My Favourite Books of 2019 So Far

[@jenvcampbell]

Let me know your favourite books of the year in a comment below! x

[@ida3787]

i am definetely gonna read lanny now! your way of describing books and stories is always so intriguing, i wish i could be as well spoken as you are:)

[@sararichards518]

The best book I’ve read this year was Barkskins by Annie Proulx which was a big read! It taught me a great deal about the history of the early “settlers” and how the forests of Canada are slowly chopped down. The story is told through the history of one family and it’s branches. I enjoyed the read and learnt a great deal at the same time. 😊💕🌷

[@thebritishbookworm]

Completely agree re: Convenience Store Woman. It’s a book I could return to time and time again and always find something new to discuss. Just so fascinating!

[@SavidgeReads]

I’m so behind with Booktube but I am happy to be late for work to watch this video right now. Ha. That Somerset Maugham set of books sound cracking. Wolf Border is a book I’ve had on my TBR for far too long, I must get to it. Ha. I’ve saved Fingersmith to last because it’s everyone’s favourite of Waters. I’ve still not read Spring, bought it the day it came out and then got nervous. I must must read Lanny, or listen to it as you suggested. Fab list.

[@CharlieBrookReads]

Great list. I just love hearing you talk about Lanny ... I can't wait to see it come to life on screen ...super exciting ❤️ Apart from Lanny I loved Boy Swallows Universe and Native Son by Richard Wright ❤️❤️❤️

[@varsharavi91]

Absolutely loved Lanny too! And The Wolf Border is another favourite from this year!

[@shanepunk94]

My favorite book read this year is definitely "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" by Jeanette Winterson. I want to read everything she published now. Other books that I consider the best so far are: "My Name Is Red" by Orhan Pamuk, "Drag King Dreams" by Leslie Feinberg, "The Antelope's Strategy: Living in Rwanda After the Genocide" by Jean Hatzfeld, "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, "To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949" by Ian Kershaw, "Woman, Race and Class" by Angela Y. Davis. I didn't know there's a drag king character in "Tipping the Velvet". Thus, I need to read it.

[@CharlesHeathcote]

I read Lanny last Thursday and completely concur with your opinions. I approached the book with some trepidation, but soon found myself immersed in the story and disappeared into the book for an hour and a half of complete amazement. Another book I declare as a favourite is The Half-God of Rainfall by Inua Ellams - I didn't know it was an epic poem and when I read it I found myself astounded by the story the writer had to tell.

[@KristyStrange]

Favourite books that I’ve read this year so far (in no particular order) include “The Familiars” by Stacey Halls, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” by Heather Morris, “The Silence of the Girls” by Pat Barker, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson, and “Sealed” by Naomi Booth. If I could only recommend one, it would be “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” - such an important read.

[@TheFancyHatLadyReads]

Sounds like you've had a really great reading year so far! Sadly, I haven't loved nearly as many books this year as you, but I DID absolutely adore Snow White Learns Witchcraft, which is a collection of fairytale-inspired stories and poems by Theodora Goss.

[@JasmineReads]

Lanny is definitely a favourite of mine this year as well!! I also loved An American Marriage and The Perseverance. What a brilliant selection of books☺️ A couple of my other favourites have been Normal People by Sally Rooney and The Confession by Jessie Burton!

[@leenanorms]

I just bought Lanny and I CANNOT WAIT

[@TheBookBully]

I read my first Persephone book this year: High Wages by Dorothy Whipple and I can fully relate to how you felt about Doreen! I just absolutely loved reading it; a fully enjoyable, immersive reading experience. Hats off to Persephone for publishing such delightful, pleasant reads!

[@snowy9555]

I’m so delighted that you picked a Persephone book😍

[@amyizzylou]

For short stories, I loved Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, along with Being Various, the new Irish writers' collection edited by Lucy Caldwell. Two of my my favourite novels were ones which felt like a relief and an escape from the anxiety of modern life: Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession for a gentle, brilliant, and genuinely kind book, while Becky Chambers' Record of a Spaceborn Few is a wonderful and inclusive take on sci-fi (as are the other two books in the trilogy). Have also thoroughly enjoyed two of your recommendations: Ghost Wall (so much brilliance in such a short book!) and Mrs Gaskell and Me.

[@MaryAmongStories]

I plan to read Tipping the Velvet this month!

[@paulwinchell6904]

Will pick Lanny soon after I finish Ali Smith's Spring. I enjoyed Powers Overstory. But i have to roll it around in my mind for a while. It cooled down finally here 2 afternoons of monsoon rains. So i got 75 pages of Spring read.

[@exitmusicfrafilm]

Oh I've been looking forward to Lanny and getting to the rest of Ali Smith's Seasonals, thanks for sharing that :-) I think my favourite this year (although not released this year) is Tin Man by Sarah Winman!

[@Phillybookfairy]

My favorites this year were The Familiars by Stacy Hall & the Parentations by Kate Mayfield, and now I'm reading, and knowing it will be an all-time favorite is The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow, coming out in September. I do hope you read it as it's so charming, I really believe it will become a modern classic. Loved your video & your gushing over your favorite book. That's how I feel about my favs!!

