Hey guys! I hope you’re having a good 2019 so far. Today I wanted to share my top reading recommendations for this year.
2018 wasn’t my best reading year (I had so much reading to do in grad school), but I still managed to finish around 25 books.
Here are the ones I couldn’t put down:
The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. A fascinating history of the English language. Recommended for all language nerds and Bill Bryson fans.
On Writing by Stephen King. Part memoir, part writing guide. All in all a great read.
Calypso by David Sedaris. I always love David Sedaris’ short stories, and his latest collection didn’t disappoint. Funny, quirky, heartfelt.
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante. 1,500+ pages and three years later, I’ve finally finished the Neopolitan Novels! The Story of a Lost Child, the fourth and final book of the series, is a beautiful, heart-wrenching, and ultimately satisfying end to the series.
Educated by Tara Westover. The memoir of a woman who grew up in a fundamentalist family in rural Idaho and went on to be educated at Harvard and Cambridge. A harrowing but beautiful read.
Places I Stopped on the Way Home by Meg Fee. A book of short stories about living in New York, surviving your twenties, and finding love (or not). Written by Meg Fee, one of my favorite bloggers. Super relatable and poetically written.
Am I There Yet? By Mari Andrew. An illustrated book on the journey to adulthood by Mari Andrew, one of my favorite illustrators on Instagram.
The Course of Love by Alain de Botton. A novel about the course of a fictional marriage, from the meet-cute to old age. Very interesting perspective on how love changes over time.
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park. One woman’s harrowing experience of escaping North Korea. Couldn’t put it down.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. In this book, Bryson explains the history of biology, geology, physics, and more. It made me so much more interested in science, something I never thought I’d say.
So those are my recommendations! If you have any for me, leave them below in the comments. As always, I’d love to hear them.
Side note – am I the only person who didn’t love The Heart’s Invisible Furies? Some of the characters seemed so unrealistic (e.g. Cyril’s parents) and the humor was a little try-hard. Also, I enjoyed A Little Life but found some parts hard to stomach. Anyone else?
What about you? What’s on your reading list for 2019?
P.S. 8 Wonderful Books to Read in 2018 and The 16 Best Books I read in 2016.
(Photo by Glen Noble via Unsplash.)
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I just finished Impossible Owls by Brian Phillips, and it was incredible! Definitely put on your list to read. It’s a book of essays by a journalist, and he examines all these different cultural phenomena from sumo wrestling in Tokyo to the Iditarod in Alaska. The way he writes is so lyrical and fascinating. He’s able to weave these stories in with cultural criticism and stories of his own life, and the result left me wanting to simultaneously tear through the book and also slow down to savor it. Plus, essays are great so if you get torn away to do school reading, you don’t have to start all over again to pick back up. Hope you enjoy!
Oh! And I forgot to mention how much I loved Mari Andrew’s book too. I recently moved to Paris to be an au pair (you definitely inspired that!) and have really fond memories of reading this one summer Saturday morning in Central Park just before I moved away from New York. She’s so talented at capturing some elusive moments/emotions!
That’s awesome you’re in Paris! Enjoy it. I’ll check out Impossible Owls :)
I also LOVED In Order to Live even though memoirs usually aren’t my thing. I’m also currently really enjoying A Long Way Home, another memoir. But my favorite read of 2018 would have to be Ready Player One!
Rachel || http://anotherstationanothermile.com
I loved Lion! I’m sure A Long Way Home was equally interesting :)
Such an interesting post! Great suggestions! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it, Alistair :)