Tag: 52 Books

53 Books!

I accomplished my goal of reading a book a week on average!

Hi friends, I met my challenge this past year. I’m sorry I haven’t posted reviews lately but the holiday season kinda kicked my butt!

(Currently re-reading Little Women in anticipation of the movie!)

Here are my favorite books of 2019:

  • Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
  • Say Nothing – Mesmerizing Account of the Troubles
  • Ashes in the Fire – memoir by Darnell Moore
  • The River: IMHO the perfect novel
  • LOVED this – Blew my mind
These were among my favorite books of the year! What were your favorites?

Disappearing Earth has been on several best-of lists. Here’s what I thought about it: https://52-books.blog/2019/11/12/literary-thriller-try-it/

President Obama & I have similar taste! Say Nothing was on his best books list: https://52-books.blog/2019/06/10/say-nothing/

I wrote about Darnell Moore & No Ashes in the Fire twice! https://52-books.blog/2019/01/26/coming-of-age-black-free-in-america-a-memoir/ and https://52-books.blog/2019/02/03/reporting-back-i-love-the-love-that-darnell-moore-embodies/

Peter Heller was my new favorite author of the year. I think The River is my perfect novel: https://52-books.blog/2019/05/28/my-new-favorite-author/

Finally, My Year of Rest and Relaxation was so different and unexpected – I loved it: https://52-books.blog/2019/08/06/july-highlights/

Friends please comment back and let me know what your favorite 2019 reads were.

Cheers to 2020!!!

Literary Thriller – Try It!

I will be re-reading this in the near future for sure.

Disappearing Earth

A Novel by Julia Phillips

Published 2019 by Alfred A. Knopf, 256 pages.

My author-book club friend recommends a lot of books and and I’m always adding them to my To-Read List…. when I’m between books I’ll scroll through and see what to read next. I was scrolling and browsing in our local bookstore last week and ended up buying Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips.

I found out after I read it that the book has been short-listed for the National Book Award. I haven’t read others on the short-list but think this book deserves it. Here are some of the reasons why:

Compelling mystery – you’ll be presented with it when you read the inside cover so I’ll tell you anyway. Two young sisters go missing in Kamchatka, Russia. I don’t like knowing something bad is going to happen, especially to kids, so this first chapter was a little cringey. But good.

New-to-me setting – Have you ever heard of the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia? Me neither. It’s only accessible by sea or air because of the crazy mountains and volcanos. Home of indigenous people (the Even for example) and settled by western Russians. The landscape is beautifully described and is central to the story.

Strong and complex female characters – Yes there are many. Phillips provides a cast of characters so you can refer back to see who is who and how they may be related to another character. Also helpful because the names are Russian or Even.

Structure – The book proceeds in a linear timeline. Each chapter presents a character and her story – all which will pertain in some way to the central mystery. This structure allows Phillips to explore overarching themes and how they play into the book’s central drama of the missing children: female relationships, male/female relationships, indigenous versus non-indigenous, capitalism versus a traditional way of life.

Boo & Julia at [words] Bookstore, 11/12/19.

To make the reading of this book even more a pleasure, Julia Phillips came to [words] bookstore tonight. She read an excerpt and I got to meet her. My friend Boo Trundle (they are in a writing group together) interviewed her… It was exciting!