Best Books of 2019

It’s crazy to think that today is the last day of 2019. This year has flown by so fast it seems, though it was definitely slow during the summer for me. It’s a wee bit late for this but I wanted to list my favorite books of the year because I love sharing awesome books I’ve read. I did like some picture books but this list was already too long, so I just left them out. You can check out my reviews on Goodreads if you’re interested.

Children’s Chapter Books

• The Klawde series by Johnny Marciano: Started reading them to my son at bed and we love them. They are the most fun books to do voices for and completely hilarious, full of crazy puns my kid loves.

• The Platypus Police Squad series by Jarrett J. Krosoczka: My kid and I really enjoyed this hilarious series and it was fun to listen to a bunch of platypus police detectives with NY accents living in Kalamazoo City, with a bunch of Panda and Narwhal gangsters running around trying to hijack the town.

• Mega Bat series by Anna Humphrey: A sweet and super adorable series about a young boy and his adopted pet MegaBat. I enjoyed reading this one to my son.

 

Graphic Novels/Manga (all ages)

• Basically anything written/illustrated by New Zealand artist/author Katie O’Neill. So far I’ve read The Tea Dragon Society, Princess Princess Ever After, Aquicorn Cove, and The Tea Dragon Festival. [children]

• Zita the Spacegirl series (#1-3) written/illustrated by Ben Hatke: Picked this series up for my son but got sucked in as well. It’s just a fun semi-wordless quick read that explores the adventures of the reluctant galaxy traveler Zita. I already loved Ben Hatke’s artwork from books like Julia’s House for Lost Creatures. [children]

• Anonymous Noise series (Vol 6-16) written/illustrated by Ryoko Fukuyama: Discovered the one season of the anime first, which only covers the first 5 volumes, so picked up number six and read all of them. It’s just the fluffy high school drama with a love triangle I want in a manga. I picked this one because it has Yuzu, one of my favorite characters on the front. Only two more volumes to go before the series is done. 😦 [YA]

• The Unnatural series written by Mirka Andolfo – I discovered this series by accident but glad I was able to read it because it was just about as crazy as Saga. Per my review: “Lesley Blair is just a normal pig living in a totalitarian world that controls who you can mate with, down to governmentally selected dating services when you turn 21.” And stuff just gets weirder once she turns 21. Very graphic and adult but I enjoyed it. [adult]

• Pumpkin Heads written by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks: I love Rainbow Rowell’s YA and adult books and this one is no exception. Sometimes the most obvious thing is the answer to your question, as  Josiah learns from Deja. [YA]

• America Vol 1: The Life and Times of America Chavez written by Gabby Rivera – Shortly after I read Juliet Takes a Breath, I discovered this. And this new incarnation of Captain America is pretty badass! I know it had some mixed reviews but I enjoyed it. [was in Adult section but def 15+]

The Bride was a Boy written/illustrated by Chii – my review below: “Absolutely adorable manga about the author’s transition from male to female. The cutesy illustrations (my son said it reminded him of “Ouran High School Host Club’s” animation) helped move the story along, which helped especially as it got pretty technical with explaining in a non-condescending manner the terminology for gender, sexuality, and Japanese laws. Chii was lucky to find such a great guy who accepted her for who she was, and helped her along on her journey to womanhood. Highly recommended for ages 15+, 5 stars.”

• The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins written by Clint, Griffin, Justin, and Travis McElroy – This book was hilarious, and I know next to nothing about D&D or their podcast. [adult]

 

Young Adult

• Rebound by Kwame Alexander: I read The Crossover in April and surprisingly enjoyed it (a sports verse novel, who knew?) and then found this one and liked it even better. This one tells the story of Chuck Bell, the father of The Crossover twins, and how he came to play basketball. I managed to get a friend who was seeing Kwame Alexander at an event to get it signed for me!

 

Adult 

• Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera: I am late to the Gabby Rivera party but I am in love with her stuff right now and can’t wait to read more. I think my review sums it up: “I freaking loved this book and its message was great and perfect for me in a way I really needed at this point in my crazy life. Highly recommended and 5 stars!”

• Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin – snippet of my review “It’s basically a modern Muslim interpretation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” with a bit of Shakespeare’s mistaken identity thrown in just to make things interesting.”

• Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, narrated by the author – I loved this book and have been recommending it to everyone I know, but it is hard to listen to all the racism and apartheid policies of South Africa. It was also the most heartfelt and hilarious book I’ve read in a while. I love his mom and he is very lucky to have her. And the man is not afraid to cuss so make sure you’re not listening to it around kids and I do recommend the audiobook because he’s a great narrator.

