01 January 2020

2019: My year in books


So...  this year I read 98 books. I was aiming for 100, so that's pretty good, especially as I had one month where I barely read anything, and one month which I spent in the US packing up my mother's house for her move to Arizona.  Of these, approximately 20 were fantasy - either young adult or adult. 10 were young adult novels, and 15 or so were children's books. About 20 were crime novels, with only 4 non-fiction and one set of short stories. And I re-read about 25 books. This was a heavy year for re-reading, as most of the reading I did while at my mother's house this summer was re-reading - too hard to focus on anything else when so tired, physically and emotionally.

But more to the point, which were the best?  I don't count anything I've read before in my "best of" lists of the year, even if some of them are amazing books (like The Road, by Cormac McCarthy), so of the ones which were new to me this year, I've underlined the ones I thought really stood out. (And they're also the ones in the collage above...) Three of the books are a trilogy, which was good as a whole, but I've only put a picture of the first one in the collage...

BOOKS READ IN 2019

  • 98: Dreamwalker, J D Oswald (fantasy)
  • 97: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman
  • 96: The Secret Commonwealth, Philip Pullman (YA, fantasy)
  • 95: Becoming, Michelle Obama (non-fiction)
  • 94: The House with a Clock in its Walls, John Bellairs (children)
  • 93: Days without End, Sebastian Barry
  • 92: Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
  • 91: Rotherweird, Andrew Caldecott (fantasy)
  • 90: Last Night in Montreal, Emily St John Mandel
  • 89: Even the Dogs, Jon McGregor
  • 88: The Toll, Neal Shusterman (YA, fantasy)
  • 87: The Late Scholar, Jill Paton Walsh (crime, re-read)
  • 86: The Attenbury Emeralds, Jill Paton Walsh (crime, re-read)
  • 85: A Presumption of Death, DLS/Jill Paton Walsh (crime, re-read)
  • 84: Thrones, Dominations, Dorothy L Sayters/Jill Paton Walsh (crime, re-read)
  • 83: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L Sayers (crime, re-read)
  • 82: Gaudy Night, Dorothy L Sayers (crime, re-read)
  • 81: Have His Carcase, Dorothy L Sayers (crime, re-read)
  • 80: Strong Poison, Dorothy L Sayers (crime, re-read)
  • 79: Blindness, Jose Saramago
  • 78: Red Rising, Pierce Brown (YA, fantasy)
  • 77: Running on the Roof of the World, Jess Butterworth (chn)
  • 76: Milkman, Anna Burns
  • 75: Halo, Zizou Corder (chn)
  • 74: The 101 Dalmatians, Dodie Smith (chn)
  • 73: Gentlemen and Players, Joanne Harris (crime)
  • 72: The Snack Thief, Andrea Camelleri (crime)
  • 71: The Neverending Story, Michael Ende (chn, re-read)
  • 70: Thunderhead, Neal Shusterman (YA, fantasy)
  • 69: March, Geraldine Brooks
  • 68: The Watchers of Time, Charles Todd (crime)
  • 67: The Piper on the Mountain, Ellis Peters (re-read, crime)
  • 66: For my Daughters, Barbara Delinsky (re-read)
  • 65: The Music Shop, Rachel Joyce
  • 64: The Capricorn Stone, Madeleine Brent (re-read)
  • 61-63: The Delancey Trilogy, Muriel Jensen
  • 60: The Road, Cormac McCarthy (re-read)
  • 59: The Smile of the Stranger, Joan Aiken
  • 58: Shakespeare's Christmas, Charlaine Harris (crime)
  • 57: Shakespeare's Landlord, Charlaine Harris (re-read, crime)
  • 56: Here Comes a Candle, Jane Aiken Hodge (re-read)
  • 55: Savannah Purchase, Jane Aiken Hodge (re-read)
  • 51-54: The O'Hurley Quartet, Nora Roberts
  • 50: The Drowned Detective, Neil Jordan (crime)
  • 49: Dragon Rider, Cornelia Funke (chn, fantasy)
  • 48: Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (fantasy)
  • 47: Winter, Ali Smith
  • 46: A Shiver of Snow and Sky, Lisa Lueddecke (YA, fantasy)
  • 45: History of Wolves, Emily Fridlund
  • 44: The Boy at the Back of the Class, Onjali Q Rauf (chn)
  • 43: Scythe, Neal Shusterman (YA, fantasy)
  • 42: The Beast is an Animal, Peternelle van Arsdale (YA, fantasy)
  • 41: Alice, Christina Henry (YA, fantasy)
  • 40: The Wild Robot, Peter Green (chn)
  • 39: Falling, Jane Green
  • 38: Boy, Roald Dahl (chn, non-fiction)
  • 37: The Dry, Jane Harper (crime)
  • 36: The Dogs of Winter, Bobbie Pyron (chn)
  • 35: Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (re-read)
  • 34: The Rules of Magic, Alice Hoffman
  • 33: The Disappearances, Emily Bain Murphy (YA)
  • 32: The Wolf Princess, Cathryn Constable (chn)
  • 31: Anything is Possible, Elizabeth Strout (short stories)
  • 30: To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas (non-fiction)
  • 29: The End of Summer, Rosamunde Pilcher (re-read)
  • 28: The Venetian Game, Philip Gwynne Jones (crime)
  • 27: The Girl on the Train, Paul Hawkins (crime)
  • 26: Ever After, Elswyth Thane (re-read)
  • 25: The Terracotta Dog, Andrea Camilleri (crime)
  • 24: Sheltering Rain, Jojo Moyes
  • 23: The Ice Cream Makers, Ernest van der Kwast
  • 22: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers (non-fiction)
  • 21: A Place Called Perfect, Helena Duggan (chn)
  • 20: The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket, John Boyne (chn)
  • 19: Uniform Justice, Donna Leon (crime)
  • 18: The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula LeGuin (fantasy)
  • 17: The Bone Dragon, Alexia Casale (YA)
  • 16: The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley (fantasy, re-read)
  • 15: The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley (fantasy, re-read)
  • 14: Dragonsinger, Anne McCaffrey (fantasy, re-read)
  • 13: Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey (fantasy, re-read)
  • 12: The Last Letter from your Lover, JoJo Moyes
  • 11: I am the Messsenger, Markus Zusak
  • 10: The Killing Moon, N K Jemisin (fantasy)
  • 9: The Same Sky, Amanda Eyre Ward
  • 8: Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman (re-read, fantasy)
  • 7: Moonlocket, Peter Bunzl (chn)
  • 6: Cassandra at the Wedding, Dorothy Baker
  • 5: Alberto's Lost Birthday, Diana Rosie
  • 4: Glass Houses, Louise Penny (crime)
  • 3: Matilda, Roald Dahl (chn, re-read)
  • 2: Vengeance in Venice, Philip Gwynne Jones (crime)
  • 1: The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas, David Almond (chn)

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