December was a fantastic reading month! From my Classics Club list, I read Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and immediately had to go on to devour the sequels (three of them so far). This is an astonishing story that I can’t believe I never got around to reading before.
I also read two nonfiction books that happen to count for my Reading All Around the World project: Daring to Drive and Born a Crime. Both were powerful and moving reads. There is so much injustice and wrong in our world, but also such amazing, inspiring people who meet those challenges with courage and determination. They make me want to try a little harder in my own life, which is so much easier in comparison.
Then there was some lovely comfort reading with the D.E. Stevenson reissues from Dean Street Press, and a touching graphic memoir that I read in French — all great things!
How did your reading year finish up?
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Reviews
- Miss Carter and the Ifrit – Susan Alice Kirby
Other Books Read
Daring to Drive by Manal Al-Sharif- Ce n’est pas toi que j’attendais by Fabien Toulmé
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – Review to come
- Vittoria Cottage by D.E. Stevenson – Review to come
- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
- Music in the Hills by D.E. Stevenson – Review to come
- Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou
- Winter and Rough Weather by D.E. Stevenson – Review to come
- Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou
- The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Other Features and Events
- I listed my Gems of 2019.
- I asked, How do you know a book is going to be good?
- And I reviewed my 2019 discussion posts and signed up for the 2020 challenge.
Shared in the Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer, the Month in Review linkup at The Book Date, and the Monthly Wrap-up Round-up hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
When the clock turned into 2020 I was reading a fantastic novella – The Hours by Michael Cunningham. I would have loved to have finished it before 2019 was out but I also didn’t want to rush it
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A good way to start the new year.
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I have two Maya Angelou tattoos. On one arm is Still I Rise, and on the other is I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. LOVE her!!
Wishing you the nest for 2020!!
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What an amazing woman, amazing writer!
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so glad you read Born a Crime. I enjoyed it a lot, with a readalong, and these are incidentally among my most visited posts. Happy New Year of Reading to you!
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Yep, I had seen many many posts about it, and it lived up to all of them. A good way to end 2019.
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Hi, I’m just stopping by to say hello. Ce n’est pas toi que j’attendais means It’s not you I’m waiting for, right? I am hoping I still can understand french after all these years. I only ever had a grade 3 or 4 understanding of the language but it has never left me entirely and I am thankful for that. À tout à l’heure 🙂
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It means “It’s not you I was waiting for …” and goes on to say “but I’m glad that you’re here.” It’s about the author’s journey accepting his daughter who was born with Down Syndrome. The graphic format helps with comprehension – if you want to brush up your French, I can recommend it!
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Bonne année, Lory! I have to say that my teenage consumption of Astérix and Tintin graphic novels when on exchange in France must have done a lot for my language skills, slang, exclamations and all (par Toutatis! from Obélix, Woahh! from Tintin’s Milou/Snowy). I’m looking forward to your review of Ce n’est pas toi que j’attendais — in French of course! Bonne chance!
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I should review it in some fashion! En Français, peut-être…
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I’m glad you had a great reading week 🙂
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Yay, thank you.
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I’m totally adding I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to my TBR list now. Thanks for the enthusiastic recommendation!
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One of the books of the century, I would say.
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I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and was equally blown away. I unfortunately never read any of her further memoirs. I will have to seek them out since you recommend them.
I read a lot of good books in 2019. Adding in the occasional audio book has helped me access more books that I normally would in physical format only. The only book I carried over is The Duke’s Children which I started in December and am still reading and loving it.
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I just had to keep finding out what happened next! The later memoirs are not so poetic in style, but the story is still compelling. The fifth one just came in from the library hold now so I’ll have to jump back in.
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Ooh, I’ll look forward to reading your review of Vittoria Cottage and will save your reviews of the other two as I have yet to acquire them (but need to). What a great reading month!
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Thanks, I enjoyed your review!
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I haven’t yet read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings….and I even own it! I need to get to it soon!
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Once you do, you won’t be able to stop reading.
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I really enjoyed Born a Crime too—I knew a bit about apartheid, but it’s much different to get the perspective of someone who lived through it and was so directly impacted by it in so many ways.
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His ability to look back on those events with insight and a sense of humor was truly amazing. It makes me want to look at my own life and my relatively trifling problems differently.
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You definitely had an excellent reading month. Born a Crime is new to me and since I’ve been reading more nonfiction lately and really know nothing about apartheid, I am going to see if my library has this book.
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It’s a must read! I am sure you will be blown away by it as I was.
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