2019 is coming to an end already. It’s time to take stock, to look back and most importantly to make a list of all the wonderful books I read this year. It’s time for my top reads of 2019 same as my top reads of 2018.

I love reading and read whenever I find the time. The place doesn’t matter nor does the time, when I have my kindle in my hand. Also, I cannot fall asleep without reading even if it’s just one word. It’s very rare for me to have a day when I haven’t read. Yes, through pregnancy, through nursing M and this year even through my sister’s wedding, I made sure I read. I think it has to do with the fact that reading calms me and so I hold on to it as fervently as I can.

This year I set myself a goal of 35 books on Goodreads and I’m so happy to say that I have managed to read 61 books already, am reading the 62nd currently and there are still 2 weeks left till the year ends. I cannot tell you how happy that makes the reader in me.

The number makes me happy because I know I managed to find time to do what I love amidst the 100 other things that keep me occupied. If you love reading, you’ll know how happy reading as many books as you can, actually makes you. It’s as simple as that. There have been people who have ridiculed the fact that I read so much, saying that they don’t like to think of reading as a competition or challenge. Of course, it isn’t but it is an addiction nonetheless, one which I’m proud of. 

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I loved this book. I did. 

Sometimes the simplest of stories are the most intricate and stay with you forever. This one is just that.

4) Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

When I finished reading it, I felt like I was breathless. 

Yes, breathless at its brilliance and beautifully heartbroken too. 

This book is one of those that has so much depth yet seems so effortlessly written. 

The story of the Marsh Girl has now become one of my absolute favourites. 

It is so very beautifully written that as a reader I felt it’s as profound as another one of my favourite ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’. 

I think anything I say about this book won’t do justice to it. 

It’s so excellent that I had to finish this in 2 to 3 days, overlooking all that I could ignore. 

Now the book is about Kya, who abandoned by her family when she was just a child grows up alone in a Marsh. 

She is called ‘The Marsh’ girl by the people in town, people who don’t know her and people she attempts to stay away from. 

Yet, the loneliness gets to her and when two young men give her that company, touch that part of her which aches for sharing her life with someone, she feels maybe now she doesn’t have to be alone anymore. 

Only something terrible happens and it tugs at your heartstrings.

It’s a coming of age story of a girl who overcomes so much and achieves so much. 

And yes, there is murder too. 

So, you must give this gem of a book a chance. 

It’s very unlikely that you’ll be disappointed.

5) City Of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Now, what do I say about this book?

It’s magic. It’s poetry and it’s binding.

From the very beginning, she pulled me in.

I loved being part of Vivian Moriss’s life.

I loved the subtle ways Gilbert touched upon the misogyny that has long existed.

I loved New York of 1940.

I loved that Vivian lived the life of her choosing without being apologetic about it.

I loved that Gilbert wrote a novel about a heroine who does everything in her life without needing a husband by her side.

I loved it because it’s one of those not-trying-hard-but-automatically-feminist reads.

So, don’t wait anymore. Read it.

I love reading and read whenever I find the time. The place doesn’t matter nor does the time, when I have my kindle in my hand.

6) The Huntress by Kate Quinn

This is one of the best books set around the second world war and the years immediately following it that I have read in the recent past.

So, before even telling you what the book is about, I’m going to say it’s a must-read for the lovers of this genre.

So, ‘The Huntress’ is a book in which Nazi Hunters track down a brutal Nazi, a woman, who has escaped being punished for the horrors she committed during the war.

There is Nina Markova, a wild, wild woman who joins the infamous Night Witches, a Russian regiment of all women fighter pilots.

Then there is Jordan, a young photography enthusiast from Boston who finds herself unable to trust this new woman who enters into her father’s life.

This woman, a soft-spoken German widow, eventually becomes Jordan’s stepmother but there is just something about her that spells secrets and not so elegant past.

Then there is Ian Graham, a war correspondent who leaves everything to bring hiding Nazis to justice. But his sole target and also Nina’s is the elusive huntress.

The book has depth, is not in a hurry to unfold yet not slow at all.

It keeps you on the edge and hooked.

I loved it, the brilliant storytelling and also the way the author brought all these characters together while providing an insight into each of their lives leading up to the point where everything connects.

You must read it. Really!

7) Becoming by Michelle Obama

I have always admired Michelle Obama after listening to her speeches and interviews. I have always loved what she stood for. And this book just increased my respect for her manifolds.

One of the things that I kept thinking about all through the book was how Michelle Obama like so many other women decided to change the course of her life to ensure that her husband had a shot at his dream. Not only that she worked hard to ensure that it’s realised while at the same time taking care of her kids. Of course, she then did everything within her power to work on issues close to her heart. What can I say, her story is relatable in so many ways. She was and still is a working mom. She decided to step back in her career so that Barack Obama could go full throttle towards his without worrying about their small kids.

