My favorite reads of 2018

I'm a little early this year, but there were so many books I loved reading this year that I wanted to go ahead and share.  I normally share my 10 favorite books of the year, but this year I have to expand that number.  Most years I read around 100 books, but this year I've read 126, so I figure I can have a few extra favorites!

My favorite book I read this year:

I've read all of Robert Dugoni's Tracy Crosswhite thriller series, starting with My Sister's Grave, and have always enjoyed them.  Tracy Crosswhite is a Seattle police officer whose sister was murdered while they were teenagers.  While that entire series is worth reading, nothing about them prepared me for Sam Hell.  This book reminded me of A Prayer for Owen Meany, one of my all-time favorites.  Sam is born with ocular albinism, which makes his eyes appear red.  The book follows his life from childhood to his work as a doctor.  I loved the characters and was sad to leave them at the end of the book.  

The most important book I read this year:

Adverse Childhood Experiences (or ACEs) impact health for a lifetime.  More than 20 years after the initial study correlating trauma with long-term negative health consequences, research is finally emerging on how to counteract these impacts as an adult.  Dr. Burke Harris has an amazing TED talk on ACEs if you are interested!  

The other non-fiction book that really touched my heart this year:

Dr. Bartolo lives and works on the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is the first stop for thousands of refugees fleeing Africa and the Middle East.  This is his heartbreaking story of the journey of these refugees to find safety.  Tears of Salt was an appropriate name for this book as I found myself crying for the tragedy of hate in our world.

I love young adult fiction, and six of my favorites this year came from that genre.

Similar to The Hate U Give, which was on my favorite list last year, Dear Martin deals with racial injustice and police relations.  A very powerful and timely read.

Pam Munoz Ryan has written some of my favorite books (particularly her young adult book Echo).  Riding Freedom is based on the life of orphan Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst who hid her gender and became the first woman to ride for the Pony Express and the first woman to vote in a presidential election in California.  

Ghost is the first of four books following four members of an elite middle school track team.  Castle Cranshaw (known as Ghost) has struggled with domestic violence between his parents and trouble at school.  Will his natural talent as a sprinter give him the motivation and path to a different life?  While I have enjoyed all four books (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu), this one is my favorite in the series.  

Lily brought this book home from the school library - wow.  It is a truly beautiful book, told mostly through the amazing illustrations of Brian Selznick (who also wrote The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which became the movie Hugo).  A truly wonderful story!

I'm always up for a good story about foster care or adoption.  Far from the Tree follows three biological siblings who were raised in three different homes.  After giving up her own baby for adoption, teenager Grace begins the search for her biological mother.  Along the way, she discovers she has two biological siblings, Maya and Joaquin.  Grace and Maya were adopted a birth, while Joaquin has spent his life in foster care.  Together they will discover the true meaning of family.  

In 1947, a free India becomes two countries - India and Pakistan.  Tensions between Muslims and Hindus are high, and many Hindus in what becomes Pakistan feel they must flee their homes for their safety.  This story follows one family as they leave behind all they know becoming refugees in the new India.  Beautifully written as well as informative.

The rest of my favorites, in no particular order:

I love historical fiction, and Fiona Davis never disappoints.  Set at the famous Dakota apartment building in New York City, the story alternates between Sara Smythe, manager of the Dakota in 1884, and Bailey Camden, living in the Dakota in 1985.  

I love Kate Morton's books, which are also historical fiction.  The Clockmaker's Daughter follows multiple characters across more than 150 years as a London archivist attempts to solve a murder from the 1860s.

I loved this book!  So everyone knows I'm obsessed with Hamilton the musical.  Eliza Hamilton is my favorite charcter in the musical, but little is known about her life, as she was always in the shadows of her husband, Alexander.  This well-researched novel of historical fiction gave me the chance to know Eliza better and my respect for her just continues to grow.

Classic Stephen King with storytelling at its best.  The Mr. Mercedes trilogy is toward the top of my favorite King books (surpassed by The Green Mile and The Stand), and this book brings back some of my favorite characters from the trilogy.

