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Ted Chiang's "A Story of Your Life And Other Stories.
I'm usually firmly seated in the fantasy/science fiction genre but it had been a
long time since I'd ventured from the lands of pure imagination into actual, technical science and boy, was my mind blown!
Chiang is extremely intelligent, and it shows because even when he's writing about imagined science concepts, he backs them up with such believable explanations that you find yourself nodding in agreement before you know it.

Every story in this collections reflects deep research and such thought-provoking ideas that my book hangover was kind of inevitable, haha.

My favorite part is Chiang's ruminations on the current media/advertisement world, and how we as a society have effectively turned beauty into cocaine. Its become too much of a good thing i.e when before it was a rare, aesthetic pleasure, now people with the genetic equivalent of lottery in looks are everywhere, pushed as the norm and the standard. As a result, we as people have developed distorted self-images, become unsatisfied with our partner's looks and are chipped at everyday until we become perfect consumerist slaves for beauty products. Chiang couches this behind a world where they have glasses which turns off your desire/prejudice for looks, set in the setting of a college campus actively campaigning for it, and the reactions they receive.

All in all, my eyes became wider with every page I turned, and my brain unfurled like a flower. It was soo good, man. This is a science fiction gem.

Stories of Your Life and Others is terrific, yes.

An epic SF that engaged me like I never thought an epic could, and I highly recommend Children of Time to everyone who reads any sort of speculative fiction, esp. those who like aliens who are truly aliens and world-building.

Coincidentally I just finished another very long book (and note that I prefer concise books) that I was both impressed by and enjoyed. Arcadia is SF, a little fantasy, and also Literature. Recommended to avid readers, especially those who have the patience to do a little work for the first fifth or so.

The coolest non-fiction book I read lately is The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World. Science-y and engaging, even if dinosaurs per se aren't your thing.

I read almost a thousand books this year so I'm sure I missed some great rec's... I'll have to see if I can make time to go look.

Catherine I have read Brave New World, yes! It's right up there with 1984 when it came to making huge waves, and it certainly did for me. And my brain.

Cheryl I just looked into Children of Time, and it sounds spectacular. Adding it into my TBR.
But A 1000 books?! Did I read that right?! Do you have a reading superhuman ability you're keeping secret cause that's just....How?!

I

I recently read All the alight We Cannot See and enjoyed it tremendously. It truly exceeded my expectations despite having been aware of all the praises heaped upon it. I just never seemed to get around to reading it but this year I ran across a copy in a second hand book store so decided to see what all the fuss was about. Now I have joined the chorus in singing its praises. Truly a story I will remember for a long time.

(I read lots of picture-books, and children's books, and some DNFs. Mostly what I'm counting is how many reviews I write.)

My favorite read of 2019 was The Rent Collector. This book was chosen by my book club and based on the title and description, I never thought I would enjoy it. Instead I raced through it and loved it.

I want to check out The Wonga Coup just based on how you describe it, because it seems like the kind of read I'd never find by myself.

I made a list of self created awards for my favourite and most hated books of the year. If you're interested you can read it here. But if I had to pick just ONE--okay, two -- one well known and one gem, they would be:
Circe (which has had enough love on this group, although I can't keep from talking about it)
and The New Me (scathingly delivered and scarily honest, a book for the end of this decade for sure) My review can be found here.

And Cheryl, that 1000 book count also blew me away!

I was most surprised by The First Wife: A Tale of Polygamy. I read it for the Around the World Challenge and I was not excited for it, I would normally avoid it based on the title alone, but I was totally blown away. The narrative is very introspective and poetic, and I thought it was beautiful. It is a book that brings up a lot of thoughts and questions, it would make great discussion except it is a bit hard to get a hold of. It definitely doesn't fit the theme of this group, it is more "Nobody has read this but me!"

I also read some more Kate DiCamillo last year and I am finding that I love her work more and more. She has a way of making big topics simple and accessible; grief, pain, loneliness are made manageable. There is great depth hiding behind the simplicity.

Oh my goodness Kerri we should totally have a short summer challenge or something similar with NOBODY Has Read This But Me as the title. So cool!
Thanks for your suggestion of The First Wife. Will look into it.

My favorite book I read in 2019 was Mother Night. Such an amazing character study and how a person can truly be what they pretend to be. One of my first novels I read by this author, looking forward to his other stuff.

My favourite two books in 2019:
- A Gentleman in Moscow: so glad this was the BOTM!
- I Saw Her That Night
I found it very touching how this book explores the second world war through very personal stories.

Here's my Top 10 books of 2019:

1.
The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow

2.
In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes

3.
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett

4.
The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie Jr.

5.
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

6.
Beast in View by Margaret Millar

7.
Stardust: Being a Romance within the Realms of Faerie by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Charles Vess

8.
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

9.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

10.
The Hour of the Dragon AKA Conan the Conqueror by Robert E. Howard (I read this novel as part of the collection The Bloody Crown of Conan but the other two stories in the collection didn't hold up as well as this one did)

My outstanding read of 2019 was The New Jim Crow - for how it expanded my understanding of discrimination in justice and along the way our continuing racial strife in America - It took me a long time because I had to digest each new situation / set of facts etc but I think it is an important 21st century American read

Way too many favorite books to choose from.But five books that will definitely stand out are:

1.

Anything said about this book will be inadequate.Those who have not read the book yet,try out this one.As I belong to a third world country,the story was very relatable in some parts.The tortures on the wives,the unusual fondness towards boy childs,hampering the education of girls and many more.All the descriptions reminded me every single moment how lucky I am to be born in an educated family and also not in the time of war.The high price that war costed.This is a page turning,heart warming novel.You can read the entire series.

2.

I am absolutely grateful to this group for giving me the chance to get introduced with this one.The writing,suspense,twists,different perspectives ensured the book a place in my Top 10.

3.

i was eyeing this book since a long time but was worried about the age group.The previous year when finally read it,I could not stop my tears.I could not sleep for days thinking why fate has to be so cruel.The book is a heart winner.

4.

This is the first book of the Delirium series.The book is remarkable to me because usually I don't read dystopian novels.Well,that is a sober way of saying.Frankly speaking,I utterly dislike dystopian books though I have not read many.Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.But this book took my breath away.I am that emotional kind of people who believes in love and stuffs.To live in a world where love does not exist is a world beyond my thinking capacity.This book inspired me to try books out of my comfort zone.So, i like this one.

5.

I know I KNOW.Many people hate the Twilight series as I have seen from the reviews.From what I have found,One of the reasons of hating Twilight is that the male superhero(Edward) is always saving the female one(Bella),that clumsy little damsel in distress!But the thing is this is exactly why I love the book.You don't always need to fight like wonder woman or batman.Love is one powerful weapon.Bella does not need Edward
to live.She was doing that just alright before meeting Edward.And all that details about Edward's perfect body!!Love makes people blind(excluding the loved one).So all the can notice is how pitch perfect their boyfriends are.That's forgivable from my part ;).Love is never logical.Specially vampire-human relationship.Though I too believe that there were places where she could add more.

I hope I did not irritate you with my stupid gibberish :)