Top 5 Books I've Read in 2019

2019 was the year I read the most number of books 🎉! Of course I'm not 100% with the accuracy of that but the last time I've consumed a lot of novels was back in high school from borrowing (and always returning late) from our library.

Thanks to the awesome book sale that is Big Bad Wolf 🐺, I managed to buy a lot of books for a very cheap price (not to mention the new crazy shopaholic mode I get into every time I go to Fully Booked in BGC 💸).

I was supposed to write 1 blog post for 2 of these in the hopes that it becomes an "always" thing but the drafts just felt like they are not enough 🤷🏽‍♀️. Here's a list instead.

PS: All photos are from my IG stories 📱

PPS: Strong opinions ahead 👻💣

A Spark of Light - Jodi Picoult

Being the Jodi Picoult fan that I am, seeing her latest book in Fully Booked meant I have to buy it. No questions.

This book is about abortion. A sensitive topic. An eye opener. 

The story revolves around multiple characters with different belief when it comes to this act. People with different experiences when it comes to pregnancy, relationships, and even religion. And as always, ends without an answer on what the reader should think is right or wrong.

As it is just a story. A classic Jodi Picoult book.

Most people probably already have a take wether they are pro life or pro choice, and then our lawmakers keeps on finding ways to make it harder than it already is. But here's to conclude about my take based from this book and everything else I've read about in the news:

• There are a lot of people in foster care who don't get adopted (One character in the book has this backstory). 
• At the end of the day, abortion will still happen, restricting it by law only means that they are done in ways that are less safe.
• We say so much about a thing that's not fully formed yet but so little about the body who will face all these changes. 
• I don't want to be raised and live my whole life in an environment where I am not welcome. I can only imagine the (emotional) abuse.

The Hate U Give - Angie Tomas

I remember the day I bought this, I was thinking twice between this and another young adult book. I'm not the biggest fan of YA books, specially those stories with a timeframe of just 2 days. The only reason I ended up buying this was because the book was bulkier meaning I will get more content.

This one talks about racism, specifically the way black men gets killed by cops by "accident," and ending up with justice being nonexistent. Now I understand why people are mad. 

Also a little about drugs which I appreciate because I used to be pro this war on drugs the current president of the Philippines had implemented when he won the seat 👎🏼. At the end of the day, only the poor gets killed. And a lot of times, they are innocent. Also, they don't deserve to die just because they sell drugs. The real problem is in our government, in our society, because these people grew up in an environment where this is the only option to get out of poverty. For them, this is their only opportunity.

Their death is not justified just because they sell drugs. Yes it is bad. But why did it make it okay for him to die? This book helped me grasp that topic.

This also has a movie. There are a lot of parts that they changed. Both made me cry so it means ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Also another book about racism (that I read in 2018 which is the only reason it's not on this list) is Jodi Picoult's Small Great Things.

Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan

Just like all the books in this list, I wasn't expecting to like this one. I guess it hits a little close to home because it tackles a lot of asian history, specifically Chinese. Filipinos are heavily influenced by the Chinese so a big part of it is very familiar. Specially those rules about family that we are to follow even if we don't want to. 

Wow are we really this toxic? It is really bad.

I've watched the movie in 2018 and I didn't expect the movie to be so far from the story. The only thing they got right were the characters. The grandma didn't even have more than 3 lines in the movie. And it was a little sad to see that the strong Astrid we've seen at the end of the movie where she says, "It was never my job to make you feel like a man. I can't make you something you're not," was actually not in the book. She was the opposite. But it was okay since it is more likely that asians are like that.

It had also introduced something new to me, the rich asians. The way being rich does not land you a seat in this table because it's not enough, you also have to be rich for a long time. The different ways they got rich and stayed rich. The way most embraced and some shied away from this lifestyle. It's crazy.

It reminds me as well how I am not that far away from their ages and yet I still have almost nothing to my name. Time to hustle! ⏳

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes - Edith Hamilton

In high school we only tackled a few stories about greek mythology and I always wished we had a full year where it was just about the gods, goddesses, and wars. They are quite interesting. And it's not always that I am like this during our english class.

This feels like a great introduction to the greek and roman mythology we always hear about. It tackles almost everyone. This book is also hyped right now and it feels right, I don't think anyone's going to be disappointed with this.

Of course it can get overwhelming. I'm pretty sure I already forget 70% of the names and places. If you quiz me right now I might mix up multiple things. But still, I'm glad I got to read their stories.

From the olympians, to the trojan war, and even some love stories. Despite being here for a thousand of years, their stories I find are still quite unique. It's not everyday that you start a war because your wife ran away with another prince and 10 years later when your team had won she goes straight back to you like nothing happened 🤪. 

Circe - Madeline Miller

A great read for those of us who wanted more out of the Mythology book. I really liked the way some parts of each book are connected. I didn't just meet Circe (who was just referenced once or twice in Mythology), I also got to learn more about the Minotaur, Prometheus, Medea, Hermes, Odysseus and Daedalus. It's not just a summary any more.

The story was slow and with that we had a chance to really meet Circe. The phases she had. The long years of feeling lonely and under appreciated to accidentally finding out she was powerful. And how that ended up with her exile in her own island where she got to have the most timeless of stories.

I loved the ending. I wasn't sure if it was accurate with the actual stories about Circe, but it is the perfect end I still haven't stopped thinking about how beautiful it was 💛💛💛.

Felt like a proud mama when I saw this book multiple times listed in Goodreads Staffers' Top Three Books of the Year.

Purchased Madeline Miller's other book about Achilles right after I read this (still in backlog).

Other awesome books I've read this year that I recommend:

• The Last Time I Saw Mother - Arlene J. Chai
• The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) - Rick Riordan
• The Sun is also a Star - Nicola Yoon
• Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult (Finally completed all of Jodi Picoult's 25 novels as this was the last after starting in high school 🎉🎉🎉)
• Every Breath - Nicholas Sparks
• Under the Influence - Jacquelyn Lee