The 15 Best Books of 2019

Welcome to the annual review of the recommended books I read during 2019.

This year again I completed the annual Goodreads Reading Challenge. I set up a reading challenge of 44 books and I reached the goal. There are still many books I am currently reading or still on my list, but I achieved reading 3,6 books per month. Even in my several trips this year to Egypt, Jordan, Chile, and Argentina I was able to read a few books. Not so easy when you are traveling, working on the blog, on the social networks, meeting people, and exploring the countries…

I am really proud I kept the habit of reading a little bit of everything. It’s interesting that this year I read a lot of Spanish SCI-Fi and I also started the saga of Harry Potter, which I had never read any book or seen any movie. I read the 3 first books in a row. And I liked them so much! I knew it! 🙂 But I took a pause to read some other pending stuff on my list. I hope this year I will continue the saga.

This is a selection of my favorite best books of 2019, in no particular order. I hope you enjoy your reading, too. Let me know if you have some other recommendations or do you have any comments on my selection.

Best Books of 2019 suggested by eLPuTocaRDi

 

15. Yuval Noah Harari – 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive. In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?.

14. Stanisław Lem – His Master’s Voice

This is one of my most recommended readings of the year, from one of my favourite sci-fi/philosophy/satiric all-time writers. You maybe know him because he wrote Solaris. Scientists attempt to decode what may be a message from intelligent beings in outer space. By pure chance, scientists detect a signal from space that may be communication from rational beings. How can people of Earth understand this message, knowing nothing about the senders―even whether or not they exist? Written as the memoir of a mathematician who participates in the government project (code name: His Master’s Voice) attempting to decode what seems to be a message from outer space, this classic novel shows scientists grappling with fundamental questions about the nature of reality, the confines of knowledge, the limitations of the human mind, and the ethics of military-sponsored scientific research.

13. Santiago Lorenzo – The Disgusting (Los asquerosos)

Manuel stabs a riot police who wanted to hit him. He flees. He hides in an abandoned village. He survives with Austral books, vegetables from the surroundings, some shopping from “Lidl” sent by his uncle. And he discovers that the less he has got, the less he needs. A static thriller. A version of Robinson Crusoe set in empty Spain, a redefinition of the concept of “austerity.” A story that presents us with the idea that the only healthy ones are those who know that this society is sick. Santiago Lorenzo (Basque Country, 1964) has written his most rabidly political, lyric and beautiful novel.

 

12. Bruce Chatwin – In Patagonia

The masterpiece of travel writing that revolutionized the genre and made its author famous overnight. An exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land, Bruce Chatwin’s exquisite account of his journey through Patagonia teems with evocative descriptions, remarkable bits of history, and unforgettable anecdotes. Fueled by an unmistakable lust for life and adventure and a singular gift for storytelling, Chatwin treks through “the uttermost part of the earth”—that stretch of land at the southern tip of South America, where bandits were once made welcome—in search of almost-forgotten legends, the descendants of Welsh immigrants, and the log cabin built by Butch Cassidy. An instant classic upon publication in 1977, In Patagonia is a masterpiece that has cast a long shadow upon the literary world.

 

11. Guillem López – La polilla en la casa del humo

One of the new authors I discovered this year that has fascinated me so much! Spanish Fantasy / Horror / Sci-Fi best writters! O_O. His novel Challenger won a Kelvin 505 Prize. With La polilla en la casa del humo (The Moth in the House of Smoke) he received numerous Kelvin 505 Nominations, The Celsius Prize (awarded by La Semana Negra) and has again won the Ignotus Prize. Spanish summary: Bienvenidos al pozo, una caverna insondable con mil galerías y túneles, fortalezas pétreas cerca de la superficie y barrios profundos de nichos cavados en la roca. Este es el escenario, brutal y despiadado, en el que habita Veintiuno, un joven que pasa las horas envuelto en una nube de bok en la casa del humo, desde donde interpreta sus posibles destinos: entregar su cuerpo al dios de la mecánica y ser útil en una excavación sin fin, convertirse en un paria o, finalmente, ascender a través de los bajos fondos, pero deberá pagar un alto precio por medrar.

