Books I Loved in 2019

It’s the end of the year and I, like many, have been reflecting on the books I read and loved this year.

A few notes on this end-of-year list:

• These are not solely books that were published in 2019, they are books I read in 2019.
• I make no distinction between listening to an audiobook or reading an e-book or hard copy, it’s all reading to me.
• I read, and liked, more books than this. I can’t include them all. This is a roundup where I can talk about my favorites and those that stood out for specific reasons.

Top Three Books I Read in 2019

Mother Winter, a Feminist Memoir, by Sophia Shalmiyev.

Shalmiyev’s Mother Winter is a stunning work of art. Her intertwining of the sharp and the biting, of the beauty and the banality of everyday life, leaves you wanting to grab a passerby and say, “Here look, at this passage!” — so you can experience it in tandem. This was not a book I read in one sitting. Instead, I waited until I had alone time to savor it in pieces. I often felt like I was walking into a museum to sit in front of a masterpiece…