2019 in Books

In 2019, I read 47 books. At least that's what Goodreads tells me. And yes, one was Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, which I did not like. That's a lot of books and partly answers the question, "what have you been doing now that you're not working?" Of those books:

• 17 were non-fiction (36%)
• 22 were sci-fi or fantasy (47%)
• 5 were re-reads from my youth (10%)

There wasn't a single book that jumped out as my favorite or one that I would universally recommend. Nevertheless, here are a few that I enjoyed: 

• in the non-fiction category, Charles Mann's The Wizard and The Prophet taught me about the history of science and made me significantly better informed about trends in energy, food, water, and climate change. Mann is among my favorite non-fiction authors (I also listened to the audiobook of 1491 this year, and am listening to the audiobook of 1493 right now); if you like Jared Diamond (of Guns, Germs, and Steel fame), you're likely to enjoy Mann's books;
• in the fantasy category, Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus was my favorite, creating a magical world with language that reminded me of Neil Gaiman and David Mitchell, without being quite like either of them (I also read and enjoyed her new book, The Starless Sea, but not as much as The Night Circus); 
• another fantasy book I would recommend whole-heartedly is The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (ignore the television adaptation), which is basically Men In Black set in the UK with a female protagonist who happens to have amnesia; 
• in the sci-fi category, I especially enjoyed The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells and Player of Games by Iain Banks, both of which are facially interested in artificial intelligence and its limits, but really illuminate human society and what ties it together;
• and last, but not least, a strong recommendation for The Light Source, the first novel by my friend Kim Magowan, weaving from multiple POVs over the span of decades the story of a group of friends who revolve around two interesting women.