Favorite books of 2019

Hello, and welcome to my first blog! To start off, I’d like to share my favorite books of 2019. This was the first year where I felt like I really took the time out of my schedule to dive into books. I read and listened to a total of 21 books, after only reading 11 the previous year. For my blog, I’ve decided to rate books on both emotional connection and readability – two characteristics I think are essential (unless you’re reading one of the classics, then I’ll give readability a pass). Now, I’d like to share my favorites from 2019. The books below all scored a 10/10 on my rankings, so no need to go in the details on those here:

1. Educated by Tara Westover

This book absolutely wowed me. After a few late nights and BART rides, I managed to finish it in 3 days! Educated was a captivating memoir about growing up in a survivalist Mormon family in small town Idaho and overcoming the barriers of having no formalized identity or education. There were many other struggles when it came to dealing with her family relationships, such as an abusive brother, and she had to learn how to love them while creating some boundaries. Westover clearly communicates the power of education and how it opened up new worlds for her. At the beginning of college, she didn’t know what the Holocaust was, but she took her lack of knolwedge as an opportunity to dive deep into learning, and even went on to obtain graduate degrees. With Tara’s education came opportunities to see the world in a new light, and a newfound ability to change her life for the better. 

For me personally, it was surprising to hear how some people can live so “off the grid” that they lack what many would consider to be fundamental knowledge. This book made me feel very grateful to have a family that supported and nurtured me in my education from preschool to college. Westover also showed great insight into how complicated love and relationships can be – how you can love someone deeply, but at the same time experience so much pain from them that you have to distance yourself. Fortunately, I have not had to experience much of that in my own life, and I am very thankful that I have healthy relationships with my family.

2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I listened to this book on Audible last year, and found it absolutely captivating. I hadn’t read a fiction novel in awhile, and this was the perfect reintroduction. It was a mix of murder mystery and a beautiful coming of age story for a girl growing up by herself in the rural North Carolina marshland. Kya’s adventures in nature, romances and heartbreaks will leave you in a daze. Although my life was a world apart from Kya’s, I think any woman can relate to the story of her growing up, and will be on the edge of her seat wondering who the murderer was and if she will find true love despite her unique lifestyle. I couldn’t stop listening! 

3. Dear Girls by Ali Wong

Ali Wong’s book Dear Girls was hilarious. She can be a bit vulgar so this one may not be for everyone (she even says she’d want her daughters to read it around 21-years-old), but I found it immensely funny. She talks about her rebellious self while growing up, dating, her comedy career, family, and more. I loved hearing about her study abroad trips to Vietnam and Hawaii as well as her relationships with family and friends (particularly her unique brother Andrew). Just beware that she gives graphic descriptions of giving birth, her post-birth mom-life and much more. Not for the faint of heart 😉 But if you enjoyed her comedy specials on Netflix, you definitely have to check this out! 

And that’s a wrap for the top three! Other books I read and listened to last year include: Dare to Lead by Brene Brown, Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter (finishing up a series I read in middle and high school), Man’s Searching for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, 10% Happier by Dan Harris, The Power of Moments by Chip Heath (shoutout to the Accenture SF book club for providing this one), Make Your Bed by William McRaven, Know my Name by Chanel Miller, Becoming by Michelle Obama, You are a Badass by Jen Sincero, and Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance – plus a few more that I will share in future blogs. Many of these were also insightful and inspiring, but I tried to narrow it down to as many as I could above!

Looking forward to sharing more frequent book reviews with you this year and beyond! Comment if you’ve read any of these and please share your book recommendations!