A Look Back on My Books of 2019.

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Merry Christmas!!  Sending you warm thoughts with wishes of a healthy, happy, and book-filled new year!

Originally I was going to list my favorite books of the year, but that turned out to be an impossible task because all of the books I read this year were excellent. I couldn’t choose a favorite. Having said that, I did put a star by the ones that you might want to float to the top of your list if you are having a hard time deciding which one to read first.   

Historical Fiction:

• ¬The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (historical references to the pack horse program during the 1930s and blue people of Kentucky)
• The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin (Based on a woman who was 2’8” tall)
• The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin (about silent film star Mary Pickford and screenwriter Frances Marion)
• I Always Loved You by Robin Oliveira (about Mary Cassatt’s relationship with Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot’s relationship with Edouard Manet)
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (refugees from Syria)  

Historical Fiction About WWII:

• ¬Beneath the Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan (based on a true story of Italian resistance and espionage in WWII) 
• We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter (based on a true family’s survival in WWII)
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (based on a true couple who fall in love in Auschwitz)
• The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton (based on the true Kindertransport before WWII)

Fiction:

• ¬A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (destined to be a literary classic)
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (hilarious)
• Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks (short stories)
• The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal (sister dynamics and the beer industry)
• Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald (a time-traveling romance) 
• The Curse of the Werepenguin by Allan Woodrow (laugh-out-loud kids’ book)
• The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse (slapstick classic)

Memoirs:

• ¬Educated by Tara Westover (despite an oppressive home life, a girl defiantly gets an education) 
• Twenty Chickens for a Saddle by Robyn Scott (a girl growing up in Africa)
• Bill Bryson’s African Diary (from 2002 trip)

Non-Fiction:

• ¬Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (real letters from a woman in Wyoming in 1900s)
• The Private Lives of the Impressionists by Sue Roe (art) 
• Night Witches by Bruce Myles (about the real female Russian pilots fighting the Germans in WWII)
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean (the L.A. library fire in 1986)
• Bad Girls Throughout History by Ann Shen (compilation of 100 notable women)
• Beneath the Tamarind Tree by Isha Sesay (the abduction of almost 300 girls in Nigeria)
• The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu (self-help book on joy)
• Creepy and True: Mummies Exposed by Kerri Logan Hollihan (kids’ book about mummies)


Happy Reading!

Annette 

Comments

Davida Chazan (The Chocolate Lady) said…
The Kim Michele Richardson book looks good, and I loved Last Train to London - one of my favorite of the year!
December 26, 2019 at 6:51 AM
Reading in the Garden said…
Both books were so good!! The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a best seller at the bookstore where I work. It's always nice to hear from you Davida. All my best for the new year!
December 27, 2019 at 8:49 AM
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