Movie star Evelyn Hugo, now an octogenarian, decides to tell her life story to a young reporter.  Each section focuses on her life with one of her seven husbands.  Just a fun read!

Jaya, a journalist in New York City of Indian descent, travels to India following a third miscarriage.  Here she meets Ravi, her grandmother's former servant and confidant, who helps Jaya understand her mother and the history of her family. 


Wishing you happy reading in 2019!

Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

Okay, so I'm sure most of you know I have an obsession with Hamilton; An American Musical that began two years ago.  Lin-Manuel Miranda not only created "the best piece of art in any form" as Michelle Obama said, but he sparked an interest in our country's revolutionary history.  As a lover of American history, I felt well versed on the Civil War and times after and on the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but my knowledge of the Revolutionary War through the 1850s was pretty sparse.  Did I know who Alexander Hamilton was?  I could have told you he was on the $10, he was our first treasury secretary, and he was killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr (which I only knew from the Got Milk? commercial).  The musical inspired me to read Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton, but also his Washington biography (which I found more interesting and would highly recommend).

The first time I listened to the Hamilton soundtrack in April 2016, the character of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton grabbed me, and she hasn't let go.  Here's a woman who gave birth to EIGHT children and basically adopted a ninth yet she had no rights.  She helped fight the revolution in many ways, but she couldn't vote.  She lived 50 years after Hamilton died in the duel of 1804 and during that time, she fought against slavery and used her influence to help raise funds for the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children as well as helping to found the first private orphanage in New York City.  That orphanage still exist today and functions as a group home for foster youth as well as providing services to families and children.  However, she saw her most important role as maintaining the memory of Alexander's role in the founding of our county.  As the final song in the musical says, "Will they tell your story?"  And I would say as a country, we did not tell Hamilton's story.

I have always loved historical fiction, and My Dear Hamilton did not disappoint.  I was afraid I would find it in opposition to the character of Eliza I had created in my mind from the musical, but if anything, the book made me respect her even more.  As it said in the book, we all talk about the Founding Fathers, but what about the Founding Mothers?  I'm thankful that someone is finally telling Eliza's story.

My Favorite Books in 2017

This has been a light reading year for me - normally I read over 100 books in a year, but with more free time spent on crochet this year, I only read 76 books in 2017.  Here are my 9 favorite reads of the year.

1. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
For five days, two of the greatest religious leaders of our time (and close friends) shared their thoughts on finding joy despite a life that includes suffering.  Their overall message?  Relationships with others are paramount and joy comes through relationship. 

2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas focuses on the aftermath of the shooting of an unarmed black youth by a white police officer.  I love young adult fiction! 

3. Mississippi Blood by Greg Iles competes the Natchez Burning trilogy spectacularly.  It is well worth your time to read all three books (Natchez Burning and The Bone Tree are the first two).  The books feature Penn Cage, attorney and mayor of Natchez, who is faced with the accusation that his father, beloved doctor Tom Cage, killed his former nurse, an African-American woman.  As Penn digs into his father's past, he is drawn into the world of an elite group of the KKK called the Double Eagles.  A thrilling triology!

4. The Trapped Girl by Robert Dugoni is the fourth book featuring Detective Tracy Crosswhite.  Tracy was drawn to a career in law enforcement following the kidnapping and murder of her sister when they were teenagers.  I recommend reading the whole series (My Sister's Grave, Her Final Breath, In the Clearing, and the latest Close to Home). 

5. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik.  Fascinating to learn more about the life of one of our Supreme Court Justices, who spent the majority of her career fighting for gender equality. 

6. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, one of my favorite authors.  I'm a huge fan of historical fiction, and Lisa See is one of the best in this genre.  Li-Yan lives in a remote Chinese village.  More educated than most in their village, Li-Yan rejects many of their ancient customs.  When she becomes pregnant out of wedlock, she gives her baby up for adoption.  The novel focuses on Li-Yan's search for her daughter, adopted by an American family.  A beautiful and heartbreaking book.

7. Mrs. Saint and the Defectives by Julie Lawson Timmer.  I found this book through Kindle First Books - the free books available each month to prime users.  When divorcee Markie and her son move to a new town, they meet a rag-tag group of characters led by their new neighbor, Mrs. Saint.  These characters stole my heart!