But the best part is that she still became her own woman which she anyway always was. And that’s why her becoming inspires me for mine. And that is why her becoming is an unputdownable read.

Go for it.

I read this through the madness that was my sister’s wedding.

8) The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

The book starts with a young woman getting married in a Russian refugee camp, a move that will change her life forever. You then meet Alina Dziak and Tomasz, young lovers who lived in Poland during the German Occupation. Alina like any other teenager is quite unable to fathom the dangers lurking at every corner with the Nazi Occupation. All that she wants is for Tomasz to come back from Warsaw so that they can get married and start their lives together. But as the years pass, she gradually is forced to face the horrors of the occupation. The systemic disintegration of their lives under the Nazi rule, the loss, the struggle to survive and the dilemma of helping Jews in spite of the risk of being executed, this book has it all. It’s an emotional read and I quite liked it. I think it definitely was worth the time I invested in it.

These are books that made me feel and experience emotions that I wouldn’t have. These are books that refused to let me go even after the last page was turned.

9) The Lost Girls Of Paris by Pam Jenoff

This one here is a historical fiction inspired by Vera Atkins and her team of women spies who worked with the resistance in France. While reading the book, I could already feel a sense of it’s a resemblance to reality, of what actually happened.

I remember reading and loving a book on Vera Atkins, The Spymistress, I think it was, and that made this book even more interesting for me.

The story sets the pace with Grace Healey finding an abandoned suitcase in the Grand Central Station. Curiosity gets the better of her and she finds herself opening the suitcase which among other mundane things includes a dozen photographs – each of a different woman. She learns that the suitcase belonged to one Eleanor Trigg who was the leader of a network of female spies. There begins her quest to find out more about Eleanor and her spies. And I loved every bit of it.

This one is a good book for the lovers of historical fiction set around the second world war. If you pick it up, let me know what you think.

10) The Wych Elm by Tanna French

One night Toby gets attacked in his apartment which leaves him traumatised, unsure of himself, the person he was and scared with muddled memories which could even be figments of his imagination. That’s when he moves back to the Ivy House, his family’s ancestral home to take care of his terminally ill uncle. And just when things seem to be improving, a skeleton is discovered inside the Wych Elm in their garden.

As detectives start their investigation, Toby goes through a mental and emotional upheaval trying to find out who in his family could have committed such an act. In fact, when the detectives close in, he is even worried and unsure if someone in the family is directing them to him or later if he had committed the heinous act himself and can’t remember now.

This is a book that unfolds at its own pace and keeps you glued. Towards the end, I just left everything aside because the book was so engrossing. Add to that the state of the protagonist and you have a great thriller on your hand.

11) Circe by Madeline Miller

This was probably the first fantasy fiction I ever read. But I thought I must see what the hoopla is about concerning this book. When I finished reading it, I realised it was no hoopla at all, just genuine praise.

The book is about Circe, the daughter of Helios, the god of the Sun. It is her story from start to finish, how she doesn’t quite fit in with the Gods and is banished to an island for daring to speak the truth, to make an example out of. From there on starts the tale of Circe, the witch of Aiaia.

What I loved most about this book is that it’s the story of a woman. It’s the story of her survival. The story of a single woman in search of love, her loneliness, how her powers threaten others who thought she was just meant to be a nobody. I love how fierce she is as a woman, a Goddess really, and a mother with all the flaws that one may have. She is not perfect and I loved that about her. I know the storyline draws a lot from Greek mythology but if you read it carefully enough you’ll find undertones of the lives of women relevant even today.

Of course, the tales of Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, Medea, Odysseus, Telemachus interwoven with Circe make for a very, very enticing read.

I think you could give it a try if you are up to reading the fantasy genre.

Let me know if you do!

I have read 61 books this year. The number makes me happy because I know I managed to find time to do what I love amidst the 100 other things that keep me occupied.

12) Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

This book was another great discovery from my Instagram feed. The title and then the blurb caught my attention not to mention the cover too. So, I just had to read it. And I did that in 3 days while doing all the adulting that I have to.

Now, the book is a young adult novel which follows Aila, a teen girl who moves to her recently deceased mother, Juliet’s hometown and discovers that it is cursed to lose the ordinary things in life every seven years; from their reflection to dreams, scents or even stars. Aila realises that her mother is believed to be one of the catalysts for this curse and seeks to solve this mystery.

The story is set in the 1940s. It has magic, love, friendships and a pull that keeps you turning the pages. I loved how the author tied the mystery. I especially loved how she connected Shakespeare’s works, specific passages of it to the disappearances and then their temporary cures in the form of variants. I think the book was a welcome surprise and I enjoyed every moment of reading it.

