{"id":4360,"date":"2019-03-03T18:03:30","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T22:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.princetonbookreview.com\/blog\/?p=4360"},"modified":"2024-05-28T07:17:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T11:17:49","slug":"5-books-to-read-in-2019-reading-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.princetonbookreview.com\/blog\/5-books-to-read-in-2019-reading-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Books to Read and Recommend in 2019| Reading Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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O<\/span>nly five books to read and recommend in 2019?\u00a0 Don’t worry, this is just the beginning, there’s a lot more to come, but putting a book list<\/span> <\/a>together gives a sense of order to my reading goals.<\/p>\n

This post contains\u00a0affiliate links<\/em>, which means we may receive a small commission for purchases you make at no extra cost to you.\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

There are so many interesting books I want to read this year that if I didn\u2019t write them down, I would get totally lost and completely distracted. I don\u2019t want to spend to much time searching for books and then not have enough time to read them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t like to read, you haven\u2019t found the right book.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 J.K. Rowling<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, after browsing my favorite sites and blogs, I narrowed it down to the five books\u00a0 I\u2019ll read first, once I\u2019m finished reading them I add another five to my list. One of the reasons I picked these particular books is because there\u2019s a lot of buzz around them and I wanted to be able to be in the conversation when the discussion started. I also love recommending good books to my friends!<\/p>\n

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Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive <\/span><\/h2>\n

by Stephanie Land<\/strong><\/p>\n

This memoir about a single mother struggling to support her daughter on minimum wage grabbed my attention as a book to read considering the current political climate regarding this issue. Not to mention it reminded me of Educated<\/span><\/a>, Wild<\/a><\/span> and Braving the Wilderness<\/a><\/span> all books that I loved.<\/p>\n

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From the jacket:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>At 28, Stephanie Land’s plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer, were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unexpected pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and with a tenacious grip on her dream to provide her daughter the very best life possible, Stephanie worked days and took classes online to earn a college degree, and began to write relentlessly.<\/p>\n

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She wrote the true stories that weren’t being told: the stories of overworked and underpaid Americans. Of living on food stamps and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) coupons to eat. Of the government programs that provided her housing, but that doubled as halfway houses. The aloof government employees who called her lucky for receiving assistance while she didn’t feel lucky at all. She wrote to remember the fight, to eventually cut through the deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.<\/div>\n
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Maid<\/i>\u00a0explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what it’s like to be in service to them. “I’d become a nameless ghost,” Stephanie writes about her relationship with her clients, many of whom do not know her from any other cleaner, but who she learns plenty about. As she begins to discover more about her clients’ lives-their sadness and love, too-she begins to find hope in her own path.<\/div>\n
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Her compassionate, unflinching writing as a journalist gives voice to the “servant” worker, and those pursuing the American Dream from below the poverty line.\u00a0Maid<\/i>\u00a0is Stephanie’s story, but it’s not her alone. It is an inspiring testament to the strength, determination, and ultimate triumph of the human spirit.<\/div>\n
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Click here to buy<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Silent Patient<\/span><\/h2>\n

by Alex Michaelides<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I love a psychological thriller, and this book looks like it\u2019s going to deliver a good story. It comes highly recommended and is on the NYTimes Best Seller list<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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From the jacket:\u00a0<\/strong> Alicia Berenson\u2019s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London\u2019s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.<\/p>\n

Alicia\u2019s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.<\/p>\n

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations\u2014a search for the truth that threatens to consume him.<\/p>\n

Click here to buy<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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An Anonymous Girl<\/span><\/h2>\n

by Greer Hendrick & Sarah Pekkanen<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s something about the cover of this book that drew me in, and I\u2019m not sure what that says about me, but it looks good. I loved The Wife Between Us<\/span><\/a> also written by this duo, so I\u2019m hoping this book is just as\u00a0much a page-turner.<\/p>\n