• Thrawn: Treason (Star Wars: Thrawn #3) by Timothy Zahn – This one harkened back to the first book as far as the awesomeness of the book and tied together events that happened in the show Star Wars: Rebels. I’ve been interested in Thrawn ever since I read the first book, then saw him in Rebels, and he is one of the most interesting characters of the Star Wars universe in my opinion. I know my son would just say “Why do you like the bad guys so much?” and to that I will say, they are usually just more complex and fascinating characters.

• The San Andreas Shifter series by G.L. Carriger (aka one of my favorite authors in the world Gail Carriger): I haven’t read a lot of m/m romance fantasy werewolf books to be honest, but I loved this series. Honestly though I re-read the Parasol Protectorate series of Carriger’s books this year and they were even more awesome on audiobook.

• Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal: No I promise it’s not all porn, though it does have some erotica in it. Nikki, a bartender and law school dropout, decides to teach a creative writing class that evolves into much more, including the liberation of older traditional Punjabi widows.

• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan: Yes I saw the movie but I thought the book was better.

• Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne: Another hilarious fantasy book, in the vein of Monty Python and The Princess Bride, by the author of the Star Wars: Phasma and the author of The Iron Druid Chronicles. 

Difficult but Intriguing Words

I know it’s been about 6 months since my last post, but my life has been pretty crazy lately so there ya go. But I plan on writing some more in the new year. Anyways, I just got this children’s book for my son and I called The Dictionary of Difficult Words, which was compiled and written by Jane Solomon, because I’m a bit of an logophile (lover of words, especially new and intriguing ones) and a Sesquipedalian (definition below). Secondarily I’m trying to expand my son’s vocabulary. Below are a list of words that I liked the sound of and forgot I knew or completely new words. See if you know any of them. I will put NFW next to the ones I am currently loving for my all-time favorite words list, my absolute favorite being “Kerfuffle”. 

Ailurophile: Someone who loves cats

Absquatulate: When someone absquatulates, they leave a place very quickly and without warning. (NFW)

Abecedarian: Someone who is learning the alphabet or who is a beginner in any subject

Bildungsroman: A story about someone who is growing up and learning about who they are. This sometimes called a coming-of-age story. 

Borborygmus: the rumbling sound that comes from someone’s stomach

Catoptromancy: When people use mirrors to uncover hidden knowlege, i.e. the Queen in Snow White using her mirror to learn Who is the fairest of them all?

Clowder: a group of cats

Cockalorum: Someone who thinks they are more important than they actually are

Cruciverbalist: Someone who creates or loves solving crossword puzzles

Deipnosophist: Someone who is very good at having interesting conversations with others while sitting down for a meal (NFW)

Dabster: Someone who is an expert at something

Ianthine: Something that is ianthine is the color violet (NFW)

Interrobang: A punctuation mark that combines the exclamation mark with the question mark. It’s used when someone is really surprised or really excited while asking a question

Kakistocracy: A government ruled by the worst people (cough cough Trump and cronies)

Lionize: When you lionize someone, you treat them as if they are very important and special

Metagrobolize: If you are metagrobolized by something, you are puzzled or confused by it

Mugwump: Someone who has a hard time making decisions, usually refers to politicians

Miscpocha: Someone’s family and very close friends

Mulligrubs: Someone who has the mulligrubs is very sad and is in a bad mood

Nucivorous: an animal that eats nuts such as squirrels

Omphaloscopy: When someone focuses too much on one idea and never gets anything done; also known as navel-gazing

Oology: the study of eggs, especially birds’ eggs

Orthography: When someone uses the word Orthography, they’re talking about how to spell words correctly

Prestidigitation: The art of moving your hands skillfully, so others think they’re actually seeing something that they’re not actually seeing (NFW)

Quidnunc: Someone who is very nosy and likes to gossip about the lives of other people

Quinquennium: a period of five years (NFW)

Ramfeezled: If someone is ramfeezled, they are worn out and exhausted

Ripsnorter: Something that’s extraordinary and amazing

Sesquipedalian: If someone is sesquipedalian, they know a lot of big words and they love using them (NFW)

Spaghettification: The idea that objects get long and skinny like spaghetti when they’re sucked into black holes (NFW)

Testudinal: Something related to tortoises, turtles, and their shells

Thigmotropism: the sense of touch that some plants have that makes them grow in spirals around things

Xanthic: Something that is the color yellow

Xenization: When someone uses this word, they’re talking about a person’s travels as a stranger (NFW)

Zenography: the study of the planet Jupiter

Zeugma: a type of play on words where one word is used in two different ways in relation to other words in the sentence. For example: She devoured her book and a sandwich.