Mrs. Ram's Jams

(featured photo credit)

Sorry for my unannounced extended hiatus . . . but life happens (e.g. two teaching preps, new curriculum, remodeling the kitchen, traveling for the holidays, and obsessively listening to Taylor Swift’s Red and Lover albums whilst procrastinating). But I’M BAAAAACCCCKKKK on the 2020 blogging train with one of my favorite yearly posts–my favorite reads of 2019.

And choosing my favorite reads this year proved more difficult than it was the previous year. I’m #sorrynotsorry for the lack of book reviews for my faves, but trying to decide which of the 153 books I read deserved to be ranked sucked my time for this post dry. Quite frankly, there are nearly 40 more books that I’d recommend; if you want to see a full list of my 2019 reads and how I rated them, check out my 2019 book challenge on Goodreads.

Anyway, drumroll please . . . here are my favorite books read in 2019:

1. Not That Bad:  Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay–nonfiction essays–five stars–published 2018
2. Recursion by Black Crouch–science fiction–five stars–published 2019
3. Arc of a Scythe series (Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll) by Neal Shusterman–dystopian YAL–five stars–published 2016-2019
4. A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza–contemporary fiction–five stars–published 2019
5. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid–historical/contemporary fiction–five stars–published 2019
6. Dopesick:  Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy–political nonfiction–five stars–published 2018
7. The New Jim Crow:  Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander–political nonfiction–five stars–published 2010
8. The Library Book by Susan Orlean–historical nonfiction–five stars–published 2018
9. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill–middle grade fantasy–five stars–published 2016
10. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate–middle grade–five stars–published 2012
11. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman–chick lit/books about books–five stars–published 2019
12. Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai–middle grade poetry/historical fiction–five stars–published 2011
13. The Common Good by Robert B. Reich–political nonfiction–five stars–published 2018
14. The Trouble with Poetry – And Other Poems by Billy Collins–poetry–five stars–published 2007
15. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid–historical/contemporary fiction–four stars–published 2017
16. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone:  A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb–autobiographical nonfiction–four stars–published 2019
17. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong–fiction/poetry–four stars–published 2019
18. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane–contemporary fiction–four stars–published 2019
19. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead–historical fiction–four stars–published 2019
20. Bad Blood:  Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou–business nonfiction–four stars–published 2018

There you have it! I’ll be back next week with my New Year’s resolutions post.

(All book art taken from Goodreads.com)