 

8. Lisa Gardner's Quincy and Rainie series - Right Behind You is the seventh book in the series featuring FBI profiler Quincy and his wife, law enforcement officer Rainie.  It was the first I read in the series, and I found the characters fascinating, so I went back and read the other six books as well as many of Lisa Gardner's other books, thrillers all.

9. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn - another book of historical fiction based around women serving as spies in Europe during WWI and WWII.  Part mystery, part history, all magical!

Happy Reading!

My favorite reads in 2016

Each year, I look back on the books I've read and share my top 10 (or sometimes a few more!).  This year, I'm grouping my favorite books by category.  As you will see below, I struggled to limit the list to 10 this year, so here's my top 15!

Non-Fiction

Most books I read in this category pertained to poverty in America, since that's the focus of one of my jobs.  The three best books I read this year all fall in this area, and I can't recommend them highly enough.  I think each of them provides a new perspective on life in America, particularly in light of the Presidential election this year. 

JD Vance, graduate of Yale Law School, grew up in a steel town in southern Ohio.  His grandparents, the one constant in his tumultuous life, were recruited by the steel company to move with many others from their hometown in Kentucky, thus maintaining their "hillbilly" culture.  In addition to addressing the reasons why a candidate like Donald Trump appealed to many blue-collar workers struggling to make it financially, Vance addresses the impact of childhood trauma and the Adverse Childhood Experiences study.  PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!

As a living wage job becomes less attainable for those without a college degree, how do families survive financially?  What impact did welfare reform enacted under Bill Clinton have on the fiscal landscape of those at the bottom of the earning pool?  Could you live on just $2 a day per person in your family?  

Sociologist Matthew Desmond moved into two extremely low income housing areas in Milwaukee to understand how families on the edge struggle to maintain housing.  Without an address, how do you get a job?  What would you do to put a roof over your family's head?  All three of these books are heartbreaking, but also demonstrate the problem solving skills and resourcefulness of those living in poverty in America.

As you may know, I'm obsessed with Hamilton - both the musical and the man.  Although I don't think I would have liked him very much because of what is described as a very abrasive personality, I have huge admiration for all he accomplished to make our country what it is today.  Before the musical and my subsequent reading of this book, I could have told you Hamilton was on the $10 bill, he was the first Treasury Secretary, and he died in a duel with Vice-President Aaron Burr (which I knew from the Got Milk commercial!).  I think this may be the level of knowledge most people have about Hamilton's life.  This man set the stage for our economic vitality as a country and his greatest project, the Federal Reserve system, is still going strong.  One of my favorite lines from the musical sums it up for me, "America, you great unfinished symphony, you sent for me.  You let me make a difference, a place where even orphan immigrants can leave their fingerprints and rise up."

Young Adult Fiction

I love a good young adult book!  Many of these were recommended to me by my friend, and elementary school librarian, Audra Reed.   Please don't discount them just because they were written for a younger audience.  Two of these books, Fish in a Tree and Because of Mr. Terupt, address how an outstanding teacher can change the course of their students' lives.  

“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”  How do students suffering from learning disabilities like dyslexia manage to fool their teachers so they aren't considered "stupid?"  Ally has hidden her inability to read for years.  It takes a very special teacher to help her see how special she truly is.  Last year, I read One for the Murphys by this author, and I would highly recommend that book as well.

Seven 5th graders share the story of a year that changes them forever and the teacher who makes it happen. The first in a series.

I discovered Jennifer Holm this year with the publication of her latest young adult book based on her family history, Full of Beans.  All of her books are enjoyable, but my favorite was Turtle in Paradise about a young girl sent to live with family on Key West during the Great Depression.  

Do you love libraries?  Love to read?  Can you solve the literary clues to escape from Mr. Lemoncello's library?  Truly wonderful - this is one I will read again!

Fiction

There are books published at just the right time, and this is one of them.  Incredibly relevant to the discussion of race in America, Picoult once again delivers a story to make you explore your own beliefs.  As she asks in the book, would you know if your neighbor were a white supremacist?  Do we  ever know how another person truly thinks and feels?  

