2019 Books

The annual list of the books I read this year.  My goal was 50 and I read 80 (plus one re-read).  Four and Five star ratings are highly recommended.  Several of these books fit in my Reading Around The World goal. And many were by female authors – on purpose.

Rating      January

5 stars     A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa

5 stars     The House by the River by Lena Manta

3 stars     Marry Me by Sundown by Johanna Lindsey

5 stars     The Queen: Aretha Franklin by Mikal Gilmore

3 stars     Power Moves: Lessons from Davos by Adam M. Grant

February 

5 stars     War Childhood, Sarajevo 1992-1995 by Jasminko Halilovic

4 stars     It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree by A.J. Jacobs

4 stars     In the Name of the Family by Sarah Dunant

5 stars     Beyond the Rice Fields by Naivo

March

4 stars     The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure by Rachel Friedman

4 stars     Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King

1 star      Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

5 stars     Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali                        by Kris Holloway

4 stars    Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution                        by Caroline Weber

5 stars     The Malta Exchange (Cotton Malone, #14) by Steve Berry

4 stars      The Last Days of Cafe Leila by Donia Bijan

4 stars     A Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker

3 stars     The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

April

3 stars     Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

5 stars     Married to a Bedouin by Marguerite van Geldermalsen

5 stars     Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa

4 stars     The Beautiful Brain by Hana Walker-Brown

4 stars     A Mind of Her Own by Paula McLain

5 stars     First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

4 stars     Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

3 stars     Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

May

5 stars     I Remember Abu by Humayun Azad

3 stars     Fantastic Beasts – The Crimes of Grindelwald by J.K. Rowling

5 stars     Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

4 stars     The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer

5 stars     Elizabeth II: Life of a Monarch by Ruth Cowen

5 stars     Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

5 stars     Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI            by David Grann

5 stars     Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

1 star      Tenth of December of George Saunders

3 stars     The 3-Day Effect

4 stars     A Well-Read Woman: The Life, Loves, and Legacy of Ruth Rappaport                  by Kate Stewart

June

5 stars     Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love by Dani Shapiro

5 stars     The Sugar Detox: Lose Weight, Feel Great, and Look Years Younger                      by Brooke Alpert & Patricia Farris

5 stars     The Night Tiger by  Yangsze Choo

5 stars     The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

July

5 stars     A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell

5 stars     Temptations Darling by Johanna Lindsey

5 stars     Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

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

August

4 stars     Rage by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King)

4 stars     Guns by Stephen King

5 stars     Christmas Past: The Chronicles of St Mary’s #8.6 by Jodi Taylor

5 stars     A Perfect Storm: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #8.5 by Jodi Taylor

5 stars     The Battersea Barricades: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #9.5 by Jodi Taylor

5 stars     The Steam-Pump Jump: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #9.6 by Jodi Taylor

5 stars     And Now for Something Completely Different: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #9.7 by Jodi Taylor

5 stars     A Short Ride in the Jungle: The Ho Chi Minh Trail by Motorcycle by Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent

4 stars     The Royal Road to Romance by Richard Halliburton

5 stars     Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

4 stars     Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

3 stars     The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson

September

3 stars    American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt by Karen Harper

2 stars    The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg

5 stars    The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (re-read)

5 stars    The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

3 stars    The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King)

5 stars    Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

October

5 stars    Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson

November

3 stars    You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

4 stars    The Tattoist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

5 stars    Hope for the Best (The Chronicles of St Mary’s #10) by Jodi Taylor

4 stars    Midnight Son by James Dommek Jr

4 stars    You Can Thank Me Later by Kelly Harmes

5 stars    When Did You Last See Your Father (The Chronicles of St Mary’s #10.5) by Jodi Taylor

December

5 stars    Without a Country by Ayse Kulin

5 stars    Baghdad Without a Map by Tony Horwitz

3 stars    Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

5 stars    Getting Stoned with the Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu by J. Maarten Troost

4 stars    1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

4 stars    The Monk of Mokha by David Eggers

3 stars    Rose of Sarajevo by Ayse Kulin

3 stars    The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

1 star     A Castle in Romagna by Igor Stiks

4 stars    Essentials of English Grammar by L. Sue Baugh

5 stars My Grandmother: An Armenian-Turkish Memoir by Fethiye Cetin

4 stars Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship by Kayleen Schaefer