What did you read this year? Did you keep a list? Do you remember the good ones?
It’s almost Christmas Eve, and I have a few books on my shelf I may finish before the end of the year, but I decided to stop to look back on the books I read in 2019, I found a few with stories still resonating with me, and others with plots I could not remember.
When this Sunday’s New York Times ran an article on the front page on Where the Crawdads Sing, i was reminded how much I liked that book. Although I read the book in 2018, it is still at the top of the best seller list, and worth mentioning this year. Alexandra Alter in her New York Times article details the book’s unlikely success, selling more print copies “than any other adult title this year – fiction or nonfiction…blowing away the combined print sales of new novels by John Grisham, Margaret Atwood, and Stephen King.”
The book has it all – a murder mystery, a survival story, romance, a little useful information, and a recommendation from a famous movie star – but it also has a page-turning compelling narrative mixed with beautiful explanations of nature. The author, after all, spent years in the wild herself studying lions and tigers and elephants. Like many writers, Delia Owens is a loner and an observer. She wrote this – her first work of fiction – approaching seventy years old and after divorcing her husband of forty years. It’s never too late.
I reviewed the book when it was first published and immediately starting recommending it. Here is my review:
If you haven’t read the book, it’s never too late.
Favorite books from 2019 I remember:
January: The Overstory by Richard Power – I read this twice to not embarrass myself in a new book club, but I could probably read it again and find more I missed. I hesitated to recommend the book because it was dense and difficult, but if you want a challenge on a cold winter night, give it a try. My review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/01/12/the-overstory/
February: The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash – If you are a fan of John Lennon, you will enjoy this and possibly find it a good book club pick. Here is my review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/02/28/the-dakota-winters/
March: The Friend by Sigrid Nunez – A Story for dog lovers. My review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/03/09/early-spring-fever/
April: Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley – It’s complicated, but the characters are finely drawn with unexpected consequences in the Tessa Hadley style. My review:https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/04/18/late-in-the-day/
In May and June, life got in the way, and I did not feel like reading or writing, but finally books lured me back.
July: The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware – a friend gave me a preview copy of this thriller and it was just what I needed to get me back into reading. My review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/07/28/the-turn-of-the-key-by-ruth-ware/
August: Lady in the Lake by Laura Lipman – a thriller with a surprise ending. My review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/08/22/lady-in-the-lake-by-laura-lippman/
September: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett – Patchett says she writes the same story each time she writes a book, but this one resonated with me because I grew up in her setting. My review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/09/25/the-dutch-girl/
October: This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger – I agree with my friend about Krueger’s style being close to Kent Haruf. An easy book and a promising book club pick. My review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/10/15/this-tender-land/
November: The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett – An old peaceful treasure set in Maine. My review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/11/08/historical-diversions-chevalier-and-orne/
December: The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper and Carlson Ellis – A picture book with a perennial message. My review: https://nochargebookbunch.com/2019/12/21/the-shortest-day/
Please share your favorite books. I am always looking for another good book to read.
Happy Holidays – here’s hoping Santa brings lots of good books under your tree.
Looking back is sometimes easier than looking forward. Scrolling through my reviews for 2018 brought back connections I made through books, and, as I tried to identify one book from each month, I remembered the year. I found a book for each month except June, and the one posting for that month titled 
I picked one book from each decade from her list:
Right now I am reading Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton, the book that inspired the Broadway musical. Hopefully, its 731 pages will get me through this night.
If you want to understand who a person is, look at their book shelves. It was no surprise when I recently found rows of mystery paperbacks on a friend’s shelves as I helped clear out her stash, but it was a surprise to find the complete set of Elena Ferrante from My Brilliant Friend to The Story of the Lost Child. It was no surprise to find Vogue fashion but the complete set of Playbills took me back. Not so much what we read, but what we save after we read often tell stories about what we value and perhaps what we dream about.
The No Charge Book Bunch 