2019- Year in Review

2019 was a great year for reading for me. I set a goal to finish 40 books and somehow made it to 52! Here is the list in the order I read them:

1. No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty
2. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
3. Cress by Marissa Meyer
4. Fairest by Marissa Meyer
5. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
6. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
7. Winter by Marissa Meyer
8. The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty
9. Believe Me by J.P. Delaney
10. Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg
11. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
12. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
13. Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence
14. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
15. Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor
16. I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
17. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
18. Educated by Tara Westover
19. The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen
20. You are a Badass Every Day by Jen Sincero
21. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
22. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
23. Blasphemy by Douglas Preston
24. The Optimist's Guide to Letting Go by Amy E. Reichert
25. Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
26. Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman
27. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert
28. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
29. How to Talk so Teens will Listen and Listen so Teens Will Talk by Adele Faber
30. Becoming by Michelle Obama
31. An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks
32. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
33. The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
34. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
35. The F*ck It Diet by Caroline Dooner
36. Molly's Game by Molly Bloom
37. It All Comes Back to You by Beth Duke
38. Impostors by Scott Westerfeld
39. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
40. Before and Again by Barbara Delinsky
41. The Price of Time by Tim Tigner
42. The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle
43. The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness by Maddie Dawson
44. The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams
45. This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
46. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
47. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
48. How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
49. Watching You by Lisa Jewell
50. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
51. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
52. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Every year when I write this "In Review" post I am reminded why I keep this blog. It began as a way to keep up with and remember what I had read. If it also provides a list of suggestions for you, SmartGirl, then all the better. As I write these all in one place, I frequently say to myself, "Oh! I had forgotten that one!" or "Oh! That was this year? It seems longer ago than that." and often "Awww...I loved that one!"

I read a lot of really good books this year and it is always hard to pick a favorite, but I think the best book I read in 2019 was This Is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

Also in the sure-to-be-oft-recommended category:
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Educated by Tara Westover
and I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon

There are so many good books out there to read and I hope this list helps you add to your TBR list.
Happy reading and Happy New Year!

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

I really enjoyed How to Walk Away by Katherine Center and her Things You Save in a Fire was just as wondeful. Cassie is the youngest person, and the first woman, to receive a prestigious award with her Austin Fire Department. She has the second highest score of any firefighter on an important test necessary for promotion and advancement in the department. She is well-respected in her fire house and her crew is her family. She loves her job. When she is forced to move away and leave it all behind to join a new department, it is worse than starting from square one. Her new department is filled with men who think women have absolutely no place in a fire house. Add to that stress her ailing, estranged mother and the tug on her heart of unexpected romance and Cassie may not make it out alive.

I love Center's writing. The dialogue is quick and witty, she knows exactly how to build tension and when to finally let it break, and her female characters are strong without being hard, soft without being wimpy, sarcastic without being caustic. Center's stories are marinated in humor and heart. Cassie isn't the only great character in this book. We meet her mother, who has a complicated past but also a great perspective on life; her mother's darling neighbor; her Super Woman fire chief in Texas and her begrudging fire chief in Massachusetts. We also meet some funny firefighters and one or two that are kind of mean. I really liked this book and I can't wait to read Center's other books. 

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Three books by Lisa Jewell in one month is absolutely not too many. I just couldn't help myself! When I got to the last few days of December and realized that I had read fifty-one books in 2019, the Type A personality in me just couldn't resist the urge to finish with just one more, but with it being the holidays I knew I would need something fast. My past experience with Jewell practically guaranteed I would make my goal. 

The Family Upstairs follows Libby on her journey to discover who she is. Recently turned twenty-five, Libby has just inherited a huge house in a very posh area of London. Adopted as a baby, Libby has never known anything about her birth family. When the inheritance arrives, she attempts to uncover her own beginnings, the mystery surrounding the death of her parents, and the odd life they lived. Libby's chapters alternate with those of her biological siblings Lucy and Henry. Both have been in hiding since the events that led to Libby's adoption, but they are ready now to reunite. They tell the story of their strange upbringing and the family that moved into the upstairs rooms of their home.

Jewell certainly doesn't disappoint in this creepy tale of domestic drama. This book moved so fast, but I can't say I'd recommend it as something to read while visiting family. The urge to hide myself away in a closet just to find out what would happen next is not exactly conducive to good family relations and I had to force myself to put it away. Fortunately for me, our visit ended with a long, boring drive home (life fifteen hours long) and I had plenty of time to finish. This book wasn't what I was expecting and I think that's a good thing. I love the way Jewell twists and turns and subverts the readers expectations while still leaving us wondering at the end.

If you're looking for something fun to start off your year of reading, this is a good one!

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

I loved A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (the audio version is also fantastic). After reading a couple of suspense thrillers that got a little dark, I needed some lightness and thought Backman's 

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry might be the perfect antidote to not only those other books, but also for any holiday stress that might come up this time of year.

