Best of 2019

1.  War Doctor by David Nott.  If anyone asked me all year what book I would recommend to them this would be it.  Dr David Nott is a Consultant General/Vascular surgeon who would volunteer to spend his holidays working in the most war torn regions, helping to operate on the wounded and to help train the local teams to be able to cope with the severe trauma they encountered.  So much of the story though is about the man, and even though it brought me to tears it also made me smile and his story about his meeting with the queen is one of my most favorite parts about this book.  He is a star too on his episode of Desert Island Discs where I first heard about his story.

 2.  Once More We Saw Stars - Jayson Greene.  Out of a great tragedy there comes moments of beauty, about love and forgiveness.  Jaysons and his wife Stacey took his two year old daughter  Greta to stay with Staceys mother for a sleepover.  A terrible accident occurred and all of their lives broke apart.  It is a grief that could have destroyed them all, but in the aftermath there is some hope, and it is a beautiful book dealing with love and grief and honoring their daughter.  Profound and moving, I had a few tears reading this one.

 3.  The World That We Knew - Alice Hoffman.  Recommending fiction is such a tricky thing, as we all have books that we love, but others hate and I know that this will be a hard fit for many.  I read a lot of so so fiction in the past 12 months, but I know that I will think about this one for a long time.  Alice Hoffman is a master storyteller, and I loved The Dovekeepers that she wrote a few years ago.  This new book is hard to describe.  It is a holocaust novel, but it is unlike any other one I have read.  She manages to weave in mystical elements that help to tell the story without distracting from the main narratives.  I also enjoyed that it was not too long and felt complete upon reading it, as it wasn't building up to a series of strung out sequels.

4.  Everybody died, so I got a dog - Emily Dean.  Emily Dean hosts one of my favorite podcasts - Walking the Dog with Emily Dean.  This book is the true story of how she had a slightly bohemian childhood and as a young adult her 43 year old sister became ill and died.  Then within 3 years she lost both of her parents, and so her life long dream had been to get a dog, and she adopted Ray who helped her to heal.  She also has a Ted talk about this if you wanted to look it up, but I would recommend the book.


So as you may gather I am not such a fan of the comedy section, and my selection may appear slightly glum, but that's what I like to read.  I have a big pile beside my bed ready to be started for 2020!!!