So, give it a try and let me know if you loved it too.

13) Love Letters To The Dead by Ava Dellaira

This was the second book I picked up this year and I must say it turned out to be quite an emotional read. I learnt about it on Instagram and couldn’t stop thinking about it. The title is quite catchy, you must agree. It was also one of those books talked about highly by Emma Watson, so obviously, that piqued my interest too.

Now, the book is about a 15-year-old Laurel who writes a series of letters to dead musicians and celebrities as she tries to deal with her sister’s mysterious and recent death. In one word, this book is just emotions in the form of letters. Through the eyes of a teenager, this book shows how death affects families. Or, most importantly what happens to those who are left behind by loved ones.

Through these deeply personal letters, Laurel wonders how she’s supposed to go on in life without that one person who was meant to always be with her. These letters explore her anger towards her sister for leaving her and also her guilt for not being able to save her. While talking to these celebrities who committed suicide, she asks questions and talks about her deepest feelings which she can’t express to anyone else. 

One of the strongest pillars of this book is also the love between sisters so no wonder it touched me as much as it did. I think the book deals with two very relevant and important subjects, depression and suicide. Hence, a must-read.

14) The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins is a book which reminded me of Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace and Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, both books which I had really enjoyed reading.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a remarkable work of historical fiction which takes you on a journey of a former slave and servant accused of murdering her employer and his wife. From a Jamaican plantation to Georgian England, this literary work has Frannie Langton as the protagonist, a mulatta slave who grew up in Jamaica and then was gifted as a servant to a well-known household in England. She is flawed, conflicted and for her time has ambitions and hopes that seem way above her reach. This book is her confession and her life story.

If you have read Alias Grace, then you’ll realise this book too like the former has a constant eerie appeal to it. It has the conversations around slavery, touched upon the fact that intelligent women often had to play coy to have a roof above their heads because men were the only ones who ran the world at that point in time and what pleasantly surprised me most was that the novel also has romantic love between two females as one of it’s most important aspects. I think it was a very satisfying read for me, a lot of depth in the subject and the characters.

My verdict is it’s a must-read for the lovers of this genre and this period. But yes it’s not a light read at all. So, remember that when you pick it up.

Do tag me if you read this to let me know what you think.

15) Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I just finished reading Daisy Jones & The Six and I must say I’m totally and completely in love with it.

The book is about a rock band of the 70s and the troubled and talented Daisy Jones. It’s a story of the murky yet exciting world of musicians, groupies, tours, love, life and relationships.

When I started reading it I thought it was a true story and it sucked me in completely. Of course, I found out later that it was based on or rather inspired by a real-life band Fleetwood Mac but that just made it all the more exciting a read.

The characters in this book are all so deep, different and draw you in instantly. There are several aspects of this book that I love and I don’t even know I can do justice to what I feel in words. But I’ll mention those few aspects that I cannot do without.

Firstly, the forbidden love between Billy Dunne, the lead singer of The Six and Dasiy Jones. The rawness of it, the way it pushes them apart, makes them clash like two meteors, making you sigh at the helplessness that they feel. You want them to get together and then not.

Then there is the marriage between Billy and Camila which starts with love, real love and then somewhere becomes something that still feels like love and perhaps is but with the pressure of doing the right thing taking the passion out of it. Or, maybe it just becomes a duty instead of love.

And the most important part, I must say is the fact that the women in this book are such strong feminists. Daisy, Camila, Karen and even Julia, all women who lived on their own terms, made the world around them bow to their will without being apologetic about it.

Also, the way the author has written the book. You’ll know when you pick it up what I’m talking about.

There is so much this book is about but I do not want to give all away. I want you to discover the joy of it. So, you just need to read it and feel it for yourself because honestly, I have been floored by it.

In fact, I’m going to add it to my top reads of 2019. Yes, perhaps, to the very top.

One more thing, I’m excited about the on-screen adaptation of this book as well. Yes, Reese Witherspoon is supposed to be producing it so there you go. Another reason to read it, I say.

Do tell me if you pick it up. Okay?

Well, there you go, those were my top 15 picks from this year. These are books that made me feel and experience emotions that I wouldn’t have. These are books that refused to let me go even after the last page was turned.

As this year comes to a close, I wish I can keep reading every single year of my life because there are after all so many books and so little time.

And if you do pick up books based on my recommendations, do let me know. A little acknowledgement means a lot especially when I see folks picking from my list but not even stopping to recognise that. Some do, of course, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. 

PS: Post edited to add the 15th top read, Daisy Jones & The Six