I was so right.

In this second offering by Backman, we meet Elsa, an almost-eight-year-old girl who has been repeatedly labeled "a little different". Luckily for Elsa, she has the perfect Granny for her- a woman who seems a bit crazy and is quite "different" herself. When Elsa's beloved grandmother dies, Elsa is left with the responsibility of delivering letters to her neighbors, all to whom Granny feels the need to apologize.

This book is sweet and wonderful and absolutely beautiful. Elsa's story is inextricably intertwined with the fairy tales her grandmother has told her all her life. As Elsa begins delivering her letters, she learns just how close to reality those tales are. The imagination that fills these pages is magical. There are several times I had to go back and reread a line or two just to fully bask in the beauty.

This book deals with grief and loss in the most tender way. It isn't just Elsa's loss of her grandmother, but as we meet the large cast of characters we learn they are all carrying their own pain and grief. It was also so very funny in places. Granny has a lot of spunk and is "perky for her age" which means she causes a fair amount of trouble and doesn't have any difficulty standing up for herself or especially for Elsa.

Having a grandmother is like having an army. This is a grandchild's ultimate privilege: knowing that someone is on your side, always, whatever the details.

Even when you are wrong. Especially then, in fact.

Normally, I finish a book and then I pass it on to someone else to enjoy it. This time, I'm not sure I can give it away. There are so many wonderful quotes in this book that I've tagged and might want to go back to again. On the other hand, it would be a shame to not share this charming, delightful book with someone else. I will try to be brave.

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

I so enjoyed Watching You by Lisa Jewell that I had to read Then She Was Gone. In this novel we meet Ellie, a promising fifteen-year-old young woman who goes missing. Her mother, Laurel, can't give up the search for her youngest daughter, not even ten years later. When remains are found that indicate it is time to move on from the search, Laurel does the best she can to find a way to start her life again. That is when she meets Floyd and his young daughter Poppy; she is charmed and hoping for a little happiness again. But there is something not quite right about Poppy. Or Floyd. 

There is almost nothing I can imagine that would be more horrific than one's child disappearing without a trace. Laurel has a hard life and doesn't always give the rest of the family the attention they need, but it isn't hard to feel for her.

She'd once viewed her perfect life as a series of bad smells and unfulfilled duties, petty worries and late bills.

And then one morning, her girl, her golden girl, her lastborn, her baby, her soul mate, her pride and joy, had left the house and not come back.

This was a very good book: plenty of twists and turns, lots of mysteries uncovered and perspectives explored. It makes a mother wonder if she has taught her children well enough how to keep themselves safe and it makes a reader wonder how she would be able to cope. This book was creepy and dark, but without shutting out all light entirely. Some of the characters are sweet and wonderful adding balance to those who are horrible and frightening. Not all mysteries/ thrillers have the depth for a good book club discussion, but that was not the case with this one. We had a great discussion and everyone enjoyed the book. I hope you will, too.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

In Lisa Jewell's Watching You, the whole neighborhood knows what everyone else is doing. The setting is Melville Heights, a posh neighborhood that has become famous for the bright colors of all the houses. Freddie is a teenager obsessed with documenting everyone's departures and arrivals; Tom is the new headmaster at the local school who may have a few secrets he'd rather not reveal; Joey is newly married, but perhaps not happily so; and Jenna is a student at Tom's school who is hoping no one will notice how ill her mother has gotten.

Alternating between two timelines, the discovery of a murder and the events leading up to it, the reader is kept on the edge of her seat wondering not only who did it, but also who is dead. This book was a fun, fast read that I couldn't put down. Having just moved into a new neighborhood, this novel certainly made me wonder who was around me and how much they can see in our house. This was a book club choice and we had more than enough to discus about the characters' motivations and about the plot twists and turns. This is my first Lisa Jewell book, but I'll be reading many more.

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

Can we just start with what a beautiful cover that is on Katherine Center's How to Walk Away? I'm not saying you should judge the book based on it, but it's a pretty darn good cover. And do you know what else is pretty darn good? The book inside it! This is a darling little book about Margaret, a young woman on the brink of beginning her perfect life- amazing new job, great condo, the perfect boyfriend who may have an important question to ask. Then, in the blink of an eye it is all up in the air. How in the world will Margaret make it work and will she let the people around her help?

I loved this book. It was sweet and heartfelt. Margaret is at turns cheerful or angry. She is in denial or facing the future with utter dismay. This book doesn't sugar coat Margaret's accident, though Center does infuse plenty of humor to the situation, and she gives the reader a very real taste of the complexities of recovery. The cast of characters is wonderful as well. Margaret's sister is fun and the nurses and physical therapists in the hospital are lovely. I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more of Katherine Center's work.