Bookloft Top 10 of 2019

“I finished this book wishing that I could tour THE DUTCH HOUSE in real life. I'm sure every person who reads this wishes they could have had Maeve's room. Patchett writes another beautiful and vivid family drama story. What she does best & my favorite aspect of her writing is her character development. The story can be a bit slow but it helped shape the characters and their relationships. Once I heard that Tom Hanks was the narrator of the audiobook, I immediately put myself on the library wait list. The entire time I pictured him as our main character, Danny, going through life and it made me like the book so much more.”

“The Bear and the Nightingale is an enchanting mix of fairy tale, fantasy, and historical fiction set in medieval Russia. Nestled between the northern wilderness and civilization is a village where old and new traditions live side by side. Vasya, the last daughter of Pyotr and Marina, is born on the howling winds of autumn. Different from the others in her village, she is destined to be like her grandmother and is gifted with powers by birthright. As time goes by, Vasya is tested. Caught in the conflict between the old spirits and the new religion, Vasya must do everything in her power to save her family and village. Arden's novel is the rich, mesmerizing fairy tale you've been waiting for!”

“Educated by Tara Westover is a wrenching account of a young woman who must choose between education on one hand and her family which is ruled by a religious misogynist apocalyptic zealot who lives off the grid and who might also be bi-polar, on the other. I thought the most fascinating part of Westover’s story would be her journey from backwoods Idaho to a Cambridge University PhD, but her relationship with her family, and one brother, in particular, was at the heart of this memoir and quest for self.”

“I adore our former president and I miss him. Yet I cannot help but be ecstatic that Michelle is coming out with a book about her own life so that I can learn more about this powerful, intelligent, and singularly awesome woman. Barack would be the first to say that his wife is a superstar, and I can’t wait to get my hands on Becoming to read about her in her own words.”

“There There is the kind of book that grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go, even after you’ve turned the last page. It is a work of fiction, but every word of it feels true. Tommy Orange writes with a palpable anger and pain, telling the history of a cultural trauma handed down through generations in the blood and bones and stories of individual lives. He also writes with incredible heart and humor, infusing his characters with a tangible humanity and moments of joy even as they are headed toward tragedy. There There has claimed a permanent spot in my heart despite having broken it, or maybe because it did. I think this may be the best book I’ve ever read.”

“Everyone that Kya has ever known has abandoned her. From the time that she was a young child she is left behind. After the student truancy officers track her down and get her to school the children laugh at her so she retreats to the only place that she feels normal - the marshland of North Carolina. She perseveres when she has every strike against her. She fends for herself and studies the natural surroundings of the marsh carefully. She paints and catalogs her collections, studies animal biology carefully, and becomes more in tune with nature than with the townspeople who call her "The Marsh Girl." Then one day the town's "golden boy" Chase Andrews ends up dead and Kya is the one that is suspected of killing him. The story that unfolds will draw you in - I was consumed with the story to the point where I could think about little else during the day because I had to know what happened next in the book. I laughed, I cried, I did fist pumps when things go well for Kya... this book infected me and I'm still having a tough time with the idea that the book is over. I'll carry these characters and this story with me for a long time.”

“Unlike most of my peers, I did not learn about mythology in school. Circe intimidated me for far too long before I finally took the plunge to read it. How glad I am that I faced my fear! Even to my untrained mind, the chronicles of Circe were easy to follow, and with Perdita Weeks’ sublime narration, soon I was engrossed. Ostracized and outcast, Circe—the goddess, the witch—exhibits unbelievable strength and passion in her many years, and Madeline Miller has molded her into the feminist icon of my dreams. After spending so much time with her, I was emotional to say goodbye. This one should not be missed!”

“Do you love trees? Probably not as much as Richard Powers does! This books weaves together the converging stories of nine characters, but they really function as a means to probe the perspective of the trees themselves. With lyrical prose and amazing stories of naturalist history, this is an epic of environmental literature.”

“Alright 2019, this is the novel to beat. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is the rare novel that makes you experience reading in a slightly different way and shows you that, no matter how many books you’ve read, something new and uniquely beautiful can still be found. The novel takes the form of a letter written by the main character, Little Dog, to his mother — an immigrant from Vietnam who cannot read. The power of Vuong’s poetic writing shimmers with every paragraph, and each phrase is a carefully considered, emotional journey. Grappling with themes of identity, sexuality, addiction, violence, and finding your place in a world where you feel you don’t belong, this book already feels like a modern classic, destined to be read and talked about for years to come.”