The Best Books I Read in 2019

2019 has been a weird year in terms of reading for me personally. As my degree has become more intense and I’ve been reading more than ever for university purposes, I haven’t been able to read as much for pleasure. This has been really difficult as reading is my favourite way- and possibly my only way- to relax. But reading around 200 pages a day, often more, for university means I am usually too mentally exhausted to read for pleasure in the evenings, and not only this, but I feel as though it could hinder my degree, as I don’t have the best capacity for retaining information and so I do think, in this case, it’s very much possible for me to read too much.

Because of the intensity of my degree during 2019, I’ve read more than ever, although less novels than usual, and certainly less for pleasure. Despite this, I’ve also craved reading more than ever, and one of the reasons I’m so excited to graduate is so I can read more. Yes, I have really just said that I’m excited to finish my English Literature degree so I can read more books- I hate myself too.

Anyway, according to GoodReads, I’ve read 44 books this year and I’ve managed to narrow them down to 9 favourites, as well as an honourable mention. 5 of these books were read for uni, proving that my degree does have some value and 5 of them were books I was re-reading, so I’m not really sure whether or not it’s fair to include them but I am doing so anyway. Interestingly, a lot of the books I’ve read this year are fairly short (probably all around the 300 page mark or shorter) and I think this is because I am generally impressed by books that can do a lot in a short space of time.

If your New Years Resolution is to read more, I can thoroughly recommend all of these books. And on that note, I’d love any book recommendations you might have, so please do leave me them in the comments! Anyway, on to the books…

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

I watched the film version of this in 2018 and was desperate to read the novel, which I finally got round to in August of this year. I read it poolside in Corfu which is the perfect location to read this dreamlike novel. I’ve doted on it ever since and it’s definitely my book of the year. It’s a beautiful story, beautifully written and is just so full of feeling. I don’t know if this will make sense to anyone else and it’s not something I’ve necessarily experienced very much before but I felt sick reading the prose in this novel because it was just so good. Sick in a good way: as in completely overwhelmed and transported, almost like an out of body experience, not to be dramatic or anything.

Unfortunately, I read the sequel - Find Me - in recent weeks and it was honestly appalling. There’s nothing I hate more than a pointless, pretentious book and that’s what this felt like. Plus, it had around 12 pages of Oliver & Elio content, which is obviously what everyone who read CMBYN was there for. Anyway, this doesn’t take away from how much I love Call Me By Your Name, but if you read it and are tempted to read the sequel too, I would advise you to not to if you want to keep your Aciman experience positive.

I promise I’ll move on soon but before I do, I want to include the last line of the novel, which just broke me (potential spoilers):

“If you remember everything, I wanted to say, and if you are really like me, then before you leave tomorrow, or when you’re just ready to shut the door of the taxi and have already said goodbye to everyone else and there’s not a thing left to say in this life, then, just this once, turn to me, even in jest, or as an afterthought, which would have meant everything to me when we were together, and, as you did back then, look me in the face, hold my gaze, and call me by your name.”

Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov

A controversial pick but one I firmly stand by. I re-read this for a university module and was impressed even more than I was the first time I read it by how truly clever this book is, because it manages to convince so many readers that its plot is about a romantic relationship, rather than about paedophilia, which, just to be clear, it is. I think it goes to show how powerful and important language is and how it can be used and is used (cough cough 2019 general election cough cough) as a form of manipulation.

I do also find it fascinating how people are so uncomfortable with this book to the point of refusing to read it. We don’t condemn plots that are centred around murder or torture, even those that romanticise it like American Psycho (although that comes with its own set of problems aka the author being a bit of a dick). Yet, we are almost scared of this book because of how it sets out to manipulate you into siding with its narrator. It’s one I think I could re-read and re-read and find interesting every time, because of its many forms of manipulation and so, who knows, maybe this will be on my 2020 list of books.

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Another re-read! I was so excited to see this novel turn up on one of my module lists earlier this year as I read it a couple of years ago and loved it. It was published in recent years and it taught me a lot about islamophobia within our society. On top of this, it’s also a gripping and fast-paced read that I was on the edge of my seat throughout reading, even the second time.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Surprise, surprise: another book I re-read! This one is different though because I’ve read this novel countless amounts of times since I was a little girl. It’s a comfort read that I love to come back to around Christmas, and it was particularly exciting to read it this year before seeing Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation, which I loved so so much. The story encapsulates what it means to be a sister so well, the good, the bad and the ugly, and the story is timeless. Upon reading it for the umpteenth time (and after watching the film), I’ve come up with a new theory: if you’re an older sister, you love Jo and dislike Amy, if you’re a younger sister you like Amy and dislike Jo (or at least find her irritating). I am firmly in the first ballpark and am very proud to say that I am most similar to Jo, according to a very credible BuzzFeed quiz I did.

Focus by Arthur Miller

This is a book I read for university earlier in the year and is one of the few uni books I’ve read that I found truly addicting. It’s set in post-war America when the protagonist gets a new pair of glasses and is consistently mistaken as Jewish, and is discriminated against as a result of this. It unfortunately feels like a pressing and relevant story over 70 years after its publication and I think its concept is a clever one that encourages readers to be more empathetic and understanding of those around them.

White is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

I read this novel for my Gothic course and it’s book like these that make me really appreciate my degree as I’m sure I never would have picked up a book like this one (the form is weird, as is the subject matter) but it totally blew me away. It makes very little sense but, unlike many pretentious novels I’ve read that are nonsensical only to be pretentious, this is part of its genius. It’s a comment on how we think about race and immigration in the UK through the lens of a Gothic vampire novel and I hope that short summary at least intrigues you to read it. One of my reading resolutions of 2020 is definitely to read more Oyeyemi!

conversaTions with friends by sally rooney

After reading Normal People at the end of 2018, I was eager to read Rooney’s first novel, and I liked it even more than the first one. I read it at the beginning of 2019 so my memory when it comes to its plot is flagging, but I do remember how much I loved Rooney’s prose and the thought-provoking and honest ways she writes about relationships. I am eagerly anticipating more of her fiction!

the vegetarian by han kang

This was one of the last books I read in 2019 and I’m so glad I finally got round to it as I’ve wanted to read it for a while (thanks to my friend Devi for lending me it and giving me the push I needed to read it!) Much like White Is For Witching, this book made little sense. It’s also a thin little book but it manages to pack so much in! I loved how it considered vegetarianism and feminism at once as, even as someone who is both of these things, it presented many ideas concerning these the ideologies in a way I’d never considered before.

honourary mention: othello By william shakespeare

I was so excited to re-read my favourite Shakespeare play for uni this year: it honestly felt like what my entire degree had been leading up to. Typically, it fell on a week when my tutors were striking so we didn’t get to discuss it in very much detail, but I adored re-reading it. It’s so ahead of its time and provokes discussions that are as relevant today as when the play was published in Elizabethan times. It will forever hold a special place in my heart after studying it at A-Level and I was relieved that I still loved it as much as I did as a bright-eyed 16 year old now, 3 years into an English Literature degree.