My Favourite Books of 2019

2019 was a different year for me. It was the year in which I read the most I've ever read and the year I was the most diverse in my reading. However, there weren't that many incredible heart-stopping books like there have been in previous years.

This past year I went back to reading a lot of contemporary and didn't read nearly as much Fantasy as I would've liked. I also read a bit of nonfiction that I've been wanting to read for a while, some literary fiction that I absolutely loved and reread some of my favourite books.

Format-wise, I read a ton of eBooks and I'm more than officially converted as a Kindle lover, as well as a few audiobooks thrown out there and, even though I had listened to books before, I think this was the year I truly fell in love with it.

Now, onto the brilliant books that were my favourite (funny enough, almost all of them weren't physical reads).

7) The Archived Series, Victoria Schwab

It is no secret that I absolutely adore Ms. Victoria/V. E. Schwab and these two books were no different. As usual, she manages to craft such a wonderful universe that you can't help but expect it to be real. I looked everywhere to be able to get the hardcovers of these and I'm so glad I found them because this story is truly remarkable. The Archived sucked me right in and I couldn't not star The Unbound right away. Brilliant!

6) Little Fires Everywhere, Celest Ng

This is a book everyone adores, about people's lives leading up to a house burning down (don't worry, this is told on the very first page), and you trying to figure out how that came to be. I finally decided to read this after having it on my wishlist forever because I heard there was a tv series coming out with Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington (love them BOTH) and it gave me Big Little Lies vibes so I needed it. I was so glad I did that because this book is incredible. Seriously, read it and go into it knowing absolutely nothing, you'll be sucked right in. The only thing that made it less awesome was that I kept saving it to read when I was on the go because Kindle, but I wish I had gobbled it right up. Also, March 18th can't come soon enough.

5) The Books Thief, Markus Zusak

Now, if you're a reader you've probably either read this book or know someone who loves it and has been yelling at you to pick it up. For me, that person was my mom. Before BookTube was ever a thing, she has been nagging on and on for me to read it but I never felt like I was on the right mindset for it. This year I finally bit the bullet and OH BOY. The narrator (Death) is was did it for me. It's the most unique narration I've found in a while and it is both heartbreaking and brilliant. I think even someone who doesn't read as much would appreciate this.

4) Daisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid

To be quite honest, I thought this book would rank a bit higher on my list. I read this soon after it came out, after reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (more on that soon). This is an incredible story about a band from the 1970s joining up with this incredible singer, Daisy Jones, and their rise and fall from fame. I read this so so quickly and was fully engrossed in the story, feeling like these characters were real and wanting to listen to the songs they talked about. The only downside was that I stopped reading it with 30 or so pages left because I needed to drive and the twist happened right there, so whilst it did shock me, I wasn't as emotional as I would've been had I finished it all in one go.

Before I go to my top three, I need to talk about an honorable mention: The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood. I considered putting this as number 7, but I wasn't quite sure about that since it took me so long to get through this one. I started reading it on Audible back in January and it took me a while to get into the story, but I was very intrigued. The problem was that I could only listen to snippets at a time, so when I was completely hooked I'd stop and only go back to it weeks later. The second half of this though I flew through, loved and listen to its sequel right after. This is an incredible book that's still so true and relevant, even though it's 30 years old. Loved it.

3) Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham

This is where my Gilmore Girls lover comer though and get emotional. I've wanted to read this for ages and finally picked up the audiobook. It is narrated by Lauren herself and I knew there was no other way I wanted to experience this. Incredibly short but brought tears of happiness (and sadness) to my eyes on multiple occasions, made me start my long overdue rewatch of the series and I still think about it on a regular basis (specially the ending, to which I've listened to a few times).

2) Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan If I had to pick a surprise book of the year, I think it would be this. Being so different from what I usually read, I jumped on the movie hype and decided to read it on my Kindle. This book has around 500 pages but I FLEW through it, was completely emerged in these people's world and had to purchase the boxset to finish reading the trilogy because it is that good. I also watched the film after finishing the first one and it is one of the feel chick-lit movies in recent years (if not the only) that made me cry tears of joy.

1) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid

I said I would go back to this and here I am. I read this in January, due to the hype and her other book coming out. I had absolutely no idea what it was about other than that you followed a Hollywood superstar from the 1950s and her telling the story of her seven husbands. I think about Evelyn Hugo to this day and wanted to reread it as soon as I finished (might give the audio version a shot next, I think it could be great). I read it in two days and all I could think about when not reading it was the story, the twist and turns and the characters. I fell in love with Taylor's writing, her ability to suck you in in no time (hence why I read two other stories by her this year and want to read all the rest), with the characters that aren't perfect but you can't help but love and overall, I think this is one of my favourite books I've ever read and I need the world to get to know this story.

So that's it everyone! A bit of a longer one but I needed to talk about these incredible books and why I loved them so much. Let me know what were your favourites in the comments below and what's got the potential to make this list next year.

Love,

N.

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