Book Talk #1 - 2019

Here's how this is going to work:

We are going to start with the FULL LIST, in no particular order. Fiction, then non-fiction. 34 books, all linked to the store that takes all of my money every time I go in so you can give your Visa card a good workout! Or your library card, if that is your style. Fair warning, some of these titles have hold lists in the hundreds.

Keep scrolling down past the list for commentary. I will take pity on your eyes and only write about the real standouts, I promise.

Fiction:

Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Bachelor Girl by Kim van Alkemade
Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney
The Finishing School by Joanna Goodman
Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
Tiny Little Thing by Beatriz Williams
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood


THE ULTIMATE #1 OF 2019
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where do I begin with this novel? I found it so profoundly moving. I am a movie crier, but had never cried from a book before (this includes Harry Potter - I KNOW I KNOW). But this one. It destroyed me in the best way. It was a Reese Witherspoon pick for her book club, which accelerated it to the top of the bestseller list, and became one of "the" books to read this year. It took me awhile to pick it up, because I just wasn't sure if it would live up to the hype, but I am happy to say it not only lived up to the hype, but surpassed it. The writing is stunning and paints such a vivid picture of the inner life of the main character, Kya; her pain and joy are visceral experiences for the reader.


BEST "I LIKED THE MOVIE SO MAYBE I SHOULD READ THE BOOK"
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

I loved the film so much but I loved the book even more. Sometimes I am not a fan of the trope of a novel being written entirely in letters between the characters, but Shaffer did a spectacular job of weaving the story through each letter and developing every character's voice clearly. The details present in the book made me appreciate the movie even more; it became so clear how much character work each actor had done and even though some aspects were given the Hollywood treatment, I think they generally remained true to the core of the story.


THE ONE MOST LOVED BY BOTH ME & MY MOM
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

A Gentleman in Moscow was the second read of the year from the NYU Alumni Book Club that I am a part of. It took me a couple of chapters to get into it, but once I was in, I was IN. The premise of the story is simple: the Count has been identified as a person of interest and is sentenced to house arrest. His house just happens to be the Grand Metropol Hotel in downtown Moscow and we get to follow his adventures in the hotel and experience all of the characters that he encounters in the hotel. I thoroughly enjoyed Towles' other big novel, Rules of Civility, and both have a way of quietly charming the reader so by the time you reach the end, you are completely taken by every character, no matter how flawed. Similar to Where the Crawdads Sing, I was once again moved to tears by the prose and the simple profundity of Towles' writing, displayed to perfection in the character of the Count.


THE ONE I WAS CAUGHT OFF-GUARD BY HOW MUCH I LOVED IT
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

The Dearly Beloved was sent to me by my dear friend Annemarie; if she hadn't included it in the package, I don't know if I would have heard about it. Set over sixty years, we follow two couples through their lives, from the beginning of university all the way to old age. They meet sometime in the middle, when the two husbands are assigned to co-pastor a church in New York City. The characters are unexpectedly complex and the story is an exploration of the many facets of having (and not having) faith. A special moment for me while reading this novel was when the location of the church was revealed: Fifth Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets. I ran through my mental map of the city to place myself in the narrative and when my mind landed on the location, I was overcome with emotion. Their church was the one directly across the street from my freshman year dorm at NYU. I used to listen to its church bells ring every Sunday morning. So maybe I'm a bit biased on this one because of my emotional connection to the setting, but I would recommend it as an easy and enjoyable read.


THE ONE I HAD THE MOST FUN READING
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

I heard Liz Gilbert talk about this novel on the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd and immediately put it on my list to read. It lived up to all expectations. In Gilbert's hands, 1940s New York City comes alive and is magical without being saccharine. This is twenty-something showgirls behaving badly and (mostly) getting away with it and it is delightful. City of Girls also features one of the funniest scenes I read all year, involving a doctor. If you've read it, you'll know. If you haven't, you'll know when you get there.


THE ONE I COULDN'T PUT DOWN
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

This book came highly recommended by some of my favourite podcasters and they weren't wrong about not being able to put it down. I read Moriarty's other hit, Big Little Lies, last year in under a day because I needed to know what happened and What Alice Forgot was exactly the same. Not to be confused with Still Alice, this book is not a poignant and heart-wrenching story about Alzheimer's. We first meet Alice as a newlywed, excited about life, in love with her new husband, and just moving into a new home. A chapter later, we meet her again after she has fallen off a bike at spin class and realizes she has woken up 10 years into her future and her life looks nothing like she thought it would. I thought it was a deeply touching commentary on being careful about what we wish for and how easily we can turn on autopilot and let life just happen to us. We just might wake up one day and not recognize the people around us, or worse, ourselves.

Non-Fiction:

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey by Fiona Carnarvon
That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Educated by Tara Westover
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Challenge Accepted! by Celeste Barber
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

ULTIMATE NON-FICTION FAVE OF 2019
Educated by Tara Westover

One of the biggest hits of the year, Educated lives up to the hype. Educated is Westover's account of her upbringing as the only daughter of survivalist Mormon parents in Utah. Westover's first real time in a classroom is at the age of 17, when she starts at BYU, after teaching herself enough to pass the ACT exam. Difficult to read at times, this is a truly remarkable story of perseverance, the power of education, the meaning of home, and the gut-wrenching choices that must be made when faced with the truth of one's family.


THE ONE I STARTED 5 TIMES BEFORE BUT FINALLY FINISHED THIS YEAR
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

In the Garden of Beasts is a terrifying look at the years leading up to World War II. What makes it so terrifying is that it is shockingly similar to many things that are happening in a certain country to the south. Larson manages to make American Ambassador Dowd as interesting as the larger-than-life figures existing around him in Berlin, including his fascinating and infuriating daughter.


THE ONE THAT MADE ME LAUGH AFTER READING THE TWO BOOKS OUTLINED ABOVE
Challenge Accepted! by Celeste Barber

I follow Celeste on Instagram and regularly shed tears of joy as I watch her stories and double-tap her pics that she posts mocking the ridiculous photos that some celebrities post on their feeds. She is smart, self-deprecating, and hilarious. It is a quick read and I knew I had found a kindred spirit as soon as I read this line:

"Drama school was a big fucked-up family dynamic that completely shaped my self-worth and also made me want to open a vein." Same, Celeste, same.


THE ONE I DIDN'T EXPECT TO LIKE AS MUCH AS I DID
That Woman: the Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba

Before Meghan came along to shake up the Royal Family, there was Wallis. Many of us were introduced, or re-introduced, to Wallis Simpson through The Crown on Netflix. I, personally, had no knowledge of the Royal Family's connection to Nazi Germany before The Crown and it had me interested in learning more about "that woman." That Woman is a fascinating look at the woman who sparked fascination and ire wherever she went. Of course, Wallis was an intensely private individual, so we will never truly know everything about her, but Sebba does a wonderful job of humanizing the caricature of the Duchess of Windsor.