{"id":4523,"date":"2019-07-05T15:07:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T09:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/?p=4523"},"modified":"2024-02-03T11:28:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T05:58:48","slug":"17-favourite-books-of-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/17-favourite-books-of-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"17 Favourite Books of 2019: Desire, Memoirs & Bollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"
It is mid-year and time of the best-so-far lists. 2019 was quite dull in terms of number of new releases. But quality over quantity any day. This year had some of the most fun releases, be it time travel or Bollywoodesque (you will notice the word constantly repeated in the descriptions) and bizarre stories. There are so many other titles I wish I could\u2019ve included like Manu. S . Pillai\u2019s The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin<\/em>, for the sole reason that I haven\u2019t finished reading it yet (Quite the doorstopper, but highly recommended already if you love essays and stories on Indian history).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I loved reading the Women\u2019s Prize shortlist this year, which has become a tradition for me, and wrote about it on Huffpost India. It is dominant with mythical retellings and probably the best list to read contemporary women writers<\/a><\/span>. Then there are almost-favourites like The Silent Patient<\/em> and\u00a0My Sister, the Serial killer<\/em> (a murderous beauty and a few corpses<\/a><\/span>) and more which might feature in another list. This is the best ten (well, eighteen I mean) books I\u2019ve loved this year. I\u2019ve also compiled a ‘Summer Reading list 2019′ on Huffpost <\/a>India<\/a><\/span> if you are craving for more books.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have lost count of the number of times I have screamed into the internet (and real life) that this is \u2018Book of the year\u2019. I was transported to a whole new world of rich girl parties, Conde Nast interns and people in love in New York summers and briskly thrown into 1500s Elizabethean England with diseases, mistresses and gay men. It is original with dreams, madness and time travel and starring Shakespeare and the \u2018dark lady of his sonnets\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n1.The Heavens by Sandra Newman (2019)<\/h3>\n