[@brunokulic8070]

I've read less this year than I usually do, but I think The Overstory by Richard Powers would still be a standout in any year, it felt so monumental and grounded at once! And on the other side of the spectrum is Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, which was pure and raw emotion where Overstory was intellectual brilliance.

[@katherineallen4239]

Tipping the Velvet is one of my favourites!😊

[@cherylclough4309]

I loved Doreen!

[@FEClark]

My favourites from the books I've read this year, not in any order: Circe, Lowborn, Fran Kiss Stein, The Unmaking of Ellie Rook, Stasiland, Play it as it Lays, Birds with Horse Hearts, The Convenience Store Woman, The Quaker, Little Fires Everywhere. I want to read Lanny now too :)

[@katnissfire5605]

Autumn by Ali Smith (by your book reviews) thank you Fingersmith by Sarah Waters And soon to start Winter by Ali Smith

[@LizTheFlyingDutchman]

I just finished my thesis last month, so I finally had some time to read just for my enjoyment. So I picked up the mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. They are not perfect, but I enjoyed them so much! the magical elements were believable and consistent throughout the first trilogy, which keeps you enthralled instead of some other fantasy books that take you out of the story because of inconsistencies. I just adored this as my first books of free reading after last year

[@michaeldornan7737]

Lanny is definitely amazing and I agree with Spring ... congratulations!

[@dreamlandcompany]

Can't wait for your Best Books of 2019.

[@marshmallowpie42]

My favourite books of the year would be, in no particular order: The Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon In Real Life by Jen Wang and Cory Doctorow Coraline by Neil Gaiman Running Upon the Wires by Kate Tempest everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too by Jomny Sun A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan Avaruusajan unelmia (Finnish sci-fi short stories) by Saara Henriksson.

[@Larissa_KD]

My favorites have (in no particular order) been: - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - Becoming by Michelle Obama (specifically on audio) - Lanny by Max Porter - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

[@thuntz29]

I really enjoyed The Perseverance! Thanks for sharing it, I think I found out about it from you. European identity? Sign me up! I’ll take a look at it. I’m currently listening to Lanny, it was a bit difficult to get into the physical book because of the jumbled lines (I’m just not used to it) but listening to poetry is one of my favourite things now and Lanny shines in audiobook. The Wolf Border sounds wonderful as well.

[@SM-vr8dz]

I just bought Lanny. I opened it up and got a bit lost in the structure and voice. Hearing you speak of it reasserted my desire to read this book.

[@ameerahalgohary]

I really enjoyed this video. Thanks Jen ❤️

[@kimswhims8435]

Thanks Jen, I've been wondering how to articulate the If Beale Street Could Talk/American marriage comparison since I read AM last week and it had been eluding me. You got it succinctly in a couple of sentences. Cheers :D

[@chatelaine7325]

Just found you ! Good to have anEnglish voice talking uk books. Look forward if we have similar reading tastes No idea Black water lilies is Michael buzzan it’s a french translation. Likes it a lot.🐾

[@GreenBitterfly]

Mine have been When Will There Be Good News? and Big Sky by Kate Atkinson. Lowborn by Kerry Hudson, Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster by Simon Armitage. Snap by Patrice Lawrence and The Lost Man by Jane Harper.

[@joreads8782]

I have read a lot of great books so far this year, so I will just say what I am currently reading (Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb - can’t believe it has taken me twenty years to get to these books) and just finished yesterday on audio, the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness.

[@barbarabaker5552]

My favorite books I read in 2019: All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Circe by Madeline Miller The Runaways by Ulf Spark ( beautiful children's book)

[@rosielove6431]

I have just finished reading Lanny and I adored it so much! I was gushing about to my husband after I finished, I had to tell someone about this magical book ^__^ x

[@susannacain3564]

Love your lipstick in this video! Is it Charlotte Tilbury?

[@jenvcampbell]

No - see my most recent video here for lipstick stuff :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppnWgqxsoMaEp80

[@ksuno1]

My top favorites so far are: The Book of Night Women, Marlon James Arcadia, Iain Pears (just finished this) Lanny, Max Porter (not quite finished yet, but... yeah, it's amazing)

[@orsolyatoth7440]

Currently reading The Convenience Store Woman & really like it

[@Jamescross1981]

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta, and The Space We’re In by Katya Balen

[@zoemahon4749]

Have you read any Dorothy Whipple, Jen? She is also published by Persephone and is super!

[@jenvcampbell]

Yep!

[@michaleshed]

I loved "convenience store woman"

[@kimswhims8435]

Fav books so far 2019 FranKissStein by Jeanette Winterson Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles The Lebs by Michael Mohammed Ahmad Mullumbimby by Melissa Lucashenko

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

I didn't get on with An American Marriage. I even tried the audio to try to get through it. I DNFd it. It stretched the " suspension of disbelief ", way too far. I did like Convenience Store Woman. The best books I read in July Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras Frankisstein by Janette Winterson The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay Burial Rites by Hannah Kent Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

[@josephinewinter]

so dead papa toothwort is Bran Stark?

[@jenvcampbell]

Not really, no. He's not human.

[@sandra7319.]

Some of my favs: The Emigrants by Sebald The Distance Between Us about illegal immigration Normal People, Americanah