10. Emilio Bueso – Transcrepuscular (Los ojos bizcos del sol #1)

By far, the best discovery this year for me. Emilio Bueso has blown my mind with his books. If you still have not ready anything from him, just click click, click, and ENJOY THE TRIP. Long life to EL TRAPO!!!.
Spanish Summary: Esta es la historia de una búsqueda que arranca con el canto de los caracoles para viajar más allá del ocaso, de los huertos surcados por escarabajos de tiro, de los refugios de tormentas, los funcionarios simbióticos, los establos de las libélulas, los templos de cristal de los animistas, los círculos de dólmenes de los astrólogos, las cuevas de hielo siete y los bosques de helechos plagados de arañas gigantes. La simbiosis como posible motor evolutivo es el gran descubrimiento implícito en Transcrepuscular, la última propuesta narrativa de Emilio Bueso y la primera entrega de una trilogía de ciencia ficción en la que pone en evidencia la visión etnocentrista del mundo que tienen los humanos asilvestrados. Bueso abraza el formato de la road movie, y en medio de una narración delirante, se sirve de sus personajes para mostrar diferentes estructuras sociales de explotación y denunciar los procesos de adoctrinamiento y supervivencia sobre los que asientan sus personalidades.

09. Emilio Bueso – Cenital

Simply: The best dystopian book you will read this year.
Spanish summary: La mano invisible te ha robado la cartera y el futuro, y no se detendrá cuando algunos gobernantes dimitan. Esto no se arregla con unos años de ajuste ni inyectando capitales ni nacionalizando bancos. Esto no se va a quedar en los aeropuertos sin aviones, los trenes de alta velocidad sin pasajeros, la gente sin pisos y los pisos sin gente. Esto sólo acabará cuando un silencio sepulcral se enseñoree de todas las grandes ciudades, cuando el apagón se vuelva permanente y las bicicletas se desplieguen por las autopistas de peaje. Para entonces habrán muerto millones de personas.” Convencido de que la actual crisis económica es resultado del agotamiento del petróleo, un colectivo antisistema se reúne en torno a un líder profético para enfrentarse al colapso de la sociedad y así sobrevivir. “Cenital” cuenta la historia de una ecoaldea fortificada que se parapeta contra un mundo en el que las mascotas devienen comida y el progreso es sólo el antepasado de la destrucción, la ruina y la barbarie.

08. Catherine Allen, Nancy Bearg, Rita Foley, Jaye Smith – Reboot Your Life: Energize Your Career and Life by Taking a Break

Do you want to take a Career break? Do you feel the burnout? Probably you should read this book as an starting point to get ideas and do the same I did in 2019: Quit your job and Go Backpacking! More Americans are choosing to take time off from work to relax or re-examine their priorities, so they can return to work energized. Some companies offer formal sabbatical programs, but how can the average person take time off to evaluate their direction, explore their passions, and make time for the things that are really important? Whether you’re disillusioned with your career, yearning to follow a dream, doing pre-retirement planning, or taking time out after a layoff, now is the time to step back and reboot. This book will show you how you can give yourself the best gift ever–the gift of time. People who take sabbaticals report feeling happier, and they return to their jobs refreshed, reinvigorated, and ready to tackle new challenges. Reboot Your Life draws upon the experiences of the four authors and their interview subjects: 200 people who have taken sabbaticals and 150 organizations offering sabbatical programs. The book includes real-life stories and exercises to help the reader figure out how to plan for and take a sabbatical, or how to use an unexpected time off.

07. Jeremy Narby – The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge

Another all-time classic I had not read until now…A mindblowing piece of knowledge. This is a must-read at some point in your life! Swiss-Canadian anthropologist Dr. Jeremy Narby argues in his book, The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, that the twin snake-shaped vital principle – representing the origin of life, or DNA by any other name – has been known to indigenous peoples across the world for thousands of years. Their knowledge, though, has been reached by shamanic ritual not lab work, by the perceptions of mythology and by what are termed “plant-teachers”, such as the hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca. Narby’s intellectual journey begins in the forests of the Peruvian Amazon, where he worked with the Ashaninca people for many years and moves through research in anthropology and molecular biology. He takes ayahuasca, which is extracted from a vine, and, like the shamans, describes seeing two gigantic snakes. This vision is the commonest ayahuasca hallucination. The snakes, he writes, communicate, or “teach” him.

