2019 in Books

Books I read or listened to in 2019, audiobooks denoted with 🎧:

• The Witch Elm by Tana French 🎧: I like her books. Good characters, good stories. But they always seem to go on a little longer than I’d like.
• The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson 🎧: Very good! Read by Claire Danes.
• The Diary of a Hounslow Girl by Ambreen Razia 🎧: Good and interesting. Fun accents.
• The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt: Fantastic! Should be required reading for everybody, especially educators and parents and teenagers and college students. And everybody.
• Autoboyography by Christina Lauren: Pretty accurate description of Provo Mormons, but flat, stereo-typed characters. I didn’t like it.
• The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg: Very good. I love Elizabeth Berg.
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean: Excellent!
• Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan: Quirky and fun.
• Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal 🎧: This was very good. Contains some actual erotica written by the Punjabi widows in the story.
• I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez: I kind of hated this.
• The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler: I love everything by Anne Tyler, but I don’t remember it later. Similar with Elizabeth Berg.
• Yes, Please by Amy Poehler 🎧: Really good! I enjoy memoirs written by funny people. Read by the author.
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens: Good, but I didn’t love it like many others do.
• The Trespasser by Tana French: Same as above.
• Life After God by Douglas Coupland: I love Douglas Coupland. About halfway through, I thought I might be disappointed in this, but it turned out to be great, like everything else he’s written.
• Raven Black by Ann Cheves 🎧: This was fine.
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb 🎧: I really liked this and came away thinking everyone could benefit from seeing a good therapist. The trick might be finding the good therapist.
• Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream Book by Jake Godby, Sean Vahey, Paolo Lucchesi: This book taught me to make ice cream without an ice cream maker, which I’ve now done several times with great success. The recipes are interesting, but I only made a couple of the most boring ones. They were amazing.
• Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster: Cute little book by Mark Twain’s niece or great-niece or something.
• Naturally Tan by Tan France 🎧: I really enjoyed this, although I ignore all his fashion advice because I don’t care about that. Read by Tan.
• The Mothers by Brit Bennett: This was very good.
• Another Man’s Moccasins by Craig Johnson: I started this a long time ago and finally got around to finishing it. I might have listened to it, but I can’t remember. It’s good, like the others in the series.
• Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen 🎧: Entertaining, funny.
• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han: These are good! I like them.
• P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han: See above.
• Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan: Ian McEwan is a very good author. This was good, but not my favorite.
• The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida: Odd and interesting.
• 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson 🎧: This was really good and I loved listening to Jordan Peterson reading it.
• Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens by J.K. Rowling, translated by Klaus Fritz 🎧: Good story, of course. The guy reading the German was just as good as Jim Dale.
• Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. Really good.
• Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han: See above.
• We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer 🎧: Pretty interesting. Practical ideas. I liked it.
• One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson: Kate Atkinson is a good mystery writer.
• Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson 🎧: Kind of quirky. Good.
• Holiday Greetings from Sugar and Booze with Ana Gasteyer and Maya Rudolph 🎧: I don’t know if these count as books, because they are short productions exclusive to Audible. (Diary of a Hounslow Girl is another like it.) Anyway, this one was funny and sometimes moving. I enjoyed it.