Best and worst books of the year | 2019

 

This is the second part of my reading wrap up for 2019, which will focus on the books themselves that I read last year.

Yesterday I posted a blog about all the statistics linked to my reading, which if you’re interested in that side of things as well you can also read.

However, I’m going to speak about some statistics to do with the books I read, using Goodreads’ wrap up for the year, as well as picking out some of my favourite and least favourite books of the year. Obviously it’s all subjective, if I hated one of your favourite books I’m sorry, my dislike of it doesn’t mean it’s a bad book by any means.

If you’re interested in seeing all of the books I read, there’s a full list at the end of this post.

First of all, I read a total of 116 books, which is 36,858 pages, an average length of 317 pages per book, which is probably pretty average.

I read quite a lot of longer books this year, but I also picked up a fair few between 100 and 300 pages, so it makes sense that this is maybe a little on the lower side. I always find this statistic interesting because it’s the complete opposite from when I was a child, when the longer the books I was reading the better.

The shortest book I read was Mostly Hero by Anna Burns, which is one of the Faber Stories short stories, at only 60 pages, although my copy is actually slightly longer. The longest that I went for was The Executioner’s Song, which I actually listened to as an audiobook, because it’s 1,056 pages. Unsurprisingly, it took me months to read and my drive to work was dominated by Gary Gilmore for a very long time.

Interestingly, I gave both of them three stars and found them both quite average.

 

The most popular book I read was Animal Farm by George Orwell, which I read in April for the O.W.Ls readathon, with a huge 2,737,144 other people reading it worldwide.

In comparison, the least popular book was The Night Visitors by Jenn Ashworth and Richard V Hirst, with only 66 others reading it. This one I got as part of Dead Ink Books’ spooky book box which I ordered in Summer, and didn’t actually know much about it.

 

The highest rated book I read last year was Know My Name by Chanel Miller, a memoir written by the woman who was the victim in the Stanford Rape Case.

As you can see, I rated it five stars, which brings me on to….

 

My best books of the year

I’ve picked out a few of the books that I really enjoyed this year, which each year seems to get harder and harder to pick.

My absolute favourite book of the year was The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein. It’s a memoir following the life of Sandra Pankhurst, from her childhood as a young boy in Australia, to becoming transgender, working as a sex worker in the Red Light District, starting her own business as a trauma cleaner and everything in between. It’s a fantastic read, her story is fascinating and I’m endlessly interested in trauma cleaning as well so I was so engaged the entire time. Highly, highly recommend.

My other favourite is Know My Name by Chanel Miller, as I mentioned above, another memoir. Clearly non-fiction was going really well for me this year. It’s so well written, and absolutely heartbreaking. Chanel is an incredibly strong person, and this novel gives a really good insight into a ‘victim’s’ perspective of a court case, and the emotional toll a person goes through when faced with being in such a situation.

I wanted to leave this to two favourites only, but my other honourable mentions for the year are Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and Lanny by Max Porter.

 

My worst books of the year

Unfortunately, there’s always a few books each year that I really don’t like. I think I did quite well this year to not actually have any more than one one star read, but I did have quite a lot of two star books.

My least favourite book of the year weirdly enough was also a non-fiction, and was On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming.

It’s billed as a kind of true crime mystery about her mum, who went ‘missing’ when she was a small girl. I thought that sounded really interesting and picked it up on that basis, but what it actually turned out to be was more a family history of half her family, and the fact that so many people knew about what happened to her mum but never said anything. Honestly I’ve blanked most of this out of my head because I disliked it that much and the only reason I finished it was because it wasn’t that long and I had it on audiobook. I’ve also seen quite a lot of reviews since where people seem to feel the same way as I do so it’s not just me, but I have also read quite a few reviews from people who have adored this, so maybe I just expected something that I was never going to get.

I can’t quite decide which other book I disliked the most out of the others I read, so here’s a selection that I really didn’t get on with: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, The Heavens by Sandra Newman, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Tangerine by Christine Mangan. It’s quite disappointing because I could continue to list far more than this, but I’m hopeful that next year will be better.

 

Here’s a full break down of all the books I read this year:

1. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata – 3 stars – e-book
2. The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel – 4 stars – e-book
3. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh – 3 stars – physical book (library)
4. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 4 stars – audiobook
5. The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein – 5 stars – audiobook
6. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi – 5 stars – physical book (library)
7. All The Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva – 3 stars – e-book
8. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite – 3 stars – physical book (library)
9. Normal People by Sally Rooney – 5 stars – e-book
10. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell – 3 stars – audiobook
11. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss – 3 stars – audiobook (library)
12. Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak – 3 stars – audiobook
13. The Dumb House by John Burnside – no rating – e-book
14. Pure by Rose Bretecher – 4 stars – e-book
15. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen – 3 stars – e-book
16. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – 2 stars – physical book
17. The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh – 2 stars – physical book
18. Hot Milk by Deborah Levy – 3 stars – audiobook (library)
19. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan – 4 stars – physical book
20. Grief is the Thing With Feathers – 3 stars – audiobook (library)
21. Emma by Jane Austen – 3 stars – physical book
22.  69 by Ryu Murakami – 3 stars – e-book
23. Ordinary People by Diana Evans – 3 stars – physical book
24. Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn – 4 stars – physical book
25. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami – 4 stars – audiobook
26. Tangerine by Christine Mangan – 2 stars – physical book
27. Sadie by Courtney Summers – 4 stars – audiobook
28. Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernie L. McFadden – 4 stars – physical book (library)
29. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante – 4 stars – audiobook
30. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker – 3 stars – physical book (library)
31. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 4 stars – e-book
32. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante – 4 stars – audiobook
33. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones – 3 stars – physical book
34. Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton – 2 stars – physical book
35. Animal Farm by George Orwell – no rating – physical book
36. Where The Line Bleeds  by Jesmyn Ward – 3 stars – audiobook
37. Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 4 stars – e-book
38. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 4 stars – physical book
39. Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi – 3 stars – e-book
40. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim – 4 stars – e-book
41. Dying Light by Stuart MacBride – 4 stars – audiobook
42. The Burning by Laura Bates – 3 stars – physical book
43. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah – 4 stars – audiobook
44. Lanny by Max Porter – 4 stars – physical book
45. Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 4 stars – e-book
46. Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig – 2 stars – physical book
47. A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos – 3 stars – physical book
48. My Enemy’s Cherry Tree by Ting-Kuo Wang – 2 stars – physical book
49. Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 3 stars – physical book
50. The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami – 3 stars – audiobook
51. After Dark by Haruki Murakami – 4 stars – e-book
52. Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami – 4 stars – audiobook
53. Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand – 4 stars – e-book
54. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys – 2 stars – physical book
55. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante – 4 stars – physical book
56. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 2 stars – e-book
57. Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong – no rating – e-book
58. Boundless by Jillian Tamaki – no rating – physical book
59. Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki – physical book
60. Saltwater by Jessica Andrews – 3 stars – e-book
61. The Picture of Dorian Gray – 4 stars – physical book/audiobook
62. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay – no rating – physical book
63. Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy – 4 stars – e-book
64. Chocky by John Wyndham – no rating – e-book
65. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides – 4 stars – e-book
66. Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 2 stars – e-book
67. Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa – 4 stars – physical book
68. Honour Girl by Maggie Thrash – 4 stars – physical book
69. History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund – no rating – physical book
70. My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf – 4 stars – physical book
71. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent – 2 stars – physical book
72. The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer – 3 stars – audiobook
73. Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney – 4 stars – physical book
74. My Life as a Rat by Joyce Carol Oates – 4 stars – physical book
75. Beautiful Revolutionary by Laura Elizabeth Woollett – 2 stars – e-book
76. When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of a Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy – no rating – e-book
77. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak – 4 stars – e-book
78. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo – 4 stars – e-book
79. The Heavens by Sandra Newman – 2 stars – audiobook
80. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire – 3 stars – audiobook
81. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire – 4 stars – audiobook
82. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire – 2 stars – audiobook
83. In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire – 2 stars – audiobook
84. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters – 3 stars – physical book
85. The Rabbit Girls by Anna Ellory – 3 stars – audiobook
86. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado – no rating – audiobook
87. Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff – no rating – physical book
88. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness – 4 stars – physical book
89. Sealed by Naomi Booth – 4 stars – physical book
90. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman – 3 stars – physical book
91. Dracula by Bram Stoker – 2 stars – physical book/audiobook
92. The Night Visitors by Jenn Ashworth and Richard V. Hirst – 3 stars – physical book
93. Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller – 5 stars – e-book
94. Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls – 3 stars – audiobook
95. Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar – 3 stars- e-book
96. Bunny by Mona Awad – 4 stars – e-book
97. Women & Power by Mary Beard – no rating – physical book
98. The Vegetarian by Han Kang – no rating – e-book
99. The End of the Fucking World by Charles Forsman – 2 stars – e-book
100. The Confession by Jessie Burton – 4 stars – audiobook
101. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness – 3 stars – physical book
102. Educated by Tara Westover – 4 stars – e-book
103. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman – no rating – physical book
104. Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky – 2 stars – physical book/audiobook
105. Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito – 4 stars – e-book
106. Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami – no rating – e-book
107. Mostly Hero by Anna Burns – 3 stars – physical book
108. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman – 2 stars – physical book
109. Wind/Pinball: Two Novels by Haruki Murakami – 3 stars – audiobook
110. The Giver by Lois Lowry – 2 stars – e-book
111. On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming – 1 star – audiobook
112. The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness – 3 stars – physical book
113. Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah – 4 stars – audiobook
114. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman – 3 stars – physical book
115. The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms – 3 stars – audiobook
116. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout – 3 stars – e-book