Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles
My views at the end of 2019 are 31,190 which totals to around 9,000 views during the course of the year. So my number of views per year is increasing. I'm happy with that.
My most viewed post was on High Flying Reviews as usual. What was unusual about it is that it was a guest post by an author promoting her book. The book was Wingmen by Almond Jones. You can find that post here . I think it was so popular because it's a historical fiction novel dealing with women in aviation. Women in aviation is a special focus of High Flying Reviews. That was the only post I provided on that topic in 2019. I'd love to review more books on women in the aviation field in 2020.
The most viewed post on Shomeret: Masked Reviewer was my blog tour review of A Bookshop in Berlin by Françoise Frenkel. This WWII memoir was originally published in 1945 in French. The English translation for the new U.S. edition is a publishing event. I suppose that's why I suddenly got hundreds of views for this post overnight. That's this blog's equivalent of going viral. You can find my post about Frenkel's memoir here.
That does it for statistics. So I will now move on to my favorite reads of 2019 that have won:
The Golden Mask Awards
The Best Book of the Year
Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble
This is also the Best Non-Fiction and the Best Net Galley that I read in 2019. This book caused me to think about search and changed my search behavior. When I read a book that I feel changed my life in some way, it's usually got a lock on best book of the year. You can find my review of Algorithms of Oppression here.
The Best Fiction of the Year
The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz
This is also the Best Book Published in 2019 and the Best Science Fiction that I read in 2019.
I read more great science fiction in 2019 than I have for some time. There is more science fiction on my top ten for 2019 than any other genre. I've been finding more original science fiction dealing with the themes that interest me.
The Future of Another Timeline deals with a time war for women's rights. There is no other book in 2019 that I found more inspiring.
The Best Fantasy of the Year
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This is a quest fantasy taking place in the 1920's replete with Mayan deities and mythology. I didn't expect to love it, but it completely won me over. See my review here.
The Best Mystery of the Year
Bones of the Earth by Eliot Pattison
My favorite mysteries are usually historical, but Eliot Pattison has been writing a series dealing with a Chinese detective taking place in contemporary Tibet that at its best has moved and intrigued me. This is the last book in the series, and I found it very satisfying. See my review here.
The Best Thriller of the Year
The Shotgun Lawyer by Victor Methos
Before 2019 I had never heard of the legal thriller author Victor Methos, and I might have gone on that way if his novel, The Shotgun Lawyer, hadn't been a book of the month at the face to face mystery/thriller book club that I attend. A lawsuit against a gun manufacturer certainly caused me to sit up and take notice. I also found the characterization honest and refreshing. See my review here.
The Best Historical Fiction of the Year
The Ventriloquists by Evan Roxanna Ramzipoor
Of course you've read tons of WWII historical fiction. So have I, but I haven't previously seen a book about Resistance journalists who decided to put out a satire of a Nazi controlled newspaper. It's even more amazing that this actually happened. The Ventriloquists will give you respect for the courage of dedicated journalists. See my review here.
The Best Contemporary Fiction of the Year
Larger Than Life by Jodi Picoult
I don't read very much contemporary fiction, but Jodi Picoult is an occasional exception. I'm more likely to love a novel that deals with humans who are devoted to wild animals. In Lone Wolf Picoult asked us to consider the impact of having lived with wolves on human family members. So when I saw that Larger Than Life had been offered to Prime members for free, I was drawn to this novella about a woman who was deeply committed to the survival of African elephants. It was one of the last books I read in 2019. I don't always blog about the books I read, but my post about Larger Than Life will definitely appear in January. There's lots of bloggy type substance in this novella. I also look forward to the novel dealing with the daughter of Larger Than Life's protagonist, Leaving Time.
Best Graphic Book of the Year
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei was the only book on the final ballot of the Goodreads Choice Awards that I loved enough to vote for. Takei's book certainly deserved to win. I had also nominated it in the category of memoirs and autobiographies, but it never made the ballot. Yet I can tell you here that They Called Us Enemy also won a Golden Mask Award for Best Memoir of 2019. Shealea, one of my favorite bloggers, complained about how few authors of color are nominated for Goodreads Choice Awards. Goodreads should consider improving the diversity of candidates in the future, and you might want to consider reading my review of this graphic memoir here.
Best Indie Book of the Year
Sands of Eppla by Janeal Falor
I've been awarding best indie to books that many people wouldn't truly consider indies. This award should definitely go to quality books that are at a disadvantage when it comes to distribution. I acknowledge that. This year I found an unusual epic fantasy by an indie author whose protagonist is blind and an extraordinary heroine. I reviewed Sands of Eppla for Story Origin, one of a number of websites that tries to promote indies. I also reviewed it on this blog here. I would like to emphasize that although Falor has created a society where status is based on a type of romantic relationship, it is not a romance novel.
Best Translation of the Year
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
I consider The Memory Police the most horrific book I've ever read and I emphatically DON'T WANT TO READ HORROR!! So what is it doing on this list of Golden Mask Award winners? Well, it's complicated. The simple explanation is that it's more than a horrifying book. Since I read Ogawa's nightmarish novel near the end of the year, my review will appear in January. I'll be dealing with my complex reaction to The Memory Police at length on this blog.
The Memory Police is, in my view, a science fiction dystopia. Yet it certainly wasn't my favorite science fiction novel of the year. I support Hopepunk which is the most recent term for the purveyors of optimism in genre fiction.
That's why I decided to give this book a Best Translation award. Translation of a book is an attempt at bridging cultures, and I'm all in favor of that. I think that translation is significant enough to be recognized as a category in a list of this sort. I've been seeing lists of best translations elsewhere, and members of the Read Women book club on Goodreads are challenging themselves to read more translations of books by women. I do think that the translation of The Memory Police is very effective and well-written. So it does deserve this award.
Except for Eliot Pattison and Jodi Picoult, the authors of my other favorites are new to me and were great discoveries for the year 2019.
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