I always love a good sweeping historically based novel, and Gyasi's Homegoing did not disappoint!  Two half-sisters born in Ghana in the 1700s experience very different lives, and set the course for the lives of their families to come.  One sister is sold into slavery while the other is married to a British slave trader.  What is the legacy of slavery in these families?

I discovered this series this year and read them all!  What great mysteries set in England in the 19th century following the newly created Scotland Yard Murder Squad.  

Maybe I liked The Yard so much because it reminded me of one of my absolute favorite series, Laurie King's Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books.  The Murder of Mary Russell is the 14th book in this series and the best I've read in a long time.  If you haven't read these books yet, you really need to start with the first, The Beekeeper's Apprentice.  

In the final book of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, Stephen King is at his storytelling finest.  All three books are worth reading, but the third was my favorite.

Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs have appeared in numerous books by Jeffery Deaver, but this was the most engrossing I've read of this series in years.  A true page-turner!

My Favorite Book of the Year

This 2016 Newbery Honor book tops my list this year.  I know the author from some simple chapter books Lily loved about Tony Baloney the macaroni penguin, and while those books were fun, I wasn't sure what to expect from Echo.  A single harmonica makes its way across the world to change the course of three young lives.  

My favorite books from 2015

For the first time this year, I used GoodReads to track my books.  It told me I read 91 books and almost 35,000 pages in 2015!

Here are my 10 favorite books I read in 2015:

1. Historical fiction seems to always top my list, and this year is no exception.  The Nightingale tells the story of two sisters participating in their own ways in the resistance movement in France during WWII.  Beautifully written and a fascinating story.  

2. Edward Stanton, a thirty-nine-year-old man with Asperger's Syndrome, leads a quite and extremely structured life.  When new neighbors move in, Edward's world is turned upside down as he begins a friendship with 9-year-old Kyle and his mother.  Heartwarming, quirky, and quietly funny, I was heartbroken to reach the end of the book.  Wonderful characters make this book well worth reading.

3. Another common theme in my yearly book list is young adult fiction.  Micah lives with his Grandpa Ephraim, but his life is turned upside down when Ephraim becomes ill.  Grandpa Ephraim has always entertained Micah with fantastic stories of the magical Circus Mirandus, but on his deathbed, Grandpa reveals the Circus Mirandus is real and Micah must find it to save his grandfather.  

4. I've enjoyed Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York blog for some time, and this book is a fascinating compilation of beautiful pictures and stories.  My favorite story from the book:

"We're eye doctors."  "What's something about the eye that most people don't realize?"  "The eye doesn't see.  The brain sees.  The eye just transmits.  So what we see isn't only determined by what comes through the eyes.  What we see is affected by our memories, our feelings, and by what we've seen before."

5.  Historical young adult fiction?  How could I not love it!  Telling the story of the school desegregation in 1958 Little Rock, the story focuses on the friendship between two girls, one white and one "passing" for white and the dangers of their friendship during a time when Jim Crow prevailed.

6. Monsieur Perdu, a literary apothecary, operates his bookstore from a barge on the Seine and prescribes books to cure his readers' ills.  Years ago, his great love disappeared leaving him with a letter, which he refused to open.  When he finally reads the letter, he pulls up anchor and sails his book barge on a quest to find his lost love.  Simply charming.

7.  I love a good mystery with a twist!  The book jacket calls it at a modern retelling of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train where two strangers meet and hatch murder plots.  One of those books I just couldn't put down!

8.  Another excellent mystery.  I love Kate Morton's historical mysteries, and The Lake House didn't disappoint.  In 1933, 11-month-old Theo disappears from his family's lake house during a summer solstice party, never to be found.  What happened to Theo?  More than 70 years later, police detective Sadie Sparrow stumbles across the abandoned lake house and the mystery of Theo's disappearance and sets out to solve this cold case.  

9.  Everyone should read this book about the end of life.  Written by a surgeon facing his own father's death Gawande begins to question the decisions made by medical professionals trained to fix our bodies at any cost.  When is quality of life compromised?  When is it time to let go?

