2019 Birthday Book Wish List

2019 Birthday Book Wish List

Not that you ever need an excuse to give or receive books but birthdays do provide a very special occasion to do so. Because I love birthdays and because it’s my birthday and because I love books, I have a birthday book wish list, and I’m sharing it with you in case you need some book inspiration.

On my 2019 Birthday Book Wish List, I’ve compiled a list of nine titles. Yes, only nine! These books encompass some of my favorite genres: historical fiction, autobiography, women writers, and Asian American lit.

Together these nine gorgeous books span time, place, and talents. Catherine Chung’s The Tenth Muse explores the challenges innovative, talented, smart women face in the workplace but also internally. This same theme runs in Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls and Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women. Both novels follow the lives of daring women – City of Girls in 1940s New York world of theatre and The Island of Sea Women from the 1930s through present day on Jeju Island, Korea. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift and Pitchaya Sudbanthad’s Bangkok Wakes to Rain continue this trip into times past.

Themes of love and chaos are timeless and show up in different ways in the remaining four titles spanning fiction, non-fiction, autobiography, and self-help: Judith Jones’ The Tenth Muse: My life in food, Leah Remini’s Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, Sharon Sandberg’s Real Love: The Art of Authentic Connection, Elizabeth Acevedo’s With the Fire on High.

And as a bonus, two titles from last year’s birthday book wish list that I never got a chance to read.