Best and worst of 2019?

[charlatti]

What books were your favorites and least favorites of what you read this year?

[dontlook]

I had a great reading year. More great books than bad.

Favorites:
- Harry Potter series
- Daisy Jones and the Six
- Pachinko
- A ladder to the sky
- Becoming

Worst:
- Bring Me Back
- A Reliable Wife

[abs]

Best:

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Next Year in Havana
Red, White, and Royal Blue
One True Loves
The Guardians
The Family Upstairs

Worst:
Verity (Hands down the absolute worst)
Royal Holiday
Nine Perfect Strangers
The Last Mrs. Parrish

[charlatti]

Nothing terrible this year — two stars was my lowest. If, Then by Kate Hope Day stands out as least enjoyable of the two star books.

Best:
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley (also really liked The Editor)
Little Faith by Nickolas Butler

[Vespasia]

Absolute Best:
Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Other Favorites:
7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Dark Matter
Dread Nation
Winter of the Witch

Disappointments:
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

[travella]

Best:
White Rose Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey
Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Worst:
A Mother's Reckoning by Sue Klebold
One Day in December by Josie Silver
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg
Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

[meowmaps]

I read a lot of books that I enjoyed this year but these are at the top of the list:

An American Marriage
What the Eyes Don't See
The Lost Man
A Place For Us
Miracle Creek
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
The Storyteller's Secret
A Nearly Normal Family
Ayesha At Last
The Gifted School
Olive Kitteridge
Stay With Me
Olive, Again
The Dutch House
Catch and Kill

Least Favorites:

The Kiss Quotient
Before She Knew Him
No Exit
The Tenth Muse
The Huntress

[minzy]

I love these lists, they help me pick out what to read next.

I read 53 books in 2019.  So much good stuff!

I gave 5 stars to:

Us Against Them - Fredrik Backman
Use Less Stuff - Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are - Robert Lilienfeld and William Rathje
*What The Eyes Don’t See - A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City - Mona Hanna-Attisha
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
Becoming - Michelle Obama
Zero Waste Home - The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste - Bea Johnson
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver
Forged Through Fire - A Reconstructive Surgeon’s Story of Survival, Faith and Healing - Mark D. McDonough, M.D.
The Library Book - Susan Orlean - 5 stars
*We Are The Weather - Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast - Jonathan Safran Foer

*top picks

I only had a few with 3 stars, but ultimately no regrets, so won't call them out, lol.

[tacokick]

I read 239 books this year!

Best

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For) by Ella Risbridger

One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul

I’m Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying by Bassey Ikpi

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home by Tembi Locke

I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Stone Cold Heart by Caz Frear

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl


Worst:

Enough by Shauna Ahern

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

[sassypants]

Best:
1. Becoming, by Michelle Obama
2. Herding Cats, by Sara Andersen
3. The Stone Sky, by NK Jemisin
4. Strange Planet, by Nathan W. Pyle
5. Circe, by Madeline Miller

Worst:
1. Fire and Blood, by George RR Martin (mostly because it took me forever to finish it because it wasn't too compelling)
2. I Owe You One, by Sophie Kinsella

[ssmjlm]

Best:
Hate Notes
Love and Other Words
Becoming
Winter of the Witch

Worst:
I had 8 DNF, but for ones I actually read:
A Stranger on the Beach
The Arrangement

[just]

Can I AW a little here? I'm a lurker but do visit regularly, and share here, on ML and on CE&P about the books I read.

I wanted to learn how to use Tableau a little since lots of our faculty have ours students use it and I wanted to know more about my reading habits, so I made this slightlyjo.com/NoliteB/

If you're a Tableau geek - no judgement please - I'm sure I'm doing everything wrong, but it was a good learning process.

(I'll probably XP over on ML too since I'm all excited and my husbands oohs and ahhs are sweet but a little forced

[rainbowchip]

I read 66 books this year.