06. Ryan Holiday – Ego Is the Enemy

The instant Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestseller. “While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer, almost irrational force, I’ve found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition.” —from the prologue. Many of us insist on the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back. Ego Is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to his­tory. We meet fascinating figures such as George Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who all reached the highest levels of power and success by con­quering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well. In an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion, the battle against ego must be fought on many fronts. Armed with the lessons in this book, as Holiday writes, “you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.”

05. Daniel Keyes – Flowers for Algernon

Nothing to say here. I just don’t know why I lasted so much to start reading this classic novel. With more than five million copies sold, Flowers for Algernon is the beloved, classic story of a mentally disabled man whose experimental quest for intelligence mirrors that of Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse. In poignant diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his life. As the experimental procedure takes effect, Charlie’s intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment seems to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance until Algernon begins his sudden, unexpected deterioration. Will the same happen to Charlie?

 

04. Shivya Nath – The Shooting Star

The history behind one of my most admired and true inspiration travel writer in the blogsphere: Shivya. She is vegan and she comes from the best country in the world, my beloved India. Shivya Nath (born 1988) grew up in Dehradun, India. At age 23, she quit her corporate job and a couple of years later, gave up her home, sold most of her belongings and started living nomadically. She is the author of one of India’s leading travel blogs, The Shooting Star (the-shooting-star.com). She appeared on the cover of National Geographic Traveller India magazine in 2017, and has been featured on BBC Travel, NDTV, and TEDx. In a little over a month of release, The Shooting Star sold 10,000+ copies – acquiring the status of a national bestseller in India. It has also been ranked the #1 bestseller in travel writing on Amazon India.

 

03. Cixin Liu – Ball Lightning

Liu Cixin is, hands-up, one of the best Sci-Fi writer in the past years. After the 3 body problem trilogy, he did it again, one of the most nice sci-fi book this year. From the New York Times bestselling author of the Three-Body Trilogy, Cixin Liu’s Ball Lightning is the story of what happens when the beauty of scientific inquiry runs up against the drive to harness new discoveries with no consideration of their possible consequences. When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of this mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station. The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of an entirely new frontier. While Chen’s quest for answers gives purpose to his lonely life, it also pits him against soldiers and scientists with motives of their own: a beautiful army major with an obsession with dangerous weaponry, and a physicist who has no place for ethical considerations in his single-minded pursuit of knowledge.

02. Isabel Allende – Maya’s notebook

This book is one of the main reasons why I chose to visit Chiloé. In fact, I am currently in this island writing this blog post. Neglected by her parents, nineteen-year-old Maya Vidal grew up in a rambling old house in Berkeley with her grandparents. Her grandmother, Nidia, affectionately known as Nini, is a force of nature—a woman whose formidable strength helped her build a new life after she emigrated from Chile in 1973. Popo, Maya’s grandfather, is an African American astronomer and professor—a gentle man whose solid, comforting presence helps calm the turbulence of Maya’s adolescence. When Popo dies of cancer, Maya loses the only grounding force in her life. She turns to drugs, alcohol, and petty crime, eventually bottoming out in Las Vegas. Lost in a dangerous underworld, she is caught in the crosshairs of warring forces—a gang of assassins, the police, the FBI, and Interpol. Her one chance for survival is Nini, who helps her escape to a remote island off the coast of Chile. Here, Maya tries to make sense of the past, unravels mysterious truths about life and her family, and embarks on her greatest adventure: a journey of self-discovery and forgiveness.

01. Ken Liu – The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

To close this list I chose this great compilation of Sci-Fi literature. Bestselling author Ken Liu selects his multiple award-winning stories for a groundbreaking collection—including a brand-new piece exclusive to this volume. With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features many of Ken’s award-winning and award-finalist stories, including: “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” (Finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards), “Mono No Aware” (Hugo Award winner), “The Waves” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” (Nebula and Sturgeon Award finalists), “All the Flavors” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King” (Nebula Award finalist), and the most awarded story in the genre’s history, “The Paper Menagerie” (The only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards). Insightful and stunning stories that plumb the struggle against history and betrayal of relationships in pivotal moments, this collection showcases one of our greatest and original voices….

 

Did you enjoy this post with my book’s compilation for this year? Are you a bookworm as well?

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