\"Book<\/a>From the jacket:<\/strong>\u00a0 Looking to earn some easy cash, Jessica Farris agrees to be a test subject in a psychological study about ethics and morality. But as the study moves from the exam room to the real world, the line between what is real and what is one of Dr. Shields\u2019s experiments blurs.Dr. Shields seems to know what Jess is thinking\u2026 and what she\u2019s hiding. Jessica\u2019s behavior will not only be monitored, but manipulated. Caught in a web of attraction, deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly. From the authors of the blockbuster bestseller\u00a0The Wife Between Us<\/i>, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen,\u00a0An Anonymous Girl\u00a0<\/i>will keep you riveted through the last shocking twist.<\/p>\n

Click here to buy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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The Lost Girls of Paris<\/h2>\n

by Pam Jennoff\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month Pam Jenoff was a guest speaker at our local library to promote her latest novel The Lost Girls of Paris. This was the second time I\u2019ve heard her speak, the first was for\u00a0The Orphan\u2019s Tale<\/a><\/span>, so I was really excited to learn about her new book. She has such an interesting life story, and she so accomplished.\u00a0 If you haven’t seen an author on tour, you should put it on your list of things to do. It\u2019s so much fun!\u00a0 You get to ask the author questions and learn the back story of why the book was written, which gives you a better understanding of the book before reading it. Visit her author page<\/a><\/span>, and you\u2019ll see what I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0I always go with a friend and have drinks afterward.\u00a0 Anyway, the book sounds terrific and of course, I got an autographed copy which I can\u2019t wait to dive into.<\/p>\n

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From the jacket:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1946, Manhattan<\/em><\/p>\n

One morning while passing through Grand Central Terminal on her way to work, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. Unable to resist her own curiosity, Grace opens the suitcase, where she discovers a dozen photographs\u2014each of a different woman. In a moment of impulse, Grace takes the photographs and quickly leaves the station.<\/p>\n

Grace soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a network of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but they never returned home, their fates a mystery. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother turned agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor and betrayal.<\/p>\n

Vividly rendered and inspired by true events,\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0bestselling author Pam Jenoff shines a light on the incredible heroics of the brave women of the war and weaves a mesmerizing tale of courage, sisterhood and the great strength of women to survive in the hardest of circumstances.<\/p>\n

Click here to buy<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0Lost Roses<\/h2>\n

by Martha Hall Kelly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Martha Hall Kelly is one of my favorite authors, and I absolutely loved The Lilac Girls<\/a><\/span>, so I\u2019m super excited to start The Lost Roses. This is another Author website<\/a><\/span> you should visit, it\u2019s packed with information about the book and gives you extra insight into her writing.<\/p>\n

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From the jacket:<\/strong>\u00a0It is 1914, and the world has been on the brink of war so often,\u00a0<\/b>many New Yorkers treat the subject with only passing interest. Eliza Ferriday is thrilled to be traveling to St. Petersburg with Sofya Streshnayva, a cousin of the Romanovs. The two met years ago one summer in Paris and became close confidantes. Now Eliza embarks on the trip of a lifetime, home with Sofya to see the splendors of Russia: the church with the interior covered in jeweled mosaics, the Rembrandts at the tsar\u2019s Winter Palace, the famous ballet.<\/p>\n

But when Austria declares war on Serbia and Russia\u2019s imperial dynasty begins to fall, Eliza escapes back to America, while Sofya and her family flee to their country estate. In need of domestic help, they hire the local fortune-teller\u2019s daughter, Varinka, unknowingly bringing intense danger into their household.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the Atlantic, Eliza is doing her part to help the White Russian families find safety as they escape the revolution. But when Sofya\u2019s letters suddenly stop coming, she fears the worst for her best friend.<\/p>\n

From the turbulent streets of St. Petersburg and aristocratic countryside estates to the avenues of Paris where a society of fallen Russian \u00e9migr\u00e9s live to the mansions of Long Island, the lives of Eliza, Sofya, and Varinka will intersect in profound ways.\u00a0In her newest powerful tale told through female-driven perspectives, Martha Hall Kelly celebrates the unbreakable bonds of women\u2019s friendship, especially during the darkest days of history.<\/p>\n

Click to here to buy<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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What books are you looking forward to reading?<\/p>\n

Happy reading,<\/p>\n

Andrea<\/h2>\n

Pin it for later!<\/h2>\n

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