Best of the Best Part 2: Weekly Reader and Beyond

Best of the Best 2019 Part 2: Weekly Reader and Beyond

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: This has been an interesting year for books written between 2000-2018. I experimented with some ideas so the individual books aren't near as many but I had two favorite series that made up for it.




I also am using this page to feature books that I reviewed for other sources. Because of restrictions with the sites, I won't post the reviews. I will only post the titles and links to the reviews that I did for those sites.

10. You Got To Read This Book: 55 People Tell The Story of the Book That Changed Their Life Edited by Jack Canfield and Gay Hendricks-The title says it all. Several writers, actors, speakers, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, athletes, philanthropists, and business people talk about different books that helped them through various crises and how they offered solutions. This is a beautiful encouraging book that reveals the transformative power of reading and how the right book at the right time could shape your life. What can I say but you got to read this You Got to Read This Book book?

9. Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King-Just as brilliant with his short works as he is long, King's anthology makes for perfect horror reading. The suspense and terror is filled in every situation from haunted houses, to portraits that come to life, to frightening psychic abilities, to hostels full of vampires, to encounters with Death. King is still a master at sending that chill down your spine.

8. Greenspell: A Fantasy Anthology by Kathy Ann Trueman-As she did last year with her Stories of the Vale novel, Trueman reveals that she knows how to turn the epic fantasy genre on its head. These stories feature women who either use magic or encounter magical beings and objects. The stories present a nice variety of characters and situations that don't feel repetitive and make for clever brilliant reading. This anthology is a truly magical read.

7. All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P.. Jones- This anthology features stories that transcend genres to tell about the experience of African-American people in Washington DC. Jones sends up and uses various means from historical fiction, to mystery, to magical realism, to science fiction parallel universes to comment on his characters and their struggles with life, love, and acceptance.

6. Julien's Terror by Laura Rhame-This engaging novel about the French Revolution is a unique read. Julien and his wife, Marguerite are on opposite sides of the Revolution and the subsequent Reign of Terror. There are suspicions, accusations, and questions abound. Things take a particularly bizarre turn as the couple become literally haunted by the ghosts of their past.

5. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly-This is a brilliant novel of three women who are on opposite sides during WWII: Kasia Kuzmerick, one of several Polish women sent to the Ravensbruck prison camp to be experimented on, Dr. Herta Oberheuser, the woman who oversaw the experiments on the women, and Caroline Ferriday, the American actress who helped the women receive treatment. Each character is individualized as they recount their conflicts, struggles, and their relations. It is a fascinating book that tells all sides of the story.

4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon-The ultimate must read for Comic Book fans. Chabon brings to life two cousins Joseph Kavalier and Sammy Clay as they change the comic works with the creation of The Escapist. The book covers various events and people from the 1930’s-’50’s from Superman, to Salvador Dali, to Citizen Kane, to World War II. He also gives us two memorable leads as they struggle with love and maturity.

3. Circe by Madeleine Miller-A magical novel in which the sorceress from Homer's The Odyssey has the floor. Circe recalls the various myths like Prometheus, Theseus and The Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus, and of course The Odyssey. Her narrative calls to question the various characters and their actions as well as how she sought her own power and independence from her disapproving family.

2. The Plantagenet and Tudor Court Series by Philippa Gregory-One of two series which I read this year. Gregory covers various events during the history of the English monarchy from the War of the Roses, to the six wives of Henry VIII, to the reigns of Queens Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I. Gregory writes full developed characters, particularly the women making them individuals in their personalities and behaviors. These books cover war, political intrigue, sibling rivalry, generation gaps, infidelity, and religious struggles all with an adept and detailed hand.

Even though I have not finished posting the reviews at the time of this writing, I have read the series in its entirety and the order of the books from least to most favorite are as follows: The Lady of the Rivers, The Other Queen, Three Sisters, Three Queens, The White Princess, The Constant Princess, The Virgin's Lover, The Last Tudor, The Kingmaker's Daughter, The Red Queen, The King's Curse, The Queen's Fool, The Taming of the Queen, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance, The White Queen

The Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde-If you are a book lover, you have to experience the Thursday Next Series at least once. This brilliant imaginative original series is every book lover's dream come to life.

Thursday Next is a clever tough intelligent protagonist as she explores various literary crimes in and around her native Swindon. Things take a really epic journey when her adventures take her into the Book World, the world inside books where all our favorite literary characters hang out when they aren't being read. This series is the ultimate tribute and love letter between Author, Book, and Reader.

The order from least to most favorite in this series are as follows: The Woman Who Died A Lot, First Among Sequels, Something Rotten, One of Our Thursdays is Missing, The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots




Honorable Mention: The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Zircee, Maggie Elizabeth Harrington by D.J. Swykert, Cogrill's Mill by Jack Lindsey, Emmie of Indianapolis by Kay Castaneda, Alpha Wolves by D.J., Swykert, Succubus Affair by R.E. Wood, Voodoo Warning by R.E. Wood




Elsewhere

10. The Cult Next Door: A Manhattan Memoir by Elizabeth R. Blanchard

9. Of Myriad Paths/Wind in the Flute by Saal Baraan

8. World Incorporated by Tom Gariffo

7. The Place of Quarantine by Vadim Babenko

6. Exuberance: The Passion for Life by Kay Redfield Jamison

5. Cycles of the Phoenix: The Whole Interlaced Series by C.A. Nicholas

4. The Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray by B.A. Williamson

3. Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion by Michelle Dean

2. Wise Women: Over Ten Thousand Years of Spiritual Writing by Women Edited by Susan Cahill


The Creative Process: Reflections on Invention in the Arts and Sciences Edited by Brewster Ghiselin