10.  The Red Tent by Anita Diamant is one of my favorite books of all time, so I would read anything she published.  85-year-old Addie Baum tells the story of her childhood and young adulthood to her granddaughter as she attempts to answer the question, "How did you become the woman you are today?"  LOVED this book!

Okay, I can never have just 10 books I loved in a year - in fact, I had 20 this year that I ranked with five stars, so here are some others I would recommend reading:
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
Wonder by RJ Palacio
Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Badani
The Forgotten Daughter by Renita D'Silva
The Bone Tree by Greg Iles
The Dead Key by DM Pulley
The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith
The Boy on the Porch by Sharon Creech
The Sisterhood by Helen Bryan
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Golbraith (nom de plume of JK Rowling)
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Happy reading!

Required reading for all people!

I kept seeing this book at the top of the New York Times Non-fiction Best Sellers list, but a post on Goodreads from my friend Sarah Caldwell Hancock convinced me to get this book from the library.  While it deals with the very difficult topic of our mortality, I believe it should be required reading for all humans to assist us in making end-of-life decisions.

Topics range from nursing homes to assisted and independent living facilities to hospice.  The author, a surgeon, discusses what he has learned from multiple patients as well as from his own father's death.  He talks about how many doctors believe it is there job to focus only on health and safety, while what needs to be addressed is enabling well being.

I think everyone should consider the vital questions posed by Dr. Gawande:
1) What is your understanding of the situation and its potential outcomes?
2) What are your fears and what are your hopes?
3) What are the trade offs you are willing to make and not willing to make?
4) What is the course of action that best serves this understanding?

For example, he had one patient with cancer who said quality of life would be the ability to eat chocolate ice cream and read, and was willing to risk paralysis.  Another felt a risk of paralysis made surgery an unacceptable course.

Please take the time to read this important book!

2014 runners up

Last night, I kept thinking about the books I enjoyed this past year but didn't make it on my top 10 list.  Here's a second list of my "runner's up."  

Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd - This book should have made my top 10 list.  I love Sue Monk Kidd's writing - particularly The Secret Lives of Bees which I listened to in my car again after reading The Invention of Wings.  Based on the history of abolitionist Sarah Grimke, the book follows Sarah and Handful, a slave from Sarah's parents' home. 

Brillance by Marcus Sakey - Imagine a world where 1% of the population carries a gene for true brillance.  What happens when the other 99% decides to rebel?

The All-Girl Filling Station by Fannie Flagg - Fritzi runs her family filling station during WWII with her sisters and then takes on even more daring adventures as she learns to fly a plane.

Outcasts by Kathleen Kent - A taut, thrilling adventure story about buried treasure, a manhunt, and a woman determined to make a new life for herself in the old west (taken from Amazon's review)

TimeBound by Rysa Walker - Kate's grandmother gives her a blue medallion that allows her to travel in time.  Kate must go back to the Chicago Exposition of 1893 to prevent a murder.

The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani.  I love all of her books.  This is the third book in her Valentine series.  My favorite of her books is Lucia, Lucia.

The Target by David Baldacci - featuring his protagonists Will Robie and Jessica Reel.  Fast moving - I couldn't put it down.

Letters from Home by Kristina McMorris - In 1944, Liz attends a USO dance and meets soldier Morgan McClain. Liz's roommate, Betty, agrees to write to Morgan while he is overseas, but she asks Liz to ghostwrite for her.  I truly loved this book.

Cop Town by Karin Slaughter - Her book Criminal is one of the best crime books I've read - ever.  I love her characters.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty - While I liked Big Little Lies best, I also really liked this one where Alice falls from a stationary bicycle and loses 10 years of her memory.  Will she fall in love with her husband, whom she was divorcing, again?

One for the Murphys by Lynda Hunt - young adult fiction about a girl named Carley who is in foster care.  We are reading this one for CASA book club.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - more young adult fiction that should be read by all.  A summer mystery on the private island of the uber-rich Sinclair family.

My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni - seriously good mystery.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate - This book won the Newbery medal in 2013 for outstanding children's literature.  Told from the perspective of a captive gorilla named Ivan.