My Top Five Reads of 2019
Let’s start with a simple fact about me: I read, a lot. My favorite way to start the day is with a cup of coffee and a chapter or two of a book.
Last January I was curious how many books I would read during the year. I had never kept track before, so I started a list and added titles each time I finished a book. My list is broken into book books and audiobooks, because the experience is different enough to me that I wanted to keep track of if I read the book or listened to it.
During the year, I finished just over 60 books – with three still in progress and reading two books twice. While I enjoyed the experience of most the books on my list, there were a handful that stuck with me, long after the pages were done.
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens: My favorite type of fiction is a suspense story that is unpredictable. I want to feel invested in the characters and sympathetic to whatever situation may come up. Allen Eskens masterfully delivers everything I could have wanted in this story told by Joe Talbert. Set in Minnesota, Joe Talbert is a college student with a lot on his plate – including an assignment for his English class that will take up more time than he anticipated. [Allen Eskens has six books with overlapping characters. I’ve read four so far, and while The Life We Bury is my favorite, I’d read any of them again.]
Atomic Habits by James Clear: Everybody sets goals. We all have resolutions to do something different, or desires to be better at something. We succeed sometimes and fail often. But, rarely [at least for me] do we consider why some things work for us while others don’t. In his book, James Clear takes a scientific approach to analyzing habits and how to create better ones. Reading this book the first time had me looking back at where I’ve let myself down in the past and thinking about how I could improve in the future. Reading this book the second time helped me create new road maps and changed my perspective on goals. I am confident that I am now a better version of myself because I read this book.
The Sun Is A Compass by Caroline Van Hemert: Memoirs of people taking epic adventures are usually all the same to me. Someone does something cool, they decide to write about it and for about half the book it’s a great story. Then, somewhere along the way, the author [adventurer] becomes disenchanted with their own journey. They either get sick of telling the story or their pending accomplishment becomes less to them as their journey winds down. Either way, these types of books tend to fizzle for me. Not this story. This epic adventure is compelling from the first page to the last. I’m so grateful that Caroline Van Hemert shared her 4,000-mile adventure through the Alaskan wilderness with the world.
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull: Before picking up this book, I had never heard the name Ed Catmull. After reading this book, I will never forget who he is. Among many other things, Ed Catmull is one of the founders of Pixar. This book is a collection of stories and lessons, but it reads like a memoir – I couldn’t put it down. Each story is introspective, insightful and thought-provoking. Within the first few pages, I ran to my desk to grab a highlighter. I kept the highlighter within reach whenever I opened this book. It is the most marked up book on my bookshelf.
Beartown by Fredrick Backman: This story is set in a small town in the forest, where winter and hockey are a way of life. But this story is not about hockey. It’s about our choices and actions being intertwined with the choices and actions of others. It’s about people and the good and bad of humanity. This story reminds you there is good and bad in all of us. Somehow, Fredrick Backman tells a story that breaks your heart while putting pieces back together. [The sequel, Us Against You, is just as good.]
Almost made the list: Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis and My Not-So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella. [Or anything Sophie Kinsella; her books are light-hearted and make a great companion during a long week.]
