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    • Top Twenty Books 2019

      Posted at 2:15 pm by Mrs. Ram Jam, on January 2, 2020

      (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 2018not that bad
      2. Recursion by Black Crouch–science fiction–five stars–published 2019recursion
      3. Arc of a Scythe series (Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll) by Neal Shusterman–dystopian YAL–five stars–published 2016-2019scythe
      4. A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza–contemporary fiction–five stars–published 2019a place for us
      5. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid–historical/contemporary fiction–five stars–published 2019reid_9781524798628_jkt_all_r1.indd
      6. Dopesick:  Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy–political nonfiction–five stars–published 2018dopesick
      7. The New Jim Crow:  Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander–political nonfiction–five stars–published 2010the new jim crow
      8. The Library Book by Susan Orlean–historical nonfiction–five stars–published 2018the library book
      9. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill–middle grade fantasy–five stars–published 2016the girl who drank the moon
      10. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate–middle grade–five stars–published 2012the one and only ivan
      11. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman–chick lit/books about books–five stars–published 2019the bookish life
      12. Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai–middle grade poetry/historical fiction–five stars–published 2011inside out
      13. The Common Good by Robert B. Reich–political nonfiction–five stars–published 2018the common good
      14. The Trouble with Poetry – And Other Poems by Billy Collins–poetry–five stars–published 2007the trouble with poetry
      15. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid–historical/contemporary fiction–four stars–published 2017the seven husbands
      16. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone:  A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb–autobiographical nonfiction–four stars–published 2019maybe you should talk to someone
      17. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong–fiction/poetry–four stars–published 2019on earth we're briefly gorgeous
      18. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane–contemporary fiction–four stars–published 2019ask again yes
      19. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead–historical fiction–four stars–published 2019the nickel boys
      20. Bad Blood:  Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou–business nonfiction–four stars–published 2018bad blood

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

      (All book art taken from Goodreads.com)

       

      Posted in books, reading, Uncategorized, writing | 4 Comments | Tagged blogging, blogs, book reviews, books, books in 2019, read, reading, top twenty, top twenty books, writing, yoga

    • Top Twenty Books 2018

      Posted at 12:19 am by Mrs. Ram Jam, on December 29, 2018

      the great aloneuprootedso you want to talk about race

      (All book art taken from Goodreads.)

      As per requested, here are my top twenty reads of the year.

      I’m currently sitting at 132 books under my belt and am hoping to hit 135 before year’s end. Not only did I read more than I did last year, but I made an effort to read more nonfiction. And because I’ve already reviewed most of these books on this list, I’m taking the laziest route possible and not re-reviewing them. (Please feel free to check out my previously posted book reviews. Next week’s post will be reviews of my reads from December.) However, I did rank them from most favorite to not-my-favorite-but-still-really-good.  

      1. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah–five stars–published 2018–historical fiction
      2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik–five stars–published 2015–fantasy
      3. So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo–five stars–published 2018–nonfiction
      4. Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline–five stars–published 2011–science fiction
      5. The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy, #1) by Katherine Arden–five stars–published 2017–fantasy
      6. The Girl in the Tower (Winternight Trilogy, #1) by Katherine Arden–five stars–published 2017–fantasy
      7. Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)  by Leigh Bardugo–five stars–published 2015–fantasy/YAL
      8. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo–five stars–published 2016–fantasy/YAL
      9. Stardust by Neil Gaiman–five stars–published 1999–fantasy/YAL
      10. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari–five stars– published 2011–nonfiction
      11. The Martian by Andy Weir–five stars–published 2011–science fiction
      12. Tell Me More: Stories about the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say by Kelly Corrigan–five stars–published 2018–nonfiction/memoir-ish
      13. Furiously Happy:  A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson–five stars–published 2015–nonfiction/memoir-ish
      14. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones–five stars–published 2018–contemporary fiction
      15. Red Rising (Red Rising, #1) by Pierce Brown–five stars–published 2014–science fiction
      16. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal–four stars–published 2017–contemporary fiction
      17. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain–four stars–published 2014–nonfiction
      18. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn–four stars–published 2006–mystery/thriller
      19. Circe by Madeline Miller–four stars–published 2018—fantasy
      20. Less by Andrew Sean Greer–four stars–published 2017–contemporary fiction

       

      As always, I’d love to hear what you have to say about these books if you’ve read them. Cheers!  

       

      Posted in books, reading, Uncategorized, writing | 4 Comments | Tagged best books 2018, blogging, blogs, book reviews, books, reading, top twenty, top twenty books

    • Top Twenty Books of 2017

      Posted at 4:27 pm by Mrs. Ram Jam, on January 4, 2018

      Here’s my promised list of my favorite reads from 2017. My 2017 goal was to read 100 books, and I hit 119 over the course of the year.

      And did I go broke? No. I bought ONE book out of 119 to support an old acquaintance who published her first book. I borrowed two books from friends. All the rest were library books. You can read more here, Thirty Seven More to Go, about how the internet and the library have revolutionized my reading habits.  

      Anyway, so many of these books were so so so so good. I couldn’t narrow it down to just a top ten.

      Will a top 20 suffice?  

      1. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson. This one is my favorite. It’s the funniest thing I have ever read. You think you’re crazy? Your crazy might be able to compete with Jenny Lawson’s crazy, but there’s no way you can recount personal anecdotes about your own life as hilariously as she does.  
      2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.  This one is my second favorite. Even though it’s YAL, it’s an important book about racism and police brutality.  The writing appears deceptively simple but stuns with complexity, revealing Thomas’s show stopping story telling prowess.  
      3. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.  I hate that this lovely book falls into third. It’s hilarious and endearing. It’s like the best kind of mash-up of The Rosie Project and A Man Called Ove.  
      4. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Do you remember that movie Stardust with Claire Danes and Michelle Pfeiffer?  I adored it when I saw it in the movie theater.  I had no idea Neil Gaiman wrote the book (He also wrote Coraline.), let alone who he was at the time. He’s now one of my favorite fantasy authors ever. This book is a must read for fantasy fans.  
      5. We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver.  Sinister. Disturbing. Epistolary, which I normally despise thanks to TWO forced readings of Pamela in college, but I didn’t let that get in the way of inhaling this accidental reread about a school massacre. (And since it is an accidental reread, I do feel guilty about putting it in my top five. But what evs. It’s my top five dammit. I can do what I want.)

      Here’s the point where I stop ranking and describing and start listing. Because I could go on and on and on about all of these books, and ain’t nobody got time for that. But in particular, me. I don’t have time for that!!!  

      • Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan.  
      • The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena.  
      • A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
      • Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling.
      • The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
      • The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware.
      • Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whitemore.
      • Beartown by Fredrik Backman.
      • American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
      • A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic Series Book 3)  by V.E. Schwab.
      • The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
      • Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan.
      • The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau.
      • The Good Girl by Mary Kubica.
      • Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.

      Most of the books I read last year were very enjoyable, and I would recommend 85 percent of them.

      For a full list of books read or quit during 2017, you can check out this post, The Books I Read in 2017.

      If you have any questions about any of the books or would like to discuss them because you’ve read them too, please feel free to drop a comment on Facebook or below.

      Posted in books, reading, Uncategorized | 3 Comments | Tagged books, books in 2017, favorite books, reading, top twenty, top twenty books

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