My top books that were published in 2019 that I read in 2019
1. Know My Name by Chanel Miller
2. Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
3. Wolfpack by Abby Wambach
4. On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
5. Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow

Top books not published in 2019 that I read in 2019
Troublemaker by Leah Remini
Beneath the Surface by John Hargrove
The Hunger Game Series by Suzanne Collins (reread)
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan


Worst books
Midnight Texas by Charlaine Harris
Getting Hot with the Scot by Melonie Johnson
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Is Everyon Hanging Out Without Me? By Mindy Kaling
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
The Witch Elm by Tana French

These weren't necessarily horrible but I just didn't like them very much or they were a let down/didn't meet expectations.

[wesleycrusher]

I read 213 books in 2019. I rated 12 of them 5 stars.

- This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (contemporary fiction)
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (historical fiction)
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (historical fiction)
- Normal People by Sally Rooney (contemporary fiction)
- You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld (contemporary fiction- short stories)
- Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz (memoir)
- A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne (contemporary fiction)
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (non-fiction)
- What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander (memoir)
- The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker (romance)
- Moloka'i by Alan Brennert (historical fiction)
- How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France (non-fiction)



12 Worst:

- Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer (non-fiction but totally unbelievable, poorly written)
- The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (romance)
- Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann (non-fiction- so so repetitive)
- One Heart at a Time by Delilah (memoir- bootstrappy)
- Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright (non-fiction- boring)
- Ship It by Britta Lundin (YA- hated the storyline)
- The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore (non-fiction- story of a mediocre white man)
- Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (YA)

- Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker (romance)
- Spooky New Jersey: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore by S.E. Schlosser (short stories- bland, poorly written)
- Sarah's Child by Linda Howard (romance- did not age well)
- Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America by Christopher (non-fiction- did not finish, very dry)



Not 5 stars but really fun and enjoyable:

- Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's Animation by Mindy Johnson (non-fiction)
- Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World by Noah Strycker (memoir)
- Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle by Daniel L. Everett (memoir)
- Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson (sci-fi)
- Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (romance)

[Gato]

I read 57 books last year, and all of them were at least okay.

My favorite fiction was Alice Hoffman’s The World That We Knew.

My favorite nonfiction was The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis.

I also want to keep plugging Heavy by Kiese Laymon. My H just read it on my recommendation and absolutely loved it, so much that he gave the book to his best friend.

[ufcasey]

My 5 star reads of 2019 (aka GO READ THESE NOW!):
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
The Winter of the Witch (Winternight Trilogy, #3) by Katherine Arden
Becoming by Michelle Obama
The Wallflower Wager (Girl Meets Duke, #3) by Tessa Dare
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou


My 4.5 star reads of 2019 (aka go read these when you get a chance):
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
Rules of Redemption by T.A. White
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
An Exaltation of Larks (Venery, #1) by Suanne Laqueur
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
A Charm of Finches (Venery, #2) by Suanne Laqueur
How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #9) by Louise Penny
Intercepted by Alexa Martin


Worst books of 2019:
The Rabbit Girls by Anna Ellory
Cross Breed by by Lora Leigh
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) by Holly Black
Archangel's War (Guild Hunter, #12) by Nalini Singh
War (The Four Horsemen, #2) by Laura Thalassa
The Night Before by Wendy Walker

[mrspez07]

Best (my 5-star ratings, had a bunch of 4-4.5 this year too):
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(Both audio, both excellent)
The Huntress
Big Little Lies
Educated (audio)
Becoming

Worst (2* or did not finish):
My Lady’s Choosing, an interactive novel
Only Time Will Tell by Jeffery Archer
YouWill Know Me by Megan Abbott
4321
The Beach Club by Elin Hilderbrand
Circe
How Will You Measure your Life

[broadsheet]

I love these lists.
(Not all published in 2019)

Favorite traditional books:
The Gifted School
The Family Upstairs
A Ladder to the Sky
My Year Of Rest and Relaxation
The Turn of the Key
An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago
My Brilliant Friend/The Story of a New Name
Daisy Jones and the Six
Dark Matter
You Think It, I’ll Say It

Favorite audiobooks:
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
She Said by Jodi Kantor
Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Bad Blood
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
Becoming


Worst:
Three Women
Where the Crawdads Sing
Verity

[mpc]

Best:
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
On the Come Up
Station Eleven
Everything I Never Told You
The Collapsing Empire

Worst:
Authority (Southern Reach #2)
The Haunting of Hill House

Possibly one of the worst books I've ever read:
The Pisces

[snshne322]

Jan 2, 2020 16:37:01 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

I read 213 books in 2019. I rated 12 of them 5 stars.

- This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (contemporary fiction)
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (historical fiction)
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (historical fiction)
- Normal People by Sally Rooney (contemporary fiction)
- You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld (contemporary fiction- short stories)
- Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz (memoir)
- A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne (contemporary fiction)
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (non-fiction)
- What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander (memoir)
- The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker (romance)
- Moloka'i by Alan Brennert (historical fiction)
- How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France (non-fiction)



12 Worst:

- Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer (non-fiction but totally unbelievable, poorly written)
- The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (romance)
- Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann (non-fiction- so so repetitive)
- One Heart at a Time by Delilah (memoir- bootstrappy)
- Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright (non-fiction- boring)
- Ship It by Britta Lundin (YA- hated the storyline)
- The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore (non-fiction- story of a mediocre white man)
- Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (YA)

- Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker (romance)
- Spooky New Jersey: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore by S.E. Schlosser (short stories- bland, poorly written)
- Sarah's Child by Linda Howard (romance- did not age well)
- Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America by Christopher (non-fiction- did not finish, very dry)



Not 5 stars but really fun and enjoyable:

- Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's Animation by Mindy Johnson (non-fiction)
- Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World by Noah Strycker (memoir)
- Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle by Daniel L. Everett (memoir)
- Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson (sci-fi)
- Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (romance)

I'm glad someone else agrees with this!  I read Ten Tiny Breaths a few years ago and I was so underwhelmed on why it was so loved.  Then I tried a few more of her books recently and I'm really enjoying them.  I loved The Simple Wild.

[wesleycrusher]

Jan 15, 2020 12:09:23 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

Jan 2, 2020 16:37:01 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

I read 213 books in 2019. I rated 12 of them 5 stars.

- This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (contemporary fiction)
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (historical fiction)
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (historical fiction)
- Normal People by Sally Rooney (contemporary fiction)
- You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld (contemporary fiction- short stories)
- Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz (memoir)
- A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne (contemporary fiction)
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (non-fiction)
- What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander (memoir)
- The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker (romance)
- Moloka'i by Alan Brennert (historical fiction)
- How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France (non-fiction)



12 Worst:

- Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer (non-fiction but totally unbelievable, poorly written)
- The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (romance)
- Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann (non-fiction- so so repetitive)
- One Heart at a Time by Delilah (memoir- bootstrappy)
- Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright (non-fiction- boring)
- Ship It by Britta Lundin (YA- hated the storyline)
- The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore (non-fiction- story of a mediocre white man)
- Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (YA)

- Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker (romance)
- Spooky New Jersey: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore by S.E. Schlosser (short stories- bland, poorly written)
- Sarah's Child by Linda Howard (romance- did not age well)
- Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America by Christopher (non-fiction- did not finish, very dry)



Not 5 stars but really fun and enjoyable:

- Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's Animation by Mindy Johnson (non-fiction)
- Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World by Noah Strycker (memoir)
- Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle by Daniel L. Everett (memoir)
- Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson (sci-fi)
- Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (romance)

I'm glad someone else agrees with this!  I read Ten Tiny Breaths a few years ago and I was so underwhelmed on why it was so loved.  Then I tried a few more of her books recently and I'm really enjoying them.  I loved The Simple Wild.

The Simplw Wild was so good!

It's funny I have books by the same author on the best and worst list.