogue- I think it's as good as or slight better than The Hate You Give.
Non-Fiction: Becoming by Michelle Obama was my definite favorite. To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins and At Home in the World by Tsh Oxenreider were the two travel memoirs I finished this year- both good, but not groundbreaking? Packing for Mars and Bonk by Mary Roach were both interesting, funny and as usual, kind of gross. Also greatly enjoyed What if? by Randall Munroe (of xkcd). I mostly finished Here We Are, a book of feminist essays by Kelly Jensen, but I had to write Yuletide right when it and a whole bunch of other books were due, so I just had to let them all go back to the library, but I just checked and I could take it right back out now, so this might get finished. The NF book I really want to take out again that I didn't even open is The Notorious RBG.
Any recs for me, oh f-list? Which books blew you away this year?
According to Goodreads I finished 52 books this year, and I'm currently reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, which is due in 4 days so it miiight end up being 53? (ETA: Finished it and loved it to bits too!) LOL I have no idea why I've gravitated so much to historical fiction so much this year, but some other stand outs were definitely The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (I ugly cried. SO BEAUTIFUL AND POWERFUL.) and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr which also broke my heart but was absolutely wonderful. I might ask for Yuletide fix-it fic for it next year.
Sci-Fi and Fantasy:
I really liked King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo, which is set in her Grisha Universe and set after her incredible Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom, but follows the POV of Nina, Nikolai and Zoya instead. Nina's grief was so visceral and real in the first part of the book. It felt so realistic, how it still felt so huge and endless to her that her getting over it mid-book and then getting a new love interest right away was actually jarring instead of triumphant. IDK, Nina is still one of my faves, but I disliked this particular choice. I'm shipping Nikolai/Zoya now too. Really love getting Zoya POV, as she was such an antagonist in the original Grisha books.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi was fantastic and I can't wait for the next!
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw was good and absolutely haunting. (What a great twist! I loved figuring it out!)
Also liked the worldbuilding and style of Heartless by Melissa Meyer but not how the story ended. Am waiting to see how she's re-told other fairy tales before I make a judgement call. Blood of Elves (The Witcher) by Andrzej Sapkowski was decent too, but now that there is a Netflix show I doubt I will ever get off the waitlist for the next.
I also read The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller and adored both. I am going to buy paper versions so I can re-read and flip through for my favorite parts again. The other stand out this year that I want a real version of is The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Just such a beautiful coming of age tale.
I finished all of Mercedes Lackey's Hunter series in a few days and I really enjoyed it- wish her publisher had liked it more too. Also likely to be a Yuletide wishlist item. Also finished Sarah J Maas' Court of Thorns and Roses series and I sort of wished she had stopped at book 3, which was definitely the best of the bunch. Great love scenes. I really liked how her main protagonist changed lovers from the first book to the third. Good for her. I've read a couple interesting, action packed books by Ilona Andrews too, but since it seems I started both in the middle/end of the series (Innkeeper Chronicles, Hidden Legacy) I'm currently waitlisted for the originals. Legend by Marie Lu was a good beginning but my interest petered out mid-series when she split up her protagonists. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan was pretty good. Incredible worldbuilding and man, the stakes are so high now! I should get the next book soon.
Some books that were highly recced but that I didn't love: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Weight of Feathers by Anne-Marie McLemore and Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter. Also really didn't like The Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat. I think it's supposed to be an anti-hero/redemption sort of situation, but honestly, I can't ship it when when one party is actively abusing the other.
Currently on my Libby bookshelf: Gideon the Ninth, Water Logic, Magic Bites, Uprooted, Clean Sweep. Which is a lot, but I have at least another week off, so I have faith in my ability to devour a good book in a few hours. It's just that if I really love the universe and characters, the story swirls around in my head so much after!
YA Fiction/Romance: To All the Boys I've Loved Before series by Jenny Han was wonderful! The Netflix movie was fabulous too, and I can't wait for the next one! The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang was pretty good too. Year One by Nora Roberts was kind of laughably bad by the end? Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren was cute and I read some more of their co-authored books, but this was the best of the lot. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell didn't wow me, but it was good. Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan started out strong but all the adults behaving terribly just sort of annoyed me by the end. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas was excellent! I love her teenage POV and dialogue- I think it's as good as or slight better than The Hate You Give.
Non-Fiction: Becoming by Michelle Obama was my definite favorite. To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins and At Home in the World by Tsh Oxenreider were the two travel memoirs I finished this year- both good, but not groundbreaking? Packing for Mars and Bonk by Mary Roach were both interesting, funny and as usual, kind of gross. Also greatly enjoyed What if? by Randall Munroe (of xkcd). I mostly finished Here We Are, a book of feminist essays by Kelly Jensen, but I had to write Yuletide right when it and a whole bunch of other books were due, so I just had to let them all go back to the library, but I just checked and I could take it right back out now, so this might get finished. The NF book I really want to take out again that I didn't even open is The Notorious RBG.
Any recs for me, oh f-list? Which books blew you away this year?
