This is Part 2 of my book recap for the year. For Part 1 click here.
Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey Into the Heart of Russia by David Greene is my favorite book of the year. It’s a journal-like travelogue of his ride across Russia via the Trans-Siberian train, including short stories about the people he met along the way. It was especially interesting getting the perspective of an American who traveled Russia just before the political events of the past few years (to note: the book isn’t very political in any way).
I read Beach Blues by Joanne DeMaio last year at about the same time I read Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans by her this year (August/Labor Day). Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans actually comes before Beach Blues in her series, but it was nice filling in some background of the part of the multi-part story I already knew.
A Paris All Your Own edited by Eleanor Brown is a collection of short stories from 18 women authors who have written a Paris-themed book before. However, these short stories aren’t about their previous books. It’s a glimpse behind-the-scenes of how the “City of Light” became such an important part of their life.
It’s believe it’s safe to say: I love books written by Shea Serrano. With each of his first two books, it took me no more than a week to finish my initial reading. Movies (and Other Things) was no different. The way it’s set up–like Basketball (and Other Things)–in essay form with questions that allow you to think about the subject differently that you have before. Also, the casual tone the book is written in is more like conversing with a friend instead of how it can be with other books on movies, music, etc. that can veer towards formal.
It took me a little longer to complete I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan than I thought it would at first. Part of the reason likely was I started reading it at the beginning of the holiday season when things were getting busier. Another part, though, was I believe I was looking to connect with the story personally more than I should have. However, I couldn’t because the protagonist is in a different stage of life than me. Once I started just letting the the story unfold and not thinking as much, the pages started turning quicker.
You know how sometimes you read a book that’s in a genre you typically enjoy, but for some reason you feel detached? That’s how I was with Hotels of North America: The Collected Writings of Reginald Edward Morse by Rick Moody. It’s a collection of writings by a eccentric hotel reviewer that mysteriously stopped turning in reviews without explanation a number of years ago. Sounds interesting–and it was–but I just didn’t get into it.
Beach House Reunion by Mary Alice Monroe is essentially a low-country South Carolina tale about finding your future by making sense of your past. It was also dotted with factoids about sea turtles throughout, which were really interesting to learn.
I ended my literary year by reading Cardinal Cabin by Joanne DeMaio and Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory. Both books are holiday-themed romance stories from two authors I enjoy reading, and were a perfect, airy way to close out my 2019 readings.
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I read fewer books in the second half of the year than I did in the first half (9 vs. 12) and considerably less than last year when I read 30 over the course of the year, but sometimes the mood simply wasn’t there. Also, as I noted in part 1, I did enter 2019 with the intention of cutting a back a little on the number of books I was going to read over the year to do some other things for pleasure as well